Seven matches were contested at the event, including one on the Kickoff pre-show. In the main event, Randy Orton defeated Drew McIntyre in a Hell in a Cell match to win the WWE Championship for a tenth time. Two other Hell in a Cell matches were also contested on the card: in the opening bout, Roman Reigns defeated Jey Uso to retain the Universal Championship, which was also the first time an "I Quit" match was contested inside the structure, while Sasha Banks defeated Bayley to win the SmackDown Women's Championship, ending Bayley's title reign at 380 days; this also made Banks WWE's fourth Women's Triple Crown Champion and third Women's Grand Slam Champion.
Singles Match for the WWE 24/7 ChampionshipR-Truth (c) defeated Drew Gulak
Singles Match for the WWE 24/7 Championship
Hell in a Cell "I Quit" match for the WWE Universal ChampionshipRoman Reigns (c) (with Paul Heyman) def. Jey UsoSince Jey quit, he and his brother Jimmy Uso have to take orders and acknowledge Reigns as The Tribal Chief or The Usos and their immediate families will be exiled from the Anoa'i family.
Hell in a Cell "I Quit" match for the WWE Universal Championship
As a WRESTLING match, I'm sure there's people out there who flat out hated this match as there wasn't much of that here. In reality, this match was a master class in STORYTELLING. That was entirely the point here. They were knocking the point home with their performance(s) as these characters - from Jey Uso's determination and personal resolve not to give up to Roman Reign's firm standing under his new idealogy as the Tribal Chief of the Anoa'i family. The trash talking and taunting throughout this match was pure excellence, but I could have done without the referee asking who is going to give up after every single move. I could have done without any commentary calling this match as well because Michael Cole does absolutely NOTHING to add to these matches. If this was a normal pinfall/submission match, Jey Uso would have been pushing up daisies within the first few minutes of this match after Roman hit the first of many Spears. Instead, he kept toughing it out and proving to the WWE Universe that he can hang with the Tribal Chief. The Usos are decorated multiple time WWE Tag Team Champions, but people tend to forget that they are two excellent individual workers in the ring and can hold a candle to any modern tag team in the world, whether it be The Revival/FTR, The North (Ethan "All Ego" Page & Josh Alexander), The Young Bucks, or even their cousins in New Japan Pro Wrestling, The Guerillas of Destiny. If Jey's going to continue doing singles matches then he needs to add something new to his arsenal that is a little more heavy-hitting. The vast majority of his offense is stuff that I can't buy any main eventer on WWE's roster NOT kicking out of. That being said, he put in enough of a convincing effort to show that he was going down swinging.
I wanted to hand Roman Reigns AND Jimmy Uso an Oscar for their performances towards the end. They really had me caught up in the story here and truly painted the picture plain as day for solidifying Roman's heel turn. Where the fuck was THIS Roman Reigns when Vince was shoving Reigns down our throats a few years ago? If he came out there every week with this heel demeanor instead of fighting the backlash to his babyface run, then people would have been eating out of his hands by the time it was all said and done. I loved the finish too, where Reigns held the already injured Jimmy Uso into the Body Scissors until Jey Uso was forced to say he quit to spare his own twin brother's health and physical well-being.
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| Where the hell did they dig up the Wild Samoans from? Still made for a nice image post match for them to formally crown him the Tribal Chief of the Anoa'i family. |
Singles MatchElias def. Jeff Hardy by disqualification
Singles Match
As SOON as I heard the strum of Elias' guitar I went to the bathroom because I didn't give a flying fuck about this match in any shape nor form. Explain to me why the hell is Elias feuding with Jeff Hardy when Sheamus is the one who ran him over in that feud that put Elias on the shelf? This is just so fucking goddamn stupid.
Singles Match for the Money in the Bank contractThe Miz (with John Morrison) def. Otis (contract holder) (with Tucker)
I've liked Otis since his Heavy Machinery days back on NXT and even up to the Mandy Rose storyline that climaxed at WrestleMania, but even I think this whole debacle about the Money in the Bank briefcase was fucking stupid. This wasn't a bad match, it's just hard to care about this stupid storyline.
Like I was telling a friend when I was watching the match live, I thought that they telegraphed Tucker's turn a little TOO obvious because the cameras gave it away when they kept focusing on the briefcase on the floor after Morrison dropped it. After that, you could notice that Tucker kept eyeing it on the floor and making sure he was in position for the moments that followed. So when he clobbered Otis with the briefcase, I wasn't surprised as I figured that's how they were going to explain why the hell did they split up Heavy Machinery during the WWE Draft earlier this month.
What I did like though, was the post-match interview with Tucker backstage. The guy delivered a decent promo and Otis busted up the interview after Miz & Morrison joined like he was the Incredible Hulk on PCP. THAT was the reaction I was hoping he was going to after after Dolph Ziggler ruined his date with Mandy Rose instead of moping around like a fucking loser for weeks on end. If this means we get HULK SMASH Otis instead of the childish goof that he's settled into then I'm all for it.
Hell in a Cell match for the WWE SmackDown Women's ChampionshipSasha Banks def. Bayley (c) by submission
Hell in a Cell match for the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship
For as long as WWE has been milking this split and dragging this out, I thought that they should have headlined the show, especially with Roman and Jey getting their business out of the way first and foremost.
Let me get this out of the way first: This match was easily the best thing on the entire show, BUT I don't think that it was anywhere as good as Sasha and Bayley's two iconic TakeOver matches, so let's just not even go there.
With that out of the way, they lost me on the narrative here the moment Sasha kicked Bayley's beloved steel chair out of the ring and after less than 3-5 minutes they were pulling out more chairs from underneath the ring. Would it have killed them NOT to have more chairs underneath the ring to sell the narrative? Bayley using the chair to break Sasha's neck was the tale of the tape and played into the finish in a clever manner that I think that one decision here diminished the story that they were trying to tell with this match.
My other problem with this match was all of the unnecessary bumps around the corners of the steel steps in the corner at ringside. You only have a VERY narrow margin for error and these women were toying around in that area for several minutes. You could have taken all of those spots out and this match would have STILL been a classic. It was completely unnecessary in my eyes. I'm sure Sasha Banks saw the opening match and was convinced that they weren't going to top that on a narrative level, so she was going to bump her ass off instead. I'm not going to leave Bayley out of that either as I'm sure she went along with all of this stuff too and was just as onboard with it as Sasha was when they were pitching ideas for this. One of the stupidest bumps of the entire match had to be that back bump where the base of Sasha's skull hit the steel chair wedged into the corner. Sasha oversold the momentum from that move just to hit it as hard as she could too. I could do nothing but shake my head at that one. If she's still wrestling in another 3-5 years, I'll be surprised.
I couldn't help but laugh where this match stopped to a crawl as Bayley attempted to duct tape some kendo sticks together at ringside to put them together in some sort of makeshift bridge. She gave up halfway into this arts and crafts project after muttering to the official, "My hands are too sweaty, can you do it for me?" I was surprised that they couldn't edit that out, especially when I could hear that as plain as day over the fake crowd noise. That created an awkward as hell moment in the middle of this match where not even the commentary team could provide a sensible cover-up for that.
I think this was the point in the show where I literally asked out loud, "What is up with this company and so many kendo sticks all of a sudden over the past year?" Between the assault to Dominik in the Mysterio family drama and Seth Rollins and so many "extreme rules" matches on their programming as of late, I don't understand what is with their fascination with that as a weapon. I wasn't even too crazy about it during the height of the ECW days and I definitely haven't been made into a fan of it in recent years. It just seems like WWE are using that as PG era substitute for chair shots from the Attitude Era, given what we know in hindsight about concussions today from blows to the head.
20+ minutes later and things come down to a boil where Bayley kicks out of Belly to Bayley on the ladder followed by Sasha kicking out of normal Belly to Bayley served back to her in rebuttal. The finish came down to Sasha looking in the Banks Statement with the chair wrapped around Bayley's head while Sasha's stomping over the base of the chair to add more pressure - a VERY clever call back to their TakeOver match, where Sasha was stomping on Bayley's broken hand to force her to submit. That was some good shit there, pal, but it would have spoken volumes if they hadn't used any other chairs in this match up to that point.
In the end, I was glad to see them FINALLY take that belt off of Bayley even though there's some people who were butthurt that they went with that decision. It was obvious that they weren't going to separate them in the Draft, so there wasn't any way that they were going to delay this to WrestleMania next year. Sasha was the only person that SHOULD have taken that title off of Bayley after the story that they have been telling for what feels like the last FIVE years when it's probably been two years at the most on the main roster.
Now the only question that's left is whether or not can Sasha Banks keep it past the first title defense? Her title reigns have become infamous at this point for how comically short they have been on the main roster.
Singles Match for the WWE United States ChampionshipBobby Lashley (c) def. Slapjack by submission
This match was made during the show, where Retribution chose a member of the Hurt Business to face against a member of their factor that the Hurt Business selects. The former Shane Thorne tried as he might, but he was ultimately no match for "The Almighty" Bobby Lashley. The most hilarious thing about this match or rather the post-match attack was that Lashley fought off ALL of the members of Retribution on his own before the rest of the Hurt Business could even come out there. Boy, WWE doesn't give a flying fuck about this Retribution thing anymore, huh?
They have treated this idea poorly from the start and I can't say that I'm surprised to see them getting "jobbed out" when they never were really over to begin with. The best course of action would be to book the Hurt Business vs. Retribution at Survivor Series, with the losing faction being forced to disband. Scrap this whole Retribution thing, but maybe keep Dio Madden and Dijak aligned with Mustafa Ali. I think they could work something with those two. Send the others back down to NXT.
Hell in a Cell match for the WWE ChampionshipRandy Orton def. Drew McIntyre (c)
Hell in a Cell match for the WWE Championship
Going into this main event, Orton and Drew already had a lot going against them with the two HIAC matches that proceeded this. What else could they do that could stand out that hasn't already be done in the previous two matches.
They started things off early with Orton getting the jump on Drew during his entrance, disguised as one of the cameramen. I think wrestling Twitter lost their minds for a bit to see Orton wrestling in PANTS for the first few minutes of this match because of that. It wasn't long though because he discarded the pants and was down to the normal attire that we're used to seeing Orton wrestle in.
As for this match as a whole, I didn't think it was bad, but it's just really THERE for the latter part of this show. Nothing overly exciting happened outside of the cock-tease that they were going to do something off the top of the cell, only to climb back down shortly afterwards. My suspension of disbelief was killed the moment that I saw the foot holes and stands jutting out from the side of the cell where Orton and Drew were going to brawl upon before one of them took that fall through the commentary table below. That honor ended up going to Drew McIntyre as he was a fan of Shawn Michaels' infamous HIAC bump through the commentary table and sought out to do the same tonight. Drew managed to be bleeding from the mouth as a result, but I could just go "Meh..." at this as after everything we've seen Sasha and Bayley throw at each other earlier tonight, these two guys couldn't even get a little color to play up the "brutality" that these cage matches are known for.
That being said, I loved the finishing sequence of this match. When Orton clapped after evading the Claymore, I stood up and applauded that RKO counter. That was a thing of beauty. If Drew had kicked out of that, I would've been pissed. Orton won his 14th World title reign and I don't see any harm done to Drew McIntyre. You could easily start the slow build to have Drew chase towards the title again for WrestleMania season when (hopefully) events around the world are able to bring fans back in a safe capacity. Drew had a decent title reign for the last few months. The deciding factor is going to be whether he rises back up into challenging for said title or settles back into being forever mid-carder like Kofi Kingston following losing his World title last year. The guy eliminated Brock Lesnar in the Royal Rumble match AND beat him clean at WrestleMania. I doubt WWE are going to put that much of an investment into him to waste.
Afterthoughts:
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| The match that SHOULD have headlined tonight's show. On a side note, this was a pretty sweet poster for promoting the match. |
I didn't notice this until several podcasters and other fans mentioned this on social media, but we are EXACTLY at the same place in WWE's booking a decade ago when Randy Orton had the WWE Championship going into Survivor Series, where The Miz had the Money in the Bank briefcase. It would be pure insanity to put the belt on Miz at this point after taking it off of Drew McIntyre, BUT it would be a pretty fun tease to have people guessing. Just have Miz cash it in that night and lose. It doesn't have to be anything more than that.
As of this posting (11/4/20), it seems that they are setting Orton to defend against the threats of both Drew McIntyre and "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt after he faces Roman Reigns for brand supremacy/bragging rights at Survivor Series. I wouldn't have a problem with that as long it doesn't have to have anything to do with that god-awful House of Horrors Match that Bray and Orton had at WrestleMania a few years ago.
On the other end of the spectrum, Jey Uso has fallen in line over SmackDown and has turned heel to serve under the Tribal Chief while Sasha Banks is set to defend against Bayley for the SmackDown! Women's Championship, with the winner facing RAW Women's Champion Asuka at Survivor Series. Bayley already posed the same question that I did too, questioning the fact that Sasha has the ability to win titles, but does she have the ability to hang onto them. Nice little jab there. I should clarify that I don't flat out hate Bayley's heel turn, but it ultimately feels hit or miss to me. That promo from the HIAC fallout episode of SmackDown was great stuff from her. I still felt like Sasha Banks is at her best being heel, but whatever, WWE wants to push her as a babyface while advertising her upcoming appearance in season two of The Mandalorian on Disney+, so I'll put up with it. The match for WrestleMania on the SmackDown! women's end of things needs to be a heel Sasha Banks defending against Bianca Belair though. Nothing else in that division currently would interest me more since they blew their loads on the Sasha/Bayley match.
Without a shadow of a doubt, Sasha Banks and Bayley stole the show with the match of the night in terms of in-ring action, but I don't think that people should discredit Reigns vs. Jey Uso either, despite the fact that it was more of a narrative than an actual competitive match. The stuff that WWE is currently doing with Roman Reigns' heel turn is the best thing going in this company right now across all three brands. There's no arguing that fact.
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