WWE Hell in a Cell 2017 review: What we learned, takeaways, future projections
By Luke Norris
Bobby Roode vs. Dolph Ziggler
What we learned: As it was with the Natalya-Charlotte match, we learned here with the finish that this program isn’t over, and I don’t really know if that’s a good thing. Or maybe we learned here that like Rusev, creative doesn’t know what to do with Dolph Ziggler. Either way, this really isn’t doing much for me.
The “gimmick without a gimmick” thing that Dolph Ziggler has got going right now with the multiple entrances and such made me chuckle a little bit when it first got going, but it’s not helping his career at all. I don’t know if he needs a change of scenery, a la Cody Rhodes, but I’m actually starting to feel sorry for him and that’s very unfortunate as I’ve always been a fan of his work. He’s not lying when he says that he’s one of the best in-ring performers in the company, and it’s a shame that we really haven’t gotten to see a lot of that in 2017.
As for this particular match, it was pretty average. This was Bobby Roode’s first pay-per-view match since being called up to the main roster, and it was important for him to get a win in his debut, but it wasn’t anything spectacular. I’m going to blame the Jinder Mahal monstrosity on sucking some of the life out of the crowd but that wasn’t the only issue here. This is one of those forced “rivalries” that doesn’t seem like a real rivalry at all. Ziggler doing all of these entrances of former WWE superstars could only lead to something with Roode, who does still have one of the best entrances in the world, but once that’s over, where does that leave Dolph?
I enjoyed the last few minutes of this match with the counters, and the multiple roll-ups for the finish was actually pretty clever.
What’s next: After taking the pin, Dolph Ziggler hit a zigzag, which obviously means that these two are going to go at it at least one more time. I do enjoy an angry Dolph Ziggler but this could be done a little better. I think Roode could be a nice United States Champion a few months down the line, but this match really didn’t do much to feature his abilities. Hopefully, the rematch or set of rematches come on Tuesday nights and not on a pay-per-view.