WWE Hell in a Cell Reax

Read on for my thoughts on last night's Raw special event.
- Kickoff:
- Bayley on the panel:
Fine enough to sell a story of having to fight through an injury.

Bayley definitely makes sense as the next No. 1 contender.

- TJP/Kendrick:
This has been good. Brian's manipulative and Perkins is setting himself up as an honorable champion.

- Swann on the panel:
Umm Booker you made the spinaroonie a thing for more than a decade, you have no place to try to bury Swann for dancing. That did the opposite of selling the big story between Perkins and Kendrick.

- Cedric/Dorado/Cara vs. Nese/Gulak/Daivari:
It's worth noting Mauro couldn't tell Cara from Lince. How are we, as the audience, supposed to distinguish them as athletes and characters? They do some different moves, but otherwise they're about the same as each other and as Kalisto. I'd like each man to have more of a character.

Pretty meaningless MOVES match so far.

I enjoy Gulak's submissions.

Impressive stuff overall.

I would have marked for the dragon sleeper ending it.

Solid athleticism all around.

- New Day:
The champs burying Tom is great.

This isn't selling the match tonight, but it's hilarious.

- HIAC:
- Roman vs. Rusev:
Good aggression early.

Pretty big brawl they've got going on here.

Slugfest City.

GREAT heel move by Rusev to throw away the table fans were chanting for in order to use a kendo stick instead. +10 kayfabe points for MACHKA man.

It's a little hard to believe those cane shots hurting with  Reigns keeping the body armor on... and then Rusev breaking the cane over his own leg.

This is heating up pretty nicely.

NICE counter to the spear. That and the shot to the steps could have been a good ending.

Pretty good Accolade spot.

I like the use of the chain.

An Accoalde with a chain is pretty hardcore. Damn.

Pretty good counter to the Accolade, although that's going to continue the Super-Roman complaints.

Nice ending to a big clash of hosses.

- Owens promo:
KO's right about wins and losses not being everything. Seth got the win, but Owens destroyed him after the match and now Seth isn't 100% going into the big title match.

Good intensity from the champ. He can be a convincing psychopath.

- Bayley vs. Dana:
Dana combines her natural athletic ability with a lot of trash talking to be an effective heel.

Solid work on the arm.

Bayley's doing a good job adapting to her condition here.

Pretty straightforward win for the former NXT Women's Champion. She's got to be next in line for the winner of Sasha vs. Charlotte, right?

- Foley/Steph/Y2J:
I definitely doubt Survivor Series will be the only time we see Raw vs. Smackdown. WM33, for instance.

Not a great segment overall. I do think it's an interesting idea to have the respective top champions in action in the big Raw vs. Smackdown matches at next month, although I wonder who will fill out the card in that scenario?

- Enzo/Cass promo:
Ooooooh. They've got a point with their opponents being generic. They've been really uninspiring in WWE.

- Enzo/Cass vs. Club:
I pretty much which Luke and Karl did head to TNA given their run so far. They've had some moments, but nothing like people were hoping. Things could have been saved had Balor not been injured, but without a leader to play off, they're just two big blokes.

Granted, Luke and Karl are mobile big blokes who can do some serious damage.

Cass could probably beat these two by himself. This is pretty one-sided. Gotta pay your dues, I guess.

Surprising win from Those Guys Who Used To Team With AJ And Finn Balor. Mostly good match.

- Owens vs. Rollins:
I liked both men going at it right out of the gate, with Owens trying to get weapons.

Owens not wanting to go through a table, then going after Rollins' back was smart. If he could win in two minutes with a rear chinlock, that's a good night for him. Why shorten his career when he can retain the title and get out of dodge?

GOOD GAWD what a lawn dart spot.

Uggghhhh the dreaded "do a bunch of big moves that aren't sold" sequence.

That double-table setup looks SICK.

Things are even dangerous for the referee in this kind of match!

I would think Stephanie and Foley could come out with bolt cutters or something (unless they're in on screwing Seth out of the title opportunity).

All that crossfit paid off for Seth. That was a hell of a powerbomb.

I hope Jericho didn't just get Finn Balored.

I generally love a match that ends up involving tables, chairs, etc. if they're incorporated into a great story like they are here.

The Best Friends do it again!

- Post-match:
That was just evil.

- TJP vs. Kendrick:
Good athleticism early. So much for a Fingerpoke of Doom ending.

Interesting spot with the wrist tape. I like how devious the challenger can be,

Perkins is definitely an amazing athlete. His years of work have served him well.

There's a good story here of the high-flying, hardworking dynamo against the crafty technician making his opponent work a different pace.

I love the submissions back and forth.

TJP's about to get reeled right in.

BASED Man With a Plan. I hope TJP rebounds; definitely glad to see Brian holding the title, though.

- Sheamus/Cesaro backstage:
More tryhard WWE comedy. I'm ready for this angle to wrap up.

- New Day promo:
Pretty good to sell the match and, of course, pander.

At least Kofi makes the most of having had the Jamaican gimmick,

- Big E/Woods vs. Sheamus/Cesaro:
Fun story with the challengers so far.

I really like Big E. I hope he's a future Universal Champion. Not necessarily in, say, 2017, but definitely at some point.

Sheamus is pretty impressive himself. I wouldn't mind him being part of more big main events in the future.

We don't get to see as much of Xavier, but he's good here, too.

I like some of what we've seen from Cesaro in WWE, but I'm not really a fan of what his shtick is now.

I don't normally like big guys flying, but that spot was done pretty well.

That was a pretty good sharpshooter spot.

Francesca 2! NNNOOOOOOO!!

Not a booty ending, all things considered. It certainly didn't hurt Cesaro.

- Brock/Goldberg package:
I don't know if that was new or I had missed it previously, but Brock was great at setting himself up as the heel.

- Charlotte entrance:
That was pretty cool.

- Sasha entrance:
And that might have actually been cooler.

- Charlotte vs. Sasha:
NICE start. Clever to do something different from the other two Cell matches and involve the crowd.

AS GAWD AS MAH WITNESS SHE IS BROKEN IN HALF. They're going all out.

Sasha's going to get a really ridiculous comeback, isn't she?

Sasha's got determination! I'll give her that.

That monkey flip bump looked NASTY. She's taking some big abuse here.

Nice Meteora spot.

I liked the Eddie homages.

This match was basically sold as "these two are going to try to hurt themselves and each other so much they'll have trouble walking in twenty years." They're certainly giving it their all to achieve that goal!

This is getting pretty brutal.

I think that table was supposed to break.... Pretty solid match, but once again Sasha comes up short in a big match.

More wrestling coming up.