Another year, and another Hell In A Cell is in the books.
As per every event, it wasn’t without it’s ups and downs. The main event is mostly indigestible when it comes to WWE PPVs, but this one takes the cake. This will be the most talked about blunders from WWE for years to come, but I am here to talk about the five things that we learned from Hell in a Cell 2019.
1. The Red Cell Colour Still Isn’t Great
The WWE decided that changing the cage’s colour to red would make it look more ominous and dreadful. It got the opposite reaction last year and the company still thought it was good enough to keep. We got the red coloured cell again, and it still looks just as bad. Not only does the cell look like it’s made out of plastic, it gives the opposite feeling that it’s supposed to give. My local McDonald’s uses a similar looking net for its Playplace area. I will however add that the stage looked impressive and I really liked it.
2. Unannounced Pay-Per-View Cards Do Not Work
Despite Hell In A Cell taking place in just a couple of hours, only four matches were announced for the event. A lot of discussions happened on the interwebs, with many speculating that WWE didn’t have any more matches planned and they’re trying to make their PPVs shorter, while some suggested that the company is simply doing it because they want to surprise fans by announcing matches just before the event takes place. It turned out that the company did, in fact, have a full card planned, and they did announce the remaining five matches an hour before the event. Not sure if this is something they’re experimenting with but it seems like they were going for keeping the fans on the edge of their seats about the potential matches that could take place, but it could just not go over with anyone and made the event seem like an afterthought.
3. Unneeded Matches Are Surprisingly Unneeded
On the Hell in a Cell Kickoff pre-show, Natalya took on Lacey Evans which nobody was looking forward to. The match ended with Evans missing a moonsault which Natalya took advantage of by forcing her to submit to the Sharpshooter. That seemingly didn’t end things for this awful, long feud, as a Last Woman Standing bout was confirmed for Raw the very next night, which Natalya again won. How many times are we going to see the same match? Another announced match that no one was looking forward to was Randy Orton vs. Mustafa Ali. Orton was his usual slow self, not complementing Ali’s fast paced style at all. The match was boring as hell and this wasn’t even the worst to come for the night.
4. The Referees Were Stupider Than Usual
Okay, so I’ve touched on this topic before. Referees go full stupid mode when it’s a special night for the company. But this time, the stupidity was enough for the event to be called one of the worst from modern WWE. So let’s break it down. First, the Kabuki Warriors vs. Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross match. In the climax of the match, when Kairi Sane distracted Bliss outside the ring, Asuka spit green mist at Cross’ face and rolled her up for the win. Sure, the referee didn’t see Asuka doing the thing but he could clearly see the green both women were covered in. Instead of questioning where it came from, he decided to ignore it. Then, The Viking Raiders and Braun Strowman vs The O.C. match. I’m gonna keep it short, basically the referee decided to disqualify Strowman when all three members of The O.C. ganged up on him. The DQ was not a good look for Strowman, and it felt unnecessary as ganging up happens quite often in six-man tag team matches anyway. The next decision however, is the most talked about, which has probably made HIAC the…
5. WWE Does Not Care About The Rules It Sets Itself
This is the second year in a row that the ending of a Hell in a Cell match has resulted in a no contest. The referee decided to take the moral high ground and demanded that Rollins not hit the pile of a steel chair, a ladder, and a toolbox with a sledgehammer. The ref pleaded to Rollins, “This isn’t who you are” and “you’re going to kill him”. No, he’s not going to kill him. The ref’s call to end the match was fundamentally against the ‘spirit’ of Hell in a Cell, so to speak.
It’s stupid that a HELL IN A CELL MATCH ended because it got TOO VIOLENT. Not only did the crowd reject the illogical mess of this match, the company became the subject of mockery from everyone online. But the saddest part of the whole affair was that The Fiend is now done for. All the momentum that he had, and how the company played all their cards right with him, all came down crashing because of this. Even X-Pac, who was paid by WWE to watch the event on Watch Along, said, “…you may not ask me back for another one of these, but how the hell do you get DQ’d in a Hell in a frickin’ Cell?!”
People tuned into Hell in a Cell for primarily the main event, and even that that WWE was not able to deliver. The entire event seemed like an afterthought as only four matches were announced a day before the show. The show was needlessly bloated, and even the parts that people looked forward to mostly sucked.
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