Although he was not the person to come up with the Hell in a Cell match, The Undertaker is definitely the man most connected to this brutal match, competing in no less than 9 of the 16 official contests.
Below is a summary of some of the Deadman’s better Cell outings, starting with arguably the greatest Hell in a Cell match to date.
III. The Undertaker Vs Mankind, 28th June 1998, King of the Ring
This is the benchmark as far as Hell in a Cell matches go. Whenever the WWE mentions Hell in a Cell, you can almost guarantee they will bring up this epic battle in which blood was spilled and a career was almost ended.
The Undertaker threw Mankind off the top of the cell and down onto the Spanish announce table, a drop of about 19ft, which led to J.R uttering the words:
“Good God almighty, Good God almighty! That killed him! As God as my witness, he is broken in half!"
which became a popular sound bite/clip and has been used on numerous ‘Don’t try this at home’ segments and every Hell in a Cell promo since.
This match was also the first Hell in a Cell in which something genuinely went wrong. The problem arose when The Undertaker hit a chokeslam on the top of the Cell and a section of the roof gave way, dropping Mankind 15ft to the unforgiving mat.
The Undertaker finally picked up the win after delivering a chokeslam onto thumb-tacks and then a tombstone to get the 1-2-3 and round off what is still known as one of the most brutal matches ever to take place in the WWE.
VII. Kurt Angle Vs The Undertaker Vs The Rock Vs Stone Cold Steve Austin Vs HHH Vs Rikishi, 10th December 2000, Armageddon
Going with the theory that ‘you can’t have too much of a good thing’ the WWE booked a 6 man Hell in a Cell match featuring all of the top superstars of the time…and Rikishi. The match was always destined to descend into chaos with so many big stars sharing a cell, and when Vince McMahon drove a flat bed truck out to ringside and ripped off the cell door in an attempt to wreck the match, the chaos simply spread to the outside and became even harder to follow.
In the absence of Mick Foley, (who made a brief appearance in a non-wrestling capacity) it was Rikishi who had to bite the bullet and be thrown from the top of the cell, landing in back of the conveniently parked flat bed, which was full of soft wood chippings.
After a finisher-fest Kurt Angle crawled onto the prone body of The Rock and got the 3 count.
XIII. The Undertaker Vs Randy Orton, 18th December 2005, Armageddon
This was by far the best Hell in a Cell match Smackdown had produced since the roster split and saw the end of a Legend killer Vs Legend feud that ran practically the whole length of 2005.
The Undertaker prevailed after busting open Orton’s father and delivering a Tombstone to both of them.
XV. Batista Vs The Undertaker, 18th November 2007, Survivor Series
This was another pretty standard affair, saved only by the brilliant colour commentary of JBL and the conclusion of the match.
The Undertaker would eventually hit the Tombstone onto the steel steps and cover Batista for what looked like it was going to be a 3 count. However just as the referee’s hand was coming down for the third time he was dragged out of the ring by the returning Edge, who had been posing as a cameraman throughout the match. Edge then drilled Taker with a video camera and dragged Batista, who was still out cold, on top of him to get the 3 and retain his title.
To read about the Best WWE Hell in a Cell Matches Click Here
To read about the Worst WWE Hell in a Cell Matches Click Here
To read about the History of the Hell in a Cell Click Here
