Pantoja’s WWE Hell in a Cell 2022 Review

WWE Hell in a Cell

June 5th, 2022 | Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois

WWE Raw Women’s Championship: Bianca Belair [c] vs. Asuka vs. Becky Lynch

Easily the most interesting match on the card. A lot of this followed the expected triple threat tropes like having one person dumped outside so the others could go at it. However, it’s a trope because it works when done well. The girls kind of just kept things entertaining throughout by trading offense and you got a sense of intensity here too. Becky’s desperation to get back on top was clear. A simple near fall on a diving leg drop had her stressed. It’s like Becky can’t grasp who she’ll be if she’s not the top star. They also did a good job of making me buy into near falls, which I wasn’t expecting given that the outcome seemed obvious coming in. Bianca high-stepping while doing a stalling suplex is a sick spot. I loved Asuka’s pair of Codebreakers as the spot was well set up and looked great. The double ankle lock was even cooler. Bianca deadlifting Becky out of the Dis-Arm-Her was outstanding and the Manhandle Slam near fall ruled. My only issue with this match was the finish. After several close calls from everyone, Becky hit Asuka with the Manhandle Slam, only for Bianca to throw her out and steal the pin in 18:56. It’s a good finish but WWE has done it to death over the years so it feels tired by this point. Still, an all-time great opener. [****¼]

Bobby Lashley vs. MVP and Omos

Speaking of overdone WWE spots, it took five minutes in this one for Lashley to get tackled through the guardrail. Commentary hyped the speed that Omos used for it but he didn’t seem like he was going that fast. I didn’t write about anything before that because nothing really happened. Omos used his size on Lashley and MVP played the smart veteran who picks his spots. Lashley beat the countout but then had his Spear pin on MVP cut off by Omos. Cedric Alexander ran in only for Omos to dump him out, frustrated at his desire to keep getting involved. Lashley took out Omos and beat MVP with the Hurt Lock in 8:22. I thought this was better than the Lashley/Omos singles matches. [**½]

Ezekiel vs. Kevin Owens

This storyline is pretty lame but whatever. For the most part though, Elias is a guy who usually works well enough when he’s against someone who can lead the way. His best matches are against the likes of Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens is in that same vein. The match itself was indeed pretty strong, with Ezekiel looking good on offense and Owens adding a lot of charisma to this by shouting that he’s going against Elias. Ezekiel got cut around his eye pretty early on, adding a level of intensity to this. Not much but a bit. As Owens fired up big offense late, Ezekiel seemed to say he’d admit his true identity only to catch KO with a sweet knee strike. Owens still cut him off up top and beat him with the Stunner in 9:21. A pretty good back and forth match though the actual story is weird since this didn’t really prove Ezekiel’s identity or anything. [**¾]

AJ Styles, Finn Bálor and Liv Morgan vs. Judgment Day

I mean, if anything should be in the cell, this feels like the pick. It would’ve been different for the stipulation and has the most personal/bitter build. I liked how Liv started hot with a sweet assisted rana from her teammates, only to get stopped by a headbutt (with a great sell). Rhea on offense was great as she was vicious and arrogant. Liv is a perfect foil for her because she can tossed with ease and bump like a champ. She got beat up for a while before tagging to Finn, who came in hot only to end up as the face in peril. Edge and Priest were great in taking turns against him though I still need Rhea wrecking the dudes to make this a bit better. AJ’s hot tag was great and I miss his team with Omos because he’s honestly at his best right now in these bursts. He hit Edge and Priest at every turn both inside and out of the ring. He had it won with the Phenomenal Forearm but the pin was broken up. That triggered a wild finish filled with cool spots like a Liv crucifix bomb, the Riptide, Slingblade, and more. Finn set up for Coup de Grace but Rhea stood in the way and the chivalrous Finn didn’t jump on or over her. Morgan went after her but that left Finn to take a Spear, losing in 16:03. Goddamn, I’m a sucker for this kind of stuff. A really fun, action-packed six man tag with very good wrestlers doing their thing. [***½]

No Disqualifications Match: Happy Corbin vs. Madcap Moss

Imagine still running this match after seeing how bad the feud has been. Moss had a new look where he didn’t come across as a goof. If only he wasn’t named Madcap. Thankfully, these two guys looked to just beat the hell out of each other. They wailed on each other with strikes before moving on to using chairs. Moss even hit Corbin in the head with a chair, which I thought was a no-no outside of AEW. The most important thing to note here is that Moss was more aggressive. He was taking his more serious thing…um…seriously. Some of the stuff was kind of silly like a certain spot with Moss sent into the announce table. It just didn’t look very good. Inside, Moss got the win by PILLMANIZING Corbin’s neck after 12:04. That was solid but I had no reason to care. [**¾]

WWE United States Championship: Theory [c] vs. Mustafa Ali

Ali got the big hometown hype and had Chicago flag themed gear. So naturally, nobody believed he’d win given that this is WWE. These are two guys who can go in the ring and though the build hasn’t been great, they delivered. Ali looked like he had more energy than usual, hitting his moves with an extra something. Theory had to slow him down with a chinlock that thankfully didn’t last too long. They started trading offense like a Spanish Fly and rolling neckbreaker before Theory survived an STF by making it to the ropes. The crowd came unglued for Ali going up top but again, he’s the hometown guy so of course he missed the 450 splash. Theory chop blocked him and retained with A-Town Down at the 10:19 mark. A quality match that could’ve been better if it felt like it meant more. Still, good stuff. [***]

Hell in a Cell: Cody Rhodes vs. Seth Rollins

Cody is 2-0 against Seth beating him in two tremendous matches at WrestleMania (****¼) and WrestleMania Backlash(****½). Can this do what Edge/Seth did last year and get progressively better with each match? Obviously, the news coming into this was that Cody was hurt, having a torn pectoral muscle. When he removed his entrance jacket, everything changed. The gnarly injury was visible with his entire shoulder and pec area being black and blue. It made for an awkward start to the match because the crowd was silent. They weren’t sure how to react because they were very concerned. I’ll give Cody all of the props for going through with this, though I’m of the mindset that maybe wrestlers should take it easy and not compete with something like this. Cody’s health is more important to me than having a great match. So, I’m not going to cover most of what happened in this match as there are other reviews on 411mania that will do that. What I will note is that this is a hard match to rate. You have to factor in that Cody was basically working with one arm, making his performance incredibly gutsy and really hammering home how great Seth Rollins is to work around it and keep him safe. Like, seeing Cody take kendo stick shots to the arm, do a springboard cutter, and take a powerbomb through a table was hard to watch. On the other hand, I also have to note something that really irks me about matches and that’s when there are logic gaps. For example, why didn’t Seth try a submission at any point? An abdominal stretch or something would be great here. It’s the same issue I have when managers don’t constantly interfere in a No DQ match. I just want the wrestlers to do logical things. Anyway, the match ended after 24:18 when Cody hit one of many Cross Rhodes and then laid out Seth with a hammer. [***¾]

I assume Cody is gone for most of 2022 and wins the Rumble.

7.5

The final score: review Good

The 411

Once again, WWE gives us a bad build but a strong show. I will admit that a fair bit of this felt like it belonged on weekly TV (Moss/Corbin, Theory/Ali, Ezekiel/Owens, handicap match) but none of them were bad. In fact, some of them outperformed my expectations. You also get a memorable main event, a fun six-person tag, and an incredible opener.