1. It was nice of R-Truth to wear the same suit that’s been featured in all of the Hell In A Cell promo packages and posters. And did anyone else notice that Dolph Ziggler seems to be towing the company line a little more than usual on the Kickoff panel? I know there were rumors that he had begun “living his gimmick” but it didn’t really feel like it was Ziggler up there.
2. Damien Sandow versus Kofi Kingston felt like “Superstars 101”. It was nice to see a Money In The Bank holder get a clean win for once though.
3. The opening package to this pay-per-view is something I’d like to see more of. Not on every show but the shows that have been around for a while or contain featured matches like Hell In A Cell should have an opening historical video montage that features some of it’s biggest moments. This gives the event a sense of importance & something I say Night Of Champions should do every time out.
4. The triple threat Tag Team Championship match was easily the match of the night. It’s insane to think that Goldust, who is at least 12 years older than any of the other men in this match, was the workhorse for most of the match. This was also a much longer match than I think most expected. Not only were they able to create the right sense of drama with a ton of believable near falls but the superplex to the floor & the closing round of finishers to end the match were all spot on. The tag division in WWE is extremely fun to watch right now & it’s been a long time since that was possible.
5. I’m disappointed that we didn’t get Big E Langston vs Curtis Axel on the Kickoff Show but mainly because I thought we were going to see a Langston title win. This match against Dean Ambrose probably ended up being a much better match though. These two “rookies” came out looking like they had something to prove and not a bum knee, bleeding eye or split open chin were going to stop them. Langston’s untapped in-ring potential is intriguing to see develop & Ambrose appears to be sneaking in things that set him apart from the other members of The Shield weekly. I don’t think there’s a doubt in anyone’s mind that Ambrose is going to be the first Shield member to breakout on his own & this match was a good showcase of two guys who will probably be around for a long time.
6. CM Punk vs Ryback and Paul Heyman was nothing but a letdown. I should have known this wasn’t going to turn out well when Heyman’s lift driver forgot how to make the damn thing move forward. Then Heyman positions himself on top of the cell instead of in it despite the fact that there were probably many pay-per-views bought thinking CM Punk was going to face Paul Heyman inside Hell in a Cell. That, of course, “treats” us to another one-on-one Hell in a Cell match between Punk and Ryback. I really don’t think many people were clamoring for a rematch from last year’s show. Instead of the Punk/Heyman intense blow-off match I believe a lot of people are ready for, we received a glorified cage match between a limited in-ring performer and a hurt CM Punk. There was a lot that could have been done in this match & instead it felt like nothing happened.
7. I thought the whole reason for the Los Matadores/Real Americans match was for Antonio Cesaro to “Cesaro Swing” El Torito. He failed at that but had a nice rotation going with one of the Matadores. In the end though, El Torito took out all three members of the Real Americans. How can they ever be taken seriously again? Oh and did Los Matadores new costumes remind anyone else of the Ninja Turtles?
8. John Cena is back and thus the return of “SUPER-CENA”! Hey, I’m all for getting the championship off of Alberto Del Rio. It was pretty obvious that his title reign had run its course but to put the belt on John Cena his first match back is ridiculous. Why not have him chase Del Rio for a few weeks at least, playing up the story that he’s not 100% and needs to overcome the odds to be champion? The one good thing that came out of this is that, for now at least, it looks like John Cena is being kept out of the WWE Championship picture & away from the Daniel Bryan/Randy Orton/Authority storyline. But how is that going to play out? Obviously Cena is going to be on Raw every week so are they just going to ignore that fact and hope the fans don’t notice that Cena isn’t coming to Bryan’s aid? They booked themselves into a weird situation by putting the World Heavyweight Championship on Cena & I sure hope they have something planned out.
9. Another good match (by Divas standards) between AJ and Brie Bella that also began the tease of the Bellas splitting up. I’m hoping this puts an end to the Brie chasing AJ’s Divas title & she can take on more of the “Miss Elizabeth” role with Daniel Bryan. There are PLENTY of other Divas on both the main roster & ready to be called up from NXT that can have a good program with AJ.
10. Now this may just be me but I felt like Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton were actually hindered by the Cell rather than it being a good tool to settle a long grudge. With the restrictions placed on performers in the WWE today, there’s very little a Hell In A Cell match can accomplish featuring a guy like Daniel Bryan. 5-10 years ago, Bryan would be bleeding, diving off the roof of the Cell and generally pulling out every babyface trick in the book. Here we saw a typical No DQ match between Orton & Bryan except whenever they would try to use the Cell it seemed like a forced spot. I would have rather seen a strong one-on-one match with Shawn Michaels as the conflicted referee than what we saw in this match. But I had no problem at all with the finish. While most people probably thought we’d finally see Daniel Bryan win the WWE Championship for good, I don’t think that’s the story anymore. The story now is between Daniel Bryan and Triple H & now how Bryan has to work his way back into title contention. The HBK superkick fit what was happening in the match, especially if the idea is that Shawn thought Bryan pushing Orton into him was on purpose & then Michaels only saw Bryan hit Triple H with the knee strike for apparently no reason. They certainly have a lot of explaining to do on Raw but the final shot of Triple H selling the knee strike but smiling as he raised Orton’s hand was a good enough image to end the show on, for me anyway.
