On a night that mostly followed storylines to a tee, WWE threw a curveball the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw would be proud of to conclude its Hell in a Cell main event.
Kevin Owens was saved by best friend turned rival now turned reluctant friend Sami Zayn from being smashed by a Shane McMahon elbow from the top of the cell. Zayn pulled Owens from the table as McMahon — now 0-for-2 with the move — came crashing down. Zayn rolled Owens on top of the SmackDown Live commissioner for the 1-2-3 and the win Sunday night.
Why, Sami? Why?
Zayn, who may revive his career as a heel, looked as shocked and disgusted with himself as the Detroit fans as he backed away from a stunned Owens, with whom he has had his own longstanding feud. While, you can commend WWE for the surprise moment — and can’t wait to find out the reason behind it Tuesday — it didn’t seem like a fitting end to the McMahon-Owens battle.
The rivalry was built so well, based on deep emotions concerning family and the failing trajectory of Owens’ title pursuit. It’s a dispute that may go unsettled and produced a match with excellent high spots (Owens’ cannonball through a table in the corner of the cell), a tease on top of the cell without the proper payoff and a confusing ending that had some similarities to McMahon’s Hell in Cell match with the Undertaker.
It was the climax oܫf a night that featured strong storytelling propping up most🅘ly solid-to-average in-ring work.
The first Hell in a Cell match was arguably the event’s best match. The Usos beat the New Day to regain the ꦕSmackdown titles in the first ever tag match inside the structure. Wh𒀰ile it was not as good as their preshow match at SummerSlam, it was excellent for many of the same reasons.
They risked their bodies – flying out of the ring on multiple occasions to slam each other into the cell. There were cool spots, like Jay Uso being trapped in the corner of the cage with kendo sticks and Xa𝐆vier Woods being handcuffed to the post only to break free and save Big E from being pinned.
The Usos won the title at SummerSlam with their double elbows of the𒐪 top rope on Big E. This time they one-upped it, using chairs with the move that put away Woods. It was the exclamation on another superb chapter to this heated rivalry.
The finish wasn’t as clean in the women’s title match, ♌with champion Natalya resorting to a chair shot to Charlotte Flair to add insult to the “knee injury” she delivered to the challenger. So Flair wins by disqualification, but Natalya keeps the belt.
While the chair shot doesn’t make 100 percent sense with Natalya in control of the match, it does accomꦅplish three important things: It adds more heat to Nattie, 🌌more sympathy to Flair and makes you want to see the queen take the title even more (possibly Tuesday night).
The United State title did change hands, and in a brilliant way✃ – without A.J. Styles being pinned and with Baron Carbon continuing to take shortcuts.
After Styles hit the Phenomenal Forearm on Tye Dillinger, who was added to the match in the preshow, Corbin tossed Styles out of the ring and pinned Dillinger to win his first title in🍰 WWE. The belt changes hands and their feud continues even hotter with the key storyline intact. (Give that writer a raise.)
Talking about heat, there may not be a more despised performer than WWE champion Jinder Mahal. Your heart had to break for Shinsuke Nakamura wh✱en the Singh Brothers distracted referee Charles Robinson long eno🦩ugh after he hit the kinnosuke for Mahal to grab the bottom rope.
Mahal, whom WWE likely will keep champion through its tour of India in early De𒁏cember, eventually won with the Colloss for a🌄nother controversial title win, much to the dismay of the crowd.
Nakamura’s rival for best entranc𒀰e in WWE, Bobby Roode, picked up his first pay-per-view win, thanks to pulling the tights on the pin better than Dolph Ziggler did early.
The OK match was another example of WWE hitting all𝔍 the right story notes. Ziggler, who mocked elaborate entrances for weeks, scrapped his and entered in silence and darkness. His Zig Zag to Roode after the finish will only fuel the feud’s momentum.
Programming note for Tuesday: There 🌟will not be another Happy Rusev Day celebration. The Bulgarian brute is again a national laughingstock after again losing to Randy Orton via an RKO.
Oh, and the Fashion Poli🍬ce have a new case. The vignettes are fun,🥀 but they, like Sami Zayn’s interference, have to lead to something interesting, right?
Biggest winner: Baron Corbin
Biggest loser: Rusev
Match of the night: The Usos vs. The New Day
Grade: B+