Reviewing Top Highlights and Low Points of WWE Hell in a Cell 2017
Every year, it seems like WWE struggles more and more with Hell in a Cell being a guarantee for October, rather than only pulling the gimmick out when a feud deems it necessary.
Still, with a smaller roster to work with and most programs not worthy of that stipulation, the creative team put together a decent enough card to sell the event as being somewhat interesting.
Primarily revolving around the two cage matches between Kevin Owens and Shane McMahon as well as The Usos and The New Day for the tag titles, along with the possibility of seeing two other new champions crowned, there was some potential despite the struggle.
History has shown that these haphazard pay-per-views can be anywhere from the most fun and chaotic shows of the year to the biggest dumpster fires or anywhere between.
Now that Hell in a Cell has concluded, it's time for us to look back on what happened and assess the damage, talk about the ups and downs and see where the chips fell.
Presented in order of appearance, here are those standout segments of the show, for better or worse.
Highlight: SmackDown Tag Team Championship Hell in a Cell Match
1 of 6
What a way to kick off the show! This match was fantastic from start to finish and really proved that these two teams have great chemistry together.
Despite being the first cage match of the night and not being the Falls Count Anywhere version like the latter, there was still a lot of weapon-play involved to keep fans on their toes.
This all kicked off with a steel chain punch to the face from Xavier Woods, but things quickly got more musical with two trombones, a cowbell and a cymbal.
Another nice touch was trapping Jey Uso in the corner with kendo sticks, metaphorically locking him into his own penitentiary.
Among the chairs and handcuffs and splashes from the top rope, this was a high-intensity, brutal match that proved these are two of the best tag teams in recent times.
Low Point: Randy Orton vs. Rusev
2 of 6
This hasn't been a good year for Rusev, and the trend continued at Hell in a Cell.
After a long delay where he was supposed to return from an injury to receive a title shot, he lost a random match to John Cena before being jobbed out to Randy Orton in just 10 seconds at SummerSlam.
His feud with The Viper had virtually no build leading up to that point, and there's been little effort to course-correct afterward.
With another loss here, nothing has really been accomplished. He is in no better off of a position than months ago, and since that's the case, Orton's win over him means nothing for The Viper, either.
The match was something you could skip and not miss a thing, so this was all a wash.
Highlight: United States Championship Triple Threat Match
3 of 6
After having a series of solid matches between the three stars above, it made perfect sense to include Tye Dillinger in this United States title bout.
That addition paid off, since all three bounced off each other and kept up a great pace to keep this match interesting the entire time.
One particular highlight that was a nice fake-out for the audience was when Styles kicked Dillinger to fall back on to Corbin, almost scoring a pin in the process.
However, it would be the reverse scenario for the actual ending, with Corbin stealing a victory from Styles by pinning The Perfect 10.
This was a great way to have The Lone Wolf win in an underhanded but legitimate way, giving him the ability to say he didn't cut any corners while also giving Styles an opportunity to challenge to regain his title.
Low Point: SmackDown Women's Championship Match
4 of 6
During the pre-show, there was a lot of fanfare from the panelists about how this match was going to be a barn-burner and a definite classic that could steal the show and be the best match of the night.
While it certainly wasn't awful, there was nothing special going on to make this memorable.
After having two title changes take place earlier, for this to change as well might have felt weird, but having it end with Natalya getting disqualified felt like a worthless stall tactic.
If these two have another title match on SmackDown where Charlotte takes the belt, it will confirm that this ending was just to delay the inevitable.
In the meantime, the disqualification felt like more of a television move than a pay-per-view finish, and the match itself beforehand wasn't good enough to make up for it.
Highlight: Bobby Roode vs. Dolph Ziggler
5 of 6
Following a rather middle-of-the-road match for the WWE Championship, it was nice to see this encounter between Bobby Roode and Dolph Ziggler not get the bathroom-break treatment.
It was a nice touch to have Ziggler come out with no real entrance, following through with his current hatred for those gimmicks.
The match itself was solid and the ending made sense, with Roode rolling up the tights.
This allows an argument that Ziggler was still the better man in the ring and only lost the match due to the rules being broken, while also keeping Roode somewhat of a heel despite him being the babyface in the feud.
More is certainly in store for these two in the future, and if this first encounter was any indication, things should only get better from here.
Highlight: Shane McMahon vs. Kevin Owens
6 of 6
As the main event and the second Hell in a Cell match of the night, this should have theoretically been the best and most brutal fight.
While it didn't match the in-ring quality of the tag title match, this is understandable, considering Shane McMahon's status as a guest competitor and not a regular roster member.
Despite this, it certainly had its share of moments that were fun to make up for it.
Shane McMahon's shooting star press, Coast to Coast, Owens doing a cannonball through the table and the falls from the cage will all be on the highlight reel for this event for sure.
The Sami Zayn interference was an extra added bonus of intrigue, and it will be interesting to see where this story goes in the future.
Whether you agree with the decision of Owens winning or not, you have to give credit to the two performers for going through all this pain just to put on a fun spectacle.
What do you think were the best and the worst parts of the pay-per-view? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!
Anthony Mango is the owner of the wrestling website Smark Out Moment and the host of the podcast show Smack Talk on YouTube, iTunes and Stitcher. You can follow him on Facebook and elsewhere for more.
.jpg?w=600 "WWE Raw Results & Grades 🔠")
