Every year, around October, we do the same song and dance: Hell in a Cell is not worth it, because it devalues the actual Hell in a Cell match. If you're reading this, well, dear reader, the answer is no different—only the month is. This year, we're doing it four months earlier.
Everyone knew trouble was already spelled out when WWE decided to move Roman Reigns vs. Rey Mysterio, a story that saw a good amount of effort put in in a small amount of time, to the main event of SmackDown before the show. That left Drew McIntyre vs. Bobby Lashley and Bianca Belair vs. Bayley to carry the pay-per-view's namesake.
I want to preface these reviews with the fact that as a wrestler, I completely understand and appreciate the physical effort it takes to put on even a match that could be considered decent, by many fans' standards. What they do is Tough with a capital T. It literally takes years off a lifespan, no matter how cliched that sounds right now. I appreciate everything they do in there. Those are no small feats.
However, it's just that no matter how hard they try, sometimes something just has limitations. Things just don't click, no matter how much you want them to. And in this case, I think WWE as a wrestling corporation has reached the limitations of Hell in a Cell, especially in a company that's trying to keep the dollars of major brands.
It certainly doesn't help when your other big champion, the one tasked to carry the show, is booked to win in a non-dominant fashion. That's definitely not his fault; he's a victim of the system that chooses to protect only one world champion and gambles with the other. When the people were starved of a physical Cell match that almost hit the mark, they chose to whiff.
As a result, the last pay-per-view of the ThunderDome era is just a show that took place. Not everything has to move the needle, but at least one thing has to, and through sheer bad luck, none of them managed to do that. That's what you get when you don't put Roman Reigns on the show.
Hell in a Cell 2021 Rating: B-
Match of the Night
There's not much to recommend, as I'd recommend you skip the show entirely. But hey, the main event was somehow decent.
Photo from WWE
