It’s funny how things work out sometimes. Going into this past Sunday’s Hell in a Cell pay-per-view, it was a forgone conclusion that Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose, inside the cell, would be the match of the night…hell, it would be match of the year. As the cage lowered, a friend of mine who was giddy with glee stated, “There is no way this match can suck” and I replied “Of course not, unless they gimmick the hell out of the match.” Well, that’s exactly what WWE did with their main event.

Main-stream professional wrestling is all about variety and spectacle. The Orton/Cena match was a competitive back-and-forth contest with both men looking to put the final stamp on their decade-long feud. Rollins/Ambrose had to be something different, violent and spectacular. Ambrose climbing to the top of the cage and demanding that Rollins join him only increased our already heightened anticipation for this match. Then, under the orders of Rollins, Joey Mercury and Jamie Noble made the trek to the top of the cell. That was the first sign that gimmickry was afoot.

Later on, Ambrose and Rollins would take the prerequisite bump through the commentators table. We looked on as the brawl is halted to sell the wounds of battle with officials, paramedics, and gurneys to ending the match that was never officially begun. Almost ten minutes later, Ambrose rose from the ashes, grabbed Rollins, threw him in the ring and ding, ding.

Near the end of the match, Kane hoses Ambrose with a fire extinguisher which was an eye roll moment. Ambrose grabs cinder blocks from under the ring skirt and puts them in the ring. Ambrose goes to Curb Stomp Rollins through the blocks, but the lights go out and we hear a loud chant with an eclipse of darkness. A lantern appears in the ring, and projects a hologram of a white figure walking. Bray Wyatt emerges from the fog, lays out Ambrose, and Rollins gets the win.

Mick Foley took to his Twitter account and weighed in on the finish stating “Before you get down on the ending to #HellnACell …think of the promos. The best is yet to come.” Far be it for me to disagree with a Hall of Famer, but I’m going to disagree. While a program between Bray Wyatt and Dean Ambrose has the potential to be some of the best stuff seen in years, it shouldn’t take away from the fact that Ambrose/Rollins deserved a definitive ending.

Instead, Rollins received a get out of jail free card because Ambrose will obviously turn his attention to the man that cost him his shot at revenge. This kind of storytelling suggests that the Ambrose vs. Rollins feud, which was front and center for the past month, was a waste of my time and money because Ambrose vs. Wyatt is what really matters.

John Cena and Randy Orton deserve a lot of praise for their work inside the Cell. I popped big time when Orton delivered the RKO out of the Attitude Adjustment and that had finish written all over it! For my money, it was the match of the night, and even if you liked Ambrose/Rollins more, even the staunchest wrestling critic has to admit that it was much better than expected.

By definition, Hell in a Cell is a gimmick match that is meant to augment the gravity of a heated conflict. Overall, it was a good show, but the main event ended up being an over-booked affair with too many stunts that focused on style instead of substance. Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins did the absolute best with what they had to work with. I really liked the idea of the finish, but under different circumstances. The real shame is that this was the first feud in a long time that fans genuinely bought into and we were given an ending devoid of any real finality that M. Night Shyamalan would have been proud of.

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Atlee Greene Atlee Greene is a contributor to Camel Clutch Blog and host of The Bodyslam Podcast. His other work can be found at Gerweck.net, ForcesofGeek.com, Whatculture.com and his own personal blog. He can be found on Twitter @AtleeGreene More Posts Follow Me:

