10 Things You Didn't Know About WWE's Hell In A Cell Gimmick

10. The Origin Of The Concept

The Hell in a Cell concept was perfect for the Attitude Era's violent tone. However, its roots go way deeper than the 90's hardcore boom. Yes, the first Cell bout was in October 1997, but the inspiration stretches all the way back to the early 80's - when you might say that the first unofficial cell bout took place. It was outside of the WWE, down in Georgia Championship Wrestling, where "The Last Battle Of Atlanta" took place. This was a bloody encounter between Mad Dog Buzz Sawyer and Wildfire Tommy Rich. To contain their intense feud, they were booked to wrestle in a cage with a roof on it, competing in the gimmick match on October 23rd 1983. Fast forward to 1997, Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker were both trying to come up with a fresh concept for facing each other. The two WWE legends had been students of wrestling history, so they ended up recalling the Georgia Cell match and took inspiration from it. Another likelihood is that WWE borrowed from WCW's WarGames concept. Those matches basically involved two rings inside a roofed cell, with teams of men competing inside. The WarGames matches were critical and commercial successes for WCW, so it wouldn't be a surprise that Vince McMahon took note. He refined the concept, one cell, for a one on one match. When Shawn Michaels beat The Undertaker inside the Cell on October 5th 1997, a new WWE tradition was underway.