No new wrestlers joined Judgement Day, no titles changed hands, barely any titles were
even on the line, Ezekiel was not revealed to be Elias, so how did I enjoy this Premium
Live Event so much?
It’s been a long road that’s taken him to hell and back, but Cody Rhodes is now a
100% unequivocal top babyface.
What a performance.
I’m Oli Davis, and this is my review of WWE Hell in a Cell 2022, aka Sunday Night
Raw… in about 10 minutes.
Just before I get into the review, we have daily wrestling news videos here on WrestleTalk,
so please subscribe and enable notifications to always on to get them as soon as they go
live!
The show opened on the commentary team announcing Cody Rhodes had picked up an injury, but he’s
still going to wrestle in tonight’s main event.
You hear that, CM Punk, Cody is still going to irresponsibly wrestle.
Oh look, we’re AEW, and we put safety and health first.
Snowflakes.
At that point, I thought: well that’s definitely a work just to get me more invested in the
match.
A show-long jeopardy storyline, building intrigue to whether Cody might pick up his first loss.
Nice try, WWE, the only thing that works me these days are plane ticket orders.
The first match was Becky Lynch vs Asuka vs Bianca Belair for the Raw Women’s Championship.
Bullet dodged there, Sasha Banks and Naomi.
This excellent match could’ve been the terrible booking that awaited you.
The triple threat was frantic from the start, with the three women using the format to have
a really quick, back-and-forth spot filled match - each one of them supremely over with
their own style.
Becky’s heel opportunism, desperately trying to win at every chance, Asuka’s strikes
and submissions of fury, taking out both her opponent’s ankles with dual locks, and Belair’s
incredibly strength and athleticism, including a delayed standing suplex on Becky like it
was nothing.
It got a This Is Awesome chant, and the match just kept getting better, with WWE’s usual
template of rest-holds being replaced with ALL THE NEAR FALLS ONLY JUST BROKEN UP BY
ASUKA AT THE LAST SECOND.
The finish gave Becky some wonderful heel comeuppance.
After trying to steal pins all match, she went one too far, it was Belair that threw
Lynch out to win and retain.
This was a fantastic opener and one that impressively keeps all three women looking strong in the
title picture.
Even though Asuka took the pin, all three wrestlers ended the match more over than when
they started.
MVP and Omos told Cedric Alexander for like the 73rd time that the Hurt Business isn’t
a thing anymore.
But who’s going to take all the bumps for them?
Which followed into MVP and Omos vs Bobby Lashley in a handicap match.
This was more fun than I expected, with Omos’ limitations somewhat hidden, including in
an awesome looking spot when he charged Lashley through the timekeeper’s area outside.
Cedric interfered against Omos, leaving Lashley to tap out MVP in the Hurt Lock.
This would’ve worked far better if Bobby hadn’t continuingly gotten his hands on
his former manager for revenge already.
Afterwards, Lashley posed with a replica WWE title from a fan as the commentary team heavily
speculated he wants Roman Reigns’ belt next.
Later on, despite months of being an annoying thorn in his side, Lashley fist bumped Cedric
backstage.
I could see Lashly reuniting with Alexander and Shelton Benjamin to feud with the Bloodline.
And I’ll tell you why I think that… because that’s exactly what happened last time they
feuded at Crown Jewel last October.
Before we get on with the rest of the episode, I’d just like to say a huge thank you to
this video’s sponsor...
Heroes of the Dark - where you can get a free Hero worth $15 to kickstart your journey by
using our link below.
Heroes of the Dark is a Strategy RPG available on mobile and PC, where players pit their
dark fantasy heroes of werewolves, vampires and humans against each other in PvP and PvE
formats, as you try to rebuild a glorious Victorian Empire.
One problem, though, the moon’s been destroyed and chaos is everywhere.
Like Henry - who is like Bray Wyatt with an eyepatch, or Viktor - who’s not from The
Ascension but totally could be, with awesome and high quality visuals.
You even get to upgrade your mansion with your heroes in - I’ve called mine Titan
Towers.
And as a special treat right now for new players, if you download Heroes of the Dark using our
link in the description and pinned comment, you can get the Hero Countess Magla for free
- a Ranger who can stun your opponents’ half of the battlefield!
Make sure to click that link as not only is Heroes of the Dark an awesome game with a
great lore, it also helps us here at WrestleTalk as well.
Download the game using our link and get your Hero worth $15 today.
The commentators revealed the ‘truth’ behind Cody’s medical status.
He tore his pectoral muscle on Monday in the brawl with Seth, and it’s since fully flopped
off the bones.
Blurgh.
Ok, that’s… that’s more graphic than WWE’s usual style of worked injury but…
he’s still definitely alright.
Just definitely a storyline.
In actually mine and the whole WrestleTalk office’s most anticipated match on this
show, we then got Kevin Owens vs Ezekiel, a comedy feud that got unexpectedly bloody
as Zeke was busted open hardway when KO whipped him into the ring post.
But even actual blood with an actual Chicago crowd couldn’t fully people into Ezekiel.
No matter which persona he plays, or who he wrestles, the unfortunate fact remains his
matches get hardly any heat.
Owens’ intention was to beat him up so bad, he’ll admit he’s actually his older brother
Elias.
And… he did.
Owens took 80% of the match, won clean, and then walked out.
I’m very impressed they’ve made this storyline be as entertaining and last as long as it
has, but I can’t see any more mileage here.
It needs to be blown off tonight.
Next up came the mixed six person tag of BullLIV Club vs Edgement Day - a faction so fearsome,
so ruthless, so goth leather, they’re going to wait for their lady opponent to tag in
a dude when Rhea’s no longer the legal wrestler.
This was a wickedly paced six person tag, which went into near fall overdrive when the
match broke down.
Rhea Ripley stopped Finn Balor from hitting his Coup de Grace, letting Edge spear him
for the relatively clean win - which is to say there was no interference from a teased
new faction member.
This was a solid win for the heel act.
AJ Styles was busted open hardway and had to be attended to by doctors at ringside.
SmackDown has got so much gold.
The WWE and Universal titles, both sets of tag team titles, Ronda Rousey as Women’s
Champion.
So the only blue brand match on this card was…
Happy Corbin vs Madcap Moss.
Despite still wearing his goofy shirt, Corbin is an excellent house show heel, twice teasing
to get a table for the Chicago crowd, who wanted a table spot more than anything, and
just getting a chair instead.
It turned the audience reaction into crowd vs Corbin rather than Corbin vs Moss, but
heat is heat I guess.
Psychology wise, this perfectly set up Moss to satisfy the crowd’s persistent ‘We
Want Tables’ chant.
Instead he Pilmanised Corbin’s neck with a chair and the steel steps to win.
This No Holds Barred match was a lot of fun, but it could’ve worked far better if the
wrestlers were allowed to play off the crowd reactions more.
I guess they’re just saving that table spot for the babyface in the main event…
Austin Theory defended his United States championship against hometown boy Mustafa Ali.
Ali was wearing the Chicago stars on his tights, and the ring announcer even introduced him
as “Chicago’s own”.
Ah dammit, you’re losing so hard, Ali.
The hometown connection got the crowd more into the action that the story’s build deserved.
Both men got some really innovative offence, like a springboard spanish fly off the second
rope from Theory, and a tilt-a-world DDT through the ropes from Ali.
But the result was never really in doubt: Theory retained.
And then it was time for the main event.
Alright Cody, let’s see this worked injury on your pec muscle-OH MY GOD YOU’RE ACTUALLY
INJURED WHAT ARE YOU DOING?
After his entrance, Cody took off his Homelander jacket to reveal the intense purple bruising
of his pectoral injury.
I thought either it’s a secondary effect of Malakai Black’s mist shot from last year,
or this neck tattoo is getting out of hand.
Turns out it was a shoot, brother.
WrestlingNews.co is reporting if it was just a partial tear, WWE officials likely wouldn’t
have cleared him to wrestle.
But because it was a full tear, and there was no more damage that could’ve been done
- it was just going to be incredibly, incredibly painful to wrestle - they let him go out there.
Cody made it clear to the live crowd afterwards it was “solely my decision.
You would have to literally kill me from staying away from this ring.”
It turned what felt like a repetitive ‘let’s have you wrestle Seth again’ match into
an incredibly intense, affecting, emotional drama.
The action was significantly heightened by the very real injury, that was very, very
visible, as Cody masterfully, and probably actually, sold the pain, and Seth worked it
over.
On top of that, they had the various weapon spots they likely had planned pre-injury.
There was a whipping sequence, because it’s a Cody match and of course there was.
There was a bull rope tied to both their arms, because it’s a Cody match and of course
there was.
Seth got both tables used, to huge ‘Thank You Seth’ chants from the crowd, because
it’s a WWE match and they fundamentally don’t understand how to book babyfaces.
But the best weapon was the thematically loaded sledgehammer.
Despite this feud being mostly built around Cody’s dad and Seth’s mentor Dusty, with
Rollins wearing the American Dream’s polka dots on his tights, Triple H is the looming
force I feel over most of this.
And it was his sledgehammer that became the decider.
After both men traded finishers, Cody hit two CrossRhodes, and a sledgehammer shot for
the win.
This was an excellent match anyway, that transcended to something else entirely with the very real
device of Cody’s injury.
That’s two wrestling spots this week - this, and MJF’s promo - that have used realism
to springboard their art to a higher level.
With MJF’s, though, the question remains: to what end?
It was an all-time great promo, but I don’t see where you go next.
With Cody, this was an instant success on all fronts.
This was a brutal feud ender with Seth, it made the Hell in a Cell stipulation feel the
most dangerous it has in years - helped with it being the only one on the card - it gives
Cody three consecutive Premium Live Event wins.
One of them as a main event.
Come on over, AEW boys, the WWE water is warm.
But most importantly, this has undoubtedly made Cody WWE’s number one babyface.
There was not a single AEW chant in this Chicago crowd, which has become AEW’s spiritual
home.
My personal feelings towards Cody in WWE, good for him, but he did go back on his word,
has been transformed to seeing someone who just loves this business, not any specific
company.
And it makes me think…
Cody was doing this before.
In AEW he set himself on fire, took a load of crazy ladder bumps.
But we still booed him.
Maybe… maybe we’re the heels?
Dave Meltzer has called the 25 minute match: “This was among the most compelling matches
in pro wrestling history.”
And Jon Alba tweeted: “Have gotten messages from talent in *every*
major company tonight in awe at what Cody Rhodes pulled off at #HIAC.
That's how big that was.”
What did you think of Hell in a Cell?
Let me know in the comments.
Yet again, WWE has taken a card that looked like less than nothing on paper, and put on
one of the most memorable shows of the year.
The women’s opener and Hell in a Cell main event were Match of the Year quality.
And all in the perfect mostly killer, little filler time of three hours.
Hell in a Cell 2022 is 85%!
There might not have been many titles on the line in WWE last night, but there sure was
in WrestleTalk: as Adam Blampied absolutely squashed Sullivan Beau Brown.
But Sully might never
have had the Real World’s Jampionship in his eyes.
And then, because Sullivan lost predictions, Adam got to tickle him for a whole minute.