TJR Blog: WWE Top 10 Video – Hell-ish moments in Hell in a Cell
Last week I decided it would be a good idea to do a weekly blog post every Saturday about the “Top 10” videos that WWE posts on their Youtube channel. The response was pretty good, so I’ll keep at it.
This time the subject is “Hell-ish moments in Hell in a Cell.” The description says it refers to “10 Superstars whose careers were forever altered within the steel structure.”
What I’ll do is go over their list, offer some backstory and description to it as well as my take on the order as we go through it. Simple enough, right? Let’s get to it.
10. Too Cruel
Rikishi gets tossed of the cell by The Undertaker and he lands onto a truck that had hay on it. This was from Armageddon 2000 in a six man HIAC match for the WWE Title. It was the biggest spot of that match at a time when the HIAC match was still pretty new and most of those matches seemed to have a big spot like that.
I thought it was a really dangerous spot to do because Rikishi was a legitimate 350 pound (or more) man that was falling back about 15 feet. Obviously the truck with the hay was there to soften the landing, but it still looked nasty. The good news is he got out of it okay.
This should be higher up on the list because it was such an impressive bump for a huge man.
9. New Face Of Spear
At last year’s Hell in a Cell, Roman Reigns and Bray Wyatt set up a table inside the cell. They battled on the apron with Wyatt placing his back towards the table that was underneath. Reigns nailed a Spear and drove Wyatt through the table. Reigns went on to win the match, of course.
I didn’t even remember the spot until I just saw it right now. It didn’t have anythign to do with the cell anyway. It was more of a table bump than anything.
8. Show-Stopped
Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker had the first HIAC match at a show called Badd Blood in October 1997. It was the night after Brian Pillman died, so it must have been very difficult for WWE’s roster to perform.
The big spot in the match was when Michaels was standing on the middle part of the cell right above the announce table. The Undertaker was going after him, so he stepped on both of his hands and Michaels fell off the cage and went through the Spanish announce table.
It was a pretty nasty bump that set a precedent for Hell in a Cell matches. It would be topped, but I still think it is one of the nastiest bumps in HIAC match history. It would be in my top five.
7. Uncaged Aggression
At SummerSlam 2008, Edge and Undertaker had a Hell in a Cell match to put an end to their feud. Undertaker was standing against the cage while Edge set up the bottom half of the steel steps. Edge ran across, jumped off the steps and hit a Spear on Undertaker that broke the cage.
It was a well planned spot that drew a big reaction. It wasn’t as dangerous as some of the other spots on here, but it was definitely unique.
After this match was over, Undertaker gave Edge a Chokeslam off a ladder and through the ring that was more impressive than this. It was after the match, though.
6. King Of The Cell
Triple H and Chris Jericho made history at Judgment Day 2002 by ending the match with a move on top of the cell. Triple H hit a Pedigree on Jericho on the cell and pinned him there.
The spot to end the match was big, but I don’t see how you can rank it higher than some of the other stuff already on here. The only thing that made it stand out was that the match ended on top of the cage.
5. Table For Two
Here’s a recent spot from 2014 as Seth Rollins battled Dean Ambrose in a Hell in a Cell match. Their big moment happened when they were brawling on the side of the cage. Both of them were teetering a bit and they each went through a table with Rollins going through the Spanish Announce Table and Ambrose through the English Announce Table.
The bump was similar to what Michaels did in 1997 as they took about a 12 foot fall. It’s not easy to do bumps like that. It was noticeable that when they landed on the tables, it was obvious that WWE had cleared the TV monitors off the announce tables to soften the blow.
4. Bang Bang
No Way Out 2000 was the Title vs. Career match with Mick Foley (as Cactus Jack) putting his career on the line in a Hell in a Cell match against Triple H. They did a big spot to end the match while they battled on top of the cage. Triple H gave Jack a back body drop that broke the cage open and Jack went crashing through the mat literally.
WWE was smart enough to set up the ring so that they cushioned the landing for Jack. It was still a very risky bump and it still looked nasty, but it didn’t hurt as much as it could have.
3. Broken In Half
This is only number three? That was my reaction when I saw this.
It’s King of the Ring 1998 with Undertaker and Mankind (Mick Foley) battling on top of the cell. This was only the second HIAC match and Foley wanted to do something to top what Michaels did a year earlier. They battled on top of the cage early, Undertaker won that battle and tossed Foley off the cell through the Spanish Announce Table about 20 feet below.
The call by Jim Ross was legendary: “God God almighty it killed him! As God as my witness, he’s broken in half!”
This was an incredible bump. One of the nastiest things I’ve ever seen in wrestling. It was one of those things that we went crazy for when we watched it live on pay-per-view and then couldn’t stop watching it. I remember they showed so many replays of it and we all thought the guy was legimiately hurt by it. Amazingly, he went to wrestle another 15 minutes and even had a nastier bump in the same match.
2. Dropdown In Dallas
WrestleMania 32 earlier this year in Dallas. I was there in the 200 section on the same side as this spot. Shane McMahon beat up Undertaker, put him on announce table and ascended to the top of the cage. Shane jumped off the 20 foot cell (maybe higher than that) with an elbow drop, but Undertaker moved and Shane went crashing through the table. Undertaker ended up pinning him shortly after.
It’s the first time in Hell in a Cell history where somebody jumped off the top of the cell to do an offensive move. Pretty impressive for a 46 year old man too. He didn’t have to try something like that, but Shane has always been a daredevil even with more gray hairs on his head these days.
The worst thing about this is that Michael Cole was seen reading off the paper as he delivered his reaction line. Come on man! You should have that memorized to make it feel genuine at least. He said: “For the love of mankind, Shane just exploded through our table.” The mankind reference was cool, but it would have been nice if the moment felt more genuine.
1. Through The Roof
We are back to King of the Ring 1998 with Mankind battling Undertaker on top of the cell. Remember that this was only the second HIAC match, so the top of the cell wasn’t that sturdy. As these two men, both around the 300 pound mark, battled on top, you could see that they nearly fell through a couple of times. For whatever reason, Mankind had this idea of doing a crazy spot where Undertaker gives him a Tombstone on the top of the cell. What they didn’t expect is that the cage broke and the chair from the top of the cell hit him in the face as well, so Mankind went crashing back first into the ring, which was a nearly 20 foot drop. Moments later we got that image of the tooth coming through his lip.
The sound of Foley’s body hitting the canvas was so brutal. If Foley’s body turned a bit more and he landed more on his head/neck he could have been seriously hurt. He was hurt a lot anyway, but an inch or two either way and it would have been life changing for him.
I think this was the nastiest bump in WWE history and I hope it is never topped. It was scary to watch 18 years ago. It’s still scary to this day.
My Reaction
I think they did a very good job with this list, at least in terms of getting the big spots. I can’t really think of anything else to put on there.
My top five order would go like this.
1. Foley goes through the cell in 1998
2. Foley gets thrown off the cell in 1998
3. Shane McMahon’s cell dive in 2016
4. Michaels off side of the cell in 1997
5. Rikishi off the cell in 2000
Previous Top 10 Reactions
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That’s all for now. My plan is to do these every Saturday (when WWE posts their new videos) and Wednesday, which will be when I pick one of the videos from the past. Thanks for reading!