Hell In The Cell

[Josh Mann]

The problem isn't that they are doing a Bray Wyatt and Ambrose feud. The problem is they've ruined far too many main events this year with non-finishes.

Which was counterbalanced with a genuine feelgood finish and the most decisively one-sided ppv main event in 15 years at the two biggest shows of the year

[Greggulator]

The problem isn't that they are doing a Bray Wyatt and Ambrose feud. The problem is they've ruined far too many main events this year with non-finishes.

 

Okay, well let's look at that.

ROYAL RUMBLE: Batista won. Cleanly.

ELIMINATION CHAMBER: Screwy finish that let Orton win. But that PPV was a set-up for WrestleMania. A 6-Man Elimination Match is entitled to have some screwy finish.

WRESTLEMANIA: 80,000 people end the show doing the YES! Chant. Not screwy.

EXTREME RULES: Daniel Bryan beats Kane with his running knee.

PAYBACK: The Shield beats Evolution cleanly.

MONEY IN THE BACK: Cena wins in a ladder match. Non-screwy.

BATTLEGROUND: Cena wins a Fatal 4-Way. Non-screwy.

SUMMERSLAM: Lesnar destroys Cena. Non-screwy.

NIGHT OF CHAMPIONS: Rollins tries to cash in. Screwy.

TONIGHT: Screwy

So out of 10 PPVs this year, three have had "fuck finishes" of some sort. One was at Elimination Chamber and was used to set up the next part of the Daniel Bryan Story. The second was to put Rollins (and Ambrose) into a main event storyline. The third screwy -- and probably only actual screwy finish -- was tonight.

[Big Fresh]

The problem isn't that they are doing a Bray Wyatt and Ambrose feud. The problem is they've ruined far too many main events this year with non-finishes.

 

I understand that, but Rollins needed the win, and in WWE, a heel can never win a blowoff cleanly (except monster heels like Brock and Rusev). It's a shame, but they've always been that way.

[Big Fresh]

I was so disappointed when Rollins was in the cell and Dean was on top and Dean didn't even threaten to pee on him?  Dean threatens to pee on librarians who don't have the Carl's Junior menu as a book on tape.  And he has to somehow stream over a desk for that.  This should have been easy.

 

Now we're back on track.

[Big Fresh]

Then why is nobody buying the network? Why is RAW no longer a can't miss television show? There are a ton of problems but it starts at the top. The Rock comes back and the crowd goes INSANE. He talks for ten minutes mostly about nothing and the crowd doesn't break into a "what?!" chant.. no. He has their complete attention. Mick Foley comes back last week and receives the biggest pop on the show. That shouldn't be happening in 2014. There should be wrestlers other than old Attitude Era stars that the audience wants to see. Nobody is over and it's because they don't receive an opportunity to prove themselves. It's Cena 24/7 week in, week out.

 

You do have a point. I don't think anyone can say the Network isn't awesome from a perspective of it works pretty solid (I've never had a problem with it after the first day), the back catalogue is great, they add content pretty regularly, etc. But it's failing. The only reason it could be is because people aren't happy with the current product. It's strange for me, because I like most of it (including Cena), but if they want the Network to succeed, they need huge, sweeping changes to their creative process. This isn't a knock on Cena, but I think the whole "build the entire company around one top babyface" model is outdated and may need an overhaul for the current times.

[Casey]

'Dat ending, son. You have my attention, WWE.

[jstout]

I REALLY expected Orton to win, continue his face turn and be a full-fledged face by the time he faces Brock, because Orton-Brock feels fresher than Cena-Brock III. I expected Ambrose to win in the blow off of their feud, but what they did was fine. Now they've got the Ambrose-Wyatt feud and they can always keep the Ambrose-Rollins feud simmering in the background to bring back later.

 

And give whoever said Rusev winds up getting fed to Cena a cookie. It's horrendously obvious.

[Eivion]

I'm honestly getting to the point where I want to see Rusev fed to Cena just to piss off the people bitching about it.

[IHFP]

I'm honestly getting to the point where I want to see Rusev fed to Cena just to piss off the people bitching about it.

 

Are you CM Punk?

[Big Fresh]

So what was Bray Wyatt saying in that repeated voice clip?

Also, Bray Wyatt got actual "we hate you" heat for the first time ever in this match. That's a success.

[Eivion]

 

I'm honestly getting to the point where I want to see Rusev fed to Cena just to piss off the people bitching about it.

 

Are you CM Punk?

 

Rusev losing to Cena doesn't give me physical pain so, no, I'm not at Punk levels of spite yet.

 

This does have me thinking about it who should eventually beat Rusev at this point. Is there an obvious choice at this point?

[Jenalysis]

Well, I watch PPVs now due to the network with a friend who comes down, who only watches the PPVs, and is kinda an old-school fan who likes it but we do it to have an excuse to meet up since my work schedule is brutal.   Huge fan in the old Mid-Atlantic days (he's much older than me, pushing 60 now)

His favorite guy of all time is Mick Foley,and he's done some Foley cosplay at cons.

 

His thoughts.

 

He loved Ziggler and Cesaro.  Was surprised by 2/3 falls being 2 straight.

Thought the Bellas match was ok.

Loved Paige and AJ in lewd ways , and liked their wrestling skills.

Felt Cena and Orton were kinda stale, and this is someone who skipped about 8 of their 10 years.

Was openly rooting for the Dust Bros against the Usos, but more because he's a huge Goldust fan out of anything the Usos did wrong.

Didn't care for Mizdow one bit.  He likes Sheamus and thinks he's a pretty damn good wrestler.

Thinks Rusev should be huge, and was really impressed with how he looked in the ring.  Loved Lana in lewd ways.

Was really seriously marking out for Ambrose at the end of HITC, and was kinda pissed when Bray Wyatt (who he thinks is crap) interfering, and the Obi-Wan stuff was stupid to him.   He wants to see Rollins get his ass kicked, so Rollins was an effective heel to him.

 

He wondered why the hell Bo Dallas was in the pre-show and not the main card.  He thinks Bo Dallas should get a push.

 

 

As for who should beat Rusev, how about Ryback when he comes back as part of a reclamation project?

[Matt D]

It's ironic that I'm the only one who gets a huge kick out of Stardust.

[muhammedboehm]

Wait so your mad that the ref counted the pin after everything else that happened? Shouldn't you be more upset that the ref let the match start at all?

You have to accept blind refs in wrestling. But to utilize one moments after Tupac's hologram hypnotizes Ambrose feels a bit limp, non?

But the rules of hell in a cell allow for it...shouldn't the ref have called the match then after Kane used the fire extinguisher?

[Uncle Coaster]

I thought all of the matches that were not held inside the cell were fun.  I'm getting more invested in Rusev with every show, I still think Mizdow has potential to be near the top of the card some day (although I don't expect it), and darnit i liked both women's matches as well.  Overall, a very enjoyable show.  I did chores during Cena-Orton, just wasn't feeling it.

 

I was definitely disappointed in Ambrose/Rollins.  It wasn't so much the ending, where it may be leading, etc, but because I was hoping that this would be a breakout performance for the two of them.  I thought the potential for them to main event for 20-25 minutes was gigantic and the booking didn't really give them that chance.

 

I'm a Bray fan, so anything that puts him back in the spotlight is ok with me.  I have no problem with Ambrose losing or with Wyatt interfering and I think it will be interesting to watch play out.  I just hope we eventually get to see Ambrose vs. Rollins back in the spotlight like this some day.

[J.T.]

Why are we not celebrating the paychecks received by Jamie Noble and Joey Mercury?

 

It's not the feud I want, but I personally cannot wait for Ambrose and Bray Wyatt to destroy each other.  That has the potential to be a more hate filled feud that Rollins / Ambrose provided that Dean does not fucking Stockholm and join the cult.

[StretchMediatedHypertrophy]

Why are we not celebrating the paychecks received by Jamie Noble and Joey Mercury?

 

Will they be paid extra? They are employees. I like the fact they're involved, especially Jamie.

 

For people making the comparison between last night's ending and the appearance of Kane; it's not a good comparison. The Kane appearance was a logical storyline that had built over several months. Undertaker restarted shit with Paul Bearer, and ended up taking on too much at once. This caused him to lose the title and to lose the feud with Michaels. Wyatt and Ambrose have some history, but they had moved on from that and there was no storyline-driven reason for him to get involved. Plus Kane hadn't been punked by Cena 6 weeks back.

 

Whoever said the HIAC match was contrived hit the nail on the head. I know it's faux-fisties and shit, and I really like Ambrose - but that was some hacky shit last night. Wrestling should not just be a chain of signifiers.

 

And fuck you to whoever was involved in laying out that Cena-Orton match. It wasn't the main and that number of finisher kickouts just wasn't needed - and I don't think anyone bought one of the nearfalls.

 

Ziggler vs Cesaro had some bombs, but there was some believable near falls too. More of this please.

[J.T.]

 

Why are we not celebrating the paychecks received by Jamie Noble and Joey Mercury?

 

 I like the fact they're involved, especially Jamie.

 

This is more of what I was driving at, my friend.  There seems to be a lot of hate for this card, but the return of Mercury & Noble to the active roster = Good.

[thee Reverend Axl Future]

I think we all know the true highlight of the finish.  I have a feeling this will replace the Krusty the Klown's "What the hell was that"

 

All this needs it a graphic saying "thanks for the $9.95, man!"

The sea of marks holding up their cell phones for the Wyatt appearance exposed the fact that the televised black-out was not live in-camera but a blank screen.

WWE removing the emphasis from the individual performers to the brand name means that the company takes more heat for customer dissatisfaction, at least on-line. I enjoyed the show, especially for the price paid. Watched it with a couple pals and everyone was happy but no big surprises, shakeups or storyline changes. Hey, folks - B level PPV time! True, I would have been happier if these things were booked more like they were in the GoodOldDays (your era may vary) but stuff changes. I fail to get outraged but my involvement level & emotional attachment is certainly reduced. Instead it invites intellectual analysis and prognostication. This certainly is Entertainment, but it's only partially Wrestling in the Old School Sense, and it most positively ain't Rasslin' (snif).

- RAF, old

[steve]

Another thing I realized last night-

 

I was disappointed when Cena beat Orton, because I was looking forward to the Lesnar/Orton matchup. So, apparently, deep-down, I still care about Randy Orton.

[Playa Shunna Ver 3.0]

The AA/RKO should have ko'd both guys for a few minutes. Bray/Ambrose will he so awesome. Now there are 3 major feuds going on. I'm fine with how everything went. I wish Cesaro the best. I think he will win the belt tonight or Friday. I want Harper/Sheamus. That would be an awesome feud.

[Raziel]

Given how "blah" the Ambrose/Rollins "Hate filled" matches have ended up being, what reason do I have to believe that Bray/Ambrose will be awesome, and not just what they had wanted to do last year with Bryan/Bray, but without the crowd behind Ambrose enough to force an audible?

[Ramsey]

So many folks have left far more "ink on the page" here for a review than I am going to. However, allow me to say that "spooky lantern ghost" was every bit as fucking dumb as "Warrior in the mirror" was. I love Bray and I love Dean. I can think of loads of other ways to have them start up a little war. However, Scooby Doo level special effects ain't it. Also, the match between Rollins and Ambrose itself was fucking awful. "Ok, set up the props....BUMP! Stay down....get up...set up props...BUMP!" It all started off with the killer visual of insane Ambrose on top of the cell ready for battle and ended with "spooky magic lantern." Come the fuck on...

[MORELOCK]

 

So I was asleep during the first 2/3rd's of this PPV. I'm only pissed Ziggler/Cesaro didn't go the 2/3 falls. Whats the point of having a 2 out of 3 falls match if you don't go 2 out of 3 falls.

 

To actually book something surprising for once? I love when they actually try to make us believe we're watching a sport.

 

I was really looking forward to one more big run of Orton running around like a tweener viper shitting in people's bags and lone wolfing his way through the Authority and babyfaces alike on his way to Brock Lesnar but Cena vs Lesnar seems like a very fresh and interesting choice.

I've been going back and watching a lot of Jern Ceeeeee-nah's big matches over the past year or two, and I feel like he just kind of sucks in all of them. He drops D-Bry on his head with two different botches at Summerslam, I'm sick of his awful submission...

I dunno. He's like a 5 on a ten scale and I'm tired of seeing him on top calling people Jack and them gently hugging them until they tap out.

What I'm saying is that I did a sad Peanuts walk after he won tonight.

 

The wrong guy definitely went over, but Cena's wrestling is fantastic. It's just that the booking sucks so badly that it's almost impossible to get invested in his matches.

 

Some will disagree with what I'm about to say but if you are going to do a fucking Attitude Era main event inside a Hell in a Cell you either do it right or not fucking do it at all.

I want blood. I want a car wreck. Don't give me this lightweight bullshit. The problem is WWE is still trying to sell this gimmick as something where "ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN" but everyone knows it's BS. The crowd didn't react to much because there was nothing to react to. There were a couple okay spots but when you trot out Mick Foley and show footage of previous hell in a cell matches... you are basically promising something that you and the audience both know is not ever going to happen..

 

Saying there can't be a good cage match without blood or recklessly stupid Mick Foley spots is as ridiculous as saying every match needs a finisher trading ending sequence. I'm also curious why you watched the PPV at all since you clearly knew you weren't going to enjoy it before it ever started.

 

I have to say the smartest booking job of the night was to make Cena-Orton a basic wrestling match that just happened to take place inside a cage so that Rollins-Ambrose could go full ECW plunderfuck and not have to worry about being upstaged.

 

Would've been much smarter to just not have two cell matches. The concept is already hampered enough by being stuck on a gimmick PPV.

 

The double announce table spot in the Ambrose/Rollins match would have been more memorable if shot from a different camera angle. They made no attempt to hide both announce teams removing items from the table before the fall.

 

This bothered me too. Kayfabe-wise it could have been saved by a throwaway Cole line about WWE staff protecting both the monitors and the bodies of the superstars by clearing the tables while Ambrose and Rollins were up on the cage teasing the spot for forever.

[Craig H]

I guess I'm in the monority because I really liked the main event. I sat there thinking that in today's WWE, that was about the damnedest thing I've seen in some time. The finish came and despite the hokiness of the hologram, I enjoyed seeing Bray return. It made sense to me too. To make the most money off of Ambrose vs Rollins, you want to hold off on Ambrose winning until if really means something. And you can't keep those two feuding now until next year. There needs to be something else for Ambrose and Rollins to do. Ambrose vs Bray is perfectly acceptable.