Immediate Hell In A Cell Thoughts

Happy Father's Day! Quick plug: July is Rivalries Month at Wrestling Merchandise and Memories! Teaser trailer here.

I really dug the HIAC opening montage. Very different.

I actually didn't realize they'd changed Bianca Belair vs. Bayley to a Hell In A Cell match until it began; talk about a positive surprise! These two continue to have excellent chemistry together, and Bayley is proving to be the company's most effective heel (no disrespect to Charlotte Flair) - little things she does like mouthing off to Michael Cole are priceless. Great use of weapons throughout the match, and I never tire of the innovative ways people using Bianca's braid against her. KOD on the ladder looked sick as well. Great opener.

The setup for this Cesaro vs. Seth Rollins match felt a bit weird (to me, at least).... but given they had such a good match at WrestleMania, I'm willing to cut them some slack. Despite some solid effort from both guys, this match never really seemed to get out of first gear. I didn't love this finish, if I'm being honest.

I enjoyed Alexa Bliss vs. Shayna Baszler much more than I thought I would. That may be because they (largely) set aside the silly stuff and focused on having a decent match. Sure, there was some supernatural shit in there, too... but it was quite palatable.

I'm convinced there's no such thing as a bad Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn match; just varying levels of good. Even without a rock-solid story behind them the way they had it going into WrestleMania, these two still managed to deliver the goods. Even something as seemingly uninteresting as their headbutt exchange took on additional drama given the two men involved. I didn't expect Zayn to go over in the match, but I'm not mad about it, either.

You guys... I just can't find myself getting into Charlotte Flair vs. Rhea Ripley. It started at last year's empty arena WrestleMania and has never really gotten much better Even with Flair's re-set as a heel (I..... think?), this just didn't do anything for me. Tonight's match didn't really do much to change my opinion, and the finish - terrible. I've had enough of these two together.

Drew McIntyre vs. Bobby Lashley is, what, our third WrestleMania rematch in this show, and while I first enjoyed their chemistry together, this match is probably going to be my limit for it. Don't get me wrong - they were definitely more intense here than they'd been in previous battles, and that part was loud and clear. But having MVP as the spoiler didn't really feel like a feud-ending maneuver; rather a first go-round finish. At least these two are (probably) on different paths now, which is fine.

This wasn't a PPV of the year, by any stretch, but it did have its moments.