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Hell in a Cell 2017


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Thanks to Shane, future generations are going to wonder what the big deal was about Foley getting thrown off the cell.

 

Excellent point, and I think that is another reason why I philosophically didn't agree with this match. What Foley did was special and unique, and it's being diluted and devalued for no constructive reason. It's not like Shane McMahon needs to do stuff like that to add to his illustrious wrestling career. I really don't get the point of his doing bumps like that, other than raising the "stupid bump" bar for no reason.

 

Overall, I thought this was actually a pretty good show, but I have some issues with that Main Event.

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Was honestly my favorite WWE ppv of the year. I tend to be way off from a lot of folks thoughts on this board nowadays so I rarely comment at length, but I didn't think there was a match on the show worse than decent (didn't see the pre-show match). People can say what they want about Jinder v. Nak but it was heated and I can't say that for the women's match that is being praised (which i also liked for structure reasons, but it really was Divas era level in terms of crowd response). I have no clue if Shane v. Owens was good or bad. But I was on the edge of my seat watching it. For spectacle guys with bad cardio that was a vastly more entertaining offering than what we got out of Brock v. Braun. I wouldn't blame anyone for hating it, but if Shane insists on wresting, Owens is one of the few guys on the roster I don't mind him wrestling at all. Usos and New Day killed it and managed to do a bunch of creative stuff with an excellent finish. Corbin winning the title is dumb since he gets no reaction when hitting great spots on AJ Styles, but the match was as good a triple threat match as I've seen in recent memory and an all time great AJ performance. I was also happy for Tye to get the match. Rusev and Orton was a solid match with a nice finish. Roode v. Dolph was just average, and I hate that the feud is continuing, but it wasn't terrible and that was the worst thing on the show.

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I fell asleep and missed it live. I just finished watching it. I cherry-picked what I watched, but I think I picked the right stuff.




I watched New Day/Usos (very creative), Natalya/Charlotte (good until the finish), and KO/Shane (more below). I skipped the rest of the matches because I knew exactly how they would end and I was right.


I think I'm going to watch all PPVs like this from now on, because it was so much more enjoyable this way and so much less of a slog.


I personally thought the main event was AWESOME. As a spectacle/stunt show, it delivered. And that Sami Zayn turn, as horrid as it sounded on paper, was really well-executed.

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Usos/New Day was a great opener to the show and didn't feel too contrived. There was personality and no sacrifice of a heated exchange and will to win. Loved it. Watching Roode/Ziggler wrestle to silence was pretty sad. I think they would both work best as a heel tag team and not feuding with each other. As a man who did not enjoy the Natalie/Charlotte match from NXT and believe it to be one of the most overrated WWE matches of the last 5 years--this PPV match did nothing for me. I still believe Natalie is employed based purely off of her name and relationship to the Hart family. Cringeworthy at her worse and passable at her best. The main event was bad. Everything that I hate about HIAC all rolled up into one match. Breaking out of the cage, spots for the sake of spots (with absolutely no urgency), and of course the mandatory cage dive. The Zayn turn was interesting and unexpected. We shall see what happens with that.

 

As far as Rusev is concerned...I feel bad for the guy. He is a good worker and good promo and yet WWE can't really find anything for him to do. Wrestling Randy Orton at a PPV isn't considered 'something'. Not to mention, wrestling Orton is a really bad spot for anyone to be in. I will wish Rusev had the spot Jinder currently holds. Matches against Nakamura, Styles, Sami, and a motivated Orton could have been really fun. Toss in a few "Bulgarian Challenges" (jobber matches) and usual Rusev greatness (receiving the key to the city) and it would be a reign to remember!

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Rusev needs to go the Drew Mcintyre route. He's never going to be pushed when he's with Lana. Go on the indies and make them want to hire you back.

 

Thought the show was really good overall. Both Cell matches delivered. I can see why people hate Shane matches but I love them. Just crazy spotfests. Only match I didn't like was Roode/Ziggler. Ziggler is probably the worst guy on the roster not named Noam Dar.

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Rusev is literally everything Vince usually drools over, a big guy who can work and even can (usually) make the comedy stuff work as well. Yet he remains directionless and the best use they can come up with for him is generic foreign heel. Maybe theres still resentment that they couldnt break up him and Lana.

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Hopefully when Smackdown airs on Tuesday Shane fires Sami for that stunt he pulled.

 

I really wanted Shane to win considering he hasent won a single match since hes come back.

 

Agreed on both accounts. Of the Shane matches, this felt like the one he could've come away with the win considering he was avenging Vince and all.

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Soooooooo.....

 

Usos vs New Day was simply a terrific opener. I love garbage brawls. Old ECW fan. The only thing that was missing was blood, but they made up for it with sheer brutality and drama moments. A wee bit too demonstrative at times (as in overproduced), but the accumulative effect for the slaughter, with regularly working big spots that were creative yet not cutesy, erased that feeling overall. Hell, I'd say MOTYC for WWE.

 

That's it. It was a great PPV.

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Ok, fuck.

 

Didn't watch Orton vs Rusev. Everytime I see Orton, the pro-wrestling fandom in me dies a little bit. Plus I knew the result, really.

 

The three-way was all smoke and mirrors to make Corbin look like what he is not. Styles was Flair-in-his-prime level of greatness bumping like a madman to make his dull opponent look better than ever. Adding a jobber, basically, made zero sense storyline-wise, but it was two guys able to make Corbin look *good* instead of one. And a way to do a cop-out finish too, with the champ losing without loosing, which is a reason among others I don't like three-ways in general.

 

Natalya vs Charlotte was very good. Damn, I love solid work. Of course, the crowd sat on their ass because it wasn't a spot-show I guess. I thought Charlotte delivered a selling clinic, to the point I was wondering if she really didn't fuck up her knee. Best babyface performance I've seen on her part. I love that girl (and that wasn't the case at the beginning when she showed up in the main roster). She sure makes her daddy proud. Natalya was her super solid self, with good matwork (cool, some "scientific pro-wrestling", blast from the past). I don't mind the ending at all. It's old-school too and it makes sense and isn't just a cop-out like the previous one. More to come, I'm watching the next one between those two.

 

Nak vs Jinder. Yeah, right. I'm totally not gonna watch that. Hey, Mahal won clean. Fantastic use of Nakamura. I sure loved that Nak vs Zayn match before Mania last year, reminds me of Istanbul and shit (I was living in Istanbul then).

 

So, the new Ziggler gimmick is that old no-music crap they gave to Furnas & Lafon ? This guy should go see the world a little bit. How long has he been on their TV ? Bobby Roode is 40. Just saying. I wonder if he's taking anything, because he never, ever looked like that in TNA. He must take some Icopro. Not watching that either. I like Roode in TNA though, but that's enough for me.

 

Fuck me. Shane is one of the worst "wrestler" I've ever seen. He's laughably bad. I have no idea who would care about this kind of shit, to be honest. We know how it's going to end anyway, Shane is going take a bump from the top, so why even waste all this time ? And what is the appeal off seeing Shane dive of the cage anyway ? It's stupid, it's dangerous, it's an ego-trip from a guy who doesn't even need to work. In front of his kids and wife mind you, so if something goes wrong, well... All of this is both idiotic and despicable. And looks like shit too. The kids laughing makes Shane the worst Ricky Morton ever, that cracked me up. Ok, FF through the end. Shane jumps. Well, you know, as much as I have loved Mick Foley, I knew back then that the HITC was a stupid idea. We're still paying it 20 years later. Who the fuck cares about Shane breaking himself in pieces at this point ? He's like the richest New Jack ever. The match is horrible, the conclusion is predictably idiotic. Just everything wrong about pro-wrestling, no redeeming things about this. The kind of shit that would drove me away from wrestling if I cared about this company.

 

Oh yeah, Zayn aligning with Owens is like the best idea possible for a heel turn though. Plus the grumpy ones are gonna complain about "indy darlings" again, so that will be fun. That's the one positive spin on that entire debacle.

 

Hey, one MOTYC and a very good women's match was a good use of my pro-wrestling fan time.

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The New Day © vs. The Usos



Really great match. Lots of creative spots and big moments. It has some of the typical New Day wackiness but as it goes on, the intensity goes up and up and doesn't ever slow down. You have some crazy bumps into the Cell and a whole lot of energy from all four guys. Thought that Xavier Woods put in what might be the performance of his life as one of the most sympathetic babyface bumpers in the business today. Taking the chair from the top, getting battered with the kendo sticks, then eating the finish at the end. Big E, on the other hand, came off as a wonderfully intense hot tag who really gave importance and personality to this match. He seemed legitimately pissed at The Usos for trashing his friend up. The Usos were also great cocky heels just battering their way through the Tag Champs. Sure, there was no such thing as long term selling in here but it was a fun garbage match with a powerful ending. Another great match from these two teams.



****1/2




Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon



Yeah, I'm on the side that enjoyed this one. It was a compelling bumpfest and they filled up the time much, much better than the past few Hell in a Cell matches like the Taker-Shane or even the Brock-Taker one. That's my own personal opinion at least. I liked Owens' character work. A lot of people think the yelling and screaming are annoying, I get a kick out of it myself. I thought it lent a nice energy to his ringwork and even helped keep things pretty hot. I was tense for every move on the top of the Cell and I even enjoyed the fact that Owens couldn't bring himself to jump. Helps develop the idea that the guy really is just a grown schoolyard bully and that he has limits when it comes to trying to back up his talk. All the big spots paid off and we got the fantastic reveal of Sami Zayn turning heel(?). Thought it was really entertaining the whole way through. Entirely unnecessary and ridiculous but fun.



****

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I'm going to go out on a limb and say that I love Shane as a performer. No, I don't want to see him wrestling on TV every week. But in an era where hate-filled grudge matches are often just guys wandering from table spot to table spot, Shane brought this relentless intensity to the match that is so refreshing. Dare I commit sacrilege and and call it Hansen-esque? Not in quality, but the fact that he treated the whole match like a fight, he was always going for offense, if Owens let up on him, Shane would start firing off punches, forcing Owens to respond and cut him off. I miss that stuff so badly in modern wrestling. He sold everything. Really, outside of people not liking how his punches look, which I can't say I have a problem with, I don't get what was bad about his performance except that he's a McMahon.

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The opening tag was fucking wild! Everyone was bumping like total freaks from the first bell; Big E's spear straight into the cell was an insane bump to take in the first minutes of a match and it only got stronger from there with awesome moments. Woods eating the chair, The Usos swinging off with kendo sticks like they were hitting for home runs and then shit talking Kofi, the handcuffs and continued kendo beatings, guys getting punched in the ear, the ridiculous uranage onto Woods' knees that looked even nastier because it was sloppy, just some violence ass violence and an awesome performance from all 4 guys.

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The Usos Vs. New Day was great & there was no way that anyone was going to follow that anyway but the rest of the show was really downhill. It will probably be a MOTYC for me but the rest of the show was completely skippable.

 

They brought an intensity in that match that was both unexpected, appreciated & not matched on the rest of the card. Good stuff.

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Had a great time at the show, although it felt very long. Pre-show match was at 7.30 and the show finished at 11.45. That's just too long for a wrestling show, especially when everyone, bar the women and Rusev, pretty much works the same way.

 

So typically WWE that the only babyface who went over strong on the show was Randy fucking Orton.

 

I'm shit at judging crowd size but I'd say the arena was maybe 3/4 full. Hard cam side was very sparse, but I guess that's normal anyway. Crowd seemed hot. Most over guy on the show was definitely Styles. They should just have him win the rumble at this point I think. Next most over was probably Nak. Women and Ziggler/Roode got the most lukewarm reactions. In the case of the women, I think you're just not going to get a hot crowd unless you're working a spot-heavy style.

 

I love looking at what shirts people are wearing. Most popular in that regard were definitely New Day. Far and away actually. Lot of Bullet Club shirts... A few KO. Actually saw two different people wearing Jinder shirts, which is amazing to me. I was thinking of buying a Rusev shirt, but apparently he isn't a big enough deal to have a single piece of merch.

 

Again, really fun show live.

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To be fair Sami has been built up as a heel for months whether he knew it or not. All those months of him cutting promos that while the intention was good the method was either obnoxious, over the top, or preachy wasn't helping him. By this time the only baby faces that liked him was Becky Lynch and Nakamura and I think Nak liked him because he was goofy

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I'm going to go out on a limb and say that I love Shane as a performer. No, I don't want to see him wrestling on TV every week. But in an era where hate-filled grudge matches are often just guys wandering from table spot to table spot, Shane brought this relentless intensity to the match that is so refreshing. Dare I commit sacrilege and and call it Hansen-esque? Not in quality, but the fact that he treated the whole match like a fight, he was always going for offense, if Owens let up on him, Shane would start firing off punches, forcing Owens to respond and cut him off. I miss that stuff so badly in modern wrestling. He sold everything. Really, outside of people not liking how his punches look, which I can't say I have a problem with, I don't get what was bad about his performance except that he's a McMahon.

 

I'm with you all the way on this one. This felt like the most heated rivalry in WWE this year. Not wrestling every week but 2-3 times a year makes him come off as a real special attraction and he goes all the way out to deliver every time. He was in my personal favorite match of 2017 (v Styles) and 2016 (Survivor Series) so I look forward to his matches every time. Didn't love the finish here but enjoyed the entire 35+ minute match as a wild spectacle.

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So fill me in. I've only been casually following the build. Was Sami Zayn involved in the build to this match at all? I saw some discussion of Smackdown teases of a turn.

Yes. Essentially what Johnny said. There were several backstage segments with Sami trying to talk sense into both Owens & Shane. It's also worth noting that on SmackDown two weeks ago Zayn & Owens had a match. Owens did the apron powerbomb on Zayn & then tried to break his neck by wrapping a chair around his head. Shane came out to help Zayn, but Owens pushed the hurt Sami into a charging Shane with the chair going into Sami's throat. We'll have to wait & see, but that seemed to be a case of foreshadowing of Zayn getting involved.

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I considered the Shane/Taker match to be one of the worst matches I've ever seen...but I have to admit to enjoying last night's match.

 

I know it doesn't make much sense, but I think it has a lot to do with the build and Owens as a character/"athlete." Taker was protected for so long that seeing Shane go toe-to-toe with him made no kayfabe sense. With Owens, I didn't catch myself saying, "Shane isn't trained, he shouldn't be able to beat this guy" because Owens has always been presented as a dangerous, tough, but heavily flawed fighter more than an unbeatable monster or, in the case of Taker, a supernatural-powered MMA-inspired legendary badass. Against Kurt Angle, against AJ, even against Kane back in the day, the fact that Shane was able to hold his own could be rightly criticized...but Owens, with his poutine gut and basketball shorts, is a rough bully to deal with, but he's not a superman.

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