WWE Hell in a Cell 2014 Results: Most Underrated Moments from Event
WWE Hell in a Cell 2014's best moments went beyond the main event's mayhem.
When a match begins with mortal enemies falling off the side of a steel cage and ends with a hologram ghost, it's not surprising that more subtle instances get overshadowed. AJ Lee and Paige, Damien Mizdow and Big Show provided their own lasting images at the pay-per-view.
And while many fans will spend the weeks following Hell in a Cell discussing Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins' crash off The Cell, those men provided an underrated moment, a powerful nod to how their rivalry began.
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The following moments bettered their respective matches and boosted the show as a whole, even if they didn't garner the attention that the collapsed tables and stretchers did later on.
A Touch of Danger from the Divas
AJ and Paige's electricity-lacking feud continued as the two women battled for the Divas Championship for the fourth straight pay-per-view. While WWE has stumbled with its storytelling here, champion and challenger left the crowd gasping near the end of the bout.
Paige attacked AJ outside the ring and smashed her against the security barricade. Wrestle Enigma was a big fan of that choice of offense:
The move was reminiscent of Cesaro's taking batting practice with The Miz's body last year.
Paige has often brought this kind of aggression to her matches, but she would follow up this assault by playing the victim. Paige stood on the barricade, looking to leap onto AJ, but the champ instead whipped her legs out from under her.
The tumble Paige took and the barricade-centered battle in general served as a tease of what these women could do in a Hell in a Cell format.
AJ said that she and Paige lobbied for the opportunity. In an interview with Matt Fowler on IGN, the Divas champ said that both women were "trying to make that happen."
This moment on the barricade was a reminder that the WWE Divas are willing to take bigger risks for the sake of a story.
Damien Mizdow's Commitment to His Role
Take Mizdow out of the match between Sheamus and The Miz, and you're left with forgettable fare, a placeholder between more high-profile clashes on the card.
It was The Miz's stunt double who was the star of the show. That continued even after The Miz was out cold and Sheamus was still the United States champ.
Mizdow dropped to the canvas to mirror his boss. When The Celtic Warrior lifted his fallen challenger's limp body up, the stunt double was right there to ape The Miz even then.
Part amusing, part stupid, the post-match antics included Sheamus playing puppet master and having The Miz do the YMCA dance. The sight of Mizdow following along was better than the match itself.
Bill Apter was one of many who labeled this a victory for Mizdow:
He's right in that more fans will be talking about Mizdow than both Sheamus and The Miz. Even if the Hell in a Cell main event was the real headline-maker, Mizdow's performance was one of the highlights of the show.
Comic relief is especially important on a night built around carnage, hatred and broken tables. Mizdow provided that in surplus.
The World's Largest Submission Hold
Big Show's battle with Rusev had him reaching deep into his toolbox. The big man isn't known for his submission wrestling, but his opponent pushed him into new strategies.
No one had pinned or forced Rusev to tap out. In the course of a physical contest where Big Show attempted to change that pattern, he clamped on a painful-looking hold that bent Rusev backwards.
Fans will remember Charlie Haas bringing a similar hold into a WWE ring, dubbing it "Haas of Pain."
The addition to Big Show's move set added an unexpected layer to the match. It spoke to how powerful a foe Rusev is. It created both a sense that The World's Largest Athlete was desperate and that he was a wily veteran.
As a bonus, he now has a new way to put his opponents away. He pulled out the move the next night in his battle with Goldust and Stardust on Raw.
Dean Ambrose's Poetic Justice
Ambrose and Rollins delivered so many big moments at Hell in a Cell that it's easy to forget one of the best.
The hunger for revenge powered their bout. Ambrose had spent months chasing Rollins down, unable to get him in a one-on-one situation without The Authority reaching its claws for him. He finally got a fair crack at his enemy and wanted to make sure that Rollins remembered how this whole thing started.
After sitting in a chair, watching Rollins and grinning, The Lunatic Fringe struck his former partner across the spine. As steel clanged against flesh, Ambrose screamed about being stabbed in the back.
This was a clear reference to Rollins using a steel chair to bring about the end of The Shield. A series of chair shots are exciting on their own, but here they built on a story by circling back to its beginning.
It would be like if Caesar had a chance to stab Brutus in retaliation.
Both wrestlers put their bodies on the line several times at Hell in a Cell, crashing into the announce table, driving each other through wood. Those collisions are surefire attention-grabbers, but Ambrose living by the "eye for an eye" credo remains one of the night's most powerful moments.
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