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Post by hbkjason on Sept 8, 2019 11:17:01 GMT -5
Wrestling Memories: The First Hell in a Cell Match
I still remember watching this like it was yesterday. I was 16 years old and I watched the event with my cousin who was only 9 at the time, but he was more like a little brother. I had converted him into a massive wrestling fan and WWF In Your House 18 Badd Blood was the first PPV that we watched together live. He was so excited and it is a very cherished memory for me. Now I am pushing 40 and he 30 and we still bring this night up from time to time. In Your House 18 Badd Blood was the second In Your House PPV to ditch the 2-hour budget price formula and just be a standard 3 hour PPV. Actually, little bit of trivia for you. Here in the UK, we did not actually get In Your House until In Your House 14: Revenge of the Taker. We had to make due with highlights that were shown on WWF Superstars on a Saturday. Of course, Brian Pillman passing away really puts a negative cloud over the show, I remember at the time it was announced I really was not sure to make of it. In all honesty, this is not one of my favourite PPV’s. I would have much preferred for Bret Hart to have gone one on one with The Patriot rather than having the weird tag team match that they had instead. I know they already wrestled the month before, but the flag stipulation made this rematch interesting so I think they could have gotten away with the same match a month later. Lets get to what we are really here for, Hell in a Cell! Watching a PPV live here in the UK for me was always rather interesting. Sometimes the show would be ok and by the time it would end at 3 or 4 AM I would be struggling to keep my eyes open, having the odd 30 seconds of “resting my eyes” and so on. Other times, I would be so into it that the three hours would fly by and I would just go to bed after. Then there were shows like this one here where I was feeling sleepy (as was my cousin) and then you get a match like Shawn Michaels vs Undertaker and it wakes you right up and has you on the edge of your seat. I feel that we kind of take Hell in a Cell matches for granted, especially as for a short time they were quite frequent. T his first Hell in a Cell though was extra special and from the start it was a fantastic performance by both guys. Despite acting “scared” Shawn Michaels through his athleticism and skill was able to go toe to toe with the Undertaker. He was so good that despite the size difference, you believed it! For me the first Hell in a Cell match gets a lot of credit for the match in general, but I actually think this is a top five of all time performance for both the guys in this match. They gave us every single thing that they had and it was a truly amazing match. Oh, and I have not even got to Kane yet! Kane! That was amazing, I remember my cousin just sitting there with his jaw wide open, to him at this time, Kane was the most amazing and coolest thing his 9 year old eyes had seen. To this day, Kane remains a firm favourite of his, it was quite the entrance and watching it back recently, I forgot how jacked up Kane was back in the day. After the show had ended and somehow Shawn Michaels was being carried to the back, celebrating after winning. My cousin looked at me and said that was the greatest match he had ever seen. We were both super excited, too excited to sleep so we fired up the PlayStation and had a few games of WWF In Your House. Now over 20 years later this is something my cousin will still bring up, I am so glad that it had such a lasting effect on him and is a part of his childhood that he looks back on with a big smile.As always thanks for reading and let me know your thoughts on this first Hell in a Cell match! |
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Post by The Brain on Sept 8, 2019 13:12:40 GMT -5
This match and Taker/Foley will always be my favorite HIAC matches. Great storytelling here with Michaels being scared at first but as the match goes on holds his own even though he's a bloody mess.
Kane's debut was so well done. Peal Bearer leading up to it telling Taker ''He's ALIVE!, He's COMING!'' and here he comes at this event with the classic music coming down with the arena in complete red. Man great stuff. Him ripping the door off the cage was the icing on the cake.
Good stuff all around here. Loved the Taker/HBK feud during this time period.
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Post by hbkjason on Sept 8, 2019 13:51:42 GMT -5
This match and Taker/Foley will always be my favorite HIAC matches. Great storytelling here with Michaels being scared at first but as the match goes on holds his own even though he's a bloody mess. Kane's debut was so well done. Peal Bearer leading up to it telling Taker ''He's ALIVE!, He's COMING!'' and here he comes at this event with the classic music coming down with the arena in complete red. Man great stuff. Him ripping the door off the cage was the icing on the cake. Good stuff all around here. Loved the Taker/HBK feud during this time period. I think that this match is one of Shawn Michaels all-round best performances. |
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Post by JokerFC on Sept 12, 2019 12:28:56 GMT -5
I had started to tune back in to WWF in late 1996 due to Bret's return/Austin and the perceived change of direction. By the time this rolled around I was absolutely hooked again. I was 17....slap dab in the middle of WWFs target audience.
The night this aired I was very very ill. I was up all night for a few nights before and my sleep cycle was all over the shop. So I laid back in bed watching this excellent PPV.....I was shocked at the HIAC match. Man it was brilliant & BRUTAL.
Its still my favourite with Brock vs UT being a close 2nd.
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Post by Scott! on Sept 12, 2019 12:39:51 GMT -5
That's such a cool story man, It's nights like those you always remember. I have a nephew who's just about to turn 15 and we still haven't watched a live PPV together which sucks (he lives up north of Scotland so I don't get to see him much) but we watch the WWE network like crazy when I go up.
The actual match itself is still my favourite HIAC, you just can't beat the original. The Mankind/Taker will always be the most talked about, god it's probably the most famous match of all time but the original is still the best. It had everything from the actual story of the match, the performance of both HBK & 'Taker, the brutality, the introduction of Kane, everything. I bought the Video of the PPV I believe from HMV if I'm remembering rightly, in 2001. That and King of the Ring 1998 at the time I was told to buy by a shopkeeper in Scotsman Models as they only had a handful of VHS's at the time, I actually remember buying Summerslam 2000 from there as they knew how much of a Kane fan I was and that show had Kane/Taker and the whole mask getting ripped off bit.
Memories of wrestling are some of my fondest, so thank you for this post as it's brought up a few for me.
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Post by hbkjason on Sept 12, 2019 14:55:56 GMT -5
I had started to tune back in to WWF in late 1996 due to Bret's return/Austin and the perceived change of direction. By the time this rolled around I was absolutely hooked again. I was 17....slap dab in the middle of WWFs target audience. The night this aired I was very very ill. I was up all night for a few nights before and my sleep cycle was all over the shop. So I laid back in bed watching this excellent PPV.....I was shocked at the HIAC match. Man it was brilliant & BRUTAL. Its still my favourite with Brock vs UT being a close 2nd. I love the Undertaker vs Brock one, I think the match they had the month before was pretty solid too. |
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Post by hbkjason on Sept 12, 2019 14:57:03 GMT -5
That's such a cool story man, It's nights like those you always remember. I have a nephew who's just about to turn 15 and we still haven't watched a live PPV together which sucks (he lives up north of Scotland so I don't get to see him much) but we watch the WWE network like crazy when I go up. The actual match itself is still my favourite HIAC, you just can't beat the original. The Mankind/Taker will always be the most talked about, god it's probably the most famous match of all time but the original is still the best. It had everything from the actual story of the match, the performance of both HBK & 'Taker, the brutality, the introduction of Kane, everything. I bought the Video of the PPV I believe from HMV if I'm remembering rightly, in 2001. That and King of the Ring 1998 at the time I was told to buy by a shopkeeper in Scotsman Models as they only had a handful of VHS's at the time, I actually remember buying Summerslam 2000 from there as they knew how much of a Kane fan I was and that show had Kane/Taker and the whole mask getting ripped off bit. Memories of wrestling are some of my fondest, so thank you for this post as it's brought up a few for me. I hope that you get to watch a PPV with him soon man  |
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Post by JokerFC on Sept 13, 2019 12:49:43 GMT -5
I had started to tune back in to WWF in late 1996 due to Bret's return/Austin and the perceived change of direction. By the time this rolled around I was absolutely hooked again. I was 17....slap dab in the middle of WWFs target audience. The night this aired I was very very ill. I was up all night for a few nights before and my sleep cycle was all over the shop. So I laid back in bed watching this excellent PPV.....I was shocked at the HIAC match. Man it was brilliant & BRUTAL. Its still my favourite with Brock vs UT being a close 2nd. I love the Undertaker vs Brock one, I think the match they had the month before was pretty solid too. UT being hardway busted open by Brock with the steps was ferocious. So bad that McMahon signalled for the match to finish up early. UT lost that much blood he was wiping it out of his eyes for f*ck sake. Crazy. Im gonna watch that now actually... |
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Post by hbkjason on Sept 14, 2019 4:49:18 GMT -5
I love the Undertaker vs Brock one, I think the match they had the month before was pretty solid too. UT being hardway busted open by Brock with the steps was ferocious. So bad that McMahon signalled for the match to finish up early. UT lost that much blood he was wiping it out of his eyes for f*ck sake. Crazy. Im gonna watch that now actually... Whenever I read a post of yours I always think "I really like the cut of this mans jib" even if he is a Celtic fan lol. Of course I am saying that as a jealous for the last ten years rangers fan |
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Post by JokerFC on Sept 14, 2019 5:22:42 GMT -5
UT being hardway busted open by Brock with the steps was ferocious. So bad that McMahon signalled for the match to finish up early. UT lost that much blood he was wiping it out of his eyes for f*ck sake. Crazy. Im gonna watch that now actually... Whenever I read a post of yours I always think "I really like the cut of this mans jib" even if he is a Celtic fan lol. Of course I am saying that as a jealous for the last ten years rangers fan Haha FFS!!! Ah sure its swings & roundabouts up there chief. I watched that match last night.....Good God. I always forget UT had a broken hand for real in this match too. Heyman was also absolutely brilliant outside wailing about Lesnar as the Beast got pummelled by UT. Jesus what a great match. |
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Post by hbkjason on Sept 14, 2019 5:39:03 GMT -5
Whenever I read a post of yours I always think "I really like the cut of this mans jib" even if he is a Celtic fan lol. Of course I am saying that as a jealous for the last ten years rangers fan Haha FFS!!! Ah sure its swings & roundabouts up there chief. I watched that match last night.....Good God. I always forget UT had a broken hand for real in this match too. Heyman was also absolutely brilliant outside wailing about Lesnar as the Beast got pummelled by UT. Jesus what a great match. I thought that version of the American badass came off as the most badass of all undertakers gimmicks. It's a shame that match isn't as remembered as it should be. Its probably because of the insane amount of blood in the match that wwe never really give it much attention. |
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jason1980s
Main Eventer
Joined on: Sept 30, 2009 14:58:56 GMT -5
Posts: 2,311
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Post by jason1980s on Sept 14, 2019 18:33:31 GMT -5
It is so good to see Glen Jacobs get a successful gimmick after two years of garbage from earlier in his career. What a guy to take it, work with it the best he could and trust them the third time around and it worked.
This was a PPV that was a major turning point for WWF I think. As someone mentioned Bret v. Austin helped move into the right direction but this PPV was definitely some hardcore and attitude era mixing here. The previous few PPVs still had the feel of what WWF had been a year or two earlier in the New Generation time period.
It was sad with Brian Pillman's passing. The man pretty much started his own Attitude Era a year earlier and although I personally didn't like the Loose Cannon gimmick, him becoming that character lit a flame in a lot of other guys to tweak their old style character and try and fit in the Attitude Era. I liked Flyin' Brian Pillman and I thought the Loose Cannon was someone so over the top that you had to believe it was real so it was like Brian losing all the goodness he had a few years earlier to be this crazy, deranged type of character. I also didn't like how he messed with Bobby Heenan at the Clash. If Bobby had chosen to fight back and got a hold of Brian it would've killed the gimmick right there.
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Post by JokerFC on Sept 15, 2019 6:15:36 GMT -5
According to SO MANY this was Jacobs absolute last chance. Next stop was the unemployment line. UT lobbied hard for him to get the role and McMahon relented but according to Paul Bearer he did so grudgingly. Never did find out who the other 2 big men in contention were.
Crazy to think Kane was viewed as just another short term gimmick and monster to feed to UT.
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Post by The Brain on Sept 23, 2019 14:35:18 GMT -5
Just a heads up humanoids, The Network has put up another one of those Untold shows which covers this match. It's only 35 mins long with comments throughout from HBK,Kane,Taker and Bruce Prichard.
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Post by JokerFC on Sept 24, 2019 10:07:31 GMT -5
Just a heads up humanoids, The Network has put up another one of those Untold shows which covers this match. It's only 35 mins long with comments throughout from HBK,Kane,Taker and Bruce Prichard. Off I go. It sucks that my TV is "too old" to now facilitate the network but If I really wanna see something Ill just use my laptop....too old and it bought brand new in December 2016. F*ck off Vince. |
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