10 Worst Hell In A Cell Matches

We’ve already touched upon the times where the Hell in a Cell match concept worked magically as a perfect bookend to a heated rivalry. But for every Foley that falls from the top, there’s a yawn inducing mess to put a bad taste in the fans mouths.

Let’s face it, Hell in a Cell lost its novelty a very long time ago and it’s tough to find a true-to-form Cell match akin to the greatest. Some of them are merely standard one on one exhibitions that just happen to take place in the confines of ‘Satan’s structure’. Occasionally, a kendo stick and a table enters the fray, but aside from that there’s not a great deal superstars have to fear.

But which abysmal matches stand out as the worst of all time? Let’s have a gander.

 

10. Roman Reigns vs Rusev – Hell in a Cell 2016

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZKmCSLWWe0

This was by no means a terrible match, Rusev and Roman had a series of matches which definitely surpassed the average rating, but this stands out as one of the most unnecessary matches to feature the Hell in a Cell stipulation. Perhaps it was due to the sheer amount of Cell matches present on the card – the US title match being the first of three to take place that evening – that put a dampener on the cell’s presence.

The action failed to escalate beyond what they had already achieved in prior matches. The cell simply surrounded the ring and obstructed the audience’s view of The Big Dog’s title defence. It was a lazy excuse to use the stipulation. Perhaps WWE have since learned from this and are keeping less blockbuster feuds away from the steel, the upcoming Nakamura/Mahal championship bout is already giving off similar vibes, but thankfully they’re being kept away from the cell.

But anyway, Ru-Ru and Ro-Ro tried their hardest to have a great match despite of this inconvenience, it was hard-hitting and overall a solid mid-card title match. A memorable cell match? Definitely not.

 

9. Kane vs Mankind – Raw is War 1998

I bet most of you weren’t even aware of this match. Admittedly I hadn’t given it any thought at all until sitting down to write this list, but thinking back on this shoddy excuse of a cell match disappoints me as much as it did when I first watched it. Considering that this match featured Mankind – the same dude who made the cell famous a year prior – against The Big Red Machine, you’d expect it to be full of violence and brutal shenanigans. It wasn’t.

Clocking it at just under ten minutes, Kane and Mankind (who were set to defend their tag titles at the upcoming Summerslam PPV) had a few issues to vent to each other. The best way to settle said problems was of course inside Hell in a Cell. It was such a waste of what could have been an excellent Cell match, the two barely managed to make the match feel personal enough to justify the stipulation. There were pretty much no insane bumps being taken, nor was any blood spilled.

This Cell match was purely a vehicle to promote their tag title match, something which could have been achieved in a more concise and more intense promo. Not only did the attention soon shift onto the title feud between Austin and Taker, who soon invaded the cell and thus put an end to the match via no contest ruling, but nobody seemed to care about the fact that a Hell in a Cell match was happening on a go-home edition of Raw.

 

8. Randy Orton vs Mark Henry – Hell in a Cell 2011

The World’s Strongest Man was running roughshod through the entire Smackdown locker room, inducting pretty much everyone into his Hall of Pain. He was pretty much unstoppable at this point in his career, having never looked better. It was about time he was rewarded with the World Heavyweight Championship. Where was this to happen? Hell in a Cell.

What a story, Mark. Shame it didn’t work out.

A name which will soon be cropping up again in this list is Randy Orton, a man that (in my opinion) struggles to put together an interesting match. Having to be matched against a slightly restricted wrestler like Mark Henry puts Orton at the disadvantage of having to keep the audience invested in the action while the heel isn’t getting the heat on him. You’d think that having the cell around him would have made this just a little bit easier, but it didn’t. In fact, it just made it worse.

I actually don’t remember a thing from this match, apart from there probably being an RKO of the out of nowhere variety. This match was slow, sluggish and made the Cell totally redundant. To the point where they were raising the structure seconds after the three count for the post-match antics only goes to show that it definitely wasn’t necessary.

 

7. CM Punk vs Ryback – Hell in a Cell 2012/2013

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHHJpK5iJcA

Headlining back-to-back Hell in a Cell pay-per-views might seem like an achievement on paper, but somehow CM Punk and Ryback just couldn’t get along enough to put on a decent encounter inside the Cell. Punk’s been very vocal about his disdain for ‘The Big Guy’ and references these matches as two occasions where Punk felt unsafe working with someone. It’s apparent watching the two back that Punk tried his best to get the best out of Ryback, playing the dirty heel trapped in a cage in their first match, then the scorned anti-hero in the next, but it only resulted in some of the worst Cell matches of all time.

The 2012 edition barely left the ground, with the two putting in minimal effort to make the match any different from a 15 minute encounter on Raw. There were kendo sticks and fire extinguishers, but aside from that it was incredibly formulaic and tedious. In hindsight, it’s easy to see why Punk wasn’t trying anything too risky with Ryback, but surely they could have gone just a bit further to make the WWE Championship look good in the process.

To their credit, the match quality improved slightly 12 months later. Adding Paul Heyman (Ryback’s then manager) into the match made for an interesting X factor, the story being CM Punk dispatching Ryback and then getting onto the cell’s roof to get his hands on Heyman. They managed to stretch the match out enough to have a table spot, but still failed to truly captivate fans who had seen such incredible stuff from the Hell in a Cell matches in the past. Heyman is always a class act though and you should certainly give this match a chance just for him.

 

6. D-Generation X vs Vince, Shane and The Big Show – Unforgiven 2006

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb0UBDbjjYo

This match was slightly more akin to the likes of the Armageddon six-pack, with bloody violence and a general frenzy of action. But what let it down for me personally was the abundance of Vince humour. The imagery of Vince’s face being lodged between Big Show’s buttocks made for a mockery of the Hell in a Cell match. Typical DX circa 2006 funsies, but something which I (the snob that I am) would rather saved for something less intense.

I’ll hand it to Vince for stepping into the Cell and continuing to play the Mr. McMahon character so damn well, but this form of comeuppance didn’t suit the tone of the match. Thankfully this didn’t put a halt on DX’s momentum too much and the duo went on to have a fantastic year, feuding with the likes of Rated RKO and the Spirit Squad.

 

5. Randy Orton vs Sheamus – Hell in a Cell 2010

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnUrmM-dlCg

Told you he’d be back. Orton v Sheamus has become one of those notorious pairings which nobody really wants to see. This match embodied that tiresome pace that the two can’t help but fall victim to in their confrontations, something which should have been kept far away from the Cell in 2010. Granted, this was before anyone really knew better, Sheamus had been having a pretty good debut year and Orton was a budding babyface champion, so putting the two against one another and keeping it going long enough to justify giving it the stipulation felt natural.

At the risk of repeating myself too much, this was another one of those matches that just sort of happened inside of the cell. Apart from one particular spot where the steel stairs were involved with -you guessed it- an RKO out of nowhere, barely anything happened. Unless you count rear chin-locks as brutal violence, that is.

 

4. John Cena vs Randy Orton – Hell in a Cell 2009

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4X3uRe85Dw

Personally, I think this match was a victim of circumstance; the two were embroiled in a vicious rivalry that had spanned over several months at this point. It was exciting and nearing its conclusion, something which beckoned the Hell in a Cell match. It was just a shame that it had to happen during the transitional period of the PG Era.

The anti-gore sentiment showed through most in this match, with both Cena and Orton being heavily restricted on what they were allowed to do to one another throughout the match. Having already shown their capability to create cringe-inducing spots in their match at Breaking Point a month before, you’d think they could do more of the same in the Cell. It wasn’t to be, the fans lost interest very quickly and this match fell apart soon after.

Fortunately, Bragging Rights took place a few weeks later, which featured Orton/Cena once more in a 60 minute iron man match. I would put money on the two holding back during their cell match in order to make the upcoming feud-ender seem a lot more vicious and unique. It was a hell of a match, in fact I’d go as far as saying it’s one of my favourites of that time. So am I thankful of this cell match being pretty poor for those reasons? Yeah I’d say so.

Cena and Orton found themselves against one another at the 2014 Hell in a Cell pay-per-view, once again surrounded by Satan’s structure. Many fans including me expected the worst, but they managed to throw it back in our faces and actually put on a decent 15 minute bout. So perhaps they were out to make up for this entry of their rivalry?

 

3. Randy Orton vs Daniel Bryan – Hell in a Cell 2013

2013 was a dark time for WWE. The incredible Summerslam main event between Bryan and Cena saw the dawn of a new star, soon put on ice by Triple H and Randy Orton. Fans were seething and ready to get even further behind Daniel and support him all the way up to his eventual re-crowning as WWE champion. But the utter clusterf*** of booking that took place throughout the Orton/Bryan feud put an end to any momentum he had going for at least a couple of months. Having a fairly standard one on one rematch at Night of Champions, a match which Bryan won but was later reversed due to biased referee nonsense, then building towards a second encounter inside Hell in a Cell, but this time with a special guest ref in the form of Shawn Michaels.

If Cell history is anything to go by, HBK isn’t the most reliable of referees, see Undertaker/Triple H at Mania 28. In this case he lived up to his previous antics and screwed his former pupil out of the title at the end of the match. This was fine, seeing as it hinted at a potential match between the two down the line, but because of a reluctant Shawn Michaels, the plans were dropped and it just seemed to be a twist for the sake of it.

Now this should definitely not be seen as a terrible match, because even though Orton was involved, anything with Daniel Bryan somehow turns out golden. But the absolute mess of booking that took place within the cell just goes to prove that it was a means to an end. It was pretty much forgotten in the process of all this referee business, so perhaps this match would have been more effective as a standard 1 on 1 rematch?

 

2. The Undertaker vs Kane – Hell in a Cell 2010

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyDlCkErdEA

Let’s give Randall a break and poke holes in these two legends. The Brothers of Destruction have had era-defining feuds with one another, but their attempt to recreate the mysticism of the late 90s in 2010 didn’t quite go so well. Kane was running rampant as Smackdown’s resident Miss Marple as he attempted to figure out who left his brother in a vegetative state. Almost everyone was a suspect, from Rey Mysterio to Jack Swagger, throughout his investigation he happened to win both the Money in the Bank contract as well as the World Heavyweight Championship, good for him right? At Summerslam though, The Undertaker made his dramatic return to claim the soul of those that attacked him. Lo’ and behold, it was Kane. Why, you ask? Because reasons.

The two reignited their nostalgic feud with physical matches that took place over several months, resulting in a Hell in a Cell match. Having never had one before, I was quite excited to see if they could reinvigorate the Cell’s novelty. Unfortunately they couldn’t manage it. Of all people to fall victim to the redundant cell factor, I wouldn’t have expected it to be these two.

What made this match even worse was the return of Paul Bearer, who cost The Undertaker the match by blinding him with his patronus urn. Bearer would then act as Kane’s manager for the next few months, which led to some pretty horrific matches with Edge and Taker. A real shame for two bastions of wrestling history, who given the chance, could have made the cell look like what it used to.

 

1. The Undertaker vs Big Boss Man – Wrestlemania 15

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpA5XlC8Txg

Although I haven’t been writing this list with a specific ranking in mind, this match takes the cake for being the absolute worst Hell in a Cell match ever. Taking place at Wrestlemania in the midst of the Ministry and the Corporation faction war, Taker and Boss Man were given the chance to do their thing inside the Cell. This should probably be considered the first time the cell was used poorly, as the very short time-span they had to use it hindered them from actually getting the crowd invested. Before the match had a chance to start, the two were cramming in as much as they could before it got stale and soon the match became a tedious mess.

What most will remember this match for was the antics which took place afterwards. As a display of just how edgy WWF had become at the time, Vince thought it was a good idea to have Boss Man hanging from the Cell as it slowly raised back above the ring. Having a noose tied around his neck, this shocked many viewers and turned a few heads at the broadcasting companies.

It certainly didn’t do anyone any favours, and we’ll chalk this up as not only the worst Hell in a Cell match but also one of the worst WrestleMania matches of all time.

Any I left out? Jot them down in the comments section below.