WWE Hell in a Cell 2010: What I Learned

Hey Bleachers. Its been a while since I've written an article. Between video games and a broken laptop, I've been a little busy, so I haven't really had time to write any articles. However, I have kept watching Raw, Smackdown, and NXT and obviously, I watched Hell in a Cell. Well, afterwards, I felt like I had to write an article on my thoughts. And boy, was I left with plenty to think about.

Leading up to Hell in a Cell, I wasn't very excited. Don't get me wrong, a few matches had excellent buildup and made me intrigued enough to purchase the PPV  (Wade Barrett vs John Cena, for one). However, we just recently had Night of Champions a couple weeks ago, therefore I didn't expect anything too special.

Well, I was wrong. We had some great matches tonight and a few surprises too. Hell in a Cell taught me a lot of things about the WWE tonight and I figured I'd take this time to share with everyone on B/R. So, without further ado, let's get on with it already.

Daniel Bryan and The Miz Are on Their Way To The Top

Tonight, we were given a Triple Threat "Submissions Count Anywhere" match between Daniel Bryan, The Miz, and John Morrison. Not sure why they decided to add Morrison to the match really. All three men (Bryan in particular) showed that they can execute a few decent submission moves when need be. But that's not what this slide is about.

Daniel Bryan made the Miz tap out. That's kind of obvious considering 1. Bryan and Miz are feuding, so obviously one of them would have to finish the match and 2. Bryan is a submission specialist. It was so painfully obvious who the victor was going to be, no matter how hard the WWE tried to put you in suspense during the match (which they did a great job in doing BTW). Anyway, this victory told me two things:

1. Daniel Bryan is here to stay. Given that he won the US title (the first "rookie" from NXT to actually win a title, mind you) and successfully defended it seems like an indicator that he's in store for big things in the future. They've really developed his character and proved that he is good on the mic, as well as in the ring (obviously). He could have a nice, long run with the US title to finally restore its prestige.

2. The Miz will soon be in the World Title picture. Its no secret that many of us in the IWC feel like the US title was holding Miz back from finally cashing in his Money in the Bank contract. Well, now he lost his title AND lost the rematch. With so many possible contenders for the US title, I doubt we'll see another Bryan vs Miz match for a while. Also, look at the Main Event picture right now: Orton, Sheamus, Edge, and Cena. Let's look at possible contenders for the WWE title: Sheamus lost his rematch for the title. We could potentially see one more Orton vs Sheamus match before they call that feud quits. Edge is being tormented by the Raw GM. My guess is that he'll end up going to Smackdown as a result. Either way, Edge won't be in contention for the title, at least for a little while. Cena is part of the Nexus now (*sigh*), obviously making him Barrett's lackey. You don't ever see lackey's challenging for World Titles, unless they are about to be kicked out of the group (a la Randy Orton back in '04 when he beat Benoit and was subsequently kicked out of Evolution). We could say Wade Barrett is a possible contender for the title, but he already got his title shot for winning NXT season 1, so I doubt we'll see him get a title shot for a while.

That just leaves The Miz, who is hot off the midcard, ready to establish himself as a true star of the company. I'd say we'll see him cash in MITB on Orton after one more Sheamus-Orton match, sparking a rivalry that will cement Miz's place in the main event.

The WWE Has No Ideas For The Intercontinental Title (At The Moment)

Last Friday, we saw Dolph Ziggler walk out on his match against MVP. On the "Season Premiere" of Smackdown, we saw Ziggler vs MVP, again for the IC Title, but this time, we witnessed interference by the Nexus. This seems familiar, doesn't it? Well, I don't think we'll have to worry about a possible MVP vs Dolph Ziggler feud/marathon. Because I don't think WWE has any ideas for the IC title right now. What, with Undertaker losing his powers, John Cena joining Nexus, and Hornswoggle trying to learn to speak, who has time to come up with storylines!? (<---Sarcasm)

My reasoning for this train of thought is clear: There was no IC title match tonight. Being as how this obviously isn't a big PPV, its no surprise really, but they could've thrown us something. I mean, we even got a random match tonight out of nowhere. They didn't care enough to put in a random IC title match, but they figured "What's a PPV without Alberto Del Rio making an appearance and then NOT WRESTLING!?" Speaking of that match...

WWE Hates Jack Swagger

Within the span of two weeks, WWE has subsequently buried two of my favorite wrestlers: CM Punk and Jack Swagger. I'm not gonna go into what a travesty it was to have Punk lose to Big Show a couple weeks back, but I will go into Swagger's burial tonight.

We start by having Del Rio come out and talk about his attributes or something. Let me just start by saying, I'm indifferent to Del Rio right now. I don't like him, I don't hate him, he's just there for me. However, I despise his ring announcer! Not because he speaks Spanish (which I think is pretty cool actually). No, the reason why I hate him is because he keeps interfering and grabbing Del Rio's opponent, allowing Del Rio to get the upperhand. Seriously, if this guy has to balls to interfere, they should put him in matches, so he can get his stupid face kicked in, along with his stupid haircut. But enough about that guy.

Well Edge comes out and then Swagger and then those two have a match because the Raw GM said so...I thought this was a PPV. Suddenly we see the Raw GM (or at least the new computer) make an appearance just to mess with Edge some more? Whatever.

Anyway, let me just skip to the end; Edge wins. Now, this isn't the part that bothers me. What does bother me is that Edge has been on a massive losing streak as of late, due in part to the Raw GM constantly restarting Edge's matches, which then ends with Edge losing. However, they decided to finally have Edge win cleanly against Swagger, even making him kick out of the Gutwrench Powerbomb (which seems much more impactual than the Spear, BTW) and escaping the Anklelock two times. Did the Raw GM restart the match this time? Nope. I'm a huge fan of Edge, but come on. It seems like they're just trying to turn Swagger into a joke. Like, they have so many ideas for him right now: He has the Swagger Soaring Eagle, He's the "Undisputed King of Oklahoma", and apparantly, he can't win. He also has to hide behind people whenever possible: first his wheelchair bound father and more recently, the Swagger Soaring Eagle. What a disgrace. WWE really needs to sit down and think about how to better utilize their talent.

John Cena Is a Great Wrestler

I think if you saw John Cena's match against Barrett, you would know what I mean. John Cena really displayed a lot of talent. I feel like Cena has been reading all of the negative comments about him online and was just like "F*** THAT!" and decided to show off how talented he really is! He really showed a lot of athleticism tonight and proved why he deserves to be on top of the WWE locker room right now. Now let's take a look at his opponent...

Wade Barrett Is a Good Wrestler

I'll admit, in the past couple of weeks, Wade Barrett has not been impressive in the ring. We would see the same few moves out of him (in fact we saw his punch combo twice in a row during the Six Pack Challenge) and he was starting to look as bad as everyone claims that Cena is.

Well tonight, he reignited my faith in his ability. He displayed a lot of impressive looking moves, even a couple of high risk moves (not as impressive as they could've been, but still alright). That spinebuster (as Michael Cole called it) looked awesome and should become one of his signature moves.

Overall, Wade Barrett is a good wrestler. Not as good as John Cena and Justin Gabriel, but he showed that he belongs. Speaking of the Nexus...

The Nexus Is Stupid, Old, and Needs to End Already

When the Nexus first attacked, I thought it was awesome. There was so much destruction and they made such a big impact. I knew they were going to be a force to be reckoned with. However, I feel they have finally run their course and need to disband already. Take a look at that photo; that was the Nexus during their peak. Or at least when they were their most interesting. Then they lost Darren Young because he lost his match, and Skip Sheffield due to injury. So they got weaker right? Nope. Somehow, they were even more dominant than before. At least every other week anyway. In between those weeks, you would see one or two guys (mainly John Cena and Randy Orton) taking them all out. It seems like the WWE is trying to milk them for all they're worth. And with the recent addition of John Cena, it seems they're trying to spark new interest in the tired faction. Well, by adding John Cena, I feel like they're just overshadowing the group with a bigger name. Not to mention the fact that John Cena could be used better than that. Sure he could turn heel by being in the group, but that would be kind of stupid.

Something else the Nexus did that made my blood boil: They interfered in the match, even though the stipulation said they weren't allowed to. Before the match began, David Otunga was going through some plan with the other three members of the Nexus (what a joke that Otunga was telling Justin Gabriel what to do). Well apparantly, their plan was to interfere in the match anyway. It's like Otunga was thinking "Ah, they're just saying we can't interfere. I'm sure they don't mean that!" What an idiot. Now, I know that just coming out isn't technicaly interfering, but it still distracted Cena enough for Barrett to go on the offensive. At least they got chased away by Big Show and his army of Raw/Smackdown superstars. One superstar in particular that caught my interest...

Dolph Ziggler: Face Turn In Sight?

Surprisingly, Dolph Ziggler was one of the superstars who helped drive off the Nexus. Now, my first instinct told me that he was just getting revenge for the couple of times that the Nexus interrupted his IC title matches and beat him down, just to give the audience a "sample" of what's in store for that night. Logically speaking, that seems to be the only reason.

However, looking deeper into that, we also see further evidence of a face turn for Ziggler: His relationship with Vickie Guerrero seems strained. Every week, we see Vickie's jealously toward Kaitlyn growing, as Dolph keeps interacting with Kaitlyn in one way or another. Now, obviously Kaitlyn is being built up to be a babyface, whose being bullied by her heel "pro" Vickie (I'll get into NXT season 3 in a different article). This seems like an indication that Dolph is showing signs of a face, possibly siding with Kaitlyn against the wicked witch known as Vickie Guerrero.

Also, take note that by turning Dolph face, they open up a wide variety of possibilities for the IC title. "Dashing" Cody Rhodes would make a great contender for the title, as well as Drew McIntyre, and whatever other heels they have on Smackdown that aren't yet in the main event scene.

Undertaker and Kane Aren't Done Just Yet

Leading up to Hell in a Cell, it seems Undertaker finally had the upperhand on Kane, by the return of Paul Bearer, who somehow gave the Undertaker his powers back. This made the feud that much more interesting, as the match was also scheduled to take place in a Hell in a Cell, Undertaker's "specialty" (he has a lot of specialties apparantly).

So, at the climax of this great match, the lights go dim and we saw Paul Bearer "steal" Undertaker's powers, thus betraying him and allowing Kane to retain the title. Obviously Undertaker isn't gonna let this betrayal slide. He's gonna seek revenge (or in Kane's words "VENGENCE!!!!") against Bearer and Kane, which may lead to one more match at Bragging Rights. Also, who else would challenge Kane? I mean, besides a lot of people I would like to see go for the title, but I know the WWE wouldn't give the time of day to.

Conclusion

Hell in a Cell was an okay PPV. There were a few things I've learned from the experience. Namely the fact that WWE needs new writers, badly.

In case you're wondering why I didn't mention the WWE, Divas, or Tag titles, let me just explain: I didn't really learn anything from watching those matches. I knew WWE has faith in Randy Orton as champ and want him to have a nice title run. I knew the WWE didn't care enough about the Divas division to have Natalya win the title, or to have LayCool retain through an actual pinfall. And I knew we wouldn't see a Tag Title match.

Also, I didn't touch on the fact that no titles changed hands tonight. Well, given that this PPV occured just two weeks from Night of Champions, where 4 titles changed hands, its no surprise we saw this outcome.

The matches from tonight weren't bad. Cena vs Barrett practically stole the show. Literally. After Cena lost, I didn't feel like watching anymore (BTW, did anyone notice how crazy the crowd seemed after Cena lost???).

Anyway, I'm gonna wrap this up before I end up rambling too much. Leave comments and if you liked it, Like It!!!!