Hell in a Cell, the WWE’s annual pay-per-view that forces square pegs into round holes in order to try to make a buck, is coming up this Sunday. HIAC matches are no longer special and haven’t been for a decade. These are 10 matches that should never have been put inside Hell in a Cell.
Note: These are not the 10 worst Hell in a Cell matches. They are just matches that should not have been put inside the giant cage in the first place.
#10 Triple H vs. Chris Jericho (Judgment Day - May 19, 2002)
After a feud for the WWE Undisputed Championship that was uglier than sin, Chris Jericho found himself without any footing whatsoever in WWE. He didn’t even get a match on the PPV event directly after he main evented WrestleMania 18 in a losing effort against Triple H.
How did WWE rectify this? The following month, Chris Jericho got put inside the Hell in a Cell with Triple H. He was beaten bloody and lost the match on top of the cage, pinned after taking a Pedigree. It was the 8th Hell in a Cell match and the first that concluded outside of the ring.
WWE never even said that it was falls count anywhere rules. It had not been mentioned in any of the 7 prior matches. In any event, it was an average match that had no right to being put inside Hell in a Cell.
#9 The Undertaker vs. CM Punk (Hell in a Cell - October 4, 2009)
It was the first annual Hell in a Cell PPV event. Both of the World Titles obviously had to be contested for in the event’s eponymous match, so why not put a cold feud inside Hell in a Cell?
Also read: Top 5 superstars who excel at Hell in a Cell matches
The match itself was no good (less than 10 minutes featuring Punk getting beat up like he stole Linda from Vince) and it made no sense to have it inside the Cell. Of course it also made no sense to create a yearly pay-per-view based on doing multiple Hell in a Cell matches on the same night, but they’ve been doing that for 7 years, so what do I know?
#8 DX - Triple H & Shawn Michaels vs. Legacy - Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase, Jr (Hell in a Cell - October 4, 2009)
From the same evening as the prior match (that also had John Cena vs. Randy Orton in the structure), this was actually a really, really good match. The problem was that they could have done the exact match without using the gimmick. It could have been a regular No-DQ Tornado Tag match or even a regular cage match.
Also read: Hell in a Cell PPV was always a bad move
Putting a match like this inside Hell in a Cell was just a total misstep. This was two young guys who looked like complete chumps for the entirety of their feud with the goofball 40-year-olds acting like 15-year-olds. Then, after comedy and silliness, a slight bit of serious tension happens, and WWE announces a PPV based on doing Hell in a Cell matches.
Hey, HHH and HBK are huge stars! They DESERVE to be inside Hell in a Cell! The only thing that saves this is how great of a match it actually was. Seek it out.
#7 The Undertaker vs. Shane McMahon (WrestleMania 32 - April 3, 2016)
Shane McMahon’s return was great. Nobody saw it coming and it has led to him taking an understated role as SmackDown’s commissioner who doesn’t show up often.
Before that, he was a regular character on RAW for a few months and as a McMahon, he was a breath of fresh air playing the role of a not-annoying, not-heel member of the McMahon family. When it comes to his chance to return full-time, though, that’s where WWE made a mistake.
Not only should this not have been inside Hell in a Cell, but the match should never have happened at all. Vince couldn’t come up with an opponent for The Undertaker, so he put his son in a Hell in a Cell match and told him to jump off of the top of the cage.
Well, that was probably Shane’s idea.
#6 CM Punk vs. Ryback (Hell in a Cell - October 28, 2012)
This is the definition of a match that happened only because of the name of the PPV.
Ryback was just breaking into the main event scene, and this was the first televised match between him and WWE Champion CM Punk. Imagine putting two guys inside Hell in a Cell, a match made to end blood feuds and long, storied rivalries, in their first match against each other.
Oh, WWE, such a rousing bunch of creative individuals.
The match was no good, Ryback continued vying for (and failing to win) the WWE Title through the end of the winter, and then he went down the card further and further until he left WWE earlier this year.
#5 Randy Orton vs. Sheamus (Hell in a Cell - October 3, 2010)
Beginning to see a pattern? Four of the six matches on this list so far have occurred at the PPV of the same name. Two of them happened on the same night!
Sheamus defeated John Cena at TLC 2009 to win the WWE Championship in his first opportunity. He defeated Randy Orton the next month at the Royal Rumble PPV to retain his title by disqualification.
The next month, he lost the title inside the Elimination Chamber to John Cena. He lost to Triple H, his real-life workout buddy next, at WrestleMania 26. We’re going to continue chronicling Sheamus’ year just to explain why his match with Orton should not have been inside Hell in a Cell.
At Extreme Rules, Sheamus did his first legitimately brutal action, as he defeated Triple H in an Extreme Rules match and then put him on the shelf for 10 months. He didn’t even get a spot on the card the next month at Over The Limit, although he did beat up John Cena after a gruelling I Quit match that he won over Batista.
Sheamus won the WWE Title for a second time at the next PPV, Fatal Four Way in, you guessed it, a Fatal Four Way match, with Cena, Orton and Edge as his opponents.
He defeated John Cena in a cage match at Money in the Bank the next month (hey, another unnecessary gimmick match!) and then successfully defended the title against Randy Orton at SummerSlam when he lost by DQ after not agreeing to give the referee a chair.
He didn’t actually hit Orton with the chair. He just said “no” to the ref when told not to use it.
The next month at Night of Champions, Sheamus lost the title in yet another multi-man match, as Randy Orton pinned him in a 6-man elimination match to become the new WWE Champion. And then finally, at Hell in a Cell, the two men went at it in a tame, tame, tame (and lame) match inside the Hell in a Cell structure.
Not quite a series of events that you would expect to lead to a HIAC match. If anything, Triple H should have returned and challenged Sheamus to a Hell in a Cell match. That would have actually made sense.
#4 Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins (Hell in a Cell - October 30, 2016)
This match hasn’t happened yet, but it still isn’t proper.
It will likely be a really good match (possibly great if Owens delivers on his promises of destruction) but it has no business being inside Hell in a Cell. There has barely even been a feud between these two guys. Owens successfully defended his title against Rollins at Clash of Champions, and then only a month later it’s time for them to step inside Hell in a Cell, apparently.
Rollins’ beef isn’t even with Kevin Owens. He hates Triple H, who gave Owens the title. It could have been Titus O’Neil in this match if Triple H decided to give him the title at the beginning of September.
Stupid.
#3 DX - Triple H & Shawn Michaels vs. Vince McMahon, Shane McMahon & Big Show (Unforgiven - September 17, 2006)
This was a feud based on comedy. I use that term loosely.
DX vs. The McMahons was a travesty and insulting to everybody watching. Because it had been almost a year since they last did Hell in a Cell, and because somebody came up with the great idea to make a new and “improved” version that made it nearly impossible to see anything on the camera shots from outside of the cell.
The list isn’t about whether or not the match is any good, but this match wasn’t very good. And DX pulled down Big Show’s tights to make Vince McMahon join the Kiss My Ass Club. So much fun, right?
#2 Mark Henry vs. Randy Orton (Hell in a Cell - October 2, 2011)
The Hall of Pain! Both Randy Orton and Mark Henry were unstoppable in the fact that they were both having great matches with everybody. It was the run of Mark Henry’s life, and it allowed him to achieve the goal of becoming World Heavyweight Champion.
After a very good match at Night of Champions that saw Henry defeat Orton to become champion, they put this match inside Hell in a Cell. Why? Because it was a title match at the annual Hell in a Cell event, of course!
The two men had barely interacted before the match at Night of Champions, and suddenly they are inside Hell in a Cell? They had another good match that saw Henry retain the title, but the cage had little involvement whatsoever, and they could have had the exact same match without it.
#1 CM Punk vs. Ryback & Paul Heyman (Hell in a Cell - October 27, 2013)
One year after the very first meeting between Ryback and CM Punk, a rematch (somewhat) occurred. This time the roles were reversed, as Paul Heyman had double-crossed Punk and took on Ryback as a new Paul Heyman Guy. It was a dreadful feud, a dreadful match, and putting it inside Hell in a Cell was just ridiculous.
WWE just does their regular feuds, and because it happens to be October, they put the main event matches inside Hell in a Cell no matter how long or heated a rivalry has (or usually has not) become. Most of them would be better off as either normal matches, No DQ or, occasionally, regular cage matches.
This match is the perfect choice to have been a cage match.
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