HELL IN A CELL THIS SUNDAY ON THE WWE NETWORK
by Tarron Coalson
MONDAY NIGHT RAW’s latest episode comes to us from Minneapolis, Minnesota and if you expected new developments this week, this wasn’t the week for you. It was a total build for HELL IN A CELL and included for the first time in my memory, a Paul Heyman promo that stunk.
The show started out with Chris Jericho coming out and informing everyone that someone had stolen The List Of Jericho and that there would be no Triple Threat main event unless he got the list back. His “best friend” Kevin Owens came out to tell him he’d help him find the list but was growing frustrated with Jericho’s fixation on the list. Stephanie McMahon came out next and told Chris that she would find out who took the list which of course, was followed by Seth Rollins, who had the list.
Rollins explained he was making a new list with Kevin Owens body parts for HELL IN A CELL and told Jericho that if he wanted the list, to come and get it and goes off backstage with Jericho following.
After a commercial, Stephanie McMahon confronts Rollins and asks him for the list, but he says it’s in the backstage area.
The first actual match of the night is Enzo Amore, accompanied by Big Cass going against Karl Anderson, accompanied by Luke Gallows. In an excellent twist, Gallows and Anderson have Enzo’s mike cut off and Enzo and Big Cass say they don’t need the mike and follow their intro with the crowd doing their entire entrance phases word for word. It you questioned why it’s now called Sports Entertainment, this is one of the reasons. The crowd likes to interact and have fun as well beyond the classic cheers and boo’s. It’s why guys like Daniel Bryan (who was/is an excellent wrestler), and Enzo and even James Ellsworth can get over.
The match itself is standard fare. At the end, the ref becomes distracted with Luke Gallows, so Big Cass sees opportunity and nails Anderson with a boot, allowing Enzo to roll him up and get the win.
Next up is a promo with Rusev for HELL IN A CELL.
The WWE Tag Team Champions New Day (Kofi Kingston and Big E Langston) are up next in a non title match against Sheamus and Cesaro, who are still fighting each other and continued doing so throughout the match, until the end. Cesaro was outside the ring and Big E launched Kofi over the top rope, only to have Kofi eat a tremendous forearm by Cesaro which laid him out cold. As Big E turned around, Sheamus nailed him with a Brogue Kick and shocked the champs by getting the win. Sheamus and Cesaro continued to fight after the match. I’m not sure they’ll actually put the belts on Sheamus and Cesaro, but it makes for an interesting watch on Sunday.
A recap of Goldberg’s appearance last week challenging Brock Lesnar on RAW followed. Then Chris Jericho is asking all the WWE Superstars backstage if they’ve seen the list.
Dana Brooke verses Bayley in a rematch of their stinker of a match last week, but Dana has a twist and challenges Bayley to an arm wrestling match, which Bayley accepts, even with a bad shoulder. Dana easily wins with the right hand with the bad shoulder by Bayley but then challenges her with the left hand as well. Bayley starts to win with the left, which is TOTALLY unbelievable and Dana sucker punches her and walks away from the ring.
Promo backstage follows with Chris Jericho, still looking for the list, and Stephanie McMahon. Jericho tells Stephanie that he’s not wrestling if the list isn’t found and Stephanie informs him that if he doesn’t wrestle, he’ll be suspended.
Curtis Axel verses Bo Dallas is next in a match caused by last week’s beat down of Axel by Dallas. Axel does a nice promo before the match, acknowledging his heritage of his Grandfather, Larry “The Ax” Hennig and his father, “Mr Perfect”, Curt Henning and that they’re in his home town of Minneapolis. Of course, none of this matters as Dallas gets the win by rolling up Axel after Axel dominated the majority of the match.
Expect more with this feud coming.
Next up is a WWE employee telling Chris Jericho that the list is right around the corner. When Jericho rounds the corner, he sees the list is being held by Braun Strowman. Jericho, very politely, asks for the list and then puts Strowman on the list for having it.
Promo with Roman Reigns about HELL IN A CELL follows.
A tag match is next with the Golden Truth, with Mark Henry at ringside faces The Shining Stars with Titus O’Neill in their corner. Wretched match that saw O’Neill cause the Shining Stars to lose and then Henry laying out O’Neill.
The high point of the show is next, but even it was awkward. The contract signing between WWE Ladies Champ Sasha Banks and challenger Charlotte, who they referred to again as Charlotte Flair by Mick Foley and commentators. Sasha and Charlotte started out well enough but then Foley tried to warn both about what they were getting into by signing the historic Ladies HELL IN A CELL match and how it destroyed his career. The ladies should have played “concern” better as Foley was speaking to them and again it ended up a little awkward because they didn’t.
Braun Strowman verses Sami Zayn is next, or so we think as Braun grabs the mic and addresses Mick Foley to get him some competition, totally disrespecting and turning his back on Zayn. Zayn, ends up smacking him in the back and gets in a few shots before Strowman catches Zayn flying over the top rope and slams him into the barricade and walks off. Zayn makes it back into the ring, challenging Braun, but Strowman continues to walk away.
Cruiserweight match is up next as Number One contender Brian Kendrick faces Rick Swann with WWE Cruiserweight Champ TJ Perkins is at ringside. Kendrick goes for his finisher, the Captain’s Hook, only to have Swann counter it into a roll up for the win. Afterwards, Kendrick is in the locker room with Perkins and basically tells Perkins that it’s his last chance this Sunday at HELL IN A CELL and asks Perkins to let him win.
I ranted last week about how WWE took a great Cruiserweight Classic and is totally killing the momentum by their booking of the Cruiserweight division and tonight was no different. If done right, this angle can work and I’m gonna show my age here, as Magnum TA and Mr. Wrestling II did in Mid South Wrestling many years ago, it can work. But this ain’t Mid South. I hope WWE gets it together with the Cruiserweights. They deserve better.
NEWS FLASH NEXT!! For the first time in my recollection, a Paul Heyman and Brock Lesner promo was terrible. It was a weird Twilight Zone moment. Oh, Heyman somewhat plugged the Goldberg challenge but it wasn’t good.
It was as if, Heyman was trying to incite the fans into chanting Goldberg, and then was going to accuse the crowd in Lesnar’s hometown of turning on him. The problem was that the crowd never got into the Goldberg chant, preferring to chant out “Suplex City” and “Goldberg Sucks”. Lesner just chuckled as he does, but I think this was legit as he knew it wasn’t working. Heyman, visibly frustrated. Threw the mike down and they walked out. You’d usually expect Heyman to switch gears and adapt, but that didn’t happen him. I guess even he can have an off night.
Promo announcing that next week RAW would be Halloween themed was next.
Lastly was the Triple Threat Match with Jericho, Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins and I’ll be the first to say it. The in ring wrestling between Rollins and Owens isn’t working. It should, but it’s not. Crowd’s not into it and it’s not their best work. Maybe they just don’t mix well together. It happens. Rollins ends up countering a double Superplex from the top rope and rolling up both Jericho and Owens, pinning them both. Afterwards, Jericho and Owens attack Rollins and Rollins fights back attacking Owens with Jericho disappearing. Owens comes back and Powerbombs Rollins on the ring apron. The same move that put Sami Zayn out for weeks. Rollins is left laying with the announcers saying there’s no way Rollins will be one hundred percent for HELL IN A CELL.
Again, it was just built up angles for HELL IN A CELL this Sunday but produced good interest for the Pay Per View this Sunday. I’m super excited for Sasha and Charlotte. Sasha wins on RAW, Charlotte’s 12 and 0 in Pay Per View’s. I think the trend will change and expect Sasha to retain her title.
I can’t see Seth Rollins winning here either. The rumor is that they’re setting up Rollins verses Triple H at Wrestlemania, so I don’t see how that would be helped here. The more likely scenario is Triple H somehow interfering to help Owens retain the title.
That leaves the WWE Tag Team titles and honestly, it’s a toss-up. They keep touting that New Day’s getting close to Demolition’s all time reign for time. But, they’re pushing Cesaro and Sheamus. I think New Day retains, this time.
Check out HELL IN A CELL this Sunday, October 30th on the WWE Network!
