The night Mick Foley and The Undertaker made history. No other image represents the name "Hell In A Cell" better than this.
With a stipulation which involves lots of risks and whose first match ever was awarded five stars, it's hard to argue that Hell in a Cell deserves its own PPV. Behold, some of the best moments from Hell In A Cell, both as a match type and as a PPV.
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HIAC Pay-Per-Views
- Daniel Bryan retaining his United States title against The Miz and John Morrison in a "Triple Threat, Submissions Count Anywhere" match at Hell In A Cell 2010. Following the win, Michael Cole would be forced to admit that Bryan was the better man that night.
- Mark Henry retains the title against Randy Orton at Hell In A Cell 2011 by kicking out of the RKO, then proceeding to counter Orton's running punt with a World's Strongest Slam for the pin.
- After the victory, Mark tries to put him in the "Hall of Pain" (Mark wraps a steel chair around an unconscious victim's leg and hits it with a second-rope splash). At the last second, Orton revives and dodges the splash, then goes postal on Mark with the chair.
- Hell In A Cell 2012, Ryback had multiple moments of awesome in just one match, despise getting screwed over and losing his streak. Those awesome moments include being in his first match for the WWE CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE against CM Punk, his first ever HIAC match and being able to climb the cell while chasing after Punk and delivering the Shellshock on top of the fricking cell without breaking it. He may have lost, but at the end, Ryback was still standing tall.
- Not only that, but how he got his revenge on the interfering ref was just as awesome, after hitting him with the Meathook, Ryback picked up the helpless ref into the air and chucked him hard into the side of the cell, all from the MIDDLE of the ring, enough to almost break open the cell! Holy shit doesn't even begin to describe that moment.
- Also from the PPV, Alberto Del Rio tries to hit Randy Orton with his step-up enzuigiri. Orton dodges and hits him with the RKO while Del Rio was still falling. It has to be seen to be believed.
- John Cena returns months ahead of schedule, and beats Alberto Del Rio for the World Heavyweight Title at the 2013 edition. To make things more awesome, the very next night, Damien Sandow cashes in Money in the Bank... and loses after an epic clash. "THIS IS AWESOME" indeed.
- Brock Lesnar pinning The Undertaker clean at the 2015 edition, with a karmic nutshot to boot near the end. The match itself may have been on par with the one from SummerSlam 2015.
- The 2016 edition featured the inaugural women's Hell in a Cell match with Charlotte Flair and Sasha Banks. While it did have several obvious botches, it nevertheless was a outstanding match and is often considered one of the most violent women's match in company history.
- Shane's match against Kevin Owens at the 2017 edition is a contender for 2017 Match of the year. Once again entering the titular structure, Shane dominated KO with everything he got and showed him that he is not the coward KO accused him to be. After sending KO crashing into an announce table from the top of the structure, Shane puts him on another table and repeats his infamous stunt from Wrestlemania XVI. Unfortunately this time, Sami Zayn's unexpected interference had Shane crashing on an empty table again.
- Also from this edition is The New Day against The Usos in a HIAC match, the team go all out, one of the Usos gets trapped in a corner of the cell with kendo sticks, Xavier Woods takes about 50 kendo shots, Big E takes on both Usos at once, eventually The Usos get the win with a double splash onto Woods with a chair.
- A small moment compared with the two above, but Baron Corbin securing the United States title against both AJ Styles and Tye Dillinger.
- The main highlight of the 2018 PPV had Becky Lynch finally reclaiming the SmackDown Women's Championship after two years by countering Charlotte Flair's Spear into a DDT/Roll-out combination. A fitting karma for Charlotte for stealing Becky's opportunity in the previous month.
- As much as the 2019 PPV gets reviled (and justifiably so) with the main event being an utter mess, we still have to give credit to the other cell match that night, between Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks for the Raw Women's Championship, as it was yet another standout performance from the women. Twenty minutes of brutal action, it was arguably the match of the night, and it was the opening match. Shame it was in the same night Rollins vs. Fiend was held, eh?
- The opening match of the 2020 PPV, where Roman Reigns is given free reign to be an absolute monster and takes it. Roman utterly tears into Jey Uso, to the point of grabbing the referee when he's about to stop the match and hurling him out of the ring just to continue the assault. Reigns proved that, given the chance, he can be incredibly powerful and damn scary.
- Of note, after the previous two Hell in a Cell were marred by the controversial no-contest results of the eponymous main event matches, the 2020 edition had the main event as well the other two matches end in clean, decisive finishes, with escalating brutality, clearly indicating the company had finally learned their lesson. WWE even alluded to the stoppage in-universe as referee Brian Ngyuen attempted to stop the Roman Reigns/Jey Uso "I Quit" match inside Hell in a Cell, after former's No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on the latter. That was until Roman attacked him, for even considering it and the match ended with Jey saying "I quit" as per the stipulation.
- The 2022 edition saw only one Cell match, but boy did it deliver as Cody Rhodes took on Seth Rollins in a grudge match worthy of the cell's gravitas. Despite Cody's arm being legitimately injured and the purple on it not being for show, he still soldiered on and delivered one hell of a match against Seth, selling every attack to his arm while also punishing Seth in kind and showing levels of grit and determination that would make his daddy proud. This match in particular got the honor of being the first 5* match from Dave Meltzer for the main roster since Punk vs Cena in 2011, thus giving Cody his second 5* classic of the year and becoming one of the few to have them in two different companies in a year.
- The undercard also saw a fantastic triple-threat between Bianca Belair, Asuka and Becky Lynch, as three of the best women in the industry put on a clinic, mixing theatrics and stiff wrestling and showed why each of them were at the top of their game.
HIAC matches outside of the PPV
- The very first Hell in a Cell match between The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels. While an excellent match in its own right, pushing the envelope and setting the template for Hell in the Cell matches to come, it is most famous for featuring the debut of Kane. The match itself was so awesome, it was awarded five stars by Dave Meltzer.
- The highlight of the action is when Michaels climbs up the cell to try to escape the Undertaker only for the Undertaker to follow him up and attack him. After an exchange, Michaels then tries to escape down the otherside only to get punched off the side of the cage after only making it halfway down. The spot is what inspired Mick Foley’s big spot in the next Cell match.
- At one point while both men are battling on the top of the cell, a drop of the blood hits the lens of the camera filming the fight from underneath them in the ring, prompting the cameraman to audibly utter “Shit…”. It’s a great piece of happenstance that really underscore the intensity and brutality of the match.
- Brock Lesnar has faced The Undertaker one-on-one, on televised/pay-per-view events, six times in his career. Two of those (No Mercy 2002 and Hell In A Cell 2015) were under this stipulation, what most people consider "Undertaker's match,".
- The legendary Hell in a Cell match between Mankind and The Undertaker at King of the Ring 1998. Mankind lost but still looked strong.
- First, Mick was thrown off the sixteen-feet tall cage onto a table, then after (not) being wheeled out on a stretcher, was thrown through the roof of the cage onto the mat. Though seriously injured, with a tooth visibly sticking out of his nose, he fought 'Taker to a standstill and covered the mat in thumbtacks before being dropped onto those tacks and writhing in pain for minutes. He took so much punishment, scripted and accidental, that he got carried out in a stretcher... but got up and kept wrestling. Two times.
- The Undertaker was extremely reluctant about the first stunt, which was scripted, and in an unused camera shot that has since appeared in retrospectives, for perhaps the only time in his career, he broke character seeing Foley come back down the aisle with a look of utter shock.
- A lot of people see this (deservingly) as Mick Foley's Crowning Moment, but Mick admits in his first book that Undertaker's immense expertise at what he does and professionalism is what kept the match going after the infamous chokeslam through the cage. Also, climbing the cell (twice) and then dropping from it to the ring with a broken foot is pretty badass.
- And later that night, Foley came back again to cost "Stone Cold" Steve Austin his championship match against Kane.
- The match was so brutal that Vince McMahon, whom Mick had to convince to allow the first cage spot, personally said after the match:
"Mick, you have no idea how much I appreciate what you just did, but I never want to see that again."- This match is so legendary, it's one of only two individual WWF/E matches to get their own page
on Wikipedia, the other being, for obvious reasons, the Montreal Screwjob.
- The main event of Armageddon 2000 was a six-man match. Five of the six were The Rock, Stone Cold, Triple H, The Undertaker and Kurt Angle: all guys who would easily fit into the Top 10 of the Greatest Wrestlers in WWE History, and who an excellent case could be made for at least 3 (if not 4, or indeed, all 5) appearing in the Top 5. While previous HIACs had been pretty damn good, this match was full of so many jaw-droppingly awesome moments that it is still de-facto the greatest "Hell in a Cell" Match in history. It also featured Rikishi, who played his role as the Scrappy (by being tossed off the top of the Cell onto a removal truck) excellently. This is proof that 2000 was the WWE's greatest year and a definitive CMOA in WWE history.
- Shawn Michaels can not only claim to have the first HIAC match to his name but also the longest in WWE history, held at Bad Blood 2004 against Triple H. Over 45 minutes in one of the most chaotic and arduous Cell matches to date (involving chairs, tables, and even a ladder). He did not win but it was not for lack of trying (since the best Triple H could manage for a pinfall was a very deflated ragdoll arm across Shawn's chest).
- Armageddon 2005 also had the match between Randy Orton and The Undertaker.
- Triple H and Batista at Vengeance 2005. Four words: Barbed Wire Steel Chair.
- D-Generation X vs. Vince McMahon, Shane McMahon and The Big Show, Unforgiven 2006. One of the most brutal matches ever seen on WWE.
- At one point, Shane catapults Triple H onto one of the cell's walls.
- At some other point, Shane executes his infamous Coast To Coast Missile against a downed HHH.
- The cap to The Undertaker vs. Triple H, the so-called "End of an Era" match. Among the many things 'Taker survived to win the match included a spinebuster on the ring steps, multiple sledgehammer shots to the face, over a dozen chair shots and a Sweet Chin Music from guest referee Shawn Michaels that was immediately chained into a Pedigree.
- However you may feel about Michael Cole on commentary, his line when Shane McMahon jumped from 20 feet in the air on top of a Hell in a Cell match onto the announcers' table (missing The Undertaker as he crawled away) at WrestleMania 32 sounded like genuine fear and awe, and was a nice throwback to the same plunge Mick Foley took years earlier at King of the Ring 1998."Don't do this! Shane! NOOOOO!!! OH, MY GOD!!! FOR THE LOVE OF MANKIND!!! Shane just exploded through our table!"
- As controversial as the shows in Saudi Arabia may be (with good reason), Crown Jewel 2021 delivered a surprisingly good show, with many agreeing the match of the night being the opener Cell match between Edge and Seth Rollins, as once again the nature of the cell as a place for personal rivalries to be settled is once again shown and neither man held back. With multiple tables broken, Edge showing the level of sadism that made him one of the top heels of the mid-2000's and Seth getting to redeem himself after his disaster vs The Fiend, it definitely started the show off with a bang.
