WWE Hell in a Cell 2017 review: What we learned, takeaways, future projections

Randy Orton vs. Rusev

What we learned: The biggest thing we learned here is that WWE creative still has no idea what to do with Rusev.

Once an unstoppable force that went undefeated for nearly a year, Rusev has now become just another midcard jobber, and it’s very unfortunate. The guy has so much potential and has proven that he can put on some great matches, but he just looks lost out there right now. Or even worse, he just kind of looks that he’s out there right now just to be out there. I get that Randy Orton sacrificed himself by putting over Jinder Mahal time and time again, but there has to be a better way to make it up to him than this.

The match itself was fine but it was nothing to write home about. The two went back and forth, both inside and outside the ring, but the pace was pretty slow from the start and really never picked up much as it went along. These are two athletic guys and they can do better than this. I did like Rusev repeatedly getting out of the draped DDT, making it that much better when Orton finally did land it, but when that’s the highlight of the match, that’s a bit of a problem. Sure, there were a couple of good counters in there but this match could just as easily kicked off the second hour of SmackDown Live.

I just haven’t bought into the storyline here. They’re supposed to hate each other and none of it looks particularly genuine. Maybe it’s the fact that they were put in the unfortunate position of following The New Day and The Usos, but this match was average at best. I will say that Rusev does know how to properly take an RKO. The snapping motion looks very solid.

What’s next: It’s hard to know exactly where things go from here. That was considered the rubber match in the feud after two very short encounters between Orton and Rusev, and continuing this program wouldn’t help anyone. It’s going to take some time to build Rusev back up following this loss, and it feels that whatever storyline he gets into next isn’t going to be much better than this one. With Orton just getting out of the WWE Championship picture, I don’t see him going back to that next. Perhaps he inserts himself into the crowded United States Championship picture. Or perhaps I was just looking for a segue to the next page.