WWE Hell in a Cell's 5 Greatest Stars

WWE Hell in a Cell's 5 Greatest Stars

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 7:49 p.m. ET

Hell in a Cell, King of the Ring 1998 – Credit: WWE.com

Breaking down the top 5 greatest stars in the history of the Hell In A Cell match.

It’s been close to 20 years since the first ever Hell In A Cell match took place at Badd Blood in October of 1997 between Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker.  The match that ensued that night was not only one of the best in HIAC history but one of the very best matches in the history of the company.  It was very clear that the WWE was very fond of this type of match considering they pitted two future hall of famers in its very first installment and almost 2 decades later Hell In A Cell is so popular that it has it’s own yearly pay per view.

The prospect of brilliant matches occurring in The Cell is always extremely high.  It’s a 20-foot steel entrapment with a roof and an area around the ring to work the outside and is almost primarily used for the most personal grudge matches.  It always seems inside this demonic structure the superstars always step up their level of brutality doing whatever it takes to get the victory no matter that entails.

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In the upcoming list, we break down who worked the cell the best by taking into account win-loss record, level of performance, and the height of the stage being wrestled on.  Ahead we count down the 5 greatest stars in Hell In A Cell history.

WWE.com

5. Batista

Although Batista only wrestled twice inside Hell In A Cell, he made both his appearances count and then some.  His first foray into The Cell was against Triple H at Vengeance of 2005.  This match was a culmination of their feud that began after Batista had won the 05′ Royal Rumble and elected to take on Triple H, his fellow Evolution stablemate at Wrestlemania 21 for The World Heavyweight Championship.  Up until their HIAC match, the matches between the two had been mediocre at best as the two behemoths seemed to lumber around the ring with each other.

    That all changed at Vengeance.  They tore into each other with unbridled violence as this was Triple H’s last chance against Batista to win back the title.  Hunter went to his old bag of tricks and pulled out a barbwire wrapped chair and of course his trusty sledgehammer but it would be all for not as he succumbed to the Batista Bomb after 27 minutes of mayhem.

    Batista would step back into the cage a little over 2 years later to take on The Undertaker during their molten-hot 2007 feud, this time at Survivor Series.  This match, although maybe not as good as his encounter with The Game, was still a very worthy contender.  Between Taker’s table bump and his tombstone to Batista onto the steps, this match revved up the cringe meter as well.  Like in his previous HIAC outing, Batista would once again prove victorious.

    Never seen as one of the best workers in the company’s history, Batista seemed to ratchet up his vicious side for his HIAC matches.  Going 2-0 against 2 guys with a combined 21 World Championships while putting on two outstanding matches is why Batista makes this list and proves that quality usually beats quantity.

    WWE.com

    4. Mick Foley

    The number four superstar on this list, Foley, managed to be included despite never winning a match inside HIAC.  In fact, in his four outings, he went 0-3-1.  His one draw was a dud against Kane (no surprise there) on RAW in August of 1998 which was preceded by another RAW HIAC disappointment in the form of tornado tag match with Kane against Steve Austin and The Undertaker.  Now although his 1st and 3rd outings inside The Cell weren’t great, he made up for those ten-fold with his 2nd and 4th.

    At King Of The Ring 1998, Foley, as Mankind, and The Undertaker partook in what would go down as the most legendary match in Hell In A Cell history.  Was it much of a wrestling match?  No, not really.  Taker was dealing with an ankle injury so he was limited on what he could do.  So instead he just chucked Mankind off the top of the cell through the announce tables below, and then choke-slammed him through the top of the cage to ring underneath.  And this is where the legend of Foley in the WWE began.  After all of that damage he absorbed, he managed to get up and still almost win the match….almost.

    Less than 2 years later Foley, this time as Cactus Jack, was at it again.  At the 2000 No Way Out pay-per-view, he would once again go to war, this time with Triple H.  A month earlier at the Royal Rumble the two tore into each other in a street fight and then followed it up with this classic which once again saw Foley going through the top of the cage.  Throughout the match, Foley put an absolute beating on Hunter but he was clearly the one who took the bigger bumps firmly cementing himself as one the toughest men to ever step in a WWE ring.

    Despite never being victorious, the name Foley always comes to mind when Hell In A Cell is discussed.

    WWE.com

    3. Shawn Michaels

    Long known as a bit of a pretty boy, HBK never seemed to have a problem mixing it up in violent style matches.  He’s one of the innovators and best performers when it came to the ladder match, but he was always quite the competitor inside HIAC.  In winning 3 of his 4 matches inside the cage, Michaels ranks up near the very top of HIAC performers not only for his success but also the quality of matches he put forth inside the demonic structure.

    As mentioned earlier, HBK was involved in the very first Hell In A Cell, a vicious, bloody war with The Undertaker in which he retained his WWF Championship with a little help from a debuting Kane.  It would take close to 7 years before Michaels would return to The Cell and this time it would be against former Degeneration-X partner, Triple H at Badd blood 2004.  After over 47 minutes inside the cage, Michaels would lose the match and one of the best feuds in WWE history would come to an end after 2 years.

    Michaels would return to The Cell 2 more times, both now on the same side as Triple H.  At the 2009 Hell In A Cell pay per view Triple H and HBK were victorious in a handicap match against Vince McMahon, Shane McMahon, and The Big Show and then once again at Hell In A Cell 2009 against Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiasi.  Were these matches as good as his first two?  No, but they proved that even in his mid-40’s, The Heartbreak Kid had plenty left.

    Always a showman, Shawn Michaels was, performance-wise, a perfect superstar for The Cell, although his body definitely absorbed the punishment for it.  He had the ability to always make his opponent look great and in Hell In A Cell, that was no different.

    WWE.com

    2. The Undertaker

    At first thought, Taker seemed like the sure-fire number 1 guy in HIAC history.  However, after a lot of research, he comes up just a little bit short.  The fact is, is that he’s 7-6-1 in HIAC matches and for every great one he’s had, there’s a match that didn’t quite hit the mark.  There is the aforementioned Tornado Tag match that was mediocre, there was his Wrestlemania XV debacle with The Big Bossman, his immensely disappointing bout with CM Punk at Hell In A Cell 2009, and of course his entirely played out match with Kane at Hell In A Cell 2010.

    So yes, there were some Taker HIAC matches that weren’t up to his level but make no mistake, he’s still one of the very best inside The Cell.  I’ve already mentioned his matches with Michaels, Batista, and Foley, but he wasn’t done there.  He had 2 matches with Brock Lesnar in 2002 and 2015 that were both match of the year candidates, a war with Randy Orton at Armageddon 2005, and a scintillating battle with another one of the best HIAC competitors of all time, Triple H at Wrestlemania 28.

    But there was one more match that can compete with his top matches inside The Cell, a bout with Edge at SummerSlam 2008.  After being cheated out of the World Heavyweight Championship by the Rated R Superstar 3 months earlier at One Night Stand, this ended up being of Taker’s best revenge stories.  In this match, which would headline SummerSlam, this intense feud continued on in destructive fashion as the action spilled all around the cage, inside and out.  Much like their Wrestlemania 24 main event 5 months earlier, It seemed at times that Edge was going to pull off the victory.  But in the end, it was The Dead Man making his statement.

    Disappointing matches aside, The Undertaker definitely deserves his spot near the top of this list.  There was just one person slightly better inside Hell In A Cell.

    triple-h

    1. Triple H

    Triple H’s HIAC matches were a different level of vicious.  He was the perfect type of wrestler for that environment.  He was strong, evil, violent, cunning, and a borderline sociopath in the ring; a perfect recipe for Hell In A Cell success.  All in all, The Game went 6-3 inside The Cell and performance-wise was the model of consistency.

    Much like The Undertaker, Hunter’s name has already come up as few times in this article.  One match not mentioned so far was his grudge match with Chris Jericho at Judgment Day 2002.  There were no belts on the line on this one, just 2 guys who hated each other’s guts.  After a brutal back and forth that once again managed to get outside The Cell, Triple H Pedigreed Y2J on the top of the cage for the win, which was one of the best highlights in the match’s history.

    However, Triple H’s HIAC masterpiece was the aforementioned Wrestlemania 28 clash with The Undertaker.  Going after Taker’s streak, The Game pulled out every trick he had but it wasn’t enough as The Dead Man moved to 20-0 at Mania.  The two veterans stole the show that night on a card that featured two other very good matches.

    Like him or hate him, Triple H has always been a big game performer, no matter the stage.  Anybody who ever says that The Game didn’t deserve the main event for as long as he did should do a little research on his Hell In A Cell matches.  Time and time again, Triple H sacrificed his safety and his body in pursuit of putting on some of the best matches the WWE has ever seen.

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