WWE Hell in a Cell 6/20/21

Mandy Rose vs. Natalya

ER: I really liked this, living up to the usually strong level of 8 minute match that happen on the pre-show. Natalya is so boring, and so confoundingly mad, because she has a good performance like this once every six months. Occasionally she'll bring actual shooter personality into a match, and Mandy has no problem doing that either. You can tell when a match is a little more chippy than expected, and this actually made their little confrontation building this match more interesting. They treated it seriously, had a match with some really good moments and a great pace. This felt like an interesting fight atmosphere that had a ton of one-upping, so many matches can feel totally disconnected from the reason the match is happening in the first place. They had an abdominal stretch reversal sequence that I really loved, with Mandy wrenching one in and slapping Natalya in the face, to have Natalya reverse it by grinding her elbow into Mandy's knee, and then they were both grinding elbows between ribs and over kneecaps, a really great sequence. They kept things snug the whole match, working tight headlocks and convincing submissions, and it's just really annoying that Natalya can do this twice a year. The broken clock of wrestling. This was Natalya's best match this year; Rose has been a consistently strong TV worker all year, but this was her best work in 2021. Two people coming together to have their best match in at least 6 months is always going to be a great thing. 

Bianca Belair vs. Bayley

ER: I liked this a lot though I do think it lost steam at the end. I don't think this match really needed the Cell and once they finally built to using it I think it shifted focus. Up until then I was into it all, thought Bayley was great at running hard into everything, and I loved the focus on Bayley distracting Bianca by going after her hair. Bianca whipping her hair into a chair is a funny spot, but Bayley tying her braid to ropes or a chair or standing on it was awesome.  Bianca was great at fighting out of it and Bayley's heel ringwork was good. The use of the ring steps and a chair was good, less interested in seeing the kendo sticks and have kendo stick prop set up time for a spot that would have been nastier as just a suplex on the floor. Bayley's strong presence playing off Bianca gave it a high floor, but I don't think this was as good as Mandy/Natalya. HIAC gimmick makes them think they have to go long, but it's fine to have a hot 12 minute HIAC rather than a 20 minute one that drags in spots. They have been trapped into associating this match with "long main event" regardless of feud or card placement. 

Cesaro vs. Seth Rollins

ER: There aren't many things that excite me less than the promise of a Seth Rollins match, but I think I like these non-main event Rollins matches so much more that my opinions have to course correct a bit. He's been on a nice in-ring run since Mania, and this was a good match that felt fresh, even though these guys have been having matches on WWE TV for many years now. Rollins was going after Cesaro's eye and I thought his punches at the eye looked great, and thought their chemistry was strong the whole match. I bit at all of the nearfalls, especially loved Rollins' small package roll up as Cesaro grabbed the legs for the big swing. Rollins gets good height on Cesaro's big stuff, it's a good match-up for this part of the card. 

Shayna Baszler vs. Alexa Bliss

ER: It's a shame because I think Bliss's work during non-horseshit parts of this match were great, every one of her cutoff elbows made for a great moment, I just will not ever enjoy this mind control "Shayna is scared to make eye contact with Bliss" nonsense. Even when they do it "well" like with Nia being forced to slap Reginald, it's the thing I'd rather not ever see in wrestling. Call me a crank, I'm fine with that being a line for me. The actual wrestling in the match made me just want to see a straight match between them. Bliss is good at elbowing Shayna in the mouth and actually finding ways to be the smaller aggressor, and I don't think I've ever seen them wrestle before. But it was always going to come down to boogeyman stuff and I can at least thank Shayna for spiking herself on a DDT and Abigail even though she had to make a lot of derpy hypnotized faces. 

Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens

ER: This was their match, and they have managed to have their match in various interesting ways for longer than maybe anyone else in WWE. They always know how to add a little extra edge and Zayn especially is on a fine role. His conspiracy theorist asshole character works great with his ring style (or vice versa?) and he's been putting in some of my favorite work of his decade. Zayn gets his mouth busted open and both guys throw strikes that count, and both always seem to have a special desire to bounce on their shoulders and heads for offense. The always have lightly different ways to have the same good match, and this was no different. 

Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte Flair

ER: Didn't care for this. I swear I looked at the clock during this and the number went down. 

Bobby Lashley vs. Drew McIntyre

ER: Didn't care for all of this either, and it was mainly due to the 25 minutes. We've seen these two match up several times since Mania and this felt like the least necessary of the bunch. There was a lot of good damage in the match, but ending a long HIAC match with a distraction roll up feels like a tough finish to pull off in 2021. Both landings through tables looked gross (Drew's death drop to the floor looked great) but the vibe just wasn't there for me here like it's been with the Mania, Backlash, and Raw matches.