Last year’s edition was fantastic because it produced multiple indelible memories – partially because it took place just a couple days after SmackDown’s premiere episode on FOX. The main event got people talking the most about the state of WWE, because the HIAC match between Seth Rollins and The Fiend was not received well at all (on a personal note, I thought the match was somewhat clunky. Seth couldn’t see because of the red light in the arena, but otherwise it was pretty good. The WWE universe needs to remember that the superstars are giving their absolute best to entertain. So be appreciative rather than being overly critical).
Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks both gave unbelievable performances to open the night in the second ever women’s Hell In A Cell match (Sasha competed in each of them and showed plenty of raw emotion in both). Randy Orton also got a victory against Ali that will most likely get lost in the annals of WWE history (Ali didn’t even have his first name), but this was quietly a great match because of the innovation. Both men treated that match like it was their final match. One year later, they are both in much better positions as Orton is now WWE Champion for the 14th time and Mustafa Ali is leading RETRIBUTION.
Hell In A Cell 2020 will be the second edition of the event with three matches inside the Cell. The other time this happened was in 2016 (Roman Reigns vs. Rusev, Seth Rollins vs. Kevin Owens, Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte Flair in the main event). Technically, Chris Jericho snuck into the Cell with Owens to assist him in picking up the victory and retaining the Universal Championship. This was arguably the best stretch of Jericho’s career (when he put people on “The List of Jericho”) for the entire calendar year of 2016 through the spring of 2017 (Jericho is now experiencing success with another company).
Respect to Drew McIntyre – he has been a fantastic WWE Champion through the pandemic
This year’s Hell In A Cell emphasized quality over quantity with only six matches (the three primary matches were absolutely the ones in the Cell.
The main event captured the attention of the WWE universe and told a story as well as any WrestleMania main event, and to this point it is the highlight of Drew McIntyre’s career. But the biggest news is that Randy Orton won his 14th world title (three more to break Flair’s record), and his 3rd inside HIAC. The Viper has had the best year of his career (particularly on the microphone). Orton’s in-ring work is great as always simply because he is naturally gifted from a physical standpoint, likely because wrestling is basically written into his genetic code dating back to his father and grandfather.
Randy’s historic 2020 was in a way launched by the return of Edge at the Royal Rumble in January. These two men have so much continuity and comfortability with one another – it’s almost 2nd nature. The emotions behind Edge’s return after nine years and two next surgeries were the pivotal starting grounds for the greatest year of Randy Orton’s career, because Edge is essentially his brother (I know I would feel that way if my brother returned to join me in doing what we both love after nine years).
Drew McIntyre has absolutely earned my respect (as if he didn’t have it already). McIntyre delivered one of the greatest HIAC performances of all time in his first appearance inside the Cell. The high spot when he fell off the side of the Cell took fans back to the 2014 edition of this event when Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins both fell off the side through the announce table. The one thing Randy Orton had not done in seven career matches inside Hell In A Cell is go to the top of the structure. The primary reason McIntyre himself specifically asked to do this high spot was to pay tribute to Shawn Michaels, who also took this same fall off the side of the structure in the first-ever Hell In A Cell match in 1997.
In addition to Randy Orton, McIntyre has also had a truly historic year and easily the best of his career. About the only thing Drew hadn’t done in 2020 was what he did this past Sunday: deliver a truly historic performance inside Hell In A Cell (the only thing he was unable to do was get the victory). 2020 for McIntyre started with a Royal Rumble victory in January, followed by winning the WWE Championship from Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 36. Between April and August, he defended the title against the likes of Seth Rollins, Bobby Lashley, King Corbin and Dolph Ziggler. In August at SummerSlam, McIntyre got another clean victory against Randy Orton (he also defeated Orton a month later in an Ambulance match).
For McIntyre, this calendar year in 2020 is somewhat reminiscent of Brock Lesnar’s first full year in WWE (from the day after WrestleMania X-8 in 2002 through WrestleMania 19 in 2003). In that span, Lesnar defeated The Rock in a WWE Championship match at SummerSlam; McIntyre did the same thing against an established superstar in Randy Orton. Lesnar experienced a great Hell In A Cell encounter with The Undertaker; McIntyre did as well with Orton again. Lesnar won the 2003 Royal Rumble match and went on to win the WWE Title from Kurt Angle (even though Angle was originally supposed to keep the title for a few more months; however, it didn’t work out that way due to Angle’s neck issues); McIntyre also won the 2020 Royal Rumble and also won the WWE Title in the main event of WrestleMania 36 from Brock Lesnar – it’s funny how history continues to repeat itself.
It was simply time for Orton to win number 14 – it’s been over three years since Randy was WWE Champion. The last time Orton held the WWE Championship was in 2017 when he won the title from Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania 33 in April of that year and dropped the title a little over a month later to Jinder Mahal (that was a rocky six months).
WWE was experimenting – because Roman Reigns doesn’t open a Pay-Per-View very often, he’s normally the main event. The last time he opened a Hell In A Cell Pay-Per-View was in 2016 against Rusev in which The Big Dog successfully defended the United States Championship. It was also somewhat reminiscent of No Mercy in October of that same year in which AJ Styles defended the WWE Championship in a triple threat match to open the show.
The Tribal Chief is officially recognized; Sasha Banks and Bayley are now free to evolve into the next stage of their careers
This was an emotional way to start the night. As Jerry “The King” Lawler pointed out, Roman was channeling his inner Scar (Disney’s The Lion King) and cemented his spot at the head of the table. This laid the groundwork for the faction which will most likely take form in the coming weeks featuring Reigns as a mob boss of The Uso’s. Another facet of this match which is important to point out is that it was extremely unselfish on the part of Roman Reigns to volunteer to go first on Sunday and open the show so that Drew McIntyre could hold the main event spot – which is something he needed to cement his legacy even quicker.
This virtually guarantees that McIntyre will be launched into the perennial main event position on the card almost immediately. Roman may have thought to himself, “I don’t necessarily need to main event this Pay-Per-View again in my fourth HIAC match. It’s even Uce’s second time in the Cell (2017), but this is Drew’s first time so I will do everything I can to make it special for him.”
All of the four horsewomen in WWE – Sasha Banks, Charlette Flair, Becky Lynch, and Bayley – have now competed inside Hell In A Cell. This was Sasha Banks’ third appearance but her first victory in the demonic Cell. Maybe this time Sasha will be able to hold the SmackDown Women’s Championship past her first defense – Sasha has never successfully defended a Women’s Championship on the main roster in WWE.
It was simply time for the storyline between Sasha and Bayley to come to a conclusion because it has lasted for well over three years on the main roster and dating all the way back to NXT. It is simply time for both women to move on to the next stage in the evolution of their WWE characters. Both women proved exactly why they are invaluable to the company (particularly Sasha, who delivered arguably the best match on the show for the second straight year).
Getting more sympathy towards Otis; Lashley – Lesnar rivalry; Jeff Hardy – Elias disqualification
I could have guessed Miz might use an underhanded tactic to win the Money in the Bank briefcase for the second time in his career (2010), but I never envisioned it would be because Tucker turned on Otis. Mr. McMahon is such a vehement supporter of Otis – as evidenced by the new entrance – that one might think Vince McMahon would do anything to get Otis over. When thinking about it from a reverse psychology standpoint, it makes complete sense because this will make Otis an even more sympathetic figure. It will be extremely interesting to see exactly where Otis goes from here – Tucker as well (he’s definitely not aligned with MC M.I.Z. and Johnny Drip Drip, as Corey Graves likes to point out).
Bobby Lashley dominated as expected against SLAPJACK of RETRIBUTION (Shane Thorne from NXT, although Mr. McMahon views the main roster as a separate universe entirely from NXT). RETRIBUTION needs to start picking up victories soon – Mustafa Ali cannot buy time forever with his great promo work.
I am still holding out hope that Bobby Lashley will one day feud with Brock Lesnar (even though The Beast is currently not under contract with WWE). Lashley is on pace to become a main eventer in WWE sooner rather than later – and that money feud might be too much for McMahon and Lesnar to pass up. It seems unlikely right now but never say never with WWE.
The result of the Elias – Jeff Hardy match was fitting so neither man had to take a loss. Since WWE is so committed to pushing Jeff Hardy, and with Elias having just returned a couple of weeks ago, neither one of them could afford to take a loss right now. Elias is more of a star for the future, and Jeff Hardy is a priority right now because he only has a few years left of being a top-level superstar considering he is 43 years old. Hardy missed last year’s edition of this event, and the year before that in 2018 he participated inside Hell In A Cell for the first time in his career – essentially the one thing Hardy had never done.