Hell In A Cell 2018 is just over a week away now, next Sunday from the AT&T Center in San Antonio and with Roman Reigns set to defend his Universal Title against Braun Strowman, today we’re looking back at the last time ‘The Big Dog’ stepped into the demonic structure. In 2016, Roman was the new United States Champion, but his feud with Rusev was far from over. The two would clash for the title inside Hell In A Cell for this RAW-exclusive pay-per-view!

Kickoff Match: Sin Cara, Lince Dorado & Cedric Alexander vs. Tony Nese, Drew Gulak & Ariya Daivari
Sin Cara & Nese to start things off, Tony goes to a side headlock off the opening lock-up, gets pushed off to the ropes and scores with a shoulder knockdown. The Premier Athlete goes back to the ropes, Sin Cara leapfrogs over, ducks a clothesline and springs off the 2nd rope with an arm drag. Nese rolls to the corner, Sin Cara charges in and meets a boot to the jaw, The Premier Athlete rushes out, counters a monkey flip by landing on his feet, springs off the 2nd rope for a crossbody, but gets caught in the air and cracked by a backbreaker. Gulak steps in and runs into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for his troubles, Daivari comes in off the tag and meets the same fate, reverses a whip to the ropes, plants him with a neckbreaker and gets a count of 2.

He grounds Sin Cara with a rear chinlock, the masked man works to a standing position, Ariya with a knee to the midsection, shoots him to the ropes and Sin Cara springs off the 2nd rope with a moonsault. Tags on both sides now, Lince comes off the top with a crossbody to Nese, hits the ropes for a running hurricanrana, measures Tony in the corner for a handspring back elbow, then hits the ropes for a spinning heel kick. He heads upstairs and scores with the Shooting Star Press, hooks the leg, Daivari & Gulak hit the ring to break it up at 2. Cedric steps in to even the odds, whips them to the ropes in-sync with Sin Cara, Gulak & Daivari hang on, but get clotheslined over the top to the floor, everybody spilling to the outside.

The Golden Lynx goes back up top, jumps over Nese, charges in for a tilt-a-whirl DDT, The Premier Athlete blocks it with brute strength, then dumps him over the top onto everybody on the way to a break….Back from commercial and Daivari gets a count of 2 on Lince, The Golden Lynx fights to his feet, irish whip to the ropes is reversed and Ariya clobbers him with a high knee for another 2. He brings Gulak in, Drew slaps on a reverse sharpshooter, switches to a modified indian deathlock, drags him to his corner and Nese tags in. The Premier Athlete whips Dorado to the ropes, slides outside with a leg trip, springs in from the apron to the 2nd rope for a moonsault and gains a near fall.

Gulak re-enters the match, The Golden Lynx battles back, sneaks in a jawbreaker, scores with a hurricanrana for 2, then tags out off the kick-out. Cedric hits the ring with clotheslines for Drew, blocks a kick for a spinning back elbow, irish whip to the ropes is reversed, but Alexander connects with a back handspring enzuigiri. Gulak rolls to the outside, Nese & Daivari meet him for a conference, Lince & Sin Cara step in and all three fly to the outside with somersault planchas and suicide dives. Cedric throws Gulak back in, looks to spring in from the apron, Drew ducks under it, slaps on the Gu-Lock, but Dorado springs in with a leg drop to break it up.

Daivari comes in and clocks Lince with a rolling elbow, follows up with a superkick, Sin Cara grabs him from behind and plants him with a schoolboy powerbomb. The Premier Athlete spins Sin Cara around, delivers a sit-out pumphandle facebuster, turns around and Alexander springboards in from the apron with a clothesline. He turns his attention to Gulak for the Lumbar Check, Drew flips out of it, counters a leapfrog with a roll-up for a near fall, charges back in and Cedric hits the Lumbar Check for the win.
Winners: Sin Cara, Lince Dorado & Cedric Alexander (Cedric/Lumbar Check)

• EA’s Take: I love seeing that there’s sometimes multiple Cruiserweight matches weekly on RAW and the division as a whole has been utilized very well. This one is a rematch from last week’s Superstars and had some similarities, but the guys overall did pretty good at changing up the booking of the match. Good way to get the crowd going as well with the high-flying action of the Cruiserweights.

Open: “Evil has awoken. There is no help in Hell. Hell is not below, Hell is above.” Tonight, it’s a Triple Main Event as RAW’s top three titles are defended inside the most demonic structure in WWE history. This is Hell In A Cell.

Match #1 – Hell In A Cell for the WWE United States Championship: Rusev w/Lana vs. WWE United States Champion Roman Reigns
Rusev looks to strike first and it’s blocked, the champion fires back with shots of his own, tries to ram the challenger head-first into the top turnbuckle, but The Bulgarian Brute turns the tables. He buries shoulders to the midsection in the corner, Roman fights his way out, irish whip to the ropes is reversed, Rusev scores with a high back elbow, covers and gets 2. He dumps The Big Dog outside, attempts to ram him into the cell, Reigns puts on the brakes, tries to send the challenger into the steel, but takes a shot to the ribs. The Bulgarian Brute tosses him back inside and puts the boots to the champion, whips him to the ropes, Roman levels him with multiple clotheslines, irish whip back in is reversed, Reigns looks for a jumping clothesline, but takes a kick to the breadbasket.

Rusev wants to send The Big Dog back outside, Roman switches the momentum and dumps the challenger out instead, The Bulgarian Brute climbs back up to the apron, but the champion charges in and sends him into the steel. Reigns steps outside and deposits the challenger into the cell multiple times, clocks him with a big boot, goes to pick him back up and Rusev rakes the eyes. He sets to shoot Roman into the steel steps, The Big Dog reverses and introduces the challenger to the steel, goes under the ring and reaches for a table. The Bulgarian Brute grabs him from behind and drives him into the cell, squashes him against the cage with a splash, then bounces him off the ring post. He grinds the champion’s face into the cell, drills him with a kick to the back of the head, rams Roman into the post again and sends him into the ring for a count of 2.

The Bulgarian Brute stomps away at The Big Dog, Reigns starts to battle back, irish whip to the corner is reversed, the champion hits the turnbuckle shoulder-first and Rusev covers for 1. The challenger sends him from corner-to-corner and delivers multiple splashes, Roman finally side-steps one, Rusev takes him down with a hip toss, hits the ropes for a diving headbutt, but nobody’s home. The Big Dog hammers the challenger with a barrage of clotheslines in the corner, hits the ropes for a big boot, then measures for a Superman Punch. Rusev sees it coming and rolls to the outside, Reigns rolls out the other side, builds a head of steam for the Drive-By, but gets flattened by a clothesline. The Bulgarian Brute sends the champion into the steps, drives him into the cell, picks up the top half of the stairs and clobbers Roman with it.

He smashes Reigns with another stair shot before tossing them in the ring, rolls The Big Dog inside and positions the steps on the top turnbuckle. He looks to ram Reigns head-first into it, the champion blocks and hits big right hands, clotheslines the challenger over the top to the floor, then sends him into the cage with a dropkick through the ropes. Roman rolls out, Rusev surprises him with a kick to the abdomen, picks him up onto his shoulder and launches the champion into the cell. He goes under the ring and pulls out a kendo stick, turns around and gets caught by the Drive-By, Reigns takes ahold of the cane and swings away at the back of the challenger with numerous shots. He drags Rusev into the squared circle and steps in, The Bulgarian Brute kicks the ropes for a low blow, ties Roman up in the ropes and unleashes a flurry of kendo stick shots to the ribs, then snaps it over his knee.

He hits the ropes, The Big Dog explodes free with a clothesline for a near fall, both guys struggling to their feet and trading punches. Rusev pummels the champion down to the canvas and hits the ropes, Roman catches him for a Samoan Drop, the challenger slips out of it and goes for a kick that misses, The Big Dog trying to take advantage with a Superman Punch. The Bulgarian Brute ducks it and drives him shoulder-first into the turnbuckle, hits the ropes again, the champion pops right back with a Superman Punch that connects, nearly putting it away. Roman pulls himself to his feet and readies for a Spear, Rusev cuts him off with a superkick, sends him head-first into the steps in the corner, quickly covers, but still can’t finish it. The Bulgarian Brute can’t believe it, turns the champion over and locks on The Accolade, Reigns starts crawling towards the ropes, Rusev pulls him back to the middle to reapply the hold. The Big Dog slips away and hits the ropes, runs into a roundhouse kick that sends him to the outside, The Bulgarian Brute climbs out, reaches under the ring for a length of chain, then measures the champion.

Reigns meets him with a fist to avoid it, unloads with right hands and tosses the challenger inside, slides in and gets caught with the chain to the midsection, then multiple shots across the back. The Bulgarian Brute rolls outside and sends the bottom half of the steel steps into the ring, picks The Big Dog up and gets cracked by a big right. Rusev bounces him off the stairs, drives him shoulder-first into the steel, drops him with a superkick and covers, but Reigns still kicks out at 2. The challenger drags Roman onto the stairs and picks up the chain, slaps on The Accolade with the chain across the champion’s face, The Big Dog slipping free and plants him with a Samoan Drop on the steps. The challenger finds his footing on top of the steps, Reigns delivers a Spear down to the mat, hooks the leg and retains.
Winner and STILL WWE United States Champion: Roman Reigns (Spear)

• EA’s Take: Logical way to open the show tonight, showcasing the least important (for lack of a better term) of your three Cell matches tonight. This one started off a little “ho-hum” and made me find it a little boring, but the violence picked up in what I knew would be a bruising match. No shocker to me that Roman retains, I could see him hanging onto that US strap for quite some time and possibly into WrestleMania. I’m hoping that when Rusev is finally moved away from Roman he can maintain his heat, The Bulgarian Brute has all the potential in the world as long as he’s booked better than when he lost the US Title to John Cena.

Backstage: Tom Phillips is standing by with WWE Universal Champion Kevin Owens, The Prize Fighter speaks about Seth Rollins defeating himself and Chris Jericho last week on RAW, but he wouldn’t call him a winner. Perhaps broken is better after he powerbombed Rollins on the apron, KO claiming the last time he did that was to John Cena, who it took weeks to come back. Owens thinks Seth is trying to play the hero tonight against doctor’s advice, but The Architect regaining the championship is just not going to happen. The champion vows to make the Roman Reigns vs. Rusev match look like a cake-walk when he’s finished with Seth, stating he will still be the WWE Universal Champion.

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