WWE HELL IN A CELL

Tampa, Florida

NATALYA vs. MANDY ROSE (9:45): Mark Henry, who just joined AEW as an announcer, mentioned on some random podcast that he thinks that Vince is about to sell the WWE. His reasons include them selling the WWE Network to NBC/Universal/Comcast and their latest mass firings that included Aleister Black, Braun Strowman, Andrade (Andrade wasn't fired, he wanted to leave so they let him), Lana, The Iconics, Mickie James, and Ruby Riott. The only reason I'd think they weren't selling is because what the hell would Triple H do? Unless there's some stipulation that he stays. I think Stephanie and Shane would leave and Vince is probably ready to retire. Supposedly the WWE had their most profitable year ever last year. Would the company be better creatively if they were sold? Maybe. This show was actually pretty good, but it didn't have any super entertaining matches like New Japan or AEW has, nor has any storylines that are particularly good. And the WWE has had the problem for awhile of having a loaded roster with great wrestlers that they do nothing with. They've always been known to push and feature good looking people instead of talented people. Case in point: Mandy Rose. She's gorgeous but shouldn't be in a wrestling ring. This was a forgettable pre-show match. -No Stars-

BIANCA BELAIR vs. BAYLEY "HELL IN A CELL" (19:45): Roman Reigns was supposed to defend his title against Mysterio in a Hell in a Cell match on this show. For unknown reasons, they had that match on Smackdown and Roman won. Then on RAW after this show they had Lashley fight Xavier Woods in a Hell in a Cell match. Was it just easier to set up on the cell and leave it there all weekend? Is that why they did it? Because Smackdown, RAW, and this PPV were all in the Yuengling Center in Tampa. Yep, they're still doing shows without fans in the Thunderdome (I guess the Mad Max guys never copyrighted that?). It's kind of weird seeing a PPV in front of no fans when every other sport has packed buildings in this country. But this is the last one, as the next PPV, Money in the Bank, is being held in Texas in a sold out arena. I am curious how the fans will react to a lot of this stuff. I'm certain they will cheer Roman Reigns even though he's a heel. And I bet they boo the hell out of Alexa Bliss and her unwatchable mess of a storyline. They did announce one match for MITB: Kofi Kingston vs. Lashley for the title. And Ricochet is in one of the ladder matches, which is the best idea the WWE has had all year. As for this match...it was entertaining, though nothing special. Belair retained the title. I've said this before, but Bayley as a heel has never worked. They also did a ton of spots where Bianca's hair was tied to things like a chair and the ropes. Bayley pulled out four Singapore canes taped together and did a bridge between the cell and ring and got power bombed onto them. That didn't even look like it hurt. They've really overdone the Hell in a Cell gimmick, haven't they? When was the last great one? I watched a Youtube video that the WWE put out of all the falls off of the cell over the years. They conspicuously didn't show the Dean Ambrose/Seth Rollins fall off the cell, probably because Dean is in AEW. They did show when Seth Rollins and Dolph Ziggler fell off the side of the cell and down onto the announce tables. I don't even remember that match. Alas, no one fell off the cell or even went outside tonight. **

SETH ROLLINS vs. CESARO (16:15): This was the first of 3 Wrestlemania rematches. Unfortunately, none of them were as good as the ones at 'Mania. This was a good match but kind of basic. I'm not even sure why they're wrestling. And it seemed like they built up Cesaro and he had that great match at Backlash against Reigns and now he's just losing to Rollins in a meaningless, mid card match. If it was up to me I'd have Cesaro win the title at Summerslam, which is happening at the new football stadium in Las Vegas. Unfortunately, John Cena is supposed to face Reigns for the title there. And you know he's not winning because he probably has a movie to shoot afterwards. **

ALEXA BLISS vs. SHAYNA BASZLER (7:00): What happened to Bray Wyatt? He was burned to death then returned and lost at Wrestlemania then disappeared. Alexa Bliss is still weirdly doing her evil-magical-powers gimmick, though, even without Bray around. Alexa controlled Nia Jax telepathically during this match; she made her slap Reginald and then scream. Okay. If Alexa has powers like that, why didn't she just make Shayna lay down and she could pin her? Granted, this gimmick has no logic. They even did a lame segment on RAW a few weeks ago that was reminiscent of Hogan/Warrior back in WCW when Hogan saw Warrior in a mirror. Well this time Shayna was running away from Alexa backstage and she saw Alexa in a mirror. Do they not realize that the Hogan/Warrior stuff in WCW was some of the worst shit ever done in pro-wrestling? I remember Dave Meltzer gave that Hogan/Warrior match a bunch of negative stars. I'm not sure I ever even saw it. What was I doing then? I guess not watching wrestling...I had better things to do. Maybe I should return to doing that. -No Stars-

SAMI ZAYN vs. KEVIN OWENS (12:40): I've said it before, but these two should just wrestle each other on every show until the end of time. They have so much chemistry together and do so many devastating, brutal moves to one another that their matches are always great. This one was good but too short and just as pointless as their 'Mania match. Just once I'd love to see these two wrestle for a title in a main event. Owens looked like he injured his shoulder in this match. He was also acting like he couldn't breathe because someone hit him in the neck on Smackdown and he had to play into the storyline of that. Owens did a Swanton off the apron to Zayn on the floor. They beat the hell out of each other and Zayn had a bloody mouth by the end. I'm kind of shocked that Zayn wasn't fired during the purge but then again Vince probably cracks up at his stupid conspiracy theory gimmick he's doing these days. **1/2

CHARLOTTE FLAIR vs. RHEA RIPLEY (14:10): This wasn't very good because Rhea isn't a good wrestler and the end was a DQ when Rhea hit Charlotte with the top cover part of the announce table to retain her title. I think they did the DQ because Charlotte is one of their big stars and thus they didn't want her to be pinned. Rhea definitely looks the part of a champion. She's tall and has the Undertaker biker look. But, man, she is just a monotonous mess in the ring. She's not exciting or entertaining. *

BOBBY LASHLEY vs. DREW McINTYRE "HELL IN A CELL" (25:45): This was a pretty good match. I was kind of surprised that Lashley won and retained the title. This means that McIntyre can never challenge Lashley for the title again. I suppose that doesn't matter, as I'm guessing he'll lose the title at Summerslam to somebody. They did a lot with the ring steps. McIntyre slammed Lashley onto them. Lashley then smashed them against McIntyre's head and into the cell. McIntyre's back was all scarred up from hitting the cell. McIntyre lost a MITB qualifying match on RAW to Riddle, so maybe he's in the dog house. It seems like Lashley has gotten better in the ring lately, which is kind of a surprise since he's in his 40's now. Hey, he figured it out. Good for him. **1/2