Hell in a Cell (2012)

Hell in a Cell (2012)
Promotional poster featuring CM Punk
Theme song(s)	"Sandpaper" by Fozzy feat. M. Shadows[1] "In the End" by Black Veil Brides[2]
Information
Promotion	WWE
Sponsor(s)	WWE '13
Date	October 28, 2012
Attendance	10,000[3]
Venue	Philips Arena
City	Atlanta, Georgia
Pay-per-view chronology
Night of Champions (2012) Hell in a Cell (2012) Survivor Series (2012)
Hell in a Cell chronology
Hell in a Cell (2011) Hell in a Cell (2012) Hell in a Cell (2013)

Hell in a Cell was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by WWE and presented by THQ's WWE '13. It was held on October 28, 2012 at Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.^[4][5] It was the fourth annual Hell in a Cell event. The event drew a total of 199,000 buys, which is an improvement over the previous year's event which drew 182,000 buys.^[6]

Background

The professional wrestling matches at Hell in a Cell featured professional wrestlers performing as characters in scripted events pre-determined by the hosting promotion, WWE. Storylines between the characters played out on WWE's primary television programs, Raw and SmackDown.^[7][8]

The main program involved CM Punk defending his WWE Championship against Ryback, contested inside Hell in a Cell. At Night of Champions the previous month, CM Punk and John Cena fought each other to a draw when Cena left his shoulders down while pinning Punk, making it a double pin. Following this, he continuously challenged Punk to a rematch, even while recovering from an arm surgery earlier in the month; Punk refused to accept. All the while Ryback, who was undefeated since re-entering WWE in April (not including his time as the character Skip Sheffield), had attempted to confront Punk with Punk usually escaping. This culminated on an episode of Raw where WWE Chairman Vince McMahon arrived and forced Punk to choose whether he wanted to face John Cena or Ryback. However, when Punk took too long to decide, with Cena's endorcement, McMahon made the decision for it to be Ryback. It was announced that it would be a Hell in a Cell match.

Hell in a Cell featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing feuds, plots, and story lines that played out on WWE's primary television programs. Wrestlers portrayed villains or heroes as they followed a series of events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. The lead up to the event featured a tag team tournament to decide the number one contenders for the WWE Tag Team Championship.

(*)-The final was originally scheduled for October 15 but was postponed due to Mysterio's illness.

Lilian Garcia was involved in a car accident before the event in Los Angeles, California, Tony Chimel substituted for her. When Jerry "The King" Lawler had been recovering from a heart attack, Michael Cole was joined in commentary by John "Bradshaw" Layfield and Jim Ross.

Event

The first match was between Randy Orton and Alberto Del Rio. Orton won the match after Del Rio missed an Enziguiri and performed an RKO on Del Rio for the pin.

The second match saw Team Rhodes Scholars (Damien Sandow and Cody Rhodes) take on Team Hell No (Kane and Daniel Bryan) for the WWE Tag Team Championship. After a long period of being isolated, Daniel Bryan was able to tag in Kane, who built momentum and looked to be setting up for a chokeslam on Rhodes. However, Bryan tagged himself into the match and delivered a diving headbutt from the top rope, covering Rhodes. Kane, upset about being tagged out of the match, broke up the cover and proceeded to argue with Bryan. The action spilled outside the ring, where Bryan accidentally performed a running knee on Kane after Sandow and Rhodes had performed baseball slides on Kane. This distraction allowed Rhodes to execute Cross Rhodes on Bryan once he re-entered the ring. An infuriated Kane entered the ring and broke up the pin, and continued to attack both Rhodes and Sandow despite not being the legal man, which forced a disqualification. Bryan and Kane retained the championships as a result, and continued to argue with each other after the match.

The next match was between Kofi Kingston and The Miz for the Intercontinental Championship. Miz targeted the leg of Kingston during the match, removing Kingston's knee padding and applying a boston crab. However, Kofi was able to escape the hold and perform Trouble In Paradise for the victory. After the match, Kingston thanked Miz for bringing out an extra determination in his character.

The fourth match saw Justin Gabriel take on Antonio Cesaro for the United States Championship. Cesaro won the match after he connected with a European uppercut on Gabriel, who was attempting a Suicide Dive out of the ring, and then executed the Neutralizer.

The fifth match was between the team of Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara and the Prime Time Players. Mysterio and Cara picked up the victory when Mysterio performed a 619 and body splash on Darren Young.

The sixth match was the World Heavyweight Championship match between Sheamus and The Big Show. The majority of the match was dominated by Big Show, who used his superior size and strength to manhandle Sheamus. However, Sheamus was resilient and continued to kick out of numerous moves including a chokeslam. Sheamus tried to put Big Show in The Cloverleaf, but Big Show kicked out Sheamus from the ring with his legs. Sheamus was able to perform White Noise on Big Show, however Show responded by delivering a WMD, and Sheamus became the first person to kick out of the knockout punch. Sheamus then recovered and executed a Brogue Kick on Big Show but Show kicked out of that maneuver. Sheamus set up for a second Brogue Kick, but Big Show was able to avoid the kick and performed a second WMD to secure the pinfall victory, winning the World Heavyweight Championship for the second time.

The next match was a WWE Divas Championship triple-threat match between Eve Torres, Layla and Kaitlyn. The match came about after Eve had arranged for Kaitlyn to be attacked backstage and subsequently won the Divas Championship at Night of Champions. Eve won the match and retained the championship after Kaitlyn perform a running powerslam on Layla, only for Eve to land a senton bomb on both Divas and pin Layla for the victory.

The main event was the Hell in a Cell match for the WWE Championship between Ryback and CM Punk. The match started with Ryback getting the better of the early exchanges, only for Paul Heyman to provide a distraction outside the cell, allowing Punk to spray Ryback with a fire extinguisher. Punk attempted to attack him with a steel chair but Ryback countered with a big boot and threw Punk into the cell wall. Punk was able to gain the upper hand when he threw Ryback into the steel steps and then hit him with a Kendo stick but Ryback was not affected by the attack and performed a Meat Hook Clothesline on Punk. Ryback attempted Shellshocked but the referee Brad Maddox inexplicably stopped Ryback from executing the maneuver and hit him with a low-blow. This allowed Punk to perform a roll-up, and Maddox lent weight and performed a fast three-count to allow Punk to retain the title. After the match, Maddox attempted to escape from the cell but was unable to do so and was attacked by Ryback. After chasing off Heyman, Ryback went after Punk, who tried to escape by climbing to the top of the cell. Ryback followed him and executed Shellshocked atop the cell.

Aftermath

Maddox explained on Raw that he had intentionally cost Ryback the match as a way of making a name for himself and 'becoming famous' after he had been told that he would never achieve his initial dream of becoming a WWE Superstar. Maddox then demanded a WWE contract and a match with Ryback; Mr. McMahon sarcastically replied that Maddox would be given a 'million dollar contract' if he was able to beat Ryback. The match took place the following week, with Maddox being defeated in a squash match and leaving the arena in an ambulance. Ryback then continued his feud with CM Punk, and went on to challenge for the title once again at Survivor Series in a triple threat match with John Cena. It was later revealed on an episode of Raw that Paul Heyman had paid Brad Maddox to make an interference in the match and help CM Punk retain the title.

Results

References

External links

• Official Hell in a Cell site
• WWE Hell in a Cell event site