7 Match Star Ratings For WWE Hell In A Cell 2021
1. Bobby Lashley Vs. Drew McIntyre - WWE Title Hell In A Cell Match
How can you bury this match after looking at the sheer state of Drew McIntyre's back?
Because it's WWE. Because it's WW f*cking E.
The match was an intensely brutal affair even by Drew's stiff as f*ck banger standards. He took an absolute pasting in a performance that at various points transcended the plunder trope theatre that weirdly neglects the idea that the cage itself is a weapon.
The match was structured to present Drew as a sympathetic, f*cked-over badass. This story beat was expressed quite brilliantly throughout; Lashley looked like a killer when he trapped Drew behind a kendo stick and pummelled him with body shots. In an industry that is broadly worse for the lost art of the worked punch, this was convincing, beautiful simplicity that actually maximised the creative environment. Drew withstood this beating with tremendous, defiant facial expressions and powered through a chokeslam through a table.
The transition via missed Claymore was quite elegant. There was a really neat flow to this hoss fight and absolutely none of it f*cking matters because Lashley won a Hell In A Cell blowoff match with a distraction roll-up after profoundly passé sub-Attitude Era chicanery. The irony is too much to bear at this point.
Drew McIntyre worked the fight of his life in a would-be heartbreaking last stand and won't get over because the booking is a parody of a content factory. The booking will crack him harder than Lashley ever could. The entire presentation was yet another microcosm of the company that promoted it; creative horrendous, talent pitiable.
What McIntyre is doing is rolling a big rock up a mountain and bumping on the jagged edges before the climb.
What an absolute waste of time.
Star Rating: ★★★½