10 WWE Hell In A Cell 2018 Impulse Reactions

4. UFSee

Ronda Rousey Alexa Bliss
WWE

Ronda Rousey worked her first WWE pay-per-view singles match at Hell in a Cell. That is to say, she was required to work a WWE singles match for the first time since her electric January debut.

Gone was the clinically engineered brilliance of her battles up to this point. In its place was an outstanding professional wrestling match that involved two women with less than five years experience between them.

The contest was a two-pronged success story. Ronda's aura wasn't diminished despite her performing as a sports entertainment storyteller in a way hitherto-unseen. Meanwhile, Bliss deserves lashings of credit for the manner in which she so profoundly put over the 'Rowdy' Women's Champion yet again.

Though 50/50 in a relatively brief middle portion, the match was yet again constructed to highlight the sheer terrifying dominance of the former UFC star. Ronda's own steering into the gimmick was the only minor negative - she is learning as she goes at an incredibly high level, but she'll learn when and where to drop in her threats in order to achieve a maximum response from the capacity crowd.

As far as torch-passings go, Rock/Hogan this wasn't. But it was lightyears better than Rock/Hogan 2.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for 10 years. Alongside the production of daily written, audio and video content covering WWE and AEW, he also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot on the UK's wrestling podcast charts with over 10,000 episodes and 70,000,000 total downloads. He also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House!, Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast, and has guested on long-running Sunderland AFC podcast Wise Men Say. With WhatCulture, he has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. He has also been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana, 411Mania and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling. 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 music and culture magazines The Crack, Pilot as well as Sunderland AFC's premiere fanzine A Love Supreme. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it every other Saturday at the Stadium Of Light, and at Cribs gigs nationwide.