Hell in a Cell (2012)

Hell in a Cell (2012)
Hell in a Cell (2012)
	Promotional poster featuring CM Punk
Promotion	WWE
Date	October 28, 2012
City	Atlanta, Georgia
Venue	Philips Arena
Attendance	10,000
Pay-per-view chronology
← Previous; Night of Champions (2012)	Next →; Survivor Series (2012)
Hell in a Cell chronology
← Previous; Hell in a Cell (2011)	Next →; 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 main feud from Raw 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.

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Final

SmackDown

Team Rhodes Scholars
(Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow)

9/28

The Usos
(Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso)

2:54

Raw

Team Rhodes Scholars

10/8

Team CoBro

3:07

Main Event

Tyson Kidd & Justin Gabriel

5:59

10/3

Team CoBro
(Zack Ryder & Santino Marella)

Raw

Team Rhodes Scholars

10/22*

Rey Mysterio & Sin Cara

13:02

SmackDown

R-Truth and Kofi Kingston

4:29

10/5

The Prime Time Players
(Titus O'Neil and Darren Young)

Raw

Prime Time Players

3:32

10/8

Rey Mysterio & Sin Cara

Raw

Rey Mysterio & Sin Cara

10/1

Primo & Epico

9:38

(*)-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 of the night was between Randy Orton and Alberto Del Rio. Orton won the match after Del Rio missed the enzuigiri and got hit by an RKO after he tried a splash.

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. Rhodes and Sandow earned their title opportunity after winning a number one contenders' tag-team tournament. 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 hit Kane with a running knee after Sandow and Rhodes had taken him out with baseball slides. This distraction allowed Rhodes to hit 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 hit 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 an uppercut on Gabriel, who was attempting a Suicide Dive out of the ring, and then hit 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 hit a 619 and body splash on Darren Young after Sin Cara had taken out Titus O'Neil outside the ring with a splash from the top rope.

The sixth match was the World Heavyweight Championship match between Sheamus and The Big Show. This match was billed as the first meeting between the two, and the build-up had centered around which was the stronger maneuver, Sheamus' Brogue Kick or Big Show's WMD (Knockout Punch). 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 hit 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 hit Big Show with a Brogue Kick 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 hit 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 hit 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 and attack him with a steel chair. Ryback countered however with a big boot, and then threw Punk into the cell wall. Punk was able to gain the upper hand when he threw Ryback into the ring steps and then attacked him with a Kendo stick, however Ryback was unfazed by the attack and hit Punk with a Meathook Clothesline. Ryback set Punk up for his signature maneuver, Shellshocked, however the match 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 and hand Ryback his first defeat in WWE. After the match, Maddox attempted to escape from the locked cell but was unable to do so before being brutally attacked by Ryback. Ryback then turned his attention to Punk, who was exiting the now-opened cell. 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 on top of the cell as retribution for his defeat.

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

No.

Results

Stipulations

Times

1

Randy Orton defeated Alberto Del Rio (with Ricardo Rodriguez)

Singles match^[7]