Prince Bálor's WWE Journey
Destination: HELL IN A CELL - Los Angeles, CA
Date: 10/25/15
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Cesaro, Dolph Ziggler & Neville vs Sheamus, Barrett & Rusev was a good pre-show match. ***¼
This was Creative's way of saying "LOL, we have nothing for you. You lot are on the pre-show." match, but I liked it.
I won't say much about it, except that the right team won and PUSH CESARO, DAMMIT! His performance here was awesome!
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Alberto Del Rio vs Jawn Cena was a decent show opener for the time given. **
The Mexican's greatest export is back! El Patrón is back, perros! God, I love the element of surprise. I did not see that coming.
I didn't expect him back this soon and thought he should stay away from WWE (I guess I'll find that out soon enough), but yeah, I marked for ADR.
I just hope I don't cringe at how badly he's booked in the next few months. I also liked seeing Zeb (and his majestic facial hair) back.
With that promo he cut, does this mean racism is gone from WWE? Now, about the match... It was just there and decent given the time.
But, it never felt like it got going, and then finished out of left field and in such anti-climatic way. If my memory serves me well, the majority of Cena's matches since winning the US title have had a lot of great back-and-forth and nearfalls. Here, we didn't have that as much.
I was surprised to see Cena go down after a single kneeling Superkick. I love it that Cena lost clean and I loved the surprise of ADR being back, but the execution of the match and the finish was a bit lackluster, I must say. Oh, and there was no write-off for Cena? I'm a tad bit shocked, tbh.
Anyhow, now that ADR is the US champ, I hope the open challenges continue!
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Roman Reigns vs Bray Wyatt was solid. **½
As my fiancee, Jacob "Rainmaker" Fox said, the match started out slow, but when it picked up, it was solid. To me, it didn't really feel like the HIAC match. They should've made the surrounding matter and the intensity should've been off the charts. It also felt very long. But, the fact that this feud is finally over makes me happy.
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The New Day vs The Dudley Boyz was decent. **
The New Day's antics saved this match for me. There wasn't much to it, other than the same (bland) formula to The New Day/The Dudleyz match. Also, The New Day winning via pinfall floats my boat.
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Charlotte vs Nikki Bella was decent. **¼
The girls worked hard and this was definitely better than their previous encounters. The match was sloppy at times and the lack of back selling from Charlotte took away from the match a bit, but kudos to both girls (especially Nikki) for trying to deliver.
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Seth Rollins vs Kane was decent for what it was. **
I didn't care about this cheesy feud to begin with. The only positive I could ever see from it was Rollins winning clean! And he did! Thank you, WWE. Here's [2 stars] for not being lame for once! Now, please move on from this feud!
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Kevin Owens vs Ryback was a complete DUD.
The fact that KO/Ryback got a co-main event spot over the WWE-WHC and still couldn't deliver is just disappointing.
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Brock Lesnar vs Undertaker was a great ME and MOTN, easily! ****
Oh boy, do I enjoy watching these two brutalize each other! It was a grueling war. It wasn't a bloodbath from No Mercy 2002, but it could've been.
I bet Vinnie Mac was furious backstage when he saw blood. "You'll bleed when I want you to bleed, Goddammit!" - But nah, Bork no care. :21-1:
Anyways, this exceeded my expectations and I'm so happy with Lesnar winning and how the match ended.
Post-match, with The Wyatts attacking Taker, we got an obvious set up for a Survivor Series match with Taker & Co vs The Wyatt Family.
OVERALL THOUGHTS: Hell In A Cell was a decent show. I wasn't really into anything aside from the ME, not like the rest was uber bad or anything.
I'm also content there was little to no BS (as far as shenanigans go) on this PPV. 6/10