Despite a lackluster build-up and a severe underuse of key talent, there are reasons to be excited for WWE’s Hell in a Cell PPV Sunday night. Pretty much every person involved on the show (except for maybe Ryback) has been a part of magical contests in the past and, given the time, everyone is more than capable of repeating that on Sunday. Of course, it's big to assume everyone will get time—but we're trying to stay optimistic about WWE's October PPV.
In honor of that quality dichotomy, we looked at all 18 competitors (14 men, 2 women, and 2 tag teams which we’re counting as one competitor each) and determined their best WWE matches ever...along with their worst outings yet. It wasn’t always pretty, but in searching through the muck, we found some hidden gems that hint at the possibility for greatness at Hell in a Cell. Let’s get to it.
Dolph Ziggler
Best match: Money in the Bank cash-in vs. Alberto Del Rio for the World Heavyweight Championship
Date: 4/8/2013 (Monday Night Raw)
Location: East Rutherford, N.J.
Why it's his best: The best Money in the Bank cash-in ever, this was Ziggler at the peak of his popularity, and actually being rewarded for it with the Big Gold belt. The match itself was as good as it could be for its short duration, with Alberto Del Rio getting the rub as a fighting champion before Ziggler’s climactic win.
Worst match: 6 Person Tag Match with LayCool vs. John Morrison, Trish Stratus, and Snooki
Date: 4/3/2011 (WrestleMania 27)
Location: Atlanta, Ga.
Why it's his worst: Yes, THAT Snooki. To Ziggler’s credit, he was nowhere near the worst part of this match. Of course, he was still part of this match, so there’s not too much credit to be had.
Cesaro
Neville
Best match: NXT Championship Match vs. Sami Zayn
Date: 12/11/14 (NXT TakeOver: R-Evolution)
Location: Orlando, Fla.
Why it's his best: Still the best match in NXT history from top to bottom, and it featured Neville’s best performance...as a heel. His intense offense only benefited from a more grueling and tenacious approach, and the story told here between Neville and the ultimate babyface Sami Zayn still stands out. Plus, that post-match kick-into-hug gets things misty around here.
Worst match: Singles Match vs. King Barrett
Date: 5/17/15 (Payback 2015)
Location: Baltimore, Md.
Why it's his worst: Neville hasn’t really had too many bad matches in WWE/NXT, but this one against Barrett stands out only because it ended in a count-out loss for Barrett, which is the absolute worst way to end a PPV match.
Sheamus
Best match: 2 out of 3 Falls vs. Daniel Bryan for the World Heavyweight Championship
Date: 4/29/12 (Extreme Rules)
Location: Rosemont, Ill.
Why it's his best: Sheamus gets a lot of hate for his personality, and rightfully so most of the time, but there’s no question that he can go in the ring. Paired up with the best wrestler of his generation in this match, the Celtic Warrior got his ass beat for two falls (one of which he won by DQ) before powering up into Sheamus mode for the win. One of the better ⅔ falls matches in recent memory (not the best because this exists), and no one can say Sheamus was carried to success here. Hey, by the way, why this match happen in the first place?
Worst match: World Heavyweight Championship Match vs. Daniel Bryan
Date: 4/1/12 (WrestleMania 28)
Location: Miami, Fla.
Why it's his worst: Oh, right. Getting out of the way the fact that the result of this match probably propelled Daniel Bryan into his uber-popularity, this was a travesty. An 18-second, one move squash to START a WrestleMania is insulting to the fans, especially those of Daniel Bryan (and there were a lot there!), but even Sheamus got the short end of the stick here. He still has not had a proper WrestleMania moment to this day, and this was probably his best chance.
Rusev
Best match: United States Championship Match vs. John Cena
Date: 3/29/15 (WrestleMania 31)
Location: Santa Clara, Calif.
Why it's his best: Rusev’s first WrestleMania match will be hard to top, if only for his entrance: he drove in on A GODDAMN TANK. It didn’t go downhill from there, as he and Cena had an exciting back and forth match that featured some new moves from Big Match John (including his godawful springboard Stunner that he thankfully appears to have retired). While the ending was sloppy (and also the beginning of the end for the Rusev/Lana relationship), the match stands up as a showcase not just for the new champion Cena, but for the Bulgarian Brute that so many had underrated before this sunny afternoon in California.
Worst match: Russian Chain Match vs. John Cena for the United States Championship
Date: 4/26/15 (Extreme Rules 2015)
Location: Rosemont, Ill.
Why it's his worst: Because this is WWE, however, they would ruin any goodwill from that match the very next PPV, by pitting Rusev and Cena against each other in a Russian Chain Match. What’s a Russian Chain Match, you ask? No one had any idea, including the participants and, more crucially, the referee, who did not properly reset the lights for Cena’s corners when he won, because his momentum had been stopped. Then again, who needs rules when you’ve got a shitty match and your name is John Cena
King Barrett
Best match: Ladder Match for the Intercontinental Championship
Date: 3/29/15 (WrestleMania 31)
Location: Santa Clara, Calif.
Why it's his best: Despite a brutal build up that saw Barrett’s title belt stolen by basically everyone in this match, the payoff was a fast and furious blur of ladders and bumps. Barrett himself wasn’t a huge part of the match, but his involvement must be noted because...well, he hasn’t had too many good matches in his WWE career. Sorry, Wade.
Worst match: 14 Man Tag Elimination Match match between The Nexus and Team WWE
Date: 8/15/10 (SummerSlam 2010)
Location: Los Angeles, Calif.
Why it's his worst: This is not Barrett’s worst match from an in-ring perspective. That much is clear. But the fact that this is widely acknowledged as both the end of the Nexus’s popularity as the hottest act in WWE and the worst burial job of John Cena’s career pushes this way down past every terrible Intercontinental Title match Barrett’s had and into last place.
Kevin Owens
Best match: Champion vs. Champion match against John Cena
Date: 5/31/15 (Elimination Chamber 2015)
Location: Corpus Christi, Tex.
Why it's his best: This was Very Good and Surprising!
Worst match: Intercontinental Match vs. Ryback
Date: 9/20/15 (Night of Champions 2015)
Location: Houston, Tex.
Why it's his worst: This was Not. Ryback as a performer isn’t good in the ring, except if Seth Rollins is involved, so even Kevin Owens couldn’t carry him to an interesting match. I will give some points to the finish, which had a heel doing actual heel things (Owens raked Ryback’s eyes in order to steal a win). What a concept!
Ryback
Best match: 6 Man Tag with Team Hell No vs. The Shield
Date: 12/16/12 (Tables, Ladders, and Chairs 2012)
Location: Brooklyn, N.Y.
Why it's his best: The Shield’s first real match in WWE was as brutal and intense as you would expect from the Hounds of Justice, but don’t sell Ryback and his partners, Team Hell No (Daniel Bryan and Kane), short. They more than held up their side of the bargain in the loss, and this still stands as the best non-Wyatt Family match in the Shield’s history (R.I.P., sweet princes).
Worst match: Singles Match vs. Mark Henry
Date: 4/7/13 (WrestleMania 29)
Location: East Rutherford, N.J,
Why it's his worst: We wasted a WrestleMania slot for this bullshit? No wonder WrestleMania 29 was such garbage
The New Day
Best match: WWE Tag Team Titles Match vs. Tyson Kidd and Cesaro
Date: 4/26/15 (Extreme Rules 2015)
Location: Rosemont, Ill.
Why it's their best: While their 2 out of 3 falls match the following month was almost as excellent, the initial title match between the freshly heel New Day and Kidd & Cesaro rises above if only because it was the true birth of the best part of WWE in 2015. The New Day members are all national treasures, and their liquid magma hot run started here.
Worst match: United States Title Open Challenge featuring Xavier Woods vs. John Cena
Date: 9/28/15 (Monday Night Raw)
Location: Buffalo, N.Y.
Why it's their worst: Few things in WWE this year have been more exciting than hearing the New Day answer John Cena’s open challenge, but this fell super flat. It wasn’t supposed to be an exhibition of wrestling skill (instead, it was to advance the New Day vs. Cena storyline), but it could have been more than a Cena beatdown of Woods until the inevitable DQ by the other two members of New Day. A lone sore spot in a year of positivity for the New Day.
The Dudley Boyz
Best match: Tables, Ladders, and Chairs Match vs. Edge/Christian and the Hardy Boyz for the WWE Tag Team Championships
Date: 4/1/01 (WrestleMania 17)
Location: Houston, Tex.
Why it's their best: The pinnacle of the best tag team rivalry ever, and the most exciting match in WWE history. These 6 dudes (plus their sidekicks Rhyno, Spike Dudley, and Lita) threw everything they had each other, reaching a place beyond dangerous into the sublime. While the Dudleyz weren’t involved in the most exciting and iconic moment of the match (Jeff Hardy’s back is probably still fucked up from that spear), you can’t discount Bubba Ray’s ridiculous table bump with Matt Hardy. This is the closest a tag team match in WWE has gotten to a 5-star match.
Worst match: World Tag Team Title Match vs. Ric Flair and Batista
Date: 1/25/2004 (Royal Rumble 2004)
Location: Philadelphia, Pa.
Why it's their worst: By 2004, the Dudleyz’s tables gimmick had worn thin, and this match might have been the death knell of their first WWE run. A 4-minute match that feels like it lasts 10, it’s a botchfest that also involves a Coach attempt at a distraction finish, which is just the dumbest thing to happen on this list (ok, that’s not true, wait until the Undertaker section). This match has a special place in Hell reserved for it due to making a table match boring and even actively angering.
Charlotte
Best match: Fatal Fourway vs. Sasha Banks, Bayley, and Becky Lynch for the NXT Women’s Championship
Date: 2/11/15 (NXT TakeOver: Rival)
Location: Orlando, Fla.
Why it's her best: The first NXT women’s match that made headlines outside of the insular bubble that are NXT fans, this fatal fourway showed what the women in developmental were capable of. Despite losing her title to the incredible Sasha Banks, Charlotte anchored the entire match, serving both as a base and as a general for the Four Horsewomen, allowing everyone to shine in equal parts. This was the true beginning of the Divas Revolution.
Worst match: Tag Team Match with Bayley vs. Dana Brooke and Emma
Date: 5/20/15 (NXT TakeOver: Unstoppable)
Location: Orlando, Fla.
Why it's her worst: I mean, whatever. This match was what it needed to be: a showcase for the babyfaces. But that doesn’t mean we have to like it, and considering how good most of Charlotte’s matches have been, this stands out for being “just ok.”
Nikki Bella
Seth Rollins
Best match: 6-man Tag Team Match between The Shield and the Wyatt Family
Date: 2/23/14 (Elimination Chamber 2014)
Location: Minneapolis, Minn.
Why it's his best: When a match gets a “This Is Awesome” chant before it even begins, you know shit is about to get real. The first of a three-match series between the two most dominant WWE factions in recent memory, this one takes the crown for being both the first and the most immediate. You could truly feel every member of both teams going 110%, and Seth Rollins truly unleashed his potential in this match, flying all over the place and earning the biggest cheers of his career to date.
Worst match: WWE World Heavyweight Match vs. Brock Lesnar
Date: 7/19/15 (Battleground 2015)
Location: St. Louis, Mo.
Why it's his worst: On the other hand, Rollins is basically an afterthought in this heavily-hyped rematch with Lesnar, being thrown around like a ragdoll for 9 minutes before disappearing when The Important People showed up (i.e. The Undertaker). This match had the potential to be a more streamlined version of their Royal Rumble triple threat classic, but instead, it was a normal Brock Lesnar match without even a payoff. Dud.
Kane
Best match: Money in the Bank Match
Date: 4/3/05 (WrestleMania 21)
Location: Los Angeles, Calif.
Why it's his best: The very first Money in the Bank match is probably the best one ever, with a STACKED set of participants. You wouldn’t think that Kane would be an exciting part of a ladder match, but the Big Red Machine served as a base for the more proficient high flyers to do their thing. A great start to the best gimmick match WWE has come up with in years.
Worst match: Singles Match vs. Undertaker
Date: 3/29/98 (WrestleMania XIV)
Location: Boston, Mass.
Why it's his worst: For some reason, people love the two Kane/Undertaker matches, and while the WrestleMania XX match actually lives up to some of that hype, this one is a plodding big-man matchup typical of early Undertaker matches at WrestleMania (more on that later). As a side note: Kane has been around for so long and has been mediocre for almost all that time, so picking a worst match was way more difficult than it should have been.
Roman Reigns
Best match: #1 Contender’s Match vs. Daniel Bryan
Date: 2/22/15 (WWE Fastlane 2015)
Location: Memphis, Tennessee
Why it's his best: Sigh. We all knew how this match would end, which probably soured fans on it at the time. And yet! This match probably should have done more to convince people that Roman Reigns is “ready” than any other, even if Daniel Bryan did the majority of the work. The spear into a small package false finish was a thing of beauty, and giving Roman the honor of kicking out of the first Knee+ heightened the stakes and “will they won’t they” booking drama. A rematch wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.
Worst match: 6 Man Tag Match vs. Kane and the New Age Outlaws
Date: 4/6/14 (WrestleMania XXX)
Location: New Orleans, Louisiana
Why it's his worst: While this might be the most fun of these “worst” matches, it’s a shame that The Shield never got a really good WrestleMania match together. This spot really should have been against the Wyatt Family, but it’s a sign of how good The Shield was that even this match is extremely entertaining, even if it’s a squash on the biggest stage of them all. Bonus points for the dog masks worn by the Hounds of Justice on the way in. Ugh, now I miss The Shield again. WHY SETH WHY.
Bray Wyatt
Best match: Last Man Standing Match vs. John Cena
Date: 6/1/14 (Payback 2014)
Location: Rosemont, Illinois
Why it's his best: Quick, guess who won. Despite the John Cena of it all (*jerk off motion*), this is one of the better Last Man Standing matches of the PG era, partly due to Bray Wyatt being certifiably crazy. And although the finish was dumb (Cena traps Bray under stuff, instead of knocking him out, which is the worst way to end a LMS match), the spots were brutal and the match went a LONG 25 minutes, really piling on the punishment on both guys. Bray still hasn’t recovered from the result, but if Sunday’s cell match brings the intensity like this one did, he’ll do alright.
Worst match: Ring of Fire Match vs. Kane
Date: 8/18/13 (SummerSlam 2013)
Location: Los Angeles, California
Why it's his worst: Fun fact: Bray Wyatt has been involved in some unbelievably stupid shit during his short time in WWE. This could have been the steel cage match against John Cena, but the Ring of Fire match gets the nod for two reasons: one, it was Bray’s first match in WWE proper, and two, the fire around the ring didn’t even end up doing its job, as Luke Harper and Erick Rowan both got in the ring with a rug. Just terrible.
John Cena
Best match: #1 Contender’s Match vs. CM Punk
Date: 2/25/13 (Monday Night Raw)
Location: Dallas, Texas
Why it's his best: While most people would choose that other Cena/Punk match, the Raw match is just better from a purely in-ring perspective. Despite having less time and lower stakes (a WrestleMania main event is smaller than THE ENTIRE COMPANY), the #1 contender’s match was a more technical and efficient contest, culminating in two rarely-seen moves: first, a CM Punk piledriver that made Michael Cole lose his everloving mind, followed by a Cenacanrana that signaled the end of not just CM Punk’s title chase but the beginning of the end of his career in WWE. Maybe the stakes were higher this time around.
Worst match: WWE Championship Match vs. The Miz
Date: 4/3/11 (WrestleMania 27)
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Why it's his worst: This fucking match. The worst WrestleMania main event ever (and that’s saying something), this showdown failed on every level; it was plodding, it was nonsensical, it ended (at first) in a double count-out, and it was all in order to set up the next year’s main event, which is not something that you should ever say about a WrestleMania main event. Despite a brutal career of burials, this stands alone as Cena’s worst outing because of its place on the Biggest Show, and due to what it wrought (two straight jerkoff matches in the form of Rock vs. Cena).
The Undertaker
Best match: Singles Match vs. Shawn Michaels
Date: 4/5/09 (WrestleMania 25)
Location: Houston, Texas
Why it's his best: This is the best match on this entire list, full stop. What Undertaker and Shawn Michaels did in Houston (and, to a lesser extent, the following year in Arizona) hasn’t been topped since: a wrestling match that felt both massive and extremely intimate, a battle between light and dark in theory but between legacies in practice. If you don’t get chills at least 10 times during this match, you may not have a pulse, and not in the cool Undertaker way, either.
Worst match: Singles Match vs. Giant Gonzalez
Date: 4/4/93 (WrestleMania IX)
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
Why it's his worst: So, remember how it was said above that there would be one thing stupider than a Coach distraction attempt? Yeah, this match ended by chloroform. That’s right: the Giant Gonzalez only lost this match because, for some reason, he decided to incapacitate the Undertaker with CHEMICAL FUMES. Since Undertaker’s legacy is all tied up in WrestleMania, it stands to reason that the worst match of his career is also the worst match of The Streak. In case you were wondering, the match was complete trash even before the dumb ending, and you really should avoid 99% of early Streak matches if you want to keep your good impression of Taker.
Brock Lesnar
Best match: Triple Threat Match vs. Seth Rollins and John Cena for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship
Date: 1/25/15 (Royal Rumble 2015)
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Why it's his best: It was our choice for Match of the Year back in August, and our feelings haven’t changed. While the first run of Brock Lesnar’s career had some real highlights (the WrestleMania 19 main event and Eddie Guerrero’s ascension at No Way Out 2004), he’s been on top of his game since returning in 2012.
Worst match: Singles Match vs. Goldberg
Date: 3/14/04 (WrestleMania XX)
Location: New York City, New York
Why it's his worst: One of the most (in)famous crowd interactions ever, this match was doomed from the start due to outside circumstances: both Brock Lesnar and Goldberg were on their way out of the WWE, and the crowd let them hear their displeasure from the moment both entered the arena. The performers followed suit by completely mailing this match in, leaving on a sour note that wouldn’t be redeemed for a long time in Lesnar’s case, and never in Goldberg’s.
