9 Hidden Details Most Fans Missed About WWE Hell In A Cell 2022
The 2022 edition of WWE Hell in a Cell is in the books. The year to date had included a number of major happenings on PPV. Day 1, the Royal Rumble, Elimination Chamber, and WrestleMania each saw the WWE Championship change hands. WrestleMania Backlash saw Ronda Rousey retake her throne and Roman Reigns and The Usos star together in a six-man tag team main event.
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Hell in a Cell marked a shift with no such title changes and a relatively light load of star power on the card. Nonetheless, the event did feature a number of interesting points from a historical perspective and fun bits of trivia worth paying attention to.
9 Cody Rhodes Using The Bull Rope Not Only References Dusty, But Dusty’s Final WWE Match
One of the images that was instantly iconic coming out of the Hell in a Cell Match between Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins was the bull rope coming into play. As the broadcast team openly acknowledged, Dusty and even Dustin Rhodes had a history with this weapon. Fans may not have realized, though, that the bull rope also paid homage to Dusty’s last ever match in WWE.
As part of the angle that introduced Cody to the main roster, Dusty feuded with Randy Orton in 2007. The issue reached its climax at Great American Bash 2007, with Dusty working one last Texas Bullrope Match, in a losing effort to The Legend Killer.
8 Becky Lynch Worsens Her Deceptively Poor WWE Main Roster PPV Triple Threat Record
While it may not have been Becky Lynch’s greatest match, probably the most historically significant bout of her career went down when she won the main event of WrestleMania 35, beating Charlotte Flair and actually pinning Ronda Rousey. This victory might make fans think of Lynch as some sort of Triple Threat specialist, but she actually only had a record of 2-4 in main roster PPV Triple Threats going into Hell in a Cell, and sank to 2-5 in losing to Bianca Belair.
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Lynch’s only other win in this scenario was at Crown Jewel 2020, over Belair and Sasha Banks. Otherwise, she lost to Flair at WrestleMania 32 and SummerSlam 2018, to Asuka at TLC 2018, and to Shayna Baszler at Survivor Series 2019.
7 Three Different Men’s WWE World Championships Represented In The Six-Person Tag Team Match
The six-person mixed tag team match at Hell in a Cell featured a lot of star power. It’s interesting to note that former holders of three different men’s world titles WWE has promoted over the years were represented in this bout.
Finn Balor is a former Universal Champion, and AJ Styles has held the WWE Championship. Edge was a WWE Champion, but more importantly for the matter at hand also held the World Heavyweight Championship.
6 Both Cody Rhodes And Seth Rollins Had Main Event Breaks Inside Hell In A Cell Years Earlier
The main event of Hell in a Cell this year saw the eponymous match take center stage. Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins didn’t have any titles on the line, but they were finishing off a rivalry that has produced some of WWE’s best matches in recent months.
It’s interesting to note that neither Rollins nor Rhodes were strangers to Hell in a Cell matches or headlining PPVs in this context. Indeed, The American Nightmare worked the main event of the inaugural Hell in a Cell PPV, entering the Cell with Ted Dibiase Jr. opposite Shawn Michaels and Triple H to blow off their forgotten gem of a rivalry. Rollins had a major Hell in a Cell main event early in his time as a singles star as well, battling Dean Ambrose to headline the 2014 edition of the PPV. Rollins returned to the structure for a less well-received main event outing in 2019 against The Fiend.
5 A Rare WWE PPV With No Men’s World Champion On The Card
WWE has, for much of the last eight years, featured at least one world champion who was a part-time talent. That includes multiple title reigns for Brock Lesnar, in addition to Goldberg twice being on top. Roman Reigns seems to be the latest world champ to join those ranks. The details of his arrangements aren’t yet entirely clear, but a reduced schedule seems to mean WWE is adjusting to life without Reigns in the mix on a regular basis.
Indeed, WWE finds itself in an unusual position that it hasn’t encountered since Lesnar last held the lone men’s world title in circulation in 2015. While one title might be out of the mix for a PPV, Reigns holding both the WWE and Universal titles and not working a show like Hell in a Cell has placed WWE in the unusual position of promoting a PPV without any men’s world champ involved, even in a tag team scenario (like he was at WrestleMania Backlash).
4 A Three-Year Streak Of Women’s Championship Matches Inside Hell In a Cell Broken
If it felt a little odd not to see any women inside Hell in a Cell this year, that’s with good reason. The 2019, 2020, and 2021 editions of Hell in a Cell each featured women’s title matches in the Cell, pitting Sasha Banks against Becky Lynch, Banks against Bayley, and Bayley against Bianca Belair.
While Belair vs. Asuka vs. Lynch surely could have produced a great Hell in a Cell match, it is fair that their issue wasn’t well set up to culminate inside the Cell at this point. Still, while last year’s Hell in a Cell PPV felt like it might be a milestone night for women’s wrestling in WWE, this year’s booking could be read as a setback.
3 Corey Graves References All In, And Is Only Half-Right
Corey Graves dropped an unexpected reference upon Cody Rhodes entering Hell in a Cell. The color commentator claimed, “This city, this very arena were integral to his journey away from WWE.” It’s true that Chicago was hugely important to Rhodes in his time away, including co-promoting All In—the exceptionally important independent PPV that sold out an arena and laid the foundation for AEW—and winning the NWA Championship at that show, in addition to a noteworthy match with Shawn Spears in Chicago at the first annual AEW All Out PPV.
Graves should have stopped at the city of Chicago, though, as he was actually mistaken about the arena. Rhodes had his big moments as a promoter and non-WWE talent in the Sears Centre Arena, as opposed to the Allstate Arena that Hell in a Cell emanated from.
2 The Second Ever Time MVP & Bobby Lashley Clashed On WWE PPV, After Over 15 Years
MVP and Bobby Lashley have been aligned as partners for much of the last two years, before the manager turned on his ally in favor of teaming up with Omos. That angle set up the opportunity for Lashley to prove he can stand on his own, not to mention the handicap match at Hell in a Cell.
In addition to their current tenures with WWE, MVP and Lashley overlapped with the company from 2006, during which time MVP worked mostly as a heel, and Lashley exclusively as a babyface. Interestingly enough, the two had only clashed one time before on WWE PPV, and that was over 15 years ago when they were on opposing teams at Survivor Series 2006.
1 Cody Rhodes Became The First Rhodes To Work A One-On-One WWE PPV Main Event
Cody Rhodes accomplished something his father and half-brother never previously did in WWE when he worked the main event at Hell in a Cell. While Dusty Rhodes had main evented NWA supershows and Dustin had been on main event teams in WWE and WCW, neither man had ever worked a one-on-one singles match to close a WWE PPV.
The future is unclear for The American Nightmare given his pectoral muscle injury. Just the same, he’s already made history for his family with this run, and it seems entirely possible this won’t be last time he headlines a major show for WWE.
