WWE Hell In A Cell 2010 Review

WWE Hell In A Cell 2010 - PPV Review

By Phil Allely

Hell in a Cell is one of those concepts that when it first appeared in the WWE was a fresh of breath that the company needed. The violent steels cage match premise and very eager to please grapplers who entered it often bled heavily form the match and that in turn ramped up the live audience and PPV buy rates. However now that the WWE is in a place where it wishes to portray itself as a PG organisation and bloodshed is a no-no, this years HIAC outing really needed to be something special indeed.

With a couple of nice (on paper at least) looking matches based in the steels cell and a good supporting card hopes were indeed high for the 2010 offering.

Things started well with The Miz and John Morrison taking on United States Champion Daniel Bryan for his belt in a submissions count anywhere match-up. The action was fair to good and all three worked hard to please the pumped up live crowd. A Nexus run-in saw Daniel Bryan able to capitalise and wipe Morrison out of the equation, leaving Miz to tap out to the LeBell submission move once again for Bryan to retain.

Next up surprisingly was the Hell In A Cell match for the WWE Title between champ Randy Orton and Irish man Sheamus. This was the 20th HIAC match in WWE history and saw both men risk life and limb with earnest. Sheamus and Orton traded near falls, trademark moves and some stiff shots throughout. The steel ring steps proving to be harder to negotiate than the cell itself, with Sheamus first being slammed into them then RKO’s onto them for the pin fall loss.

The nice mystery Raw GM storyline continued to pick up speed next as Edge was interrupted mid rant (about Del Rio) and told he’d be facing Jack Swagger next.

Swagger dominated most of the match, using his speed advantage over the veteran Edge. Edge’s cunning and brutal looking Spear saw him overcome an ankle lock attempt and embarrassing loss to the young underdog, to win the impromptu scrap.

The following bout was a fun one on paper, WWE cartoon hero John Cena was faced with the prospect of joining the Nexus group next, he faced Wade Barrett in a match where if he lost he joined up and if he won they disbanded.

Without his team mates Barrett put forth a great deal of offence to the former multiple time WWE champ. There were near falls aplenty and Barrett got a very decent showing against the man who WWE seem intent on pushing to the sky Cena.

The end came when a fan (most likely a Nexus member) and an associate took out Cena, Barrett capitalised on the interference and left a great many of Cena’s fans upset that their hero would have to join the upstart Nexus group.

The new Unified Divas Title was up for grabs next as Natalya faced current champ Michelle McCool. McCool’s partner in crime Layla proved to be the thorn in Natalya’s side though, taking a few opportunities to interrupt proceedings and leave the ref with no choice but to DQ McCool.

The final match of the night was the highly anticipated and eagerly awaited match between the Undertaker and his brother Kane. With Undertaker’s old manager Paul Bearer (also storyline wise Kane’s father) thrown into the mix this was expected to be a scorcher.

The match itself was fair, but Taker and Kane in 2010 is nothing compared to when they faced off a few years ago. The in-ring abuse and wear-and-tear and various injuries are all slowing down the giants unfortunately. The pair did pull out all of the stops, but this main event just lacked something that previous scraps have seen. The ending though will have internet notice boards buzzing for weeks I’m sure. Direct from the comic book matches of old (when Taker beat much larger foes and used supernatural powers), Paul Bearer strode into the ring amidst a ref bump and unleashed a flash of light from his ever present urn to blind Taker and allow Kane use it as a weapon on his charge. The match ended with Kane and Bearer leaving a shaky Taker to make his way to the back.

Hell in a Cell could have been so much more, the main event fell flat after some of the decent scraps earlier. Having Sheamus and Orton on second still seems an odd choice and the ongoing Undertaker and Kane feud has now hit some very strange levels. I’m hoping the rumours of Buried Alive matches and upcoming arena tour of the UK will see them show their talents to a better degree than HIAC did.