Here are my final thoughts on Raw and SmackDown Live’s WWE Hell in a Cell 2019!
Lacey Evans vs. Natalya
Reactions: This rematch was perfectly in line with their other bouts. Which means it wasn’t all that remarkable but wasn’t an eyesore, either. It was average at best. Lacey Evans still has a lot of kinks to work out as far as her offensive control period is concerned. It’s far too basic to care about, which goes a long way towards making her matches incredibly dull. These repeated bouts with Natalya are helping her slightly improve in that regard, but it’s a slow and steady process obviously.
Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars
Becky Lynch (c) vs. Sasha Banks (Hell in a Cell Match for the WWE Raw Women’s Championship)
Reactions: Pure in-ring excellence! As expected considering the two women put in the spotlight here. And the shocking ending to it all definitely capped this PPV opener off on a very high note. I was pleased to see this match format do things a bit differently by starting the action off just as the HIAC was in the middle of its descent.
Sasha Banks cleverly found a way to clobber Becky Lynch early by slamming her head into the bottom of the HIAC as it was getting closer and closer to the arena floor. The rest of the match included a bunch of hardcore spots, many of which were super inventive (the steel chair being held up by kendo sticks was especially innovative). The use of steel chairs as a whole was pretty cool, as well as the use of a ladder and the one table that came into play. This rematch was the perfect sequel to their Clash of Champions bout.
Rating: 4 & a Half out of 5 Stars
Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns vs. Luke Harper and Erick Rowan (Tornado Tag Team Match)
Reactions: I’m not the only one who had their WWE Network stream take a short leave of absence, right? After hopping on Twitter to check, it seems like that issue wasn’t just a me thing. Anyways, I got a kick out of what I was able to see. The big brutes were dominating at certain points and looked good while they were doing it. The parts I enjoyed the most came when Roman Reigns and Daniely Bryan pulled off some dual offense. The announce table spot and the ending combination of moves delivered to Luke Harper were pretty awesome. It ended a lot sooner than I expected, but it was good enough while it lasted.
Rating: 3 & a Half out of 5 Stars
Randy Orton vs. Ali
Reactions: So has Randy Orton been canceled for using the “N” word during a gaming live stream yet? Guess not. Now, this last-minute addition to the show was quite the surprise treat. Imagine if this bout got some actual buildup weeks prior? I’d have even more reason to be invested in this match as a whole.
But I’m not gonna lie – even without some actual storyline development, I still found this match to be pretty damned good. Randy Orton seemed a bit livelier against Ali here, plus it got plenty of time to develop into a worthwhile matchup. Ali took some brutal shots here, which made his comeback all the more entertaining when it finally kicked off. Ali put up a good fight against Orton, so at least he looked good in defeat. Bring the rematch to this year’s Crown Jewel, WWE!
Rating: 3 & a Half out of 5 Stars
Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross (c) vs. Asuka and Kairi Sane (The Kabuki Warriors) (WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship)
Reactions: ASUKA GOT MIST NOW? WOW! Here’s another example of a match that got announced the night of the show that ended up being worthwhile. While it employed a more methodical pace at the start of the match (and I think the face in peril segment lasted a bit too long), it really picked up once Nikki Cross got started running wild. It was definitely weird seeing The Kabuki Warriors play the role of the heels here, but they did a good job in their chosen role for the evening. Watching Asuka pull out an old Great Muta tactic to win the titles for her and Kairi Sane was pretty insane! The match as a whole was solid and the end result was a pleasant surprise.
Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars
AJ Styles, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson (The O.C.) vs. Ivar and Erik (The Viking Raiders) and Braun Strowman
Reactions: No Cedric Alexander, huh? Kinda shocked by his exclusion here considering his beef with the current United States Champion. But I guess him losing to AJ Styles on the last episode of Raw put a final bow on their feud. So I was definitely into this match, but the disqualification ending sucked. This one would have been much better off with a clean finish, right? The action that transpired before the crappy result we got was good, at least. Anytime The Viking Raiders are in the ring, I’m always invested. The O.C. never put me sleep whenever they’re brutalizing the opposition and the same goes for Braun Strowman. Once again, I hated the DQ finish. But I got a good laugh out of AJ’s overselling after eating a Strowman KO punch.
Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars
King Corban vs. Chad Gable
Reactions: This show was on a roll…then King Corban came out to put a damper on everything. His pre-match spiel was boring and whenever he was overpowering Chad Gable, I was equally bored to tears. Now don’t get me wrong – I’m more than happy at the fact that Chad Gable is getting a push. I just wish he had someone infinitely more interesting to feud with. Even Gable’s fun moveset wasn’t enough to make me and the disinterested crowd give a damn. Gable winning was cool, though.
Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars
Bayley (c) vs. Charlotte Flair (WWE Smackdown Women’s Championship)
Reactions: First off, the pre-match antics that transpired between R-Truth and Funaki were awesome. Funaki should get a final title run with that 24/7 Championship, I say. WHO’S WITH ME? So the match itself? It was decent. It may have been a bit dull near the beginning, but it got a bit more interesting the longer it went on.
Bayley’s leg work and heelish ways added some much-needed life to this contest near the middle portion. The same goes for Charlotte, as she fought through the pain and made a pretty hot comeback near the match’s closing stretch. The end result didn’t surprise me one bit – the new era of SmackDown on FOX means WWE’s biggest stars are gonna run wild with the titles. And one of those stars just happens to be Charlotte. Above-average match here with an unsurprising winner.
Rating: 2 & a Half out of 5 Stars
Seth Rollins (c) vs. “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt (Hell in a Cell Match for the WWE Universal Championship)
Reactions: Okay so I get it – it’s October, we have a Hell in a Cell structure that’s painted red and “The Fiend” is a part of the main event proceedings. But did we really need to keep the red lighting on for the entire match? It didn’t add to the mood, honestly – all it did was make it kind of painful to keep your eyes on for too long.
What made this whole ordeal even more of a waste was the whole damn match! It was slow and painfully plodding, repetitive as hell once Seth Rollins took control and the corny acting from a scared Rollins was pure cheese. The crowd quickly turned on it the longer it went on and the end result was completely idiotic. The fans chanted AEW afterward, which should tell you everything you need to know about how horribly this match was booked. Even the post-match beatdown sucked! God, this was awful…
Rating: BULLSHIT!
Match of the Night
Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks!
Final Verdict
Hell in a Cell 2019 started off so well with the women’s HIAC match. And it stayed fun throughout until we hit the speedbump that was Corban vs. Gable. Once that happened, the show dipped lower and lower into bad territory. The main event was where this show completely fell off a cliff. Hell in a Cell 2019 has two similarities to December to Dismember 2006 – the match card for the show wasn’t fully announced before the night of the show and the final match produced a result no one wanted. Check out everything that took place before Corban vs. Gable, then ignore the rest.
Final Score: 2 & a Half out of 5 Stars
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