7 WWE Hell In A Cell Statistics You Need To Know
5. Not All Cell Matches Are Created Equal
When is a Hell in a Cell match not a Hell in a Cell match? When WWE says so.
The Hell in a Cell structure has been used a couple times that aren’t counted in its history. During the 1998 King of the Ring PPV, there was a cell match between Undertaker and Mankind, but the cell also dropped during a First Blood world title match between 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin and Kane. The Big Red Monster would go on to win that match and the title, but it is not counted as a cell match.
The other time Hell in a Cell came into play was a match WWE would rather forget: Kennel from Hell. This dog of a match was a Hardcore title match between Al Snow and Big Boss Man at 1999’s Unforgiven. The match came about after Boss Man kidnapped, killed and fed Snow’s dog Pepper to him (keep that in mind when people rave about how amazing the Attitude Era was).
As a result, the two met in the first and only Kennel from Hell match, which consisted of the old blue-bar steel cage surrounded by the Hell in a Cell structure. “Attack” dogs surrounded the cage (still inside the cell) and the goal was to escape the cage and then escape the cell.
One thing that is interesting is that WWE does count a Hell in a Cell dark match that occurred at the go-home Raw before the 2011 Hell in a Cell PPV. The match came after Raw went off the air; those matches are often only for the live audience and typically aren’t referenced or acknowledged in official WWE canon.