WWE Hell in a Cell 2014 PPV Review
October 26, 2014
By: Adam Martin of Wrestleview.com
The last few weeks of WWE television has been brutal. Boring. Not interesting.
The Hell in a Cell PPV was looming largely built around two double main events: John Cena vs. Randy Orton and Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins. Most wrestling fans at this point have seen enough of Cena vs. Orton. Understandable.
Even fellow WWE star Cesaro isn’t a fan of that match up.
“It is a new era of guys, it’s a new generation, and it’s a lot of fun to watch that because there are fresh match-ups. I mean I’m sick of seeing John Cena against Randy Orton for the 500th time. It’s great that we have some new, young guys that can come out and provide absolutely great match-ups and for the fans there are fresh, exciting matches and things to watch.” – Cesaro (KOPSource.com)
The new era of talents like Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins getting an opportunity in the main event scene has been the loud cry of the internet wrestling fan. The question heading into this show was would they get that opportunity?
They did and another “new” talent cemented his roster place as well.
Ambrose vs. Rollins entertains and ends with a visual bang
Full disclosure: I haven’t been a huge fan of either Dean Ambrose or Seth Rollins. I see the potential and all good things develop with plenty of time. However, when you get some pretty lackluster promo work between the two to hype this match, it certainly doesn’t make one excited for said match. Bringing in Mick Foley to hard sell the match last Monday was a very telling chess move by WWE to pump up some interest.
Despite some promo flaws, the match itself was very entertaining. Ambrose firing up the crowd standing at the top of the cell, the bump off the cell into the announce tables and the hardcore brawling that followed definitely upped the stock of both guys on a thin, injured roster. Bray Wyatt’s upgraded visual presentation took the main event to another level. I’m quite pleased to see some much needed change to the presentation of Wyatt and his attack on Ambrose creates a much needed change in direction for suffering storylines.
Cena vs. Orton gets creative to keep things fresh
I’m even sick of John Cena vs. Randy Orton at this point. That’s even going back to last December’s TLC PPV. Yet, they found a way to keep things fresh with some creative offense. For a character that hasn’t been interesting for years, Orton seems to have something with the “RKO out of no where” aspect. Cena vs. Lesnar part three has potential. Keeping Lesnar off WWE TV will pay dividends in the long run despite most hating it.
The Divas are just kind of doing stuff
AJ Lee is the WWE Divas Champion. Paige wants it back. That’s about it folks. Paige is frustrating in that her presentation has so much potential, but her flaws (the random screaming STILL needs to go) seem to outshine the positive. AJ is just kind of skipping around and doing stuff. I’m not really sure why I should care about either character.
Rusev continues to dominate and look great
Rusev remains one of the great aspects of WWE television. Coming off a great segment with The Rock a few weeks ago and keeping things hot with the American and Russian flag angles, Big Show was another great foe for the Russian. Rusev’s in-ring presence is still scary good for someone that is still learning.
Corny Sheamus keeps his title
The WWE writing team seems to have this odd fascination with booking Sheamus in extremely corny backstage segments and angles. It’s just hard to really invest in his character when he keeps being forced to cut silly promos and Brogue Kick cameras. Damien Mizdow can be entertaining, but tonight felt way overkill and not funny at all.
Goldust and Stardust remain a fun champion team
Not much to say here. We’ve seen tag matches like this before from both teams. But who cares? The quick tags were fun. The Usos are always a blast to watch on offense. The creative quick combo-finish from Goldust and Stardust was fun. This wasn’t designed to be a game changer and instead a fun way for both teams to get some PPV time.
The Bella’s continue to disappoint
I’ll admit liking the move by WWE to separate The Bella’s. However, Nikki’s poor promo work and Brie’s poor acting just hasn’t made any of this fun. At all. You have to at least go for things like this with a thin roster of girls. Yet, I’m shocked they haven’t pulled the plug on this already given the crowd reception has been quite poor.
Ziggler and Cesaro tear it up
Dolph Ziggler is still the best guy to open up a Pay Per View event. Ziggler always had great chemistry with former WWE star Alberto Del Rio and he seems to have the same with Cesaro. Lots of fun creativity in this one and it was nice to see WWE go the route of two falls in a row in favor of Ziggler instead of a stalling second pinfall.
Overall impression
I’d call this a pretty fun show from WWE. It was a huge improvement over the very disappointing Night of Champions PPV last month. Ambrose vs. Rollins pulled out some fun hardcore brawling. The visual of Bray Wyatt’s return was great. Cena and Orton found a way to make things interesting when most people dreaded having to see them wrestle again. I’d call this show a definite positive following a string of pretty bad television.
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