5 Ups And 9 Downs From WWE Hell In A Cell 2019

8. Slo-Mo Extended Squash

Randy Orton Mustafa Ali
WWE.com

Sometimes you can earn respect from your opponent and the fans in a losing effort.

Unfortunately, that sort of thing rarely happens in a Randy Orton match.

Orton has always been described as “methodical” in his in-ring pacing, which can best be termed “slow as s***” today. So if you’re Ali, facing the bigger, slower Orton does not really benefit you when your offense is fast-paced and requires a bit of cooperation from your opponent.

The match, made during the kickoff show, wasn’t terrible at all, but it certainly was predictable. Orton wore down Ali at a… *ahem*… methodical pace, while the former police officer got a couple hope spots. He even countered the RKO with an innovative handstand, only to walk right into… an RKO.

If WWE was going for, “Ali earns respect by taking Randy Orton to his limit,” this sure as hell wasn’t it. It was Ali biting off more than he could chew and being dropped after landing a couple lucky shots on a 13-time world champion.

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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.