Gutteridge's Blog: One Shot style review of WWE Hell in a Cell

By Darren Gutteridge (@DazatheG)

Show Grade: B-

• The undercard was consistently solid, but only Miz and Kofi produced anything noteworthy. The big positive is that most of the matches felt important thanks to all the titles on the line.

• Orton and Del Rio picked up nicely down the straight, but before that it was very paint by numbers. As much as Del Rio is stuck in a rut, Orton is in just as much trouble. He hasn't felt so unimportant in years, and he has been in a holding pattern since the start of the year. For his sake, he can always pull off a sweet new RKO spot to pop a crowd.

• We don't get Main Event in the UK, so I don't know how it holds up to their previous match, but I enjoyed this. The 'wildcat' moniker doesn't hold much appeal with me, but any Kofi push is good (even if I have lost count of the amount of false dawns he and the Intercontinental title have had). Hopefully Miz also gets something for all his recent good work in the ring.

• The crowd paid a big part in killing off any energy in the U.S. and Divas title matches. The U.S. match may have deserved better, but the Divas match did not.

• Big Show and Sheamus delivered despite their lack of a good storyline. This was as perfect a Big Show match as you will see, and Sheamus showed the fire that is sorely missed on television every week. The change keeps the title scene interesting, but I think the real discredit was not following up in any way on Ziggler's storyline.

• CM Punk and Ryback fell short of living up to their well built storyline. While the match was all you could of wished it had been until the end (helped in no small part by Heyman), the finish was as dull of a way to get to Punk retaining (the best outcome) as I can think off. It also robs Ryback of an immediate revenge storyline as it's only a referee, who he already beat up. A missed opportunity to either build a star, give a returning wrestler a big comeback, or put more heat on Punk.

Replay Verdict: With knowledge of the finishes, I can't really recommend ordering the replay. There was good action throughout, but outside of one title change, nothing really big happened. I'd save until Survivor Series, which could be loaded with rematches.