WWE Hell in a Cell 2018 review: What we learned, takeaways, future projections

WWE Championship Match

AJ Styles (c) vs. Samoa Joe

What we learned: We learned here that AJ Styles is still the WWE Champion but didn’t really win this match.

I really didn’t like the placement of this match. I understand that this was never going to go on last with this bout not taking place inside the confines of Hell in a Cell, but putting it after the RAW Tag Team Championship was a big mistake. This was a good match that could have been better but the San Antonio crowd seemed to be exhausted from what they had just witnessed and were never really into it until the end.

I kept waiting for this one to go to another level but it never quite did that. The physicality was certainly there, and I do have to give Styles crazy props for getting Joe up into that torture rack that he turned into a spinning powerbomb. Very cool spot. But AJ also took his fair share of bumps and got a little bloodied up in the mouth along the way.

While the match was good, I will say that the finishing sequence was great with the counter to the finishers that led to the controversial ending. Joe slapped on the Coquina Clutch but the champion reversed into a rollup and got the 1-2-3. However, Joe claimed that Styles had tapped at two and a later replay showed that he did just that. The ref was out of position and the original camera angle didn’t show us anything, which played very nicely. With the intensity that this feud has had, I thought Joe would take out his frustrations on Styles but AJ got to him first.

What’s next: With the finish being what it was, this program certainly isn’t over. Samoa Joe now has a legitimate claim that he should be WWE Champion, and Paige has already allowed him to get his rematch at Super Show-Down next month in a match where there must be a definitive winner. It seems a little strange that they’re going this route again seeing as we just went through a similar situation with Roman Reigns when he speared Brock Lesnar through the cage in Saudi Arabia. This is a little different with the submission but it’s essentially the same thing.