Chris Jericho vs. Triple H

[7.0] "While I consider the Last Man Standing match their best, this one is no slouch. It started off kind of slow, with a bunch of slow brawling in the ring, almost like they didn't know what to do. This match does suffer from what a lot of Triple H's matches suffer from: trying to hard. one of the review mentioned a "forced epic", which I couldn't agree with more. Much like the 3 Stages of Hell with HBK Vs. HHH later on, they tried too hard to make this one special, thereby not making it special. More importantly, this match ruined Tim White's life. The stuff on top of the cell was fun and unique at the time. But at least no one almost died...except maybe Tim White."

[1.0] "I found this to be very boring. It's a Triple H brawl inside of a cage after all, nothing flashy is bound to happen but wow this was a rough watch. A very uninspiring performance from Y2J doesn't help either, as I felt he was completely off his game here. Referee Tim White was also very annoying, asking for clean breaks, no choking, for the wrestles to keep it in the ring, and advising against them using weapons. What? Nothing of interest happens until the very end where they're both on top of the cell, HHH hits Jericho with a barbed wire 2x4 which was pretty gnarly with Jerichos hair getting stuck to the barbed wire. The pedigree on the roof was cool as well I guess."

[4.0] "It's not all bad, I appreciate the blood and there are a few good looking spots, but in the end I wasn't really feeling this. A lot of the brawling felt fairly generic. Triple H was just his usual self, despite returning hot at the start of the year he had pretty run his course as a face and didn't produce anything of interest. Jericho's push had been undercut six ways from Sunday and this match felt designed to firmly throw him back to the midcard and not leave again for several years. Going on top of the Cell felt just obligatory at this point, neither of these guys were going to do anything really interesting up there."

[8.0] "Really good bloody match, really went into the next gear once they all got on top of the cage. Probably a bit too long though as dragged on a bit early doors."

"Pretty good. They beat the crap out of each other. I think the part when there on top of the hell in a cell and the hitting of the barb wire leading to the pedigree pinfall was cool. ****1/2"

[8.0] "I quite enjoyed this, but it was admittedly wrestled at a snail pace throughout which damped the intensity of what was supposed to be a blow-off match to a heated rivalry. There were definitely some brutal moments, such as when Jericho simply throws a ladder at HHH who was lying outside the ring. Ouch. Both competitors got colour as you would expect, and used a got variety of weapons to try to keep things feeling fresh throughout. Nevertheless, this match definitely feels as though it is missing something. I thought that was best exemplified by the match's finish, which saw both guys climb to the top of the cell. This, of course, would make one think that some big Foleyesque spot was about to happen; only, it never did, and the match kind of just ended after a pedigree atop the cell. That lack of memorable moments that defined prior HIAC bouts, as well as the slow pace throughout, prevents what was a very good match from being a true classic. ***3/4"

[8.0] "Way, way better than the Wrestlemania match but still missing something that the legendary HIAC matches of this era had, imo. Crowd wasn't all that into it which was surprising, but I also feel like HHH just works better as a heel. But still some good action, especially on top of the cell."

[8.0] "great hell in a cell match that is underrated but is so great. Super hardcore and believable as a hell in a cell match which is something that became very hard as time went on for a hell in a cell match to feel like a match that belongs in the cell you know with all the hardcore stuff and carnage but hhh never really disappoints inside the cell. The ref tim white tho pisses me off how much he is trying to get the guys back in the ring and to stop fighting on the outside and saying things like oh don't use that chair i'm warning you.....it's a fucking hell in a cell match what is the guy talking about? And he does all that just for the finish to be a pin ON TOP OF THE CELL. I enjoyed the way both guys come off here and i enjoy jerichos character going and hitting tim white and kicking his ass it was a nice touch. Enjoyable cell match for sure 4 stars"

[6.0] "I feel like this was the first disappointing Hell in a Cell match. Now, I am not including the Hell in a Cell matches that were randomly put on free TV nor am I including Taker/Big Boss Man because I feel like those were non-starters anyway, matches that should have never been Cell matches in the first place but were given the stip because it was the WWF's new favourite toy. So, with this match, it felt like the first one that people would have actually wanted, actually looked forward to and be let down by. It felt both boring and convoluted at the same time. Every cell match before this felt original, electric and like they could never be replicated. This one was the first to feel like any old match."

[9.0] "Chris Jericho vs. Triple H Hell In A Cell was a great memorable match, Jericho and h have a strong chemistry."

[8.0] "An underrated Cell match in my opinion. Truly felt like what the hell in the cell was created for real personal feuds that needed a big blowoff. Crowd was surprisingly pretty quiet at some points during this match but by the end they had won them over. 4/5"

[5.0] "Meh. It felt like they went through war with the aftermath imagery but in reality it wasn't the most exciting thing in the world. The crowd wasn't that much into it for the most part, especially when they were just walking around the ring hitting each other with shit, plus you didn't really feel like there was a babyface or a heel. Also since when can you pin a guy on top of the cage since you can't even do it outside of the ring?"

[10.0] "****3/4 (9.5/10) This should have been the title match at X-8. It always seems when these two get together the bumps and hits feel much harder and more personal. Maybe that's because earlier in their careers they were not too fond of one another. Maybe the real Paul Levesque was holding a slight resentment towards Y2J for placing his lips on Stephanie's some years prior (even though, according to Kayfabe, Steph and HHH were "through! "). And even Tim White wearing a crimson mask! There's color everywhere. It was also fitting to have the Game and Y2J in a spot on the announce table. This was actually the first time I had ever seen this bout, and one comment I remember reading had claimed that neither participant ever making it on top of the cage. Yet, there I was, watching Hunter and Chris climbing up the damn cage, beating the living hell out of each other up there, with a 2X4 that HHH brought out, only to be struck with it in the back. but he got one to the head on Y2J. I didn't realize this was a falls count anywhere match. I was like, "why is Chioda climbing up the cell? " A pedigree on top the crown of the cell! 1, 2, 3! Game Over. Before watching this, I read that this match was supposedly too long, which is a common trait for big scale HHH' matches, but this was not the case here. I don't know how melter rated this just under four stars."

[7.0] "This was a very good Hell in a Cell match. It was a pretty bloody and physical match. The first half was a little bit of a slog, but it got better as it went along and the finish was great with Triple H hitting a Pedigree on the top of the cell. ***3/4"

[7.0] "I enjoyed this. Nice, brutal, physical, and bloody payoff between two guys who did a good job of hating each other. I thought the usage of weapons was a nice touch. The brawling went a little long in the start but the last 15 min or so was entertaining, and the ref bump was insane. Fun"

[7.0] "I'll never get the obsession that wrestling promotions have with nullifying stipulations during the match. This match, due to the era's need for overbooking, ended up outside the cell, and went on for significantly longer than it needed to. These two never had that much chemistry, so in that sense the nonsense helped, but this would have been better as a no-DQ/falls count anywhere than a dilution of Hell In A Cell."

[9.0] "Really good Hell in a Cell match. Very violent, bloody and hard hitting and it's probably remembered most for that insane ref bump for poor Timmy White who unsurprisingly was also busted up. A lot of really good spots and I enjoyed the finish on the top of the cell."

[6.0] "A bit of a slog, very slow at first but pretty cool ending on top of the cage. I don't enjoy brawl-like matches much."

[7.0] "Decent match but something just didn't click for it to be next level. Maybe it was the dynamic of HHH as the face and Jericho as the heel. I also never bought that Jericho would win this. Alot of the brawling early on was pretty generic too, however the ending on top of the cage was pretty good."

[9.0] "A damn bloody and hard-hitting Hell in a Cell match, which pisses on their previous Wrestlemania clash without too much trouble. I also consider it a very underrated Hell in a Cell, with a lot of great spots: Tim White's injury to open the door, the DDT on the announce table, the bat with barbed wire and many others. It isn't the best Hell in a Cell ever made, but it is guiltily forgotten"

[7.0] "Good stuff, the feared barbed wire 2x4 returns! They go outside the cell and on top of it. RIP Tim White."

[4.0] "This was so much of what I don't like about WWE/F matches around this time. This entire match was made up of brawling with the same done to death weapon spots. Running each other into the cage walls, steel steps, a chair, obligatory blade jobs, yawn. Triple H was very good with his selling and bumping. His offense was okay but pretty much nothing you haven't seen before from him. Jericho was bad here. I liked it when he beat up the referee but his character work and offense was very underwhelming and dull. The finish with both men climbing the cage was lame because nothing happened. They just had the finish of their match on top of the cage. **1/4"

[8.0] "**** - great match. No real structure but they beat the piss out of eachother and it was just a brawl. Which I especially enjoy"

[5.0] "These WWE/F hardcore matches always fail to do much for me. I can somewhat enjoy this as a pure 'garbage-style' match, but as an actual wrestling match it's really nothing special. It featured the same totally generic brawling with the same weapon and cage spots you've seen a million times before. A few spots looked alright, but there were also quite a few where either guy was clearly guarding themselves to prevent against getting too badly hurt (which is understandable, but why have a hardcore match like this if you're not going to at least commit to that style...). A more minor criticism is how Jericho just KEPT calling Triple H an SOB non-stop, without ever coming up with a different insult. For as witty and entertaining as he's meant to be, Jericho was pretty bad there. I also have to question the logic behind having a ref CONSTANTLY telling both men to get back in the ring, as if them fighting along the cage walls is somehow illegal or something. It was later on revealed that falls counted anywhere anyways, so there was even less reason for that ref to insist on the match strictly returning to the ring. It was very satisfying to see that ref get clobbered into the wall, even if it was then even more annoying having both guys fail to get pins because of that ref being knocked out, plus the whole needless show and dance of the other refs cracking the chains of the door to come and check on him. It was all just an excuse to allow both men to take their brawling and spill it to the outside, where they continued to show off more generic hardcore spots. The ending was very anti-climactic because of how uninspired everything in the lead-up was. **1/2"

[7.0] "This was a forced epic. It was good for the most part. But on the other hand, all the times consumed were mainly spent on nonsensical brawling and lame melodrama. The overbooking wasn't needed, and they completely lost me near the end. On the other hand, I will say that the finish made up for a cool visual at least. [***1/2]"

[9.0] "This was an awesome match, HHH and Jericho always had great chemistry and this is a perfect example. They had a brutal war, beating each other to bloody pulps, with some amazing in-ring work and weapons offense. This was honestly just a bloody war, and I loved how it gradually transitioned out of the ring, onto the announcer tables and eventually on the top of the cage. Their work on top was a great dramatic finish to the match, with Hunter eventually hitting the pedigree on the cage panel for the win. Brutal stuff, and thoroughly enjoyable. ****1/2"

[9.0] "This was awesome. Everything Face Triple H should've been instead of the version they gave us. He showed some great emotion, bumped excellently and he fit the babyface ass kicker that most don't. Jericho being the chicken shit heel was perfect too. Triple H instigated all the violence and Jericho did everything he could to stop that. Now I know this doesn't live up the hype to previous ones; you could see the disappointment from the crowd when the backdrop off the top was a simple backdrop, but I thought this ruled. ****1/4"

[9.0] "The match they should've had at WrestleMania, the feud kinda warranted it at the time since it was arguably the best storyline going in and at this time, the feud had already ended, but still, a brutal Hell in a Cell match nonetheless. Many nice weapon spots, great brawling and a ref bump that actually looked realistic for the referee to stay down. Tim White is a boss for taking that. Also, any HIAC match that ends on top of the cell always is a great spectacle imo."