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The Hell in a Cell is a type of professional wrestling match sometimes seen in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in which the ring and ringside area are surrounded by a roofed steel cell.
Hell in a Cell matches are rare; there have been only thirteen such matches in WWE since the first in 1997. Due to the logistical difficulty in setting them up, their dangerous nature, and their perception as a special attraction, Hell in a Cell matches are generally seen only at pay-per-view events and only two matches have been shown on live television.
The match is said to have been the most gruesome match possible by then SmackDown! commentators Michael Cole and Tazz. In fact, RAW commentator Jim Ross was the one who coined the nickname for the cell, the "demonic structure".
About Hell in a Cell
The cell differs from the cage used in a normal steel cage match, having a roof (cages in traditional cage matches have no roof) and a wide space between the ring apron and the cell (cage match cages hug the ring closely). To win, the participant must defeat their opponent by pinfall or submission. There are no disqualifications in the match.
Generally, the cell door is locked during the match. Despite this, many Cell matches have featured wrestlers fighting out of and even on top of the Cell:
- In the first Cell match, the door was unlocked to allow the removal of an injured cameraman, which led to Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker fighting on top of the cage.
- In the Mankind / Undertaker match, the competitors began the match on top of the cage, and entered through a hole in the roof rather than through the door.
- In the Triple H / Cactus Jack match, Cactus Jack charged the Cell wall until it broke.
- In the six man Cell match, Vince McMahon used a truck to pull off the door of the Cell while attempting to destroy the Cell and stop the match.
- In the Triple H / Chris Jericho match, the door was opened with bolt cutters to allow the removal of injured referee Tim White.
Two notable participants in the Hell in a Cell match are The Undertaker and Triple H. To date there has not been a Pay-Per-View Hell in a Cell match that did not involve either of the two superstars. The Undertaker has been in seven matches, more then any other competitor, and has a win-loss record is 3-3-1. Triple H has made with six appearances, with a win-loss record of 4-2-0.
Despite a Championship being on the line in 6 of the 13 Hell in a Cell matches (7 of the 14 if you count the Kennel from Hell match), a championship has never changed hands. However at the 1998 King of the Ring Stone Cold and Kane battled in a First Blood Match for the (then) WWF Championship. The Cell was lowered to the ring as it had just been used for the Undertaker vs Mankind match. Following this Kane won this match, with the cell present and surrounding the ring. As this wasn't an official Hell in a Cell match and is never booked as one, this does not count as a title change.
The longest time period that has been between one hell in a cell taking place and the next is 525 days. This is from the Armageddon cell on December 10th 2000, and the Judgment Day cell on May 19th 2002. Ths shortest is 13 days. This is from the cell on RAW on the 15th June 1998 and the King of the Ring match on June 28th 1998.
Match history
| No. | Match | Event and Date |
|---|---|---|
| I | Shawn Michaels defeated The Undertaker | Badd Blood 1997 October 5, 1997 |
| II | The Undertaker and Steve Austin vs. Mankind and Kane went to a no contest | RAW June 15, 1998 |
| III | The Undertaker defeated Mankind | King of the Ring 1998 June 28, 1998 |
| IV | Mankind vs. Kane went to a no contest | RAW August 24, 1998 |
| V | The Undertaker defeated The Big Boss Man | WrestleMania XV March 28, 1999 |
| VI | Triple H defeated Cactus Jack to retain the WWF Championship | No Way Out 2000 February 27, 2000 |
| VII | Kurt Angle defeated The Undertaker, Triple H, Steve Austin, The Rock and Rikishi to retain the WWF Championship | Armageddon 2000 December 10, 2000 |
| VIII | Triple H defeated Chris Jericho | Judgment Day 2002 May 19, 2002 |
| IX | Brock Lesnar defeated The Undertaker to retain the WWE Championship | No Mercy 2002 October 20, 2002 |
| X | Triple H defeated Kevin Nash to retain the World Heavyweight Championship (with special guest referee Mick Foley) | Bad Blood 2003 June 15, 2003 |
| XI | Triple H defeated Shawn Michaels | Bad Blood 2004 June 13, 2004 |
| XII | Batista defeated Triple H to retain the World Heavyweight Championship | Vengeance 2005 June 26, 2005 |
| XIII | The Undertaker defeated Randy Orton | Armageddon 2005 December 18, 2005 |
Note: The cell itself was used during a First Blood Match between "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Kane at King of the Ring 1998, but the match itself was not a Hell in a Cell match.
In Your House: Badd Blood 1997
The Hell in a Cell match was first introduced by The Undertaker at the Badd Blood pay-per-view event on October 5, 1997 in St. Louis, Missouri, with the Cell employed as a means to prevent Shawn Michaels' D-Generation X allies from disrupting or interfering with the match. On his WWE DVD release "'From the Vault,'" Michaels discusses the origin of the cell, and mentions that he and the Undertaker brainstormed some of the ideas incorporated into the design, such as the extension of the chain-link walls beyond the apron of the ring to allow for more room in which to perform. He also takes credit for suggesting the cell as a replacement for the "extremely hard" blue barred cage design, though it continued to be used into 1997.
This match featured a great many intense and violent spots, which included Michaels being bodyslammed and backdropped on the roof of the cell. While climbing down the side of the cell to escape the Undertaker, Michaels was left hanging off the side while the Undertaker stomped on his hands, causing him to fall through the Spanish announce table at ringside from a height of around 10-12 feet. This spot is seen as a precursor to a far more famous fall taken by Mick Foley from the very top of the cell. The first Hell in a Cell match garnered a rare 5-star rating from Dave Meltzer's Wrestling Observer. It's also the last WWE match to date to get a 5-star rating from Meltzer.
This match also featured the first appearance of Undertaker's on-screen half-brother, Kane. Kane ripped the door of the Cell from its hinges, before performing his own version of the Tombstone Piledriver on Undertaker. Michaels then crawled over Undertaker for the pin.
RAW (June 1998)
The second Hell in a Cell match was booked as a build up for King of the Ring 1998 where "Stone Cold" Steve Austin is booked to face Kane for the WWF Championship and The Undertaker is booked against Mankind in a Hell in a Cell match. Paul was in the Hell in a Cell with Kane and Mankind by his side and challenged Austin and The Undertaker to fight Kane and Mankind inside the Hell in a Cell. Stone Cold came out and waited for The Undertaker on the ramp, but Undertaker never showed. Kane, Mankind and Austin fought outside the cell, and Paul locked himself inside the cage to protect himself. However, The Undertaker came out from under the ring and began to brutalize Paul Bearer. Kane noticed and tried to get in, but the cage door was locked. Austin continued to beat up Mankind while Kane tried to save Bearer. Kane eventually climbed to the top of the cage trying to get in to help Paul Bearer, but he could not, and The Undertaker continued to beat up Paul Bearer. Austin eventually got a chair and nailed Mankind with it a couple of times, then made his way to the top of the cage and attacked Kane as The Undertaker continued to work on Paul Bearer. This match went to a no contest.
King of the Ring 1998
The Hell in a Cell match at King of the Ring 1998 between The Undertaker and Mankind (Mick Foley) has since become one of the most famous professional wrestling matches in history. In preparing for the match Mick Foley asked longtime mentor and friend Terry Funk for his advice on how to top the first Hell in the Cell, which Foley considered a great match. Funk's fateful advice was to start the match on top of the cage. In his autobiography, Foley jokes (after a previous Funk suggestion had caused both men serious burn injuries in Japan) that "You'd think I would know better by now than to listen to Terry Funk."When the match started, both men climbed on top of the cage before the bell had even rung. After a short battle the Undertaker threw Mankind off the top of the cage through the Spanish announcers' table 16 feet below, narrowly avoiding monitors and other A/V equipment. Emergency medical technicians and other staff quickly rushed to his aid, while announcer Jim Ross screamed "Good God almighty, good God almighty, that killed him! As God as my witness, he is broken in half!" Foley was lifted onto to a gurney, and the technicians started to wheel him up the aisleway. Meanwhile, Undertaker remained atop the cage, which had begun to rise back towards the ceiling to allow room for the EMTs to wheel Mankind away on a gurney. Even though the fall from the cage was planned and well executed, Terry Funk and Vince McMahon broke kayfabe - at the time, both were involved in feuds with Mankind - to come down ringside and check on Foley's condition. Later, Foley would claim that he had introduced the idea of the throw from the top of the cage earlier in the day; the wrestler portraying Undertaker, Mark Calaway, at first resisted, asking him, "Mick, do you want to die?", but eventually agreed.
As he was being wheeled up the aisle, Mankind got off of the gurney, and, despite a dislocated shoulder, walked back towards the ring and climbed back on top of the cage. The match continued, even though the roof of the cage was buckling under both of them with every step they took.
During the ensuing fight Undertaker attempted to chokeslam Mankind on the roof of the cage. Unlike the throw from the top of the cell, what happened next was not planned or even anticipated by either Foley or Calaway, as a section of the cage roof gave way and Foley fell hard into the ring where he suffered a concussion and was knocked out cold for around a minute and a half. Making matters worse, the ring was one of the older style rings used by the WWF, which had less give to its surface so as to make the matches more realistic looking on television. In addition to the fall, a steel chair lying on the roof of the cage fell through and struck Foley in the face, dislocating his jaw and knocking out one and a half teeth as well as creating a large cut beneath his lip. Upon seeing the fall, Jim Ross desperately pleaded "Good god, good god! Will somebody stop the damn match? Enough's enough!" whereas Jerry Lawler also stated "That's it, he's dead." Terry Funk immediately ran into the ring to aid Foley.
A famous picture taken a few minutes after the fall through the cage depicts Mankind apparently smiling while one of his broken teeth, which he had aspirated into his sinus cavity, protrudes from his nostril. In his first autobiography, Foley claims that he was trying to show off the hole below his lips by sticking his tongue through it, but because of his thick beard and excesses of blood, the hole was not seen and this was misinterpreted as a sick smile.
The Undertaker jumped down through the new hole in the cage roof (despite a broken foot which he suffered before the match) and improvised a bit with Funk to give Foley a few minutes to recover. Despite suffering from a head injury, Foley was able to continue and finish the match, which ended when The Undertaker backdropped and chokeslammed him onto a pile of thumbtacks and followed up with a Tombstone Piledriver, winning by pinfall. Despite his injuries Mankind managed to go ahead with his planned interference in the main event later that evening, a First Blood match between Kane and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.
In the end, the match left Foley with a dislocated jaw, a dislocated shoulder, a bruised kidney, 2 broken ribs, one and a half missing teeth, a concussion and 14 stitches for the cut beneath his lip. He took 2 months to fully recover, and the match almost certainly helped shorten his active wrestling career.
Many elements of this match, including the fall through the roof of the cage, were reused in Foley's retirement match against Triple H at No Way Out 2000. Video clips of the two falls have been some of the most replayed clips on WWE television.
In one of Mick Foley's biographies, he said he could barely remember the match and had to rewatch the event.
RAW (August 1998)
This little remembered match occurred in August 1998 on an episode of RAW Is WAR, a mere two months after the far more famous Hell in a Cell match at King of the Ring 1998. It is often forgotten due to its lack of hype and the fact that it occurred on broadcast television rather than pay-per-view.The most notable part of the match once again involved Mankind falling from the cell. The Undertaker, still involved in a feud with Mankind, pulled him off the side of the cage whilst he was paused at the halfway point of the structure. However, the landing was botched, with Mankind's lower body destroying the Spanish announcers table that was supposed to break his fall, and his head, back and shoulders directly hitting the concrete floor from a height of fourteen feet. In his second autobiography Foley says that this fall actually hurt him more than his infamous bump from the very top of the cage in the previous cell match.
Mankind once again pulled a bag of thumbtacks from beneath the ring, and executed a modified piledriver than cause Kane to land on the tacks. However, Kane looked set to win the match after hitting Mankind with a steel chair three times, followed by a chokeslam and two tombstone piledrivers, the second onto the steel chair. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin then burst from underneath the ring and attacked Kane. The Undertaker, watching from outside the locked cage, attempted to break into the cage through the roof, but was thwarted by Vince McMahon who used the controls to raise the cage. The match was declared a no contest.
WrestleMania XV
Widely regarded as the worst Hell in a Cell match, this contest took place at WrestleMania XV and featured the bodyguard of The Corporation, Big Boss Man, against the leader of the Ministry of Darkness, The Undertaker. It is noteworthy only for its bizarre ending. After being pinned by Undertaker, Boss Man was hanged from the cell by a rope as it rose to the rafters. Bossman returned to action a few weeks later, with no mention of the hanging spot.No Way Out 2000
After defeating Cactus Jack (Mick Foley) in a bloody Street Fight at the 2000 Royal Rumble to retain the WWF Championship, Triple H would find himself challenged by Foley once again for the title, this time inside the dreaded Hell in a Cell, at No Way Out 2000. While Foley had survived the Cell before, this was Triple H's first step inside the demonic structure. But much more than the title was at stake here. Additional stipulations were that if Cactus Jack won, he would "achieve his dream" of headlining WrestleMania. However, if Triple H won, Foley would be forced to retire.
Things got violent quickly, both men beating each other bloody, with the action eventually spilling to the outside of the Cell. After brawling near the announce tables (including Triple H being piledriven into one), Foley pulled out his patented barbed-wire 2x4, striking Triple H several times in the forehead. Soon after, Triple H managed to climb on top of the Cell, with Cactus trying to do the same. However, Triple H stomped his hands, and Foley fell approximately 12 feet off the Cell and through the Spanish announce table.
However, Foley had not been beaten yet. He managed to climb to the top, and his battle with Triple H continued. After much back-and-forth action, including both competitors coming very close to plummeting off the edge of the cage, Cactus Jack then pulled a new trick. He took a lighter, picked up his barbed-wire 2x4, and set it alight. After Triple H got back to his feet, Foley struck Triple H in the face with the weapon. Foley then tried to piledrive Triple H onto the 2x4, but Triple H countered with a back body drop.
The cage roof broke under Foley's weight, causing him to fall twelve feet into the ring, the impact breaking the ring canvas which had been rigged to collapse to make the fall safer for Foley. Commentator Jim Ross summed the moment up with "Oh my God! For the love of God!! The cage broke! The ring broke! And Cactus Jack has been broken in half!!" After the fall, a shocked Triple H re-entered the Cell. After a few moments of lying motionless, Triple H poked Cactus Jack's arm with his foot to see if he was still alive, and Cactus Jack rose his arm with the fans cheering and Triple H in shock. Cactus Jack began to stir. He began to crawl out of the hole in the ring, and tried to get to his feet. Ross then said in disbelief; "Somehow, someway, the crazy son of a bitch is moving!!" Triple H then hammered Cactus with several punches, before finally nailing his finishing move (the Pedigree), to win the match by pinfall, and retain the World Wrestling Federation Championship.
As a result, Mick Foley was forced into "retirement". However, he would return one month later to headline WrestleMania 2000 along with Triple H, The Rock, and The Big Show. Triple H often credits this match as being the match that made him a superstar.
Armageddon 2000
The second Hell in a Cell match to date that does not feature one-on-one action occurred at Armageddon 2000. It featured six men, The Rock, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, The Undertaker, Kurt Angle, Triple H, and Rikishi, and was for the WWF Championship. Notable spots included Vince McMahon entering the match and demanding the cell to be taken down, The Rock yelling "Throw me into the ring, you deaf son-of-a-bitch!" to Kurt Angle and The Undertaker choke slamming Rikishi off the top of the cell onto a truck below. Despite the odds, Kurt Angle won the match after pinning The Rock (who was unconscious following the Stunner)Judgment Day 2002
After defeating Chris Jericho at WrestleMania X8 in 2002 for the WWF Undisputed Championship, Triple H would hold on to the title for a mere month before losing it to Hulk Hogan at Backlash 2002. Part of the reason for Triple H's loss was the interference from Chris Jericho (who was still angry about WrestleMania). It was decided that the next month, in May, Triple H and Chris Jericho would face in the Hell in the Cell in a WrestleMania rematch. The match would end after Triple H nailed Chris Jericho in the head with the barbed-wire 2x4, followed by the Pedigree on the top of the cage. This is the only Hell in a Cell in which the pinfall was made (by Triple H) on top of the cage and the last Hell in a Cell match to date where the wrestlers would make their way to the top.No Mercy 2002
Brock Lesnar's rapid rise to the top of WWE in 2002 led to a match between him and The Undertaker at Unforgiven 2002. It ended in a double disqualification leading to Lesnar retaining the title. The next month, at No Mercy 2002, in what some say is the match that "made" Brock Lesnar, he faced The Undertaker again in the Cell. Hype leading up to the match (for the WWE Championship) was tremendous and intense as Lesnar with his manager Paul Heyman broke the Undertaker's hand with a propane tank. Despite begging Stephanie McMahon, then general manager of SmackDown!, not to let The Undertaker use his cast as a weapon, the request was denied and the match would go on as planned. It was a brutal match with both wrestlers "donning crimson masks" - their faces covered in thick blood (Undertaker's blood loss was particularly memorable, as he never stopped bleeding after he had bladed). Even Paul Heyman, who was outside of the cage, felt the Undertaker's wrath as Undertaker beat him up through holes in the cage. At a certain point, after Undertaker had taken advantage of his cast, Lesnar gained control and removed the cast, leaving Undertaker's broken hand at the mercy of the Next Big Thing. This would prove to be the turning point of the match. The match ended when Lesnar reversed an attempted Tombstone into his signature F-5 for the win. After the match, Lesnar climbed to the top of the cell and held his title up high for all to see.Bad Blood 2003
The return of Triple H's former friend Kevin Nash sparked tension as Nash was stuck between the feud of Triple H and Shawn Michaels (also former friends). However, Triple H had enough, and turned on Nash leading up to the brutal Hell in a Cell match at the Bad Blood 2003 pay-per-view.This is the only Hell in a Cell match with a special guest referee (Mick Foley). The storyline explanation for a special referee to be introduced was because no referee wanted to officiate a Hell in a Cell match. Highlights of the match include Triple H hitting Nash in the head with a hammer and Triple H being slingshot into the corner where a barbed-wire 2x4 was positioned on the top turnbuckle pad. Triple H retained the World Heavyweight Championship after nailing Kevin Nash with the sledgehammer, followed by the Pedigree.
Bad Blood 2004
This was the second to last match (the last taking place at Taboo Tuesday 2004) in the feud between Triple H and Shawn Michaels that lasted from 2002 in a Street Fight, the first ever Elimination Chamber, and a Two out of Three Falls match to 2004. The match went on for nearly an hour (47 min), with both men bleeding heavily. Michaels gave Triple H a diving elbow through a table (pictured at the right), and the two made frequent use of the ring steps, and ladder. Shawn Michaels would hit the Sweet Chin Music but Triple H kicked out. Triple H got the pin after three Pedigrees.Vengeance 2005
This heated rivalry began as the two former Evolution team-mates squared off at WrestleMania 21 after the 2005 Royal Rumble winner, Batista, turned face and turned on Triple H. This Hell in a Cell bout followed Batista's two victories over The Game. Triple H demanded a Hell in a Cell match thinking that Batista was no match for him since Triple H was undefeated in Hell in a Cell matches (Triple H was never involved in the finish of the Armageddon 2000 match). This was the first match to introduce a barbed-wire chair. In the end, Batista became the very first man to defeat Triple H in a one-on-one Hell in a Cell match, after a brutal spinebuster on the steel steps, followed by a Batista Bomb.Armageddon 2005
Earlier in the year, Randy Orton sought to make an impact at WrestleMania 21 by ending The Undertaker's winning streak. However, the search for popularity became an arrogant, jealous Randy Orton after his defeat by The Undertaker. After, back and forth wins and losses by the two, they ended their rivalry at Armageddon 2005 inside Hell in a Cell which was won by Undertaker after he kicked out of a botched Tombstone delivered by a cocky Orton. Taker hit the finishing maneuver the right way, pinning Orton.Variations
The Hell in a Cell match is seen as the structural successor to the Thundercage (originally called the Caged Heat match) match type seen in WCW, which was virtually identical in basic construction; however, thundercage was rarely used by World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and thus fans had little to no knowledge of its existence. The Thundercage actually precedes Hell in a Cell by roughly five years, as the Thundercage was used in the match between Ric Flair and Big Van Vader for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in February 1994 at SuperBrawl IV. It was also used in matches between Sting and The Great Muta.
A variation of the Hell in a Cell match used in the World Wrestling Federation was the Kennel from Hell match, held at Unforgiven 1999. The match was "conceived" by wrestler Al Snow during his short-lived feud with The Big Boss Man in mid-1999.
This feud started when Boss Man kidnapped, cooked, and served Snow's dog, Pepper, to him. The match was a spin off of this event, where the cell was placed over the ring, which was already equipped with a standard Steel Cage. Two dogs that had been "starved for weeks" were placed in between. The object was simply to escape from the structure, which was designed to be very difficult, however the match turned out to be something of a disaster, as the dogs spent the duration of the match snapping at each other and urinating on the floor, and the whole spectacle looked ridiculous. Snow won the match, which ended the feud. Due to the ludicrous nature of the match (which pertained to Al Snow's "madman" gimmick) and the critical mauling it received, this has been the only such match to be held.
Hell in a Cell is also seen as the "older brother" in terms of cage style bouts, to the Elimination Chamber.
External link
Professional wrestling match types | Hell in a cell | ヘル・イン・ア・セル
"Hell in a Cell"