On September 16, roughly a month after SummerSlam, WWE will host the 10th annual Hell in a Cell pay-per-view event.
The pay-per-view name was inspired by the Hell in a Cell match, which first took place back in 1997 with Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker.
Since then, the Hell in a Cell match has captivated many audiences and with the Hell in a Cell branded pay-per-view, we get at least one of these matches each year.
History of Hell in a Cell Pay-Per-View
2009
The very first Hell in a Cell pay-per-view came in 2009 and was headlined by a match that featured The Undertaker vs. CM Punk. Superstars from the Raw, Smackdown and the now-defunct ECW brand dawned the show.
Undertaker is arguably one of the most well-known wrestlers of all-time, and when you think of the Hell in a Cell match, Undertaker comes to mind. Not only was he one of the participants in the very first match, but who can forget the iconic match with Mankind when Undertaker threw Mankind off the cell?
Naturally, Undertaker was front and center on the advertising for this event.
As this was the very first Hell in a Cell branded pay-per-view, WWE put three cell matches on that night. One with Randy Orton vs. John Cena, D-Generation X (Triple H and Shawn Michaels) vs. The Legacy (Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase) and as mentioned, Undertaker and Punk. Orton, D-Generation X and Undertaker would win those matches.
Additionally, Kofi Kingston, John Morrison and Mickie James defended their United States, Intercontinental and Diva’s Championships, respectively.
2010
After three Hell in a Cell matches the prior year, the WWE put on just two in 2010 — one for the WWE Championship and one for the World Heavyweight Championship.
For the WWE Championship, Randy Orton defended his title against Sheamus. And Kane, the Heavyweight Champion, defended his title against his on-screen brother, the Undertaker, who was accompanied by the late Paul Bearer.
In the aftermath of the Kane and Undertaker match, Bearer issued a challenge for Undertaker to face Kane at the next pay-per-view in a Buried Alive match, which Undertaker accepted and ultimately lost.
Other championships defended on this card included the United States Championship (Daniel Bryan) and the Diva’s Championship, which, although Natalya won the match, she did so via disqualification, thus resulting in Michelle McCool retaining her championship.
This card was also important as at the time, Cena was in a feud with The Nexus. Cena had to face Wade Barrett. The stakes were this: if Cena won, The Nexus disbanded. If Barrett won, Cena joined The Nexus.
Cena lost and was forced to join The Nexus and comply to Barrett’s rules.
This led to a slew of situations where Cena was forced to play second-fiddle to Barrett. Fortunately, Cena broke away from that situation after attacking Barrett at the next pay-per-view event.
2011
After two years with Undertaker being a primary component of the Hell in a Cell cards, he was not featured on this card. Instead, the two Hell in a Cell matches came between Mark Henry and Randy Orton for the Heavyweight Championship, which Henry successfully defended.
The second came in the form of a triple threat match for the WWE Championship in which Alberto Del Rio would defeat both Cena and Punk.
2012
Drawing nearly 200,000 pay-per-view buys, the fourth annual Hell in a Cell featured just one match of its kind, with Punk leading the card accompanied by Paul Heyman.
Punk would defend and keep his WWE Championship after squaring off against the 6’3”, nearly 300-pound monster, Ryback.
However, the match didn’t come without controversy. The referee for the match, Brad Maddox, low-blowed Ryback during the match, and did a fast-count for Punk to help him retain.
Maddox later revealed his motive was to become famous after never becoming a WWE superstar.
2013
A year after one of the most controversial Hell in a Cell matches, WWE put on just a single match of its kind for the second year in a row and brought in 212,000 buys. However, this one was unique as Orton and Bryan squared off for a vacant WWE Championship.
But this twists didn’t end there as Michaels would be the special guest referee and for the second-year in a row, the referee attacked someone — this time Michaels going after Bryan because Bryan attacked Triple H.
Orton would go on to win the title left vacant after Bryan was stripped of the title weeks beforehand by Triple H.
2014
With the WWE Network in full force, the card started to feel a bit diminished. The WWE no longer was pushing for PPV buys, but instead wanted subscriptions to their network.
With that, they still got over 80,000 buys for a card without either major championship on the line.
However, we did return to the two cell matches on this card, with Seth Rollins defeating Dean Ambrose and John Cena defeating Randy Orton to become the No. 1 contender for the Heavyweight Championship.
2015
Dawning the promotional poster for the sixth annual Hell in a Cell event once again was Undertaker, however Brock Lesnar was also pictured. They would face off in one of the two cell matches, while Roman Reigns would take on and defeat Bray Wyatt in the other.
Lesnar and Undertaker’s match took place after Lesnar was just about to beat Rollins for the World Heavyweight Championship at Battleground, but Undertaker attacked him.
2016
The year 2016 was a historic milestone for the WWE for not only this event, but this match type. Until this point, no women had ever partaken in a Hell a Cell Match. That changed with Sasha Banks taking on Charlotte Flair.
Also, this event came after a brand split and only Raw superstars were featured on the show. Besides the women’s match, Reigns would take on, defend, and defeat Rusev in the other. Flair would win her match, but prior to the win, Banks was almost taken out on a stretcher and Flair was almost declared the winner by forfeit. But Banks got off the stretcher and marched back into the ring, though still ultimately losing in the first-ever women’s Hell in a Cell contest.
2017
For the first time since the branded pay-per-view had been enacted, we got a tag team Hell in a Cell match with The Usos’s becoming the new Smackdown Tag Team Champions after defeating the New Day. After being a Raw PPV in 2016, Smackdown would get the rights to the event in 2017.
The other cell match came between Kevin Owens and on-screen Smackdown commissioner Shane McMahon. The match ultimately ended after McMahon jumped off the cell in an attempt to elbow drop Owens. However, Owens was saved after a heel turn by Sami Zayn, moving him out of the way and allowing Owens to secure the victory.
2018
The 2018 Hell in a Cell event will take place in San Antonio, Texas and both Raw and Smackdown will have superstars representing the brand.
Matches and odds
WWE Universal Championship – Hell in a Cell
Roman Reigns (c) -285 vs. Braun Strowman +205
The WWE will do something to give Reigns the win while keeping Strowman looking strong. Expect The Shield to be involved one way or the other.
Reigns will walk away as champion.
WWE Championship
AJ Styles -130 vs. Samoa Joe -110
This is a fairly boring feud. Joe just doesn’t strike me as WWE Championship material. He’s had the same ring gear since, like, 2002 and his promos are all the same.
Styles will retain here in what will be a match that goes on for way, way too long.
RAW Women’s Championship
Ronda Rousey (c) -650 vs. Alexa Bliss +420
Minus Bliss quite literally running away from Rousey, this should be yet another squash match.
However, afterward, someone should get heat on Rousey. Maybe Bliss tells some of the girls in the back to come out and attack Rousey after the match either way.
Hell in a Cell
Randy Orton -215 vs. Jeff Hardy +165
Orton will retain here.
Mixed Tag Match
Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella -425 vs. The Miz and Maryse +305
For storyline purposes, I’d love to see a scenario where the referee is distracted and Miz causes Bella to get cheapshotted by Maryse and give Maryse the win.
It keeps both Miz and Bryan strong and prolongs a feud that should go for a bit. It’s truly one of the better programs on the shows, mostly due to how fantastic Miz is in all facets of professional wrestling.
WWE Smackdown Women’s Championship
Charlotte (c) vs. Becky Lynch. No odds available.
Raw Tag Team Championships
Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre (c) vs. Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose. No odds available.
Smackdown Tag Team Championships
New Day (c) vs. Rusev Day. No odds available.
