wrestling / Columns

Csonka’s Top 6 WWE Hell in a Cell Matches

October 24, 2016 | Posted by Larry Csonka
Mick Foley The Undertaker Image Credit: WWE

– The WWE Hell in a Cell PPV is on Sunday night, and while I had wanted to do something bigger (a review of all the HIAC matches was originally set, maybe next year), the time did not allow for it. So today I just want to discuss the cream of the crop, the very best WWE Hell in a Cell matches. I do not have a lot of criteria for this one; the matches had to take place in the hell in a cell, the matches have to be great, I will consider the importance of the match, I will use my personal match ratings, and personal preference comes into play. As always, feel free to disagree with me, but do so in a respectful manner. We all have an opinion, so feel free to share yours. Have fun and thanks for reading.

 photo HIAC_zpsopwq8uk7.png

6. Triple H vs. Batista – Vengeance 2005 [****¼]: I remember going into this match thinking that Triple H would win, because at the time, I just could not fathom Batsita scoring a third win in a row. But that’s what happened. This started as a regular Triple H vs. Batista battle, and then escalated beautifully. They used the cell as not only a way to keep each other trapped, but also as a weapon. They used the chain, barbed wire chair and other things like the stairs to make this a true war; there was no fancy flying or cage climbing and such, but there was hate, which led to carnage. It was brutal, with a sense of realism as they didn’t go too over the top, but you knew that these men hated each other and wanted to finish each other off. They allowed the violence and blood from that to be the story, but where the match succeeds is as the final chapter of the feud. The story where the newly minted Batista not only wins over the nefarious Triple H, but he did it in dominating fashion; not only was he put on Triple H’s level, when all was said and done, he was put over him in the best way possible. The match is great, the story is great and Batista was a made man when it was all said and done.

5. Triple H vs. Cactus Jack – No Way Out 2000 [****½]: The month before Triple H and Cactus Jack battled in a tremendous street fight at the Royal Rumble. Triple H walked away with the victory and kept the title, but the feud was not over. They would meet again the next month, inside hell in a cell, with the title and Foley’s career on the line. These two worked very well together, they stuck to what worked, they played off of the previous encounters and they brought the brutality that everyone expected. The use of the chairs, the barbed wire 2×4, lighting it on fire and the climax, where they battled on top of the cage and actually had Foley go through it again. Thankfully they gimmicked the mat for a softer landing here. The end was straight out of a horror movie, with Triple H kicking at Jack’s arm to see if he was still alive. The crowd tried to rally Jack on, Triple H knew he wasn’t dead yet, so he grabbed his bloody and beaten carcass and hit the pedigree to score the victory and retire his nemesis. This was a time when Triple H was working hard to prove that he was a top guy, and had a ton of great matches. Foley was busting his ass to not only prove that he deserved to be looked at as an all time great, he doesn’t get as much credit as he should for helping guys like Rock and Triple H. The great matches they had, the beatings Foley took, he did everything he could to make both guys look like killers as they were being anointed top guys. This would have been a huge, yet heart wrenching note for Foley to go out on. On the bad side, this was undone by the booking choice to bring back weeks later for the Four Corners of McMahonMania. A comeback would have been fine, but not as soon as it came here. But on the plus side, we did get classics with Randy Orton and Edge out of it later on.

4. Edge vs. Undertaker – Summerslam 2008 [****½]: Edge had single handedly carried this feud heading into Summerslam and made the Hell in a Cell match THE reason to buy the PPV and if this was the reason you bought the PPV, I cannot see you being disappointed. Edge came to the ring with the insane/euphoric look on his face, like he was pleased to enter the devil’s playground. Edge controlled early on and was destroying the Undertaker, even pulling out all of his weapons of choice (T,L,C) and some old favorites like the camera. Two spots that ruled were Edge spearing Taker through the cage, as well as a SICK spear through the ECW announce table, after running off of the other two tables. Taker eventually was able to come back, including a chokeslam to Edge, who was on the top rope and flew through two stacked tables, in an ode to their TLC match. Taker then decided that he would get payback on Edge for everything he did to him. He delivered a spear, a camera shot, a CONCHAIRTO and then finally finished him off with the tombstone. Afterwards Edge was sent to hell as Taker chokeslammed him off of a ladder, which busted a hole in the ring. It then caught fire, and Taker had him some Canadian BBQ. Edge was an awesome crazed heel here, using the entire bag of tricks to try and defeat the Undertaker. In return Taker used many of the things that Edge has used to screw him over previous 10-months or so to get the final revenge. We got to see Edge pay for his sins and receive his comeuppance; in the end we got a awesome match that deserved the main event spot and lived up to the hype they put into it.

3. Triple H vs. The Undertaker – WrestleMania 28 [****½]: While the first hour of WrestleMania 28 felt like a disappointment, when hour two began, it finally felt like WrestleMania. It started with Jim Ross’ appearance to commentate on the match, and even just in the set up announcing, it felt way more important. Shawn, Taker and Triple H entered, the cell lowered and you just had the feeling that shit was about to get real, and it did. I am fully aware that people are not going to like this match for one reason or another, but as JR would say, this was a damn fine piece of business. From the bell these guys came to put on a show, all three, and they did so maybe better than anyone can. That’s not a shot at other performers; it is a compliment to these three men. From the brutality and attack of Triple H, where he did cross that line to try and end Taker, to the fact that Shawn was so conflicted in whether to stop the match or not, it was clicking. The superkick from Shawn makes sense, due to the fact that Taker put him in Hells Gate, so that he would NOT stop the match. From there, we had scintillating near falls, including that superkick from HBK, which led into the pedigree, and the crowd bought that near fall HUGE. They had more from there, Taker finally was able to fire up and come back, with more hot near falls and they had the audience in the palms of their hands. The brutality was evident on the backs of Triple H and Taker, as the chair shots certainly left their mark, they were not out there to fuck around. Much like the end of the second Taker vs. Shawn match, Triple H had one last try at ending things, but was soundly stopped by Taker, and was backed off to the corner. He told Taker to fuck off, gave him the crotch chop, ate the tombstone and that was it. From the brutality, to the conflict that Shawn Michaels has to battle through, the near falls and the reaction of the crowd, this match delivered and in a perfect storm, and made this finally FEEL like WrestleMania. To add onto what they did, the post match where the mutual respect was evident, Shawn helping Taker to his feet, the two of them helping Hunter to his feet and hugging it out as they left the ring was the perfect end to the story that they told, which in many ways played perfectly off of the stories they told with Flair vs. HBK, the two HBK vs. Taker matches, and the previous year’s Triple H vs. Taker match. This was simply outstanding. Also, poor Triple H, he wanted to bleed the hard way and allowed Taker to Harley Race the fuck out of him, and it just didn’t work the way they had hoped. But yes, Triple H, Taker, Shawn and Jim Ross worked in chorus to create a spectacular atmosphere.

2. Shawn Michaels vs. Undertaker – IYH: Badd Blood [****¾]: At Summerslam, Shawn Michaels was the special referee for Hart vs. Undertaker, and in trying to screw Hart, Michaels ended up costing the Undertaker the title, and thus had to face his wrath. That brought us to Bad Blood, and a little match called Hell in a Cell. The gimmick designed for Taker to inflict his wrath without HBK being able to escape. What we got was a symphony of violence from two of the best ever. These men had such chemistry, as evidence by their later WrestleMania classics. The pacing, the brutality, the blood, the table bump; it was all done perfectly. Taker gets revenge on HBK by nearly destroying him, but HBK steals the victory thanks to Paul Bearer introducing Kane to the WWF audience. This match set the standard for the big time HIAC matches at the time. On top of that, the debut of Kane was huge and led to the Taker vs. Kane feud, WM match and now several years of the Brothers of Destruction in the WWE. Also, Taker’s sell of his “little brother arriving for revenge” was very well done. A great match is all well and good, but the added story element on top of it always helps take it to the next level. These were two men that knew what to do and when to do it, which we would see years later when they worked the back-to-back Mania classics.

1. Mankind vs. The Undertaker – King of the Ring 1998 [****¾]: There are moments in life that you never forget; there are things you see that can’t be unseen. The Hell in a Cell match from the 1998 King of the Ring was one of those things. King of the Ring 1998 was an event that was looking to be very forgettable. The Headbangers vs. Kaientai was about what you’d expect, not bad, but nothing special. The KOTR semifinal matches were short and uninspired, Too Much vs. Al Snow and Head was a thing and the New Age Outlaws vs. The NEW Midnight Express was the tag title match. Remember kids, when you add NEW in front of something; you may as well add SHITTY. Ken Shamrock would finally get some redemption on The Rock as he defeated him to become the KOTR for that year in another forgettable match. This certainly wasn’t going to be the best event I had ever attended, but it was about to become the most memorable. What happened next is a part of wrestling history, and according to Mick Foley, there were 500,000 in the Igloo that night, because everyone he meets claims to be there. Clue to you all, unless you remember what the guy was screaming from the upper decks all night, you were not there. Trust me, nearly four hours of this asshole does not leave your memory. Hell in a Cell was next, Mankind and The Undertaker. I knew that the Undertaker had hurt his ankle and that Foley hated cage matches, so I was not expecting anything special. We all know what happens next. As I stand in the luxury box, right at the edge of the window, they climb the cell. They fight, and as they turn their backs to the box, Taker tosses Mankind off of the cell and through an announce table. It wasn’t until hours later that I would hear Jim Ross’ screams of “GOOD GOD ALMIGHTY… GOOD GOD ALMIGHTY THEY KILLED HIM. AS GOD AS MY WITNESS HE IS BROKEN IN HALF!” But those were basically my thoughts. I seriously thought that Foley was dead. Time seemed to stand still, I looked around and there were women and children crying in an eerie hush I had never heard at the arena. But then, in another ICONIC/STUPID moment, let’s be honest here, Foley gets to his feet and once again climbs the demonic structure. Watching this live, I will admit, after I got over the fact that he almost died, and I was FUCKING PUMPED. Shit was on and I wanted to see more destruction. And I got it. Foley then gets chokslammed THROUGH the cage, and at this point, we’re all talking, “There is no way he continues, dude is done, he’s going to the hospital for sure.” Foley amazingly enough does finish, with a LOT of walking through by Taker, and what I came away with was my greatest live moment at a wrestling show. I didn’t give two shits that Austin lost the title to Kane, I saw a man fly off of the big ass cage, not die and LIVE and still go on with the match. I have witnessed a lot in my years as a wrestling fan, over 33 of them, but I cannot and will not ever forget that night. Foley was known as a hardcore guy, between the shit he did before WCW, his battles with Vader in WCW and then his death matches in Japan; but for better or worse, this match made him an icon.

Some will argue that, “if you take out the big bumps” the match is different. Well no shit Sherlock, they were part of the match. That’s like removing any major/regular set of moves form any classic match. It’s subjective, and if you don’t like the match or think it sucks that is all well and good, but don’t try to the “if you take it out” defense. The things that happened simply happened; the big falls happened and everything that came with that became part of the match and part of the story. The Taker vs. Michaels cell is an all time classic and certainly set the standard, but when I ask people about Hell in a Cell, this is the match that they talk about. This is the match that I always think about, partly because I was there live, and partly because there’s never been anything like it since.

Hell in a Cell, when done right, is more than a wrestling match. It’s a beautifully violent story being told; and when done right, when the performers are allowed to tell their tale, it’s truly unforgettable.

– Undertaker, Triple H and Mick Foley; those fellas did ok with this match.

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

 photo fe36ffd0-0da4-4e3b-a2d3-b026b341dd87_zps41ef5d61.jpg
“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia.”