9 Match Star Ratings For WWE Hell In A Cell 2019
2. Charlotte Flair Vs. Bayley - SmackDown Women's Title Match
Another strange and poorly laid-out match that didn't command much of a reaction from the crowd - possibly because the dynamic was all over the place and weighted almost entirely in favour of the babyface challenger.
This was so weird it was scarcely believable: if WWE can do anything, it's the sort of binary, babyface versus heel storytelling that built the company. Possibly because that dynamic was subverted - Charlotte is a pure heel, and Bayley a pure babyface - Charlotte didn't much operate like a babyface, and Bayley didn't operate much like a heel.
Charlotte patrolled the ring in a general's performance, cutting off Bayley's offence relentlessly with a fairly detestable streak. She laughed piously at Bayley's inability to land a big boot, slapped her across the face with a cruel, beaming smile on her own, and simply moved out of position when Bayley attempted to land a cross-body. Bayley looked so feckless here that it overstepped sympathy and into pure pity territory, and she wasn't even the babyface.
She rallied, briefly, and subverted her tube man crowd appeal as a taunt, but Charlotte again cut her off. It never remotely resonated as a comeback because there was nothing from which to come back. She dominated Bayley, and by the time Bayley initiated the heat spot sequence, it carried no weight.
She cried for an eternity in the aftermath, but over what? The defeat, remorse over her change in attitude, or another banner year?
Star Rating: ★★