7 WWE Hell In A Cell 2020 Impulse Reactions

Two out of three ain't bad as Hell In A Cell's reputation is salvaged by a pair of SmackDown epics.

Sasha Banks
WWE

WWE were back on their bullsh*t ahead of this year's Hell In A Cell.

Resembling a TNA Lockdown card rather than the company's annual Cell supershow, the go-home week got as far as Friday morning and 75% of the entire announced card was set to take place inside that insane red structure.

Three cell matches taking place on the October card is sadly nothing new, but the issue stuck out with only Jeff Hardy and Elias set to fill the rest of the time. WWE have been praised for scaling back the sprawling pay-per-view runtimes in 2020, but the prospect of all three Championship matches going the better part of an hour just to fill the time felt about as welcoming as the prospect of watching the 2018 and 2019 main events back to back.

This card, frustratingly, required filler.

And oh how WWE found it. But how would this play into the show? Did R-Truth know he was set to take on Drew Gulak on the pre-show before it was announced on Twitter earlier that day? Could Bobby Lashley have been any more prepared for Slapjack even if they didn't know the match was happening until Mustafa Ali laid out the challenge on the Kickoff? The less said about Miz and Otis' road to Hell In A Cell, the better.

More importantly, after strong showings for SummerSlam, Payback and Clash Of Champions, could these short notice stars form part of yet another pay-per-view pleasant surprise?

7. R-Truth (c) Vs Drew Gulak

Sasha Banks
WWE.com

Tom Phillips referred to R-Truth as "timeless" during the 24/7 Champion's defence against Drew Gulak on the Kickoff.

He's right, but this match wasn't exactly an exhibition of that. The pair did some painfully functional stuff before Truth went through the John Cena tribute schtick before cleanly defeating a man that Daniel Bryan only recently called his superior.

This is the problem with WWE. Well, not just this, but the lack of meaning attached to all of it. Truth won, because Gulak doesn't matter now like he did back then. As if to illustrate that, he was dropped back into the literal chasing pack when Akira Tozawa and The Lucha House Party arrived on the scene to try and steal the gold from the Champion in that same Keystone Cops spot we've all been watching for well over a year.

He said "John Cena sucks" after the fact, surely sending very small corners of the internet into very small tizzies about the prospect of a feud between the two. They - and he - should be so lucky. This was a going-nowhere match that tragically denoted where the wrestlers themselves are currently at. The whole concept desperately needs an overhaul.

 
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Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 30 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz", Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 50,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett