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Kester's WWE Hell in a Cell Rundown: Ryback gets screwed, Big Show regains the World Heavyweight Championship, the announce team shines, and more

Posted in: Kester Editorials, MUST-READ LISTING
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Oct 29, 2012 - 03:31 PM

By Ryan Kester

CM Punk vs. Ryback

I expected a cheap finish of some sort, but I wasn't expecting WWE to find a way to keep Ryback looking like a beast and have Punk walk out with the title. The route WWE went with worked wonders, and it had the side benefit of giving Punk at least another month's worth of story to work with as he presumably heads to a showdown with The Rock at the Royal Rumble. It also managed to give Ryback some of his heat back and send the home happy as he tore through the referee that screwed him and Punk.

I do hope that WWE uses Ryback's dismantling of Maddox and Punk as a blow off to him feuding with Punk. I want Ryback to continue to be built up but I do not thing it is the right time to move the WWE Championship onto him and, more importantly, off of Punk.

Sheamus vs. Big Show

This was a great match that had me sucked in by the finish. That's saying a lot as I could simply not have cared less about it going into the PPV. I like the idea of Sheamus losing the belt more than I do having Show carry it again. Show is limited on who he can work with an produce a PPV quality match, so I imagine his reign will be short lived.

As far a Sheamus goes, I have been saying for almost the entirety of Sheamus' run that he needed some character development outside of hokey family stories and campy comedy. I hope this is the impetus for some growth and perhaps a return to the level of intensity that got Sheamus over in the first place. I do not need a heel Sheamus, but I would like to see him play things a bit straighter and appeal to a broader audience than the youngsters in the crowd.

Commentary

Despite my misgivings about the overall show, more about that below, the announce team last night was really on point. Cole calling things straight with Jim Ross' knowledge being counterbalanced by a heel color commentator in JBL just works. The crew worked their tails off last night and it made some of the more boring matches a bit easier to get through simply by the work they put into the call.

I know this setup is only temporary while Lawler recovers, but I hope WWE takes a look at the announce team and finds a way to keep up this sort of quality after Lawler makes his inevitable return.

Overall Show

There's really no way of getting around it, Hell in a Cell was a bad show. It dragged on and on and felt like an overproduced Raw expect for the two title matches. The live crowd certainly did the show no favors in making it feel like an event, but part of that blame has to lie with creative not giving them a reason to care about the undercard. Whatever the cause was, the show last night was simply not PPV quality.

If you have any questions or comments or just wish to chat with a fellow wrestling fan about whatever, then feel free to email me at ryan.kester@gmail.com or follow me on Twitter at @TheRyanKester.

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