100 Greatest WWE Matches Of All Time (Ranked)
9. CM Punk vs. Drew McIntyre (Bad Blood 2024)
Few matches held inside the fearsome structure felt worthy once WWE turned Hell In A Cell into a yearly pay-per-view series in 2009. It became common practice for writers on the creative team to suddenly realise October had dawned. 'Uh oh, we better force some feuds that don't deserve it inside the Cell'! That got old in a hurry.
Deserved gimmick match treatment is partly why Drew McIntyre vs. CM Punk from the aptly named Bad Blood 2024 is here at all. They had a rivalry worth sticking inside HIAC, but that was only half the battle. Come crunch time, Drew and Punk produced arguably the finest Hell In A Cell match ever. It had everything: Blood, storytelling flourishes like using bracelet beads instead of thumbtacks (if that sounds lame in isolation, it sure didn't within the context of the overarching narrative), tension and the sense that both men were fighting for their lives to survive.
That last bit is key. These dudes weren't going through the motions in Atlanta. Far from it. They didn't waste a second of the 31 minutes handed to them when opening the show, and in fact merited that length of time. There was next to no padding for the sake of it here. Like the best blowoff matches, this Cell encounter rewarded those who had emotionally invested in the blood feud.
It won't go down in history as the most famous HIAC match ever (you know what will!), but McIntyre vs. Punk should be held in high esteem as an example of the iconic structure done right.