For the second time in two weeks, WWE has held a PPV and for the second time in two weeks, we have a new WWE Champion, and his name is Alberto Del Rio. (but of corse you already know that)
The Hell In A Cell main event featured the first ever triple threat Hell In A Match as John Cena defended his WWE Championship against both CM Punk and Alberto Del Rio. In a noticeably larger Cell, Del Rio was able to once again fulfill his destiny and recapture the title that he recently lost to Cena only two weeks ago.
The finish of the match came when Del Rio locked John Cena outside of the Cell and then proceeded to use a steel pipe to the head of CM Punk covering him for the 1-2-3.
It was a rather odd booking move by WWE, because it essentially brings us right back to where we were two weeks ago before Night of Champions. I can not come up with any possible explanation as to why WWE took the title off of Del Rio in the first place, if they planned on giving it right back to him. If anything, WWE is hurting Del Rio's character by booking him as a weak champion who can not defeat Cena in a one on one match.
WWE is also making the WWE Championship meaningless with their bizarre booking. In the past seventy-eight days, the WWE Championship has changed hands a total of eight times, with Cena winning the belt three times, Del Rio & CM Punk winning it twice, and Rey Mysterio holding it for an hour on an episode of Monday Night Raw.
An astonishing note about this once prestigious title, is that since the WWE Championship was introduced in 1963 all the way until 2005 which covers forty-two years, the WWE Championship had changed hands seventy-five times. This means, that in a forty-two year period, there were only about two champions a year.
Now, when we look at the amount of title changes from 2006 until now, there have been thirty-three title changes, almost half has many changes in a five and half year period than there were in a forty-two year period! It initially took thirty-four years for the WWE Championship to change hands thirty-three times when Bret Hart won the vacant title against Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Undertaker and Vadar at In Your House 13 in February of 1997.
Also, John Cena recently broke the WWE record for most title reigns with ten when he defeated Alberto Del Rio at Night of Champions. In the forty-eight year history of the WWE Championship, not one single competitor has held the title ten times and now this historic feat will be tainted seeing as it had only lasted two weeks.
To me, it is mind boggling that the WWE is booking their major championship to be nothing more than a hollow prop. While I will admit I am not for the year or two year title reigns that were defended in the past, I would like to see the belt stay on someone's waist for four to five months at a minimum. Since 2008, the only WWE Championship reign that has even lasted one hundred days was by The Miz when he held the Championship for 160 days.
Speaking of The Miz, him and R-Truth made their returns at the end of the WWE Championship match after being fired by Triple H two weeks ago. Awesome Truth caused total chaos and attacked all members trapped inside the Cell, including the referee and cameraman. In a rather cool spot, all members of the locker room, both heels and faces ran down to the ring to try and open the door to the Cell. Eventually, Awesome Truth was arrested but the seeds are being firmly planted for Survivor Series and a major event to shake up the WWE.
In the World Heavyweight Championship bout, Mark Henry defeated Randy Orton in a Hell In A Match to retain his World Championship in a surprisingly entertaining match. It was a very good big man, little man match which is interesting because Randy Orton is not a small human being by any stretch of the imagination, just that Mark Henry is an overwhelmingly large man.
Personally, I am ecstatic that Mark Henry is still the champion. While he is by no means the most technically gifted wrestler and is quite limited as to what he can do in the ring, his character and presence alone ooze charisma and make me interested in him. His facial expressions and promos are fantastic and he used the features of the Cell to his advantage providing an exciting match. It took fifteen years, but Mark Henry has finally found his niche and his proving to be worthy of holding the big gold belt.
Other noteworthy events of the night, featured Intercontinental Champion Cody Rhodes retiring the old title and bringing back the classic White Intercontinental Championship belt held by legends such as HBK, Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat and the late great Macho Man Randy Savage. Afterwards, Rhodes defended and retained the IC Title in an impromptu match against John Morrison.
It seems, WWE is trying to bring back some relevancy to the IC title after it had been relegated to nothing over the past couple of years. Cody Rhodes is doing an excellent job with his reign thus far, and is restoring some honor that the IC title used to hold of being the belt which propelled you to World Championship contests.
Air Boom (Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne) defended their Tag Team Championships against U.S. Champion Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger. It is good to see WWE putting emphasis on the tag team division once again as the division has stunk for a very long time. Air Boom have great synergy together as a team and are bringing excitement back to tag team wrestling.
The best moments of the match, came when Dolph Ziggler was in the ring. Ziggler is quite possibly the greatest athlete on the WWE roster at the present moment and his in ring work speaks for itself. While I am happy Ziggler made it onto the PPV, I would have rather seen him defend his U.S. Championship instead of being thrown into a random tag team with Jack Swagger.
To open the night, Christian and Sheamus put on one hell of a contest to begin the PPV. The match was fun, exciting and intense between two highly skilled in ring technicians in a building rivalry. Ultimately, when it was all said and done Sheamus won with his finisher the Brogue Kick.
In recent months, Sheamus has seen a meteoric rise in popularity. Ever since his face turn over the summer, crowds across the nation have really been into him since he provides them with something different to cheer for. He is still the aggressive badass Irishman and could potentially be next in line to face off with Mark Henry for the World Heavyweight Championship.
Other bouts during the evening featured Sin Cara Blue vs. Sin Cara Black in a Lucha Libre styled match. I expected more then what was shown during the contest and was quite disappointed with the missed spots and the unenthusiastic crowd. Also, Beth Phoenix won the Divas Championship, and that is all I am saying about that.
All in all, despite nonsensical booking it was a decent night of entertainment from the WWE. The performers did their best with what they were given and seeds were certainly planted for a big shocking surprise to be revealed in the upcoming weeks.
Overall, I give WWE Hell In A Cell two and a half stars out of five.
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