Hell In A Cell

[Anakin Flair 0]

The problem with the Cell is that people now expect the action to go either outside or ontop of the cage, and for somebody to fall off, when the purpose of the Cell is to make sure that the participants stay INSIDE, and any outside interference remains OUTSIDE. Unfortunately, Kane destroyed that idea when he ripped the door open in the first one (Or you could say Shawn did when he beat up the camera man).

[Guest Thrashist]

I can't fault the current matches for lacking high spots, but I will fault the past booking of HIAC matches in having it dependent on one or two high spots. This set a poor precedent.

 

Really, the Brock/Taker match epitomizes what the Hell In A Cell should be. It should be a blowoff to a long feud where preferably the two men stay inside the cage and the only thing that happens in the ring is pure violence, brutality, and blood. Basically it should be a glorified brawl that means an END to a feud.

 

I had no problem with HBK/HHH, because this feud fit that above description. For those saying it might as easily have been a street fight or cage match, well then there's no prestige to that. The funny thing is the first several high spot HIAC matches set the legacy for the gimmick and always make it must-see, but then it also causes its downfall because people expect that high spot legacy to be maintained.

 

The fact is, the WWE is on the right pace in changing the way HIACs are done. There's no way the WWE can have those high spots in yet keep their wrestlers healthy. Any high spot they can do will look watered down compared to Foley at KOTR (which, if ever duplicated, would piss me off), and so it's a lose-lose situation. They might as well stick to the original concept of HIAC in confining both wrestlers to a long, exhausting and brutal oversized cage. If they can only bring in the HIAC for feuds like Brock/Taker or HBK/HHH and not shit like HHH/Nash, then I see potential in making HIACs those historic final chapters in long term feuds.

[Black Lushus 0]

but see, what you're basically saying is what the match SHOULD be...okay that's fine, but thanks to the WWE it's NOT what it should be, so they've built up an image and that's what people expect to see, thus it's a letdown...they shot themselves in the foot from that perspecitive...

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

So not even using the cage during the match is a good direction to go in it? HBK/HHH didn't need a highspot but they needed to use the cage in the match. There's no point to a HIAC when the cage doesn't factor into the match at all. This reeked of "well we haven't done this gimmick yet so let's book this" mentality.

[humongous2002 0]

I can't fault the current matches for lacking high spots, but I will fault the past booking of HIAC matches in having it dependent on one or two high spots. This set a poor precedent.

 

Really, the Brock/Taker match epitomizes what the Hell In A Cell should be. It should be a blowoff to a long feud where preferably the two men stay inside the cage and the only thing that happens in the ring is pure violence, brutality, and blood. Basically it should be a glorified brawl that means an END to a feud.

 

I had no problem with HBK/HHH, because this feud fit that above description. For those saying it might as easily have been a street fight or cage match, well then there's no prestige to that. The funny thing is the first several high spot HIAC matches set the legacy for the gimmick and always make it must-see, but then it also causes its downfall because people expect that high spot legacy to be maintained.

 

The fact is, the WWE is on the right pace in changing the way HIACs are done. There's no way the WWE can have those high spots in yet keep their wrestlers healthy. Any high spot they can do will look watered down compared to Foley at KOTR (which, if ever duplicated, would piss me off), and so it's a lose-lose situation. They might as well stick to the original concept of HIAC in confining both wrestlers to a long, exhausting and brutal oversized cage. If they can only bring in the HIAC for feuds like Brock/Taker or HBK/HHH and not shit like HHH/Nash, then I see potential in making HIACs those historic final chapters in long term feuds.

If that's the case then the HITC is not much different than a regular cage match, therefore it's not special anymore.

[King Cucaracha 0]

So not even using the cage during the match is a good direction to go in it?

They used it about 3 or 4 times. Again, it was nothing big, but it was used.

[Guest The Winter Of My Discontent]

Hell in a Cell could work again, its just no one wanted to see Michaels and Triple H fight AGAIN. Their stroke job of one another is reaching sickening proportions. Give them a few months, they'll be teaming up again.

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

So not even using the cage during the match is a good direction to go in it?

They used it about 3 or 4 times. Again, it was nothing big, but it was used.

4 or 5 times during a 47 minute match is pretty much not using a cage. I've seen 10 minute cage matches that used the cage three times as much.

[Guest Dynamite Kido]

I guess these guys don't realize that every HIAC should be like Tully Blanchard/Magnum T.A. Steel Cage match. THey should be able to use the cage to create a story that couldn't be told without the cage.....otherwise it's pointless.......

[Guest Coffey]

Had the rest of Evolution just came down to ringside and shown that they couldn't get into the ring, I think that would've helped out the match a lot. Especially if Jim Ross noted past wrestlers being able to escape the cage so this one was structurally re-enforced or some shit like that.

 

Of course, I think the match would probably be better if the table & ladder weren't used at all too.

[Frosty 0]

I thought the match was a good solid match, but it was no where near as bloody as normal matches that theses guys had. I was expecting Brock/Taker or Eddie Guerrero blood here. It needed that extra spark of ruthless violence to make it seem more dramatic then it was.

 

Alot of people I watched the PPV with were specualting that this could have been HBK's last match.

[Black Lushus 0]

Alot of people I watched the PPV with were specualting that this could have been HBK's last match.

if we're lucky...

 

hopefully the nostalgia trip is over and he's gone...Shawn was at his best from 94 to 95 as a championship chasing heel, and then again in late 97 to 98...this whole face deal with him just does not work for me...man was a great heel, lame face...

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

Alot of people I watched the PPV with were specualting that this could have been HBK's last match.

 

Oh please, this probably wasn't even the last match in this feud let alone his career.

[Guest whitemilesdavis]

QUOTE 

Alot of people I watched the PPV with were specualting that this could have been HBK's last match.

 

 

 

Oh please, this probably wasn't even the last match in this feud let alone his career.

 

Probably not his last match of the week.

 

 

I think they should forget this gimmick for about 5 years, then when they bring it back it could mean something.

[Guest Man Of 1,004 Modes]

I'm gonna respond to someone asking "What was the point of HBK/UT fighting outside".

 

Easy. The match was meant to keep HBK in the ring, and DX out. HBK attacked the camera man, forcing the door to be unlocked, and HBK getting out...Undertaker followed him, beat the crap out of him, and HBK continued running and went up the cell. After battling on the cell, Shawn tried escaping AGAIN, but this time Undertaker got the last laugh butkicking his hands off the side of the cell, dropping him onto the table nearby.

 

EVERY HIAC since has spots just go up for NO REASON. That first was HBK's desperate attempt to get away from the Undertaker, and failing.

[pochorenella 0]

EVERY HIAC since has spots just go up for NO REASON. That first was HBK's desperate attempt to get away from the Undertaker, and failing

 

That's what made the spot brilliant. HBK couldn't put UT away so he saw an opening to escape when they took the cameraman out. Terrific booking.

 

hopefully the nostalgia trip is over and he's gone...Shawn was at his best from 94 to 95 as a championship chasing heel, and then again in late 97 to 98...this whole face deal with him just does not work for me...man was a great heel, lame face...

 

I know I'm in the minority here, but I've liked his run. It's not like he's having awful matches. He's had very good matches with pretty much all his opponents, worked very hard, so why should he go? Because smarks bitch about his buddy-buddy status with HHH? Or because he's supposedly holding back other favorites like Jericho and such? I just don't get it.

[King Cucaracha 0]

EVERY HIAC since has spots just go up for NO REASON.

Well...maybe.

 

Mankind/Taker started on top of the cage to show how sadistic Mankind was. That was the smartest one, because there was no escaping the cage.

 

Mankind/HHH breaking the cell was lame, but it was built around Foley saying he'd get out some way, some how and throw HHH off the cell.

 

The 6-way was basically built around Taker throwing people off cells. If that's not reason enough, I don't know what is.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

I know I'm in the minority here, but I've liked his run. It's not like he's having awful matches. He's had very good matches with pretty much all his opponents, worked very hard, so why should he go?

 

Because people just aren't that interested in seeing him anymore, at least as a face. It is hard to cheer for the guy.

[Guest Evil Blood]

I think hell in the cell is still a top match it was just the match we seen was dont to many times which was HBK vs HHH.

 

I still liked the HBK vs HHH match and hell in the cell is still a top match and when it happens again you know and I know its going to be a bloody war.

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

I think hell in the cell is still a top match it was just the match we seen was dont to many times which was HBK vs HHH.

 

I still liked the HBK vs HHH match and hell in the cell is still a top match and when it happens again you know and I know its going to be a bloody war.

[Guest Evil Blood]

Say some think whats the blank space meant to mean,

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

Say some think whats the blank space meant to mean,

I would respond but I don't even know what the hell you're trying to say. Anyone want to take a stab at it?

[Guest BionicRedneck]

Say something. What does the blank space mean?

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

Ok, thought he was actually trying to make some point or something.

[Guest BDC]

It seems to me the build was based on the REPUTATION of the HiaC match, and that's it. All the stuff that has gone on before. Not about keeping Evo out, not about keeping the two in, nothing.

 

HiaC, I think, would best be used by the storybuild of a group or lackey interfering every time the face and heel go at it. The HiaC would be used to make damn sure this guy stays out. Evolution coming out, trying to break in, Batista going up top to try and rip the way in... would have made the Cell make SENSE.

[Astro7x 0]

Let's look at the HiaC matches, shall we:

 

HBK vs. Taker: Universally accepted as a great match. Big bump was HBK's elbow off the side.

 

Mankind vs. Taker: Legendary match. Two big bumps go without mention.

 

Bossman vs. Taker: Labeled worst HiaC, ingored everytime by the WWE for good reason. Big "bump" was Bossman being hanged.

 

KiaC: Not really a HiaC match. Which is good.

 

Cactus Jack vs. HHH: Jack's last HiaC match and a great one too. The fall through the top of the cage was good.

 

6 man HiaC: Ok, but not spectacular. Rikishi's bump may have seemed tamed, until you remember that the guy's seriously overweight and could have been worse.

 

Jericho vs. HHH: Not great by any maeans. Walls on top of the cage was the biggest thing in it, and wasn't that surprising.

 

Lesnar vs. Taker: Surprisingly good. Focused more on brutality thenhigh spots. Big bump was Taker's botched drop from the ceiling.

 

Nash vs. HHH: Average by all means. Foley's stint as ref pulled this one out from the gutter. No big bumps, although HHH getting snake eyed onto the barbed wire could count.

 

HBK vs. HHH: I don't care if HBK and HHH had a **** classic in the cell, in a cage match you're expected to at least touch the cage. Big bump envolved HBK elbowing off a ladder, of all things.

 

I think there are two recurring problems that are dragging the gimmick down. First, I think there's a drought in creativity on what to do with the cell. All the big bumps have been done, and now it seems all they want to do i have a regular match inside the cell. But with HiaC's colorful history it takes away from the match. Secondly, Most of the matches are comprised of people who have done tht ematch before. And while Taker and HHH has experience, they're not offering much new to the table. Get a great tag team fued goin with fresh faces and cap it off with HiaC. It's will help the teams and the match out.

There were also two HIAC's on Raw. The Stone Cold/Taker vs. Mankind/Kane HIAC before KOTR 98, and then one of August of that year between Kane and Mankind... I can't even remember what happened in the latter, but the first one was the famous Austin walking on top of the cage bit.

[Guest The Ultimate Fantasy]

*WARNING: THIS POST MIGHT CONTAIN ONE OF THE FOLLOWING: SARCASM, BAD PUNCUATION, AND OR BAD SPELLING*

 

 

You know in relation to HBK/HHH, DAMN THEM!!!! I mean how dare they use crap like psychology, I mean how DARE they try to make every punch and kick mean something! Seriously, how dare they use the past to make Hell in the Cell important. Don't they know we are of the Russo Generation? We have no patience! We don't care about the past, and in the end if you try to tell us a story we will hate you! We will beg for interference! I mean how DARE they use Hell in the Cell as a ultimate battle between two bitter foes for a say of respect. Seriously, silly HHH and silly HBK, WE ARE MARKS! GIVE US SPOTS AND BLOOD! Yet don't worry my friends, The Great American Bash is Coming.

[Guest Evil Blood]

Hell in the cell is still a top match and remains the ulimate match to end all feuds.

 

The gimmick is not dead.

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

Give me a break. Yes let's have a cage match and barely use it at all over a period of 47 minutes and then let's use a ladder and table in a fucking HIAC. Also add in that basically every spot they did has been done in their other matches. You could seriously splice together their other matches since HBK returned and probably reconstruct 90% of this match. That's just fucking lazy.

[Guest whitemilesdavis]

Hell in the cell is still a top match and remains the ulimate match to end all feuds.

 

The gimmick is not dead.

 

I know I don't want to see it any time soon. Maybe not dead, but it's definitely in a coma.

 

I would rather see a scaffold match even. Anything.