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Hell In A Cell: The PPV & Anthology
For those who don't know, this is another Wal-Mart exclusive double pack from WWE with the concept behind this being to re-release an old anthology set combined with the 2009 edition of the PPV based upon the same match concept. In this case, it's the Hell In A Cell match.Hell In A Cell 2009:Hell In A Cell Match: World Champion C.M. Punk vs. Undertaker - After that "teaser" at Breaking Point, we saw them pick up where they left off. This went back & forth with Taker using his power & using the Cell to his advantage by having Punk rammed into it at various times along with giving one hell of a "Last Ride" that looked more like a "Border Toss" (for those TNA/Hernandez fans) while Punk targeted Taker's legs & used his various kicks as well. With various weapons like a chair & steel steps, they put on a good performance & my favorite Cell match of the night with the only downfall in that the match was kept short.Intercontinental Champion John Morrison vs. Dolph Ziggler - This was a very past faced athletic encounter with Dolph pulling off various creative counters to Morrison's signature moves & pulling out a page out of Billy Gunn's old playbook with the fameasser at one point. This was a great contest between both men even though they would go on to have better ones on free TV.Divas Champion Mickie James vs. Alicia Fox - Alicia just wasn't ready for a PPV quality match here as this wasn't a horrible match but just very dry & dull with the only thing noteworthy was the DDT that Mickie gave her at the end...OUCH!Unified Tag Team Champions Chris Jericho & Big Show vs. Batista & Rey Mysterio - Even though it was heavily put over that Mysterio & Batista were former WWE Tag Team Champions, the little known fact is that they were only champions for a week & have teamed up together so many times that you can count them on one hand & hadn't teamed together in years. Knowing that fact, this match was the shock of the night because Batista & Mysterio worked really well together here as they did great teamwork & kept Jericho away from Big Show various times in the match and working him over. Watch out for the kick Mysterio gave Jericho at one point that looked like it was out Tajiri's old playbook and just how massive Show is to Mysterio as he palmed his head on the outside & lifted him into the ring. This played match played out well as it worked towards everyone's strengths & there wasn't a dull moment. Definitely- the best performance in both of these teams history.Hell In A Cell Match: WWE Champion John Cena vs. Randy Orton - For those trivia fans, not only is this John Cena's first HIAC match but also the first Cell match that didn't involve either Undertaker or Triple H (Taker was involved in the Kane/Mankind Cell match for the record) and despite Jerry Lawler either making a mistake or trying to rewrite history, Randy Orton didn't win his previous Cell match. This match was put over as very serious from the start as Cena didn't even do his usual "play to the crowd" entrance & with New Jersey being one of the more vocal crowds than usual, Orton had more fan support. I felt like this match heavily resembled their previous match at Breaking Point where it was more "character driven" than it was with the in-ring performance. It was very slow paced as whenever Cena began to build momentum, he would break it & slow things down with Orton's "Viper" character being very cold & calculating such as his sadistic look when he had Cena in a headlock tied in the ropes while also taking a chair to his injured neck. Cena was able to take advantage of Randy at times like when Randy knee drop onto the chair backfired & even locked the STF at one point with Randy not being able to use the ropes to break the hold. Again, it was a good match for the story they were telling for it but this was completely different from the first match in that the Cell itself didn't really pay much of a factor in this match. I haven't seen their Ironman match yet so I would rank this as my third favorite one on one match between these two right behind their two previous SummerSlam encounters.R-Truth vs. Drew McIntyre - Even though this match had a better buildup to it than the average under card "filler" match usually does, where it was on the card only hurt more than helped as you heard "boring" chants within the opening moments. This match was pretty short & decent as it did it's job in giving Drew his first PPV victory.United States Champion Kofi Kingston vs. The Miz vs. Jack Swagger - This was your basic triple threat match with both Kofi fighting the odds while Miz & Swagger worked together to take Kofi out before one heel decided to go into business for himself. Just like how Kofi's two other "multi-man" PPV title matches have been this year, it was good for what it was but this was definitely a step down from the unexpected great match Miz & Kofi had at Breaking Point as there was nothing really noteworthy here except to look out for this one kick Kofi gave Swagger that looked really stiff.Hell In A Cell Match: D-Generation X vs. Legacy - This match definitely stood out from others as it started off as a brawl on the outside of the with Legacy jumping DX on their way to the ring while using the method that worked in their favor at Breaking Point which was "divide & conquer" with Triple H being knocked out on the stage while Shawn was locked inside the Cell with Legacy. From there, it was an exact copy of what happened at Breaking Point with Shawn being tortured by both men with Triple H unable to make the save for several minutes using a chair & the cage to their advantage. Triple H was able to enter the cage & dominate before using Legacy's methods against them in route to victory. I just really didn't like this match past the opening brawl as their previous matches were encounters that left both teams leaving with a strong performance while this one had Dibiase & Rhodes looking heavily inferior to just Triple H alone and unlike how they tortured Shawn at Breaking Point, you didn't know if Triple H was going to be able to save Shawn even if he made it to the ring while here where you just knew Triple H was going to somehow get in the cage, dominate & raise hell...it was just very predictable for me. Just again, after the previous matches were great strong performances...this did a poor job of following those two & the only person come out strong in this case was Triple H (and I'm not one of those anti-Triple H internet marks). I'm guessing that I'm in the minority here but I felt like this was the weakest match out of their series & probably my least favorite HIAC match of all time.The only DVD extra on here was the aftermath of the match with Cody Rhodes being stretchered out.Hell In A Cell Anthology:This match has shorted careers & eventually ended them for not just wrestlers but anyone around including referees. Relive the memories of the infamous Hell In A Cell match on DVD.Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels - Due to how out of hand their previous match got, Undertaker once again made history by being the first participant in a new innovative match...Hell In A Cell. This set the standard for future Cell matches & for being the first one, this was really something to watch. They dished out heavy punishment like never before & used everything they could get their hands on such as the steel steps & chairs to the point where Shawn was bleeding so much that his face would be what Gordon Solie called a "crimson mask." Shawn's fall towards the end would later be heavily overshadowed by Mankind's fall less than a year later but still one of the biggest highlights in Cell history along with the debut of Undertaker's brother, Kane. This was something to see for that time...and still is something to see to this day.In Your House: Bad Blood 97[From The Vault: Shawn Michaels; Tombstone: History Of The Undertaker]Steve Austin & Undertaker vs. Kane & Mankind - This was more of a segment than an actual match as Austin brawled on the outside of the Cell with Mankind & on the top with Kane while Undertaker took his liberties with Paul Bearer locked inside the cell."RAW" June 98[Best Of RAW: Vol. 1 & 2]Undertaker vs. Mankind - You knew this match was going to be special the moment both men started at the top of the cage where they brawled & almost fell through at one point before Mankind was thrown off the top with Jim Ross yelling his now infamous line "GOOD GOD ALMIGHTY, THAT KILLED HIM! AS GOD AS MY WITNESS, HE'S BROKEN IN HALF!" The match looked like it was over with Mankind being put on a stretcher with a dislocated shoulder before he decided to go back up only to be chokeslammed through the cage with the chair on top hitting him in the face on the way down. Taker ended up twisting his ankle coming down from the top as one person who came into the ring to check up on Foley ended up getting chokeslammed out of his shoes before they continued the match with Taker ramming the steps into Mankind's arm multiple times but missed a suicide dive that busted him open allowing Mankind to take advantage using the chair before bringing out a back full of thumbtacks. This was probably the most famous Hell In The Cell match & the match that launched Mick Foley into wrestling immortality for the beating he took from start to finish.King Of The Ring 98[Mick Foley's Greatest Hits & Misses; Tombstone: History Of The Undertaker; Best Of King Of The Ring; OMG: Top 50 Moments]Mankind vs. Kane - This is the most unusual setting for this type of match as Kane & Mankind were the Tag Team Champions at this time but earlier in the night, Kane revealed his alliance with Undertaker & turned on Mankind in the process. Mankind tried to climb to the top of the cell right from the start & throwing chairs onto the top of the cage (with some missing & landing on J.R. & King at the announce table in the process) but referees kept stopping him based off what happened last time before Mankind still tried to climb only to Taker to pull him down through the spanish table. When Mankind finally got back in the match, it was all about him taking punishment as his head was heavily attacked from it being slammed in the door to various chairshots & even taking a tombstone on the chair. However in the end, it was all about a promise made earlier in the night being fulfilled."RAW" Aug 98WWE Champion Triple H vs. Cactus Jack - This was "Title vs. Career" as Mick Foley's career would be over if he lost this match. Cactus promised weeks before the match that he would climb to the top of the cell & come off it onto Triple H however the door to the cell was mysteriously heavily padlocked to ensure that didn't happen. Triple H brought the pain here using anything he could get his hands on to dish out punishment such as the cell itself, steel steps, and a chair but Cactus was able to recover & use the chair himself for what J.R. called "barbaric birth control" along with the steps & cell to bust Triple H open before dropping his trademark second rope elbow drop using the chair busting Triple H open in the process. Things really began to pick up when Cactus ended up making a door allowing Triple H to escape the cage & end up on the top of the cage with Cactus following him with a barbed wire board. From here, things really got out of control with the barbed wire board on fire before Cactus, once again, took a dangerous fall. This match served told the story well of Cactus refused to quit & stay down fighting for his dream while elevating Triple H in a true main eventer who take take the punishment as well as dish it.No Way Out 00[Triple H: King Of Kings]WWE Champion Kurt Angle vs. Steve Austin vs. The Rock vs. Undertaker vs. Triple H vs. Rikishi - This was the first (and to date, only) time that we had a multiple men competing in a cell match with Kurt Angle making himself the odd man out by attacking everyone at some point in the week leading up to this match. This match was exactly what you expected with all of these men here in that it was absolutely all over the place with all four of these men but things got even crazier with Mr. McMahon (who didn't want this match to happen) coming to ringside with a truck attempting to take down the cell piece by piece but only got as far as ripping the door off the cell. Other various highlights & moments happened throughout the match like Triple H's head bring grinded across the all four sides of the cell causing him to bleed, everyone escaping the cell & brawling all over the set with Triple H having "the boom" dropped on him & catapulted onto a car while Austin went headfirst through the a window, Taker & Angle brawling at ringside with the ringbell hammer being used, and fighting on top of the cell with someone getting a stunner while someone else took the fall off the cage, and action in the ring that really picked up when Rock & Austin locked eyes in the ring. This can be perfectly summed up with Lawler's comment at the end, "Look at all this carnage!"Armageddon 00Triple H vs. Chris Jericho - Almost a year later after Triple H injured his quad in a match against Jericho, they meet here in Jericho's first cell match. They started off wrestling against each other before Jericho got more aggressive using the steps to catapult Triple H into the cell while also using the cell & ramming a ladder into Triple H's face in & out of the ring to bust him open. Triple H was finally able to fight fire with fire as he used weapons like a chair, the steps, and his own sledgehammer against Jericho resulting in Jericho bleeding. The match started to get so brutal that nobody was safe as referee Tim White was knocked off the apron into the cell at one point before bring thrown into the cell again, assaulted, and bleeding thanks to Jericho to the point where he was heavily injured & didn't referee another match for close to two years later. Both men eventually made their way outside of the cell with both the cage door & even a table coming into play before the match got taken to & finished at the top of the cell complete with a barbed wire bat that ended up getting stick to one of the heads. While Triple H & Jericho have had various encounters over the years, this one is definitely one of their best.Judgment Day 02WWE Champion Brock Lesnar vs. Undertaker - Undertaker walked into this match with a cast on over his hand/wrist due to Brock breaking it weeks earlier & used it as a weapon throughout the match. You saw things you rarely see such as Taker screaming in pain & blood pouring out of his head while Brock was also busted open with Paul Heyman was also bleeding from the effects of the Cell...and he was on the outside of it. Both men used the Cell along with other things such as a steel chair & the ringside steps as a weapons as this was just a very intense & brutal match to say the least.No Mercy 02[Brock Lesnar: Here Comes The Pain; Tombstone: History Of The Undertaker]World Champion Triple H vs. Kevin Nash - Due to the out of control nature of their previous match, they met in the cell here & due to the career ending injury that referee Tim White had in the previous cell match, Mick Foley returned to the WWE to referee this match. Nash was dominate here focusing on Triple H's back ramming it into the cell & using a chair before Triple H gained some momentum using his sledgehammer on Nash's knee & head making him bleed before Foley had to forcefully take it away from him. Triple H continued to dish out the punishment on Nash's head using whatever he could get his hands on from the cell to the steps, a screwdriver, and barbed-wire bat before Nash would later get his receipt using the weapons as well before Triple H continued to use more weapons including a wooden crate & a chair. This was one of those matches where the environment of the cell made this match way better than it ever could be on it's own as it's no secret how Nash has a limited moveset while was heavily injury prove during this time of his career and the element of Foley being the referee & getting involved at times only added here in a positive way.Shawn Michaels vs. Triple H - Triple H heavily focused on Shawn's previously injured back in the early stages with hard whips into the turnbuckle & elbow drops & stomps & British Bulldog's delayed vertical suplex while later also using the environment around him such as a side slam on the chair & backbreaker on an open chair while one moment he rammed Shawn's back into the post & cell & apron back to back. Triple H continued to punish Shawn causing him to bleed before Shawn got his reciept using chairshots to bust open Triple H while bring in a ladder & table to beat & inflict punishment like his elbow drop off the ladder onto Triple H on a table. This was the most unique performance in this type of match as it wasn't one that heavily played on hardcore violence or "Oh My God!" moments more than it was just about two men beating each other in physical exhaustion for over 45 minutes.World Champion Batista vs. Triple H - Their third & final encounter for the World Championship with Batista being in control early before hurting his shoulder hitting the post with Batista being knocked off the apron into the cell shoulder first. A biker chain came into play with both men on the end of being whipped & choked with it before Batista got real aggressive delivering a spinebuster between the cell & post busting Triple H open as well. Another weapon was brought into the match in the form of as steel chair wrapped in barbed-wire causing both men to bleed from various parts of the body like the back & face from moves like chairshots, face grinds, powerslam onto it, and even a DDT. Triple H's sledgehammer was brought into play with both men using it to their advantage while the steel steps were also used to punish. This was definitely a brutal battle as both men not only dished out physical punishment but also used the various weapons to not only inflict more punishment but tell a story as well.[Triple H: King Of Kings]Undertaker vs. Randy Orton - After trying to end the WrestleMania streak & involving his father & trying to end Taker's career twice including burning his casket, it all ends here inside Hell In A Cell. Taker dominated from the start punishing Orton's head & face via chairshots that busted him open, ramming it into the cell, and using the steel steps. Orton had to resort to an RKO out of nowhere to finally get the advantage & used the steps himself to have Taker bleeding while also using other weapons like a chair & the chair. Both men traded momentum including Taker using the cell to perform his version of "Old School" & even attacking Bob Orton through the cell while Orton was able to use a table & even counter Taker's tombstone into his own. This for the most part came off as a "No Holds Barred" type of match as it wasn't as brutal, high impact or "spotty" like the previous Cell matches were.[Undertaker's Deadliest Matches]D-Generation X vs. Big Show, Mr. McMahon, Shane McMahon - This was the first (and to date only) handicap match in this environment while also the debut of the newer & larger Hell In A Cell. DX was able to keep "neutralizing" Big Show in the beginning in order to focus on the McMahons using anything they could get their hands on from the cell itself, which busted them open, to even a screwdriver. Show was able to help the McMahons get their advantage as they were able to make DX bleed while focusing on Triple H's previously injured ear with moves like the coast to coast with a trash can. Vince made it clear that he was out to punish DX more than win the match which would only come back to haunt them as Shane would end up having his neck damaged to the point where he was showing internal bleeding, Show being knocked out, and Vince getting a "taste" of his own medicine.[New & Improved D-Generation X]World Champion Batista vs. Undertaker - After each man winning one match in their series while also going to two draws, this is set to be the encounter to determine who's the better man. Both men started off with impactful moves right out the cage trading clotheslines while Batista executed the spear & Taker with his big boot. Taker then went on the attack with a chair causing Batista to bleed from the mouth before he recovered with a running powerslam. They traded momentum with Taker being tossed into the cell followed by a clothesline while Batista was thrown into the steps, the cell & busted open with a chair before Batista made Taker bleed ramming his head into the steps repeatedly. Both men went back & forth with counters & reversals from the superplex into the triangle choke, the Batista Bomb into a backdrop on the steps, another Batista Bomb through a table, Tombstone on the steel steps, and both men continuing to kick out of each others signature holds. In the end however, it was the one "wild card" in regards to both men & the World Championship that would be the difference maker. Just like their entire series of matches, this was an awesome encounter.Survivor Series 07In the end, the PPV was one of those cases where too much of one thing was a bad thing as WWE has proven with their previous PPV's revolving around gimmick matches in that you can be successful with one (Taker/Punk) and get away with two (Cena/Orton) but you can't pull off three without one coming off looking heavily weak in comparison (DX/Legacy). While the under card had some standout matches like Morrison/Ziggler & the Jericho/Show vs. Batista/Mysterio match...there was still too much on here that was just average & nothing worth rushing out to see. As for the anthology, the only match they left out was the Undertaker/Big Boss Man one from WrestleMania XV but you really aren't missing anything there as that has gone down as the worst one of them all the point where they never showed highlights of that match when doing the video features on the Hell In A Cell Match. So this would be considered an ultimate collection for those who are fans of this match & love violence & brutality. This is one collection I would highly recommend.
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