Hell in a Cell comes to us from the TD Garden in Boston Massachusetts.
Here is a short clip of the 6 man Cruiserweight Tag Team match that happened on the kickoff show. The babyfaces, Lice Dorado, Sin Cara and Cedric Alexander picked up the win.
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Roman Reigns (C) vs Rusev (w) Lana US Championship Bout
They start off trading bombs, trying to get the better of each other. Both men are powerhouses in their own right and are the joust for early dominance is understandably hard-hitting.
The bad blood brewing between these two for a couple of months now ensures that there is no showcase wrestling match on display, as the Cell comes into play pretty quickly. Both men send the other crashing into steel.
Duelling chants of ‘Let’s go Roman, Roman sucks!’ break out, as both men up the intensity. This match is breaking out into a fight, as both look for anything that can grant them an edge over the other.
In Rusev’s estimation, that amounts to ramming the steel steps on Reigns and sending him face first into the cell. He throws the steps into the ring, sets it up on top of the turnbuckle. Ominous intentions from Rusev, but those crunching right hands of Reigns are great equalisers.
The audience chant for tables as Rusev delves beneath the ring and teases it. Instead, he decides to unearth a Kendo stick. Before he can use it though, Reigns hits him with the Drive-by and assumes control of the weapon.
He unleashes one stiff shot after another to the torso of Rusev. Ouch. Those look nasty. But in the melee that ensues after that, Reigns gets tangled up in the ropes. Easy prey for Rusev, as he lands 9 unanswered Kendo stick shots to the body of Reigns (he has a shield on for god’s sakes)
When Rusev attempts to follow up with a killer blow, Reigns explodes out of the ropes with a flying clothesline (cue another botch by Michael Cole). The fight picks up pace again, as both men look intent to kill off the match now.
Reversals galore, as Reigns hits a Superman Punch out of nowhere! Near fall! Rusev’s turn now as he sends Roman face first into the steel steps before attempting to lock in the Accolade. Nothing doing as Roman escapes!
They need to dig deeper to put each other away, and naturally, Rusev returns to rummaging underneath the ring and resurfaces with a chain wrapped around his fist. Reigns manages to avert disaster for a while with a barrage of punches, but can’t keep Rusev off for long.
Chain shots to the back is followed up by the introduction of another steel steps into the ring, where Rusev locks in the Accolade using the steel chain! Will Reigns tap? Of course not. He reverses and slams Rusev on top of the steel steps using a Samoan Drop.
He follows it up with a nasty spear from on top of the steps. Cover! 1,2,3!
Reigns retains!
Result: Roman Reigns def. Rusev via pinfall
Bayley vs Dana Brooke
Bayley comes into this match with Kinesio Tape wrapped heavily around her arm. Do I really need to describe what happens? Dana Brooke viciously targets Bayley’s injured right shoulder and arm. (Michael Cole manages to botch by referring to the other arm as injured, meanwhile)
After a barrage of boderline innovative submission and medium-impact moves to the injured arm of Bayley, the Hugger makes a huge but predictable comeback, all the while clutching her injured arm, and hits the Belly to Bayley on Dana Brooke.
Cover! 1,2,3!
Result: Bayley def. Dana Brooke via pinfall
Enzo and Cass vs The Club
Enzo and Cass are out first, and they got rhymes. (predictably) A bunch of cheap pops later, after the S-A-W-F-T routine, Corey Graves chimes in with the quip of the day: ‘Thank god that is over!’
Cue, The Club.
They make an uneventful entrance and the match kicks off. Another predictably routine match, with Enzo selling most of the Club's offence like his life depended on it. QUickly enough, although, he makes the hot tag to Cass who runs through both Anderson and Gallows like a freight train.
That offence, however, isn’t enough as the Club manage to get Cass out of the picture long enough to isolate Enzo and hit him with the Magic Killer. Cover! 1,2,3!
Result: The Club def. Enzo and Cass via pinfall
Kevin Owens vs Seth Rollins WWE Universal Championship
This is weird. Kevin Owens, the Champion, is out first. Seth Rollins follows. Both men are cheered wildly by the crowd. This should be a good match.
Immediately the actions spills over on to the outside as both men go after each others’ throats. They exchange offence, mixing in vicious chops to the chest with the occasional ring-savvy move, as both men scrape to gain control of the match.
Rollins manages to beat down Owens sufficiently to garner enough separation to draw out the table as the audience chants their approval. But before he can put it to use, Owens takes over out of think air by slamming his head against the steel.
He follows that up with an outrageous cannonball on the outside, as Rollins gets caught between a rock (cell) and a hard place (an onrushing Kevin Owens). The audience gets especially sparked into life because of this, and the momentum only snowballs from here.
An insane Superkick sequence is followed by Owens setting up two tables, one inclined on top of another, hinging off the ropes. That should make for an INSANE spot. He then fishes underneath the ring and procures a fire extinguisher, which he promptly hits Rollins with, before spraying it over the referee’s face.
As another official helps the referee out of the Cell, Jericho comes running down and manages to weasel into the Cell and locks out the original referee. It’s effectively 2 on 1 now! Rollins, however, fights off Jericho and displays INCREDIBLE strength in hitting the running powerbomb on Owens through the two tables!
That should be it! No! Jericho breaks up the count by pulling out the referee just as he was about to count 3! Incensed, Rollins goes after Jericho and Owens recuperates using the time-off. He meets the incoming Rollins with a Pop-up Powerbomb! Cover! 1,2, Kickout!
Rollins kicked out of the Pop-up Powerbomb.
Owens can’t believe it. The audience can’t believe it. Jericho can’t believe it. That’s it. JeriKO retrieve 3 chairs into the ring, and start pasting Rollins with chair shots. Owens sets up two chairs facing one another, and reels in Rollins for another Pop-up Powerbomb.
This time, he nails him with it on top of both the chairs. That should be it! Cover. 1,2,3!
Kevin Owens, with a lot of help from Chris Jericho, defeats Seth Rollins.
Result: Kevin Owens def. Seth Rollins via pinfall
Jericho isn’t quite done though, as he returns for afters and lays Rollins out with a Codebreaker before leaving.
TJ Perkins vs Brian Kendrick WWE Cruiserweight Championship
The match is a to-and-fro affair, with both men trying to impose their game plan on the other. Kendrick looking to make it scrappy while Perkins trying to keep it high-flying and flashy as has been his wont.
TJ Perkins mixes in a couple of nice high flying moves in there, but Kendrick seems to have a penchant for hanging in there even when the going gets tough. Perhaps due to the great match that we witnessed before this, the crowd seems highly unresponsive to this bout.
Both men seem to be fighting the crowd as much as each other. Oh wait, Kendrick is hurt coming off the turn buckle. He seems to be in legitimate pain as he clutches his ankle area. Or is the knee?
Immaterial, as the referee seems to be preoccupied with helping him and even TJ Perkins is in close attendance, trying to help his mentor back to his feet. Oh wait. He suckered him in.
Kendricks nails Perkins with a headbutt and locks in the Captain’s Hook! With nowhere to go, and caught by surprise, TJ Perkins taps out!
We have a new Champion!
Result: Brian Kendrick def TJ Perkins via submission
The New Day vs Sheamus and Cesaro WWE Raw Tag Team Championships
The New Day come out first and cut a largely nonsensical promo. And just when it is Sheamus’ turn to come out, Cesaro is out cutting short his entrance and stealing his thunder. This dysfunctional tag team should make for fun viewing.
Sheamus and Cesaro seem to be on on the same page, at least for now, as they work well in tandem to put the hurt on Xavier Woods. A barrage of uppercuts, each after tagging the other in, is followed by 10 beats to the barrell by Sheamus.
Xavier Woods seems to be unable to mount any offence by way of a comeback, but does enough to engineer enough separation to tag in Big E. Big E announces himself with three huge Belly to Belly suplexes, but is unable to sustain the offence as Cesaro comes back with a flying corkscrew uppercut.
Just as it looks like the unlikely team may pull off an upset, Sheamus misplaces a brogue kick and hits Cesaro. Xavier Woods looks to capitalise, but the Celtic Warrior makes amends by breaking up the pin, before going after Big E with the trombone on the outside.
He attempts to clock Kofi Kingston as well with it, but Kingston ducks under and nails him with Trouble in Paradise. The referee catches this happening and calls off the match, without noticing that Cesaro has Woods tapping in a Figure four!
Controversy! But the New Day retain.
Result: Sheamus and Cesaro def New Day via Disqualification
Sasha Banks vs Charlotte Raw Women’s Championship
Charlotte comes out to a chorus of boos, but Sasha’s entrance is met with her hometown fans serenading her with the loudest pop of the night.
Charlotte blindsides Sasha Banks as the Cell is on its way down. Charlotte sends Sasha face first into the announcer's table with the Cell halfway down and Sasha and Charlotte proceed to brawl in the crowd. Sasha tossed Charlotte back to ringside as the Cell is finally down. The Boss gets the announcer's table ready as Charlotte tries to climb the cell!!!
Sasha joins her and throws her down, Charlotte catches Sasha in a bad spot and powerbombs her through the Spanish announcer's table!
The match hasn't even officially started yet and we've already seen a brawl in the crowd, Charlotte trying to climb the cage and a broken announcer's table.
The referee is helping Sasha who can barely stand as the referee calls for EMT's. The doctor is on the verge of putting a neck brace on Sasha as Charlotte keeps on screaming for her Title!
Just as the ring announcer is about to announce Charlotte as the winner(?!) Sasha fights out of her neck brace and beats down two paramedics to enter the Cell. The bell is rung! The match is finally on the way ladies and gentlemen.
They exchange offence, but the whole match is playing out along the lines of Charlotte targetting Sasha’s injured and compromised back, and the Boss trying to fight out to establish her own offence.
Sasha sends Charlotte outside and slams her into the steel, but it still isn’t enough for Charlotte to stay down. They introduce a steel chair into the ring, setting it up, and the fight seems to center around who gets to slam the other one’s head onto it.
Charlotte wins that battle as she drops Sasha back first onto the chair! What a painful looking spot! Charlotte, however, is relentless as she uses the ringpost to bend Sasha the wrong way, with her back being the targetted area again.
Sasha fights out with a boot to Charlotte’s face, before nailing her against the Cell with repeated double knees. Sasha has taken over here, as she looks to dish out some punishment of her own. Double knees off the turnbuckles with a chair underneath certainly qualifies as that, as Charlotte seems helpless.
Not for long though, as Charlotte creates enough separation to buy herself time enough to set up a table on the outside. While she tries to set Sasha up for a Suplex off the turnbuckle onto the table, she slips and Sasha capitalises enough to kick her onto the table! Through the table Charlotte goes!
Sasha isn't satisfied however, as she sets up another table in the ring. Meanwhile, Charlotte recovers enough to slam Sasha on the table twice, both times without it breaking. Weird. But you know what’s even more absurd?
That Charlotte lands Natural Selection out of nowhere and covers Sasha Banks! 1,2,3! Charlotte wins!
Result: Charlotte def Sasha Banks via pinfall
That ending seemed so rushed and unconvincing. Was she even supposed to win? Was Sasha Banks legitimately too injured to continue? This match seemed so confusing. After starting off on a tear, it was a match filled with mediocre spots and not enough storytelling.
For a rowdy Boston crowd that was so whole-heartedly behind Sasha Banks, that was a shocker of an ending that left everyone disappointed.
