Drew McIntyre vs. Randy Orton

"like an upgraded version of their summerslam match with a cage at play, perfect ending with the heel dethroning the face, great match! people have a problem with this match because of it being slow paced but I don't mind it at all, think it adds atmosphere and character to the match(****1/2)"

[6.0] "Knowing how much pain Orton was in with his back in hindsight makes his bumps look a bit worse...it doesn't impact the rating but it's something to note. As far as the match, some might disagree but a surprising Randy Orton improves the quality of the match, especially during this time. The cell had just enough of the brutality you'd hope for in a Hell in a Cell match. There wasn't a lot of back and forth between the two and the match was fairly slow-paced. The character work between the two is always fun to see, particularly talking throughout the match, and it always improves the quality of a match. - Orton going threw the table inside -Drew McIntyre going through the table outside - Orton stomping on Drew McIntyre's head -Orton's spine being rammed into LED turnbuckle were all brutal moments. The logic of challenging someone to go on top of the cage doesn't make a lot of sense. It seemed cool when Orton ended up having a weapon up there but even if he were to have won an encounter on top of the cell what was he to do? Throw him off? Maybe? That would've been cool. Maybe he would've. The fact that there was also cutters inside of the ring for the entire match didn't make a lot of sense, it defeated the whole purpose of the cell. Commentary tried justifying a little bit but it still didn't make a lot of sense. You can tell they were trying to pay homage to The Undertaker and Mankind and it wasn't terrible but the logic behind them being up there in the first place is questionable. Why would Drew say yes to go? The logic of them being up there didn't outweigh the entertainment factor of the entire spectacle but it definitely impacted the match enough to make note of it. Final Rating: 6 stars leaning toward 7 (6.5-6.9)"

[3.0] "Super generic HIAC match and yet another overrated Drew/Orton match. 30 minutes long with only one memorable spot and we've seen it many times already. They were certainly put in a bad spot because Sasha/Bayley from earlier in the night was superior in every way. They built most of this match off of the cell climb leading to the table bump but it didn't interest me at all. That spot is done every year. Drew and Orton have a good chemistry with their characters, but their in-ring work together is nothing other than mediocre. **"

[6.0] "A very slow brawl that just pick up a bit for a short trip on the top of the cage and a big bump for McIntyre through the announcers table down half of the cage. Outside of this spot, nothing to write about. Would've been better if 10 to 15 minutes shorter. 6/10."

[4.0] "Very boring match with not much happening for most of it. It feels like they do most of the stuff in the match just for the sake of doing it, almost as if they are compelled to check off a list of things they must do because it is a Hell in a Cell match."

[5.0] "Too little, too late, this match did have some cool spots, but it was just boring, did not need the HIAC, and why were you give Randy the title here just for Drew to win it back 2 weeks later, should have been at Summerslam."

[6.0] "out of the rest of the trilogy, this was by far the weakest point. the match was very slow paced and the spots were very weak. there was no reason for randy to win the title, especially since he lost it to drew only a month later. drew's weakest title defense yet."

[5.0] "Making Orton loose three times in a row would have hurt Orton's stock but I really don't think Orton should have been the one to end Drew's reign. Anyway the match was very standard and not particularly spectacular. It was probably Drew's weakest Title match in his first reign. The only thing noteworthy was Orton winning and Drew dropping from somewhere along the middle portion of the cell on top of the announce Table. **3/4"

[6.0] "Disappointing match given that I really liked their SummerSlam, and match at Clash of Champions. This was a slow paced generic hell in a cell with spots we've already seen like 100 times. Whenever Orton was in control in particular I felt that's when the match would really slow down. With such a long match time with most of it feeling pointless you at least hope it sets up an epic ending like Orton hitting the Punt for the win. Instead we got Orton just hitting a RKO after a failed claymore attempt.***1/4"

[8.0] "Another great match between Drew McIntyre and Randy Orton. These two went to war in 2020 and every match delivered a combination of great wrestling and tremendous storytelling. Being a COVID-era match and having the limitations put in place by modern WWE standards for violence likely skewed this figure for some, but this was another clash that I was wholeheartedly invested in and enjoyed from start to finish. 4 stars, 8 out of 10."

[7.0] "Was expecting something great, so it came off as slightly disappointing for me. It was still very good though, but not the classic I was hoping to see. Went on for a bit too long as well, and felt slow at times. Good but not great, enough for a recommendation. [***3/4]"

[6.0] "The ending is amazing, Drew falls down from the cell and Randy becomes the new WWE championship, but the tempo is so dragging especially the first ten minutes."

[4.0] "Surprisingly heatless considering the stakes of the feud, felt like an overblown epic that didn't really accomplish much. the title change made zero sense as Drew won the title back like three weeks later, i like Drew and i like Randy but this just wasn't it."

[6.0] "This was a solid HIAC outing but the match contains way too many flaws to be considered anything great, it wasn't a bad match at all but it was way too slow and not necessarily interesting, in fact I would describe this match as a pretty dull brawl. The action was good, which is to be expected considering we're talking about Orton and McIntyre and they always have solid matches together, but this match suffers from a big lack of pace. Each had their own long moment of domination and there were only a few spots of note, and the biggest spot with McIntyre falling off the cage onto the commentary table was missed due to awful camera work. The two of them still had some good exchanges during these thirty minutes and I repeat, the match is far from being bad. But it was just way too long and I felt like it was a waste of time, the match could have been shortened and had less heat from Orton. I know Orton's matches are never paced but this was really too much, and it was one of the least good performances Drew could have put on as champion. A decent main event that could have been much better."

[9.0] "good match, consistent and with an interesting ending, let's see what will happen from now on. I like Randy Orton as champion, now he will lose to Edge at WrestleMania and soon after The Miz cash in and leaves WrestleMania as WWE Champion, thank you."

[6.0] "This is a slow match and the spots are ok but not outstanding, just average level of a HIAC match. The dedication of Drew is good, though. Pleased to see Randy Orton become champion once again for me after all. (***1/2)"

[9.0] "This match was brutal and physical it was a great match between two great athletes. Drew and Randy put on a great showing and made Hell in a Cell look brutal in a long time. The bump Drew took was fantastic it made the match even better, The ending of the match was great the way Orton countered the claymore and hit an RKO was the best ending this match could have."

[8.0] "A decent trilogy, a great feud (until the previous ppv, at least). Maybe the less beautiful but solid with some crazy bumbs and high level storytelling and psychology."

[6.0] "I love Drew McIntyre as WWE Champion and Randy has done good work this year, but this was the worst of their trio of matches and an utterly generic, anonymous modern Hell in a Cell match. The table bump was pedestrian and predictable, the actual in-ring wasn't up to their Summerslam match really, and it was a third match in a feud that really didn't warrant one - and now feels like it's going to have to force a fourth match that I want even less, thanks to the wrong man winning. If this leads to Randy-Edge for the title, it's just going to age even more poorly to be entirely honest. Drew deserved better."

[10.0] "It's a great match between Drew Mcintyre and Randy Orton. The storytelling was great and the unexpected result."

[6.0] "This match was 30 minutes, from the 30 minutes only the 10 minutes were action, only the first 5 minutes they had some good spots, it was just a typical match of Randy Orton, boring and slow. By the way why they climbed on the top of hell in a cell? they didn't do anything special over there just one spot that we have seen 100 times. It was a disappointing match , i guess everyone expected way more. Only their Summerslam match was pretty good. Hell in a cell and ambulance match were so average"

[6.0] "This was, for the most part, a typical Randy Orton Hell in a Cell match. It was good for the most part, but longer than it needed to be, and it dragged. Shave some time off, remove a lot of the stalling and you've got something worth checking out. Again, not a bad match, but it paled in comparison to the other two HIAC matches that took place on this show. ***1/4"

[7.0] "Good work all around that had me legit scared for Drew's health. Many extremely well sold spots and solidly paced. A little disappointed by the simple finish but a good finish to a solid card."

[9.0] "This was a great way to end Drew's title reign. They brawled before the match started. When it did, both had a pretty standard brawl inside the cell, with a cool spot that had Drew applying a belly-to-belly suplex to Randy through a table (nice). By the middle of the match Randy escaped the cell. At first it didn't seem clear, but he was trying to move the fight to the top of the cell. It happened. It was brief, but finished with Drew falling from the cell to the commentators table in a painful spot. They returned to the ring and Randy tried to finish the match. His first attempt didn't work because Drew tried a quick backslide (nice callback to SummerSlam). However Randy avoided the pinfall, only to recieve a Claymore. Drew, too exhausted, couldn't make the pin (and what a mistake it was). He attempted a second Claymore but failed, hurting his already damaged back, and got an RKO. One, two, three: McIntyre's reign is over. Drew fought to death like a good champion, but I'd say that Randy outsmarted him by moving the fight to the top of the cell. That was his downfall, but it took a lot to bring him down, so even in loss he was protected as a fighting champion, while Randy's excellent run as a heel this year finally reached its climax with this victory. A great HIAC match. By the way, that dude "Go" has put the same rating and comment in this match and the Reigns vs Uso one, so he seems either to be trolling or not taking the rating system seriously."

[7.0] "Was my least favorite Cell but it was still fun to watch. Drew is always ready to go to war and Randy has had the Renaissance of the year imo (even more than Edge, but they're not done yet... ) The fall from the cell helped Randy shockingly win the title"

[5.0] "This match was so slow it felt like basically nothing happened prior to them climbing up the cage. Than they kick punched into a super contrived overdone bump off the cage. It ended kinda meh in the ring with only a single RKO doing it after everything else that's happened in this feud."

[4.0] "LMFAO they really had Randy win here after just one RKO after so much build with the Punt... Unbelievable. I'm sorry Randy I love you but this was pure ass it was so boring lmao. He really dragged Drew's ass around the ring for 3 minutes after the sell bump, I just have to laugh"

[6.0] "adequate enough i suppose, but the table spot has been done countless times before so for that to be the big game chnager leading into the ending was a huge letdown. i would expect these two could have came up with something much better if wwe wasnt stuck in this no extreme violence, blood mentality."

[9.0] "An absolutely great main event. Like a PPV should have. Would have wanted some more actual wrestling moves, but still was epic."

[9.0] "Incredibly told match filled with great spots. They've given everything I'd wanted from this match. Drew's crash to the commentary table, a finish with a shocking but simple finish, Orton's win... I wasn't expecting more and totally satisfied."

[8.0] "Great main event and great brutal fight between McIntyre and Orton Really surprised by the result , but both MCintyre and Orton went really over during this fight McIntyre's selling is really off the charts"

[9.0] "Really good Hell In A Cell match that played into their previous matches and their brutal feud. I know some will be put off by the finish but Drew fell off the cage and then took a RKO. He's still strong. And the match was excellent. Good stuff. ****1/2."