5 Ups And 9 Downs From WWE Hell In A Cell 2016

4. Super Reigns

Roman Reigns
WWE.com

Hell in a Cell is a brutal match that puts wrestlers through a lot of physical anguish. Overcoming it to win takes a superhuman effort. But there are times when it gets a little forced, especially when the fans aren’t into the hero’s comeback.

Rusev beat Roman Reigns from pillar to post during their match, with Reigns playing defense for most of the second half of the match. Still, Rusev could not put him away, despite using a chain, steel steps and the Accolade twice. Reigns powered out of Rusev’s finishing hold twice (the second time with Rusev using a chain across Roman’s face), hitting a Samoan drop on the steps and then spearing the Bulgarian Brute off of it for the victory.

But the crowd wasn’t exactly rallying to Reigns’ support throughout the match – they chanted “Let’s go Rusev!/Rusev sucks!” at one point – lessening the impact of Roman’s triumph. It was a decent match, but Reigns’ superhuman victory after being beaten down for so long felt anticlimactic and just ridiculous. It might have been better for Reigns to demolish Rusev to retain.

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Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.