WWE Hell In A Cell 2017: Assessing The Potential Quality Of All 8 Matches
4. AJ Styles Vs. Baron Corbin - WWE United States Title Match
Much like Jinder Mahal, Baron Corbin has exhausted audience goodwill. He's going to have to actually do something good before it's thought he is capable of it.
His character is one of few in WWE to actually make sense within the context of WWE - he's an old school bruiser raging against a new world of workrate. The problem is that his matches are invariably decent - at the very most. He seems to wrestle as if he's wading through treacle. There's very little dynamism to his style, and this isn't compensated for with raw presence nor, as it appears now, potential. Corbin's idea of drawing heat is as basic as it gets, too. He simply berates the audience, the vast majority of whom don't really care to hurl abuse themselves - rendering it a contrived, rehearsed part of his act. One cause for optimism is the man in the opposite corner: AJ Styles. Corbin has wrestled precisely one match that even borders the categorisation of 'excellent', and AJ Styles made up a third of it. Corbin is leaden and barely over - but he can be carried. Once.
Maybe the tentative optimism is rooted in total faith in the preternatural abilities of Styles. Maybe this UK-based writer is deluding himself into thinking that Corbin in this context is worth staying up until 2:30AM for.
Maximum Star Rating Ceiling: **1/2