BRM Reviews WWE Hell in a Cell 2021 (awesome wrestling, terrible booking)

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Big Red Machine
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BRM Reviews WWE Hell in a Cell 2021 (awesome wrestling, terrible booking)

Post by Big Red Machine » Jun 20th, '21, 21:14

WWE Hell in a Cell 2021 (6/20/2021)- St. Petersburg, FL



HELL IN A CELL MATCH FOR THE WWE SMACKDOWN WOMEN’S TITLE: Bianca Belair(c) vs. Bayley- 8.5/10
This was an excellent weapons match. Bayley worked the arm and also sold her knee well when her own offense resulted in it hitting metal, and they did some very creative spots with Bianca’s hair. I loved the match, but it was also very present in my mind how much this didn’t need to be in Hell in a Cell. You’ve all heard the rant before about how HIAC means nothing now (and, in case, you haven’t, Chris Jericho recently made it on Twitter), so I’m not going to waste your time by making it again here, but I will say that these two did not help their cause at all. As I said above, this was an excellent weapons match. The fact that it was in Hell in a Cell was about the fourth most memorable thing about it (behind the spots with Bianca’s hair, the sick finish, and the great babyface-heel dynamics, at least), and that isn’t a good thing for the overall health of the gimmick. I didn’t hold that against the match, but I do feel like I needed to say it.

SARAH SCHREIBER INTERVIEWS BIANCA BELAIR- bad
Bianca said that she would never forgive Bayley for “kicking her butt” the way she did in this match. Dude… YOU’RE A PROFESSIONAL COMBAT ATHLETE! That’s part of the job! And YOU were the one who wanted this dangerous gimmick match in the first place!

SETH ROLLINS vs. CESARO- 8.25/10
Rollins jumped Cesaro during his entrance. The referee pulled them apart so that she could then officially order them to fight. If she actually checked them for weapons before the bell then I would be fine with this, but if you don’t do that, then why not just ring the bell if they’re already in the ring and fighting?
This was just an awesome, athletic, exciting professional wrestling match. Rollins won clean with a roll-up, so I guess this feud is going to keep going. Uch. Even with the great matches, I’m tired of seeing this feud because it doesn’t feel like it’s going anywhere. The right thing to do here would have been to put Cesaro over cleanly again and move on, giving Cesaro some momentum for whatever he does next, and leaving Seth to deal with the fact that there is someone out there he just can’t beat no matter what he does.

MEGAN MORANT INTERVIEWS SHAYNA BASZLER- bad
Reginald tried to kiss Shayna’s hand but she smacked him instead.

ALEXA BLISS vs. SHAYNA BASZLER (w/Nia Jax & Reginald)- 2.5/10
Shayna got the advantage after Reginald caused a distraction. She beat Alexa down in the corner while way too much camera-cutting happened. Alexa eventually fought bac and worked over Shayna’s knee until Reginald caused another distraction, allowing Shayna to take over again. Is Alexa supposed to be the babyface here?
Shayna did the Dakota-killer elbow stomp and Alexa sold it big… until she just started laughing. Shayna grabbed Alexa’s wrists and twisted, but then something weird happened and she just let go and stumbled backwards, and Alexa went on offense again. Did Alexa take control of Shayna’s mind or something temporarily?
Alexa then hypnotized Nia into punching Reginald. They both roared and did a taunt. Shayna locked in the Kirafuta Clutch but Alexa escaped, knocked Shayna down, and hit Twisted Bliss for the win. This was weird and unexciting, but not particularly terrible.

KEVIN OWENS vs. SAMI ZAYN- 7.75/10
Another GREAT match! Sami started off by working over Owens’ throat, which was still injured from the two Nigerian Nails he took two nights ago. Owens’ arm was injured as well. This was a hell of a brawl. Zayn won clean, and the finish looked awesome.

WWE RAW WOMEN’S TITLE MATCH: Rhea Ripley(c) vs. Charlotte Flair- 7.5/10
Rhea has some new ugly facepaint across her eye that I really hope isn’t a tattoo, or else’s Cody’s neck tattoo will have a rival. Charlotte worked the knee and these two had a great brawl with some other great stuff thrown in, too (I popped huge for Charlotte stealing the Ibushi moonsault spot. Haven’t seen that one in a while)… and then it ended with stupid-ass DQ, and with the supposed babyface getting DQed so she wouldn’t lose her title, no less. They fought afterwards, and Rhea won. Who could possibly care at this point? Like Seth and Cesaro, everyone is sick of this feud, and yet instead of doing the natural thing and wrapping it up, WWE insists on keeping it going. Unlike that feud there is at least somewhere to go with this (a no DQs match), but with two completely unlikable characters, it’s hard to get excited to see them wrestle again because I really don’t care who wins.

LAST CHANCE HELL IN A CELL MATCH FOR THE WWE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE: Bobby Lashley(c) (w/MVP) vs. Drew McIntyre)- 8.75/10
This was exactly what it should have been: A hate-filled brawl between two extremely tough competitors determined to win a truly worthy prize. It was vicious and brutal and violent and exciting and everything a Hell in a Cell match should be… other than the fact that we couldn’t get a clean finish in a f*cking HELL IN A CELL MATCH where the stipulation is that if the challenger loses, he can’t get another title shot! WHY?!
The first match in this feud happened two months ago, and the finish there was MVP costing Drew the match. Two months later we’re at the big blow-off… and the finish is the same f*cking thing! And not only that, but they made it even worse by having Drew get a visual pinfall on Lashley, so not only did Drew Lashley need to cheat to win, but you couldn’t even give him the claim that he would have won on his own anyway, because you showed us that Drew had him pinned for three seconds but the referee was down.
And where does any of this even get you? Drew screws Lashley out of the title? Oh goody. A f*ck finish in a world title match, and undermining the babyface who beats Lashley because he’ll need Drew’s help to do so. Even if Drew doesn’t interfere, they’ve already undermined the person who beats Lashley because they showed us that Drew rightfully should be the champion.
“But BRM, they need to protect Drew!”
NO THEY F*CKING DON’T! If you have enough confidence in a babyface to give him/her/them the title run that you gave to Drew, then you should have enough confidence in that person/team that he/she/they can suffer a clean loss and be rebuilt to a main event level through good booking.


This was an awesome wrestling show viciously mauled by the fact that it felt like the finishes were booked specifically to be frustrating. Pretty much everything other than the opener can be argued to fall into this category. I don't know that I've ever seen a show with such a discrepancy between the wrestling and the booking. I feel so bad for the wrestlers who went out there and gave it their all and put their bodies on the line and delivered for the fans… only to have the goodwill and appreciation they engendered immediately destroyed by someone else’s incompetence.




STUPID ANNOUNCER QUOTES:
1. Pat McAfee attributed Bayley knowing that she could use the ropes for illegal leverage to having “been there before” (meaning having been in a Hell in a Cell match, which Bianca, to contrast, has not).

Because the ropes are only there in a Hell in a Cell match? Come on, Pat! You’re better than this!
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

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