Can Hell in a Cell still bring the heat?

The 2000 Hell in a Cell match between Triple H and Cactus Jack at No Way Out raised the stakes. (To the uninitiated, Cactus Jack is Mick Foley’s most hardcore wrestling alter ego; Dude Love is his least hardcore alter ego, while Mankind sits in the middle on the alter ego hardcore scale.) It didn’t take long before both Trips and Cactus were wearing the crimson mask, which is to say that they were bleeding profusely. In terms of weaponry, this one featured chairs and stairs and a 2x4, the latter of which was wrapped in barbed wire and later set on fire. Mankind, no stranger to hellacious falls, was slammed through the Cell’s metal roof and fell halfway through the ring itself. Chants of FO-LEY, FO-LEY, FO-LEY followed.

There are plenty of other Hell in a Cell matches that belong in such a conversation – particularly the very first one, between the Undertaker and Shawn Michaels in 1997 – but the two mentioned above get the point across: Hell in a Cell was conceived of and is at its most, well, hellish, when the matches that it houses are hardcore, bloody, weapons-heavy affairs. Cage matches had been around for decades beforehand, but the Cell changed the game (in WWE lore, at least) by incorporating a roof and having the fencing extend onto the floor around the ring. No longer could a match be won by escaping; on the contrary, escape was thought to be an impossibility.

The longer the Cell exists, the tougher it is for WWE stars to make the most of it. It's like the NBA dunk contest or a skateboard vert competition; at this point, most everything you can do has been done already. We’ve seen dudes fly off the cage and go through the ring, and a lot of that stuff is wince inducing. Coming up with something new means coming up with something super inventive and/or super dangerous. The format shines a light on the more violent, visceral side of wrestling, which makes for an awkward fit given that we're past hardcore's heyday. Still, it’s the big moments that make Hell in a Cell matches memorable. I forgot most of what happened at WrestleMania 32 the very next day, but I’ll remember Shane McMahon going off the Cell forever.

Before the annual Hell in a Cell pay-per-view was born in 2009, there was no telling when a feud would be settled inside the Cell. The structure was an event unto itself, a bell tolling, a harbinger of chaos. Now, it’s on the calendar every year, just like Thanksgiving. This is all to ask: Does the Cell, once described by commentator Jim Ross as “vile” and “demonic,” among other things, still matter? Will any of the three in-Cell matches at Sunday’s pay-per-view restore some prestige to this legendary institution? Let's see.

Rusev vs. Roman Reigns (c), United States Championship

Roman Reigns is still widely maligned for his seemingly predestined main event, but he’s taken more of backseat lately, which has cooled the booing a bit. More importantly, all the guy does is have good matches at pay-per-views. He made his Hell in a Cell debut a year ago against Bray Wyatt, and it was great. He’s a big, athletic dude, the sort that can make every move he does look like it hurts. Any complaints about his in-ring work focus on style more than substance. Rusev meets that description as well. It feels like he and Reigns have wrestled a hundred times in the past month, but they’re big hosses and they’ll beat the hell out of each other. Their styles mesh nicely with this sort of event.

But I’m not sure this match needs to be inside the Cell. The United States Championship is on the line, but the bigger point of contention has been Roman spitting in Rusev's proverbial cereal. For instance, Reigns interrupted Rusev and Lana’s wedding celebration weeks ago. He embarrassed them and got cake in Lana’s hair and everything. That actually happened. More recently, Rusev tried to introduce the WWE Universe to his family with a nice little photoessay, only for Roman to again interrupt another perfectly good Russo-Bulgarian celebration. That’s really the gist of why these guys are fighting. And Rusev is supposed to be the bad guy.

Does that sound like the sort of confrontation that belongs in a structure said to be designed for destruction? One could certainly argue yes: It doesn’t get much more personal than when you bring the spouse and family into it. The tone of the whole thing, however, has been decidedly silly, and "silly" doesn't jibe with "big metal room of pain," you know? That said, this bout could well be the most intense, physical one of the night. These guys have been going at it for a while, so this match does have a proper feud-ending feel. It may be the only one of the three we can say that about.

Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks (c), WWE Women’s Championship

This match is a big deal because it’s the first-everwomen’s Hell in a Cell match. I know this because I know this, but also because Sasha and Charlotte, as well as Stephanie McMahon and Mick Foley, have said so a whole bunch of times. On one hand, that’s fair; it will indeed be a historic match and a signifier of how much seriously women’s wrestling is taken these days. That said, understand that WWE has at times handled its ballyhooed women’s revolution with all the subtlety of an assault rifle during an actual revolution.

It’s been a classic case of telling rather than showing. For every great match, there have been two promos talking about how much history has been made, about how the glass ceiling has been smashed and about we are witnessing legacies being built in real time. Combine that with Mick Foley mansplaining Hell in a Cell to Charlotte and Sasha this past Monday, and suddenly it doesn’t feel quite so progressive.

Among the worst running subplots have been repeated references to Eddie Guerrero, Sasha’s favorite wrestler and childhood idol. There have been some nice nods in the past, like Sasha wearing Eddie-style trunks and using some of his beloved nefarious tactics; heartfelt homages, I say. This week, Mick Foley went as far to say that Sasha was now a part of Eddie’s legacy. Which is all well and good, except that Eddie has been dead for 12 years. I don’t presume to speak for the Guerrero household, but I think it’s fair to question the taste. The larger question is, why can’t Sasha and Charlotte (and Bayley, Becky Lynch, and the rest of the women) build their own stories? Comparing them to past greats can be complimentary, sure, but casting those shadows only makes it harder for the new stars to shine.

Like Rusev-Reigns and Rollins-Owens, this match should be a good one. Charlotte is perhaps the most athletic woman we’ve ever seen in a WWE ring. She’s busted out moonsaults from the top rope to the floor, which makes you wonder what she might do with a 20-foot-tall cage. Sasha’s WWE run has been marked by fits and starts, more latent potential than realized promise, but she’s starred in some of the best matches of the past couple years, full stop. 

These two have history together, and there’s a sense that this match should feel bigger. (Notice a theme here?) The hope – and so much of wrestling is hope – is that this match turns into the latest women’s classic. The hope is that this story contains enough venom to feel like it needs to be decided inside Hell in a Cell. The hope, more than anything else, is that this match speaks for itself.

Seth Rollins vs. Kevin Owens (c), WWE Universal Championship

Let’s start by saying this: Owens and Rollins are two of the brighter stars in WWE today. Rollins has as much agility and athleticism as anyone this side of AJ Styles. Owens is gifted with enough gab that he can keep up with his best buddy Chris Jericho with no problems. Both can talk, both can work, and both can go. And they’re relatively young, unfinished products; Rollins made his WWE debut in 2012, and Owens in 2015. Two blue-chippers squaring off with the Universal Championship (essentially a Raw-only version of the top title) at stake should feel like a big deal, right? Right. It should. But it doesn’t, really, because the bad blood isn’t between Owens and Rollins.

The real beef is between Rollins and Triple H. It was Trips who showed up out of nowhere two months ago to aid Owens and betray Rollins during a fatal four-way match for the then-vacant Universal Championship. Triple H delivered a pedigree to his one-time protégé, gifting Owens both a pinfall victory and favored nation status with the Authority.

Owens hasn’t been as chummy with the Authority as Rollins was, however, in large part because Triple H hasn’t appeared on TV since that title-swinging interference. That effectively relegates Owens vs. Rollins to placeholder status while the bigger Rollins vs. Triple H storyline, presumably on hold until the Royal Rumble or WrestleMania, burbles under the surface.

This isn’t to say that Owens-Rollins hasn’t been entertaining in the meantime. Chris Jericho has played a big part, and he’s as reliable a performer as you’ll find. He has been Owens’ faithful and mega-over best friend for months, though the veneer of that friendship threatening to crack as of late – Jericho nearly called him a “stupid idiot,” which would be akin to Calvin jabbing a steak knife into Hobbes’ back.
Things got more serious this past Monday, when Owens powerbombed Rollins onto the ring apron, a move that he used in NXT to put guys like Sami Zayn and Adrian Neville on the shelf. 

KO has a nasty side – he was once known as “Wrestling’s Worst Nightmare” – and this match would be well served if he tapped into it.
Look, this match, along with the other two discussed here, will almost certainly be good. It’s disappointing that none of them really feels like a big-time Cell-worthy match, but being skeptical is the best thing you can be as a wrestling fan, or a fan of anything, for that matter. The Hell in a Cell pay-per-view doesn't feel like a huge deal, and I don't think it has for a while. That lack of status lowers the bar. Here's hoping these six wrestlers can raise it.