Opinion: The 5 Greatest WWE Hell In A Cell Matches (So Far)

With this year's Hell In A Cell PPV taking place tonight, I thought what better time to look back at some of what I believe to be, the greatest HIAC matches of all time? Now, this is my opinion but I'm basing it off several factors; the intensity of the feud, the storytelling in the match, its historical significance, and of course the actual wrestling itself. Also, please note that not ALL of these matches appeared on the actual HIAC PPV itself, some were featured on other PPV's and they are in no particular order. I would LOVE to hear YOUR favorites, so please feel free to leave them in the comments!

Mankind vs The Undertaker (King of The Ring 1998)

Could I start this list off with anything else? The definitive Hell In A Cell match. Any longtime wrestling fan likely remembers where they were on June 28, 1998 when The Undertaker threw Mankind (Mick Foley) from the top of the 22-foot structure to what appeared to J.R. and the rest of the world, to be his literal death. The infamous Jim Ross line; "Good God almighty! Good God almighty! That killed him! As God as my witness, he is broken in half!" will forever live on in wrestling history. This match was not huge on storytelling but did paint a pretty strong narrative, that being the underdog (Mankind) who never gives up, never loses hope, and never backs down. Speaking of the match in an interview a few years later, The Undertaker would state that he legitimately thought Foley was dead, describing standing on top of that cell looking down at him as feeling like "time stood still". For his effort, Foley walked away from this match with no less than internal bleeding, a concussion, a dislocated left shoulder, bruised ribs, numerous puncture wounds, and a disjointed jaw, which was put back in place during the match & resulted in the infamous picture of Mick with one of his teeth lodged in his nose. Whether or not you thought it went too far, you can never deny this match's legacy.

2. D-Generation X vs Legacy (Hell In A Cell 2009)

On its surface, this match was purely designed to get Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase Jr. into the main event scene on the backs of solid veterans Triple H & Shawn Michaels. However, the entire backstory to this match was about a year in the making. And oh what a glorious year it was. Cody & Ted's Legacy stablemate (and leader, really) Randy Orton was arguably at his vicious heel best in 2009 and engaged in a long-standing feud with his former mentor Triple H. From a handcuffed Trips watching his wife Stephanie get DDT'd and kissed by the Viper, to The Game's window-smashing break-in of Orton's house; this feud was deeply personal. Soon, Rhodes & DiBiase, acting as Orton's henchmen, got very involved which caused an outnumbered Triple H to spend a lot of time convincing his best friend HBK to return and help him take out Legacy once and for all.

This match is the rubber match in their feud, the stakes were high. And in my opinion, it delivered. If based off nothing more than the pure emotion & edge of your seat feel of the match, it's an instant classic. With the clever move of Legacy locking Triple H out of the cell and dishing out a brutal, methodical beatdown of Michaels, and Triple H trying desperately to unlock & return to the cell to save his best friend in furious fashion, emotions ran high during this one. Shawn Michaels, one of the absolute best at conveying the emotions of the story, sold the Legacy beat down like ice to an Eskimo. And Trips unleashed his brutal side in glorious fashion, isolating Rhodes for the revenge beat down and the win. Add in steel chairs, chains, announce tables and steel steps and you've got the sheer and utter chaos that made this match.

3. Sasha Banks vs Charlotte Flair (Hell In A Cell 2016)

So let's get the obvious out of the way right off the bat; the head-scratching finish to this match took it down several pegs. However, the actual match itself more than lived up to the hype. The first ever Women's Hell In A Cell Match as well as the first time a women's match headlined a Pay-Per-View, the stakes were astronomical for this match. There was a month's long feud and build-up to this match, which saw a babyface Sasha Banks walk into her hometown as the RAW Women's Champion and a vengeful, bitter Charlotte Flair out to not just avenge her family's name & legacy but to cement her own.

The ladies were not afraid to dive headfirst into the brutal physicality that is the Hell In A Cell match. Steel chairs, high spots, and several vicious blows to each other made the match fairly high energy for the vast majority of it. Both fantastic in-ring performers, Banks, and Flair held nothing back. Having Charlotte beat Sasha, who had played the underdog to Charlotte's privileged wrestling pedigree so well, was undeniably not the wise choice for this match. When it's looked back upon by wrestling historians will it make a list of greatest matches? Doubtful. There were a few botched spots (which, to me, was likely due to the high stakes pressure these women were under) and the match never really had that one stand out moment. However, when it's looked at as a whole, both for the history it made, as well as the story & performance put on by Sasha and Charlotte, I think it deserves a spot on this list.

4. Triple H vs Shawn Michaels (Bad Blood 2004)

Could you really go wrong with this match? Two longtime best friends are torn apart by one's jealousy, this relationship had dissolved into a vicious series of attacks on the part of Triple H in an attempt to take out his former best friend, whom he now saw as his biggest threat. The Heartbreak Kid, beloved by seemingly everyone at this point in time, made the perfect target for a brutally jealous & bitter Triple H, who felt his many accomplishments were being overlooked in favor of Shawn's charismatic, never say die, babyface persona. For most of the near decade leading up to this feud and this particularly brutal match, Trips had indeed always seemed to be viewed as only slightly more than Shawn Michaels' sidekick. But by this time, The Cerebral Assassin was born, and Triple H had come into his own.

After months of build-up, then General Manager Eric Bischoff decided to end this feud at what turned out to be the aptly named Bad Blood Pay-Per-View. Both men walked into this match undefeated in HIAC matches, and both men came in with something to prove. What followed was another instant classic. Forty-seven minutes (the longest HIAC match on record) of bloody chaos. From bell to bell Shawn & Trips took each other to their absolute limits. With chair shots, table spots and vicious blows leaving both men bloodied and battered this was a hard fought match if ever there was one. It had everything you could ask for from the emotions of the story being told, to edge of your seat near falls you were, at multiple points in the match, completely convinced that these two wanted to kill each other. And even after Triple H hit that final pedigree to seal the victory, it was Shawn Michaels who received a standing ovation from the crowd, only further solidifying the feud's entire story.

5. The Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels (Bad Blood 1997)

I end this list where it all began; the first ever Hell In A Cell Match. With the mixture of Shawn Michaels' pure athleticism and speed & Undertaker's sheer strength and dominance, you had a recipe for a classic match. And boy oh boy did it deliver. This feud had been building since Summerslam of that year, where special guest referee Michaels' wound up inadvertently costing The Undertaker the WWF Championship in his match against HBK's bitter rival Brett Hart. What followed was pure torment and torture against an unapologetic Michaels' at the hands of The Deadman. And if we've learned nothing over the years, it's that it really isn't a good idea to aggravate The Undertaker. It hasn't ended well for a good many men over the course of nearly three decades.

Both men were busted open fairly early in the match, with Michaels' looking like a tomato by the end. This was a true battle between two legends in their primes. You had all the components that would go on to become expected staples of the HIAC match; steel chair shots, table spots, and more than a few head slams into the steel cage. The Undertaker was at his particularly violent best at this time, and he methodically and sadistically pummeled The Heartbreak Kid. Unwilling to give up, Michaels' played to his strengths with high flying maneuvers & seemingly unending amount of comebacks. The match was kicked up to a whole other level, however, when the lights went out and the crowd was suddenly introduced to The Undertaker's kayfabe brother Kane, lead by Taker's longtime manager & Kane's father Paul Bearer. The masked seven-foot-tall monster proceeded to rip the door off the hinges of the steel structure before confronting, and tombstoning, his brother. But not without providing enough of a distraction for Michaels' to capitalize and take home the win. The extreme physicality of the match paired with the complete shock of The Big Red Machine's debut makes this a match that cannot be missed.

Edited by Kage McQuaid