Dot Net reader Nathan Saegi attended the WWE Hell in a Cell event in Los Angeles, California on Sunday and sent the following report.
The crowd was hot for the kick off match. Cesaro really got a chance to shine. I think he over utilizes the running uppercut (whatever happened to the pop up uppercut, which was killer), but the crowd was behind him. Side note, his music is not great. The siren that kicks in as he enters the ring is simply irritatingly loud live. A good solid crowd pleasing opener.
I thought starting with John Cena was cool. The Zeb Colter and Alberto Del Rio pairing made no real sense. The L.A. crowd was the right place for Del Rio to return, but a clean and super quick win over Cena was odd. Wasn’t Daniel Bryan two years ago and Owens main roster debut the only other times recently?! Del Rio in WWE has been wooden historically. I wasn’t over the moon, but the live crowd enjoyed it. No one saw the pin coming.
Bray Wyatt and Roman Reigns had a very solid match. The crowd wasn’t behind anyone in particular early on but were into the match quality (hence the premature ‘this is awesome’ chant). They put on a good show. These should be two of the guys of the future.
New Day continues to impress. Unicorns are over now. A lot of people joined in on the act of unicorn finger (how strange that is to say!). The Lakers line was cheap heat, but I enjoyed it. The crowd did boo the Dudleys mistake but very pleased it didn’t turn into that awful ECW chant. The trombone spot seemed like an ode to Eddie and was a nice touch. The next logical step has to be spike doesn’t it? Give the Dudleys some mic time please!
Charlotte vs. Nikki Bella was what it was. The slam on the apron was brutal. I liked that. The weird spot where Charlotte didn’t bridge didn’t come off particularly well and isn’t the reversal supposed to hurt Charlotte? So a few of us didn’t understand why Nikki would grab the ropes to break a hold she was in control of. Strange. The crowd didn’t turn on it and were involved in the end. We were waiting for the Paige turn (that happened weeks ago… Didn’t it?! Ugh) and again nothing. Hopefully Survivor Series is the end of this faction stuff.
Seth Rollins vs. Kane. The good: I’m glad Seth won clean. The crowd was respectful of Kane which was good. It’s not he’s booking himself in a spot too high! I don’t mind Kane the character and he’s pretty clever in his backstage segments, but he’s not a main eventer anymore.
Kevin Owens vs. Ryback was in the death spot, same as Owens at SummerSlam. There’s not much chance to steal the show there. Oh well. It was what it was. I want to see Owens wrestle someone who is maybe a little more advanced in the ring than Ryback.
Man, did the crowd come to life for Undertaker and Brock. Unlike Brooklyn, which was closer to 50/50, this was a very pro Taker crowd. No one was neutral and they never will be with these two. So how’s that for a lesson that wins and losses matter?! Every chance he gets, Paul Heyman talks about winning and not losing. The match matters. It’s not cloak and dagger stuff. It’s not meaningless. Then you get a crowd feeling like their guy needs to win, unlike the Wyatt vs. Reigns match where the ‘work’ is cheered. The ‘this is awesome’ in Taker vs. Brock was secondary. I wanted Brock to win just as much as the guy next to me wanted Taker to win. That’s real energy. No other match mattered like this and that’s what. Is missing right now.
The match itself was enjoyable and hard hitting. Those punches Brock threw from Hell’s Gate were vicious. Brock pushed the trainer over when he tried to tend to Taker. I liked it. It made it feel legit and, again, like winning mattered. The crowd was hot. I enjoyed the low blow in context and we’ve seen Brock go over clean before and have a tainted loss so that was fair booking. The crowd very respectful towards Taker and most of us left a bit dumbfounded by the Wyatt attack. I guess this’ll be Taker, Kane, Reigns, and Ambrose vs. The Wyatts at Survivor Series? I don’t mind the rub that could give the younger guys.
All in all a decent show with a main event that was easily the highlight.
