Review by Adam Stephen Kelly
UK Certification 15 | UK RRP £17.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 167 minutes
Precisely a year after the very first Hell in a Cell pay-per-view, the WWE brought back the Devil's Playground for a near three-hour event where Satan's structure would surround the ring not once, but twice, which incidentally is once less than the 2009 edition. Although with the PG rating and a lack of blood and the kind of ultra-violence that we have been accustomed to from such a stipulation, at least the original Hell in a Cell event produced three very different main events held inside the colossal cage, but sadly that positive could not be replicated on October 3 of last year, and, despite the former appeal of such matches, we were sadly presented with a throwaway event that began on a high and ended on a low. 
Last year's inaugural Hell in a Cell event opened with a match inside that very structure, but then again there were three separate bouts on that particular card. This year however, we got things started with Daniel Bryan defending his Intercontinental Title against The Miz and John Morrison in a pretty crazy and creative rumble around the arena, Triple Threat Falls Count Anywhere style. I liked the dynamic that The Miz's opponents were both men who he had been associated with in the past – Morrison of course from their days as a tag team and Bryan being his rookie on the first season of NXT. This was a fun opener that included what was really the spot of the night: Morrison's flying crossbody from the top of 15-foot high staging. Yes, higher than when he took a leap of faith onto Miz and Alex Riley during his WWE Title Falls Count Anywhere match on the first RAW of 2011. He certainly has a knack for crowd-pleasing high spots, a little like the WWE's new Jeff Hardy. He's definitely one to watch, but will 2011 be his year?
WWE Championship Hell in a Cell Match: Randy Orton (c) vs. Sheamus ???
This was a solid match in itself, but not a patch on previous Hell in a Cell wars. I'm not one of the many short-sighted individuals who blames WWE's PG rating on every ailment that they believe the company suffers from, but I will admit that this particular stipulation just does not work without the old TV-14 demographical stamp. This match was thrown together as a result of the outcome of the Six Pack Challenge at Night of Champions which saw Orton capture the WWE Title. They literally had a couple of weeks, because the schedule was so tight between pay-per-views, to build a feud going into what was once considered the be-all-and-end-all for rivalries. It's certainly not now. Blood was overused in the pre-PG days, there's no denying it, but a match that truly needed it to live up to its name was Hell in a Cell, and so the lack of it today puts a cap on the limits of your expectations. Are we ever going to see brutal, all-out brawls like Mankind vs. The Undertaker from King of the Ring '98, or Cactus Jack vs. Triple H at No Way Out 2000? Probably not.
I still enjoyed this bout for what it was, despite such moments as Sheamus hitting the Irish Curse Backbreaker atop the ring steps, which did absolutely nothing to make the move even more devastating, and when Orton hit the match-ending RKO on the steps and the challenger jumped about ten feet in the air before the WWE Champion had even grabbed hold of his head on the way down. And could you ever believe that Sheamus had a chance in hell of winning back the gold just two weeks after he lost it? Nope. Killed in the crib.
Jack Swagger vs. Edge ??
The Anonymous RAW General Manager booked this contest on the fly after Edge interrupted Alberto Del Rio's in-ring mockery of the live crowd, and Jack Swagger waltzed on down to the squared circle to complain about why he wasn't featured on the card. It was a segment of simple math that lead to this one: Edge + Jack Swagger (two Superstars with the night off) = fight. It was a decent but forgettable bout – you can never really get into impromptu action sanctioned on a pay-per-view when there is zero build. Well, not unless it's like the four-team Ladder Match from Armageddon 2006 for the Tag Team Titles.
Nexus Membership vs. Nexus Disbanding: John Cena vs. Wade Barrett ???
A continuation of the bitter rivalry between the Nexus and Cena, if the fan favourite was to come out on a defeat at Hell in a Cell, he would be forced to join the devastating faction. Of course, this turned out to be the case, but not before an extremely physical one-on-one battle that had plenty of twists and turns throughout. The scheming leader Wade Barrett's mention of a plan loomed over the entire match, and when all the Nexus members came down to the ring, were swiftly told not to touch Cena, and then taken out by a motley crew of RAW and SmackDown Superstars, it was a great swerve. What on Earth was Barrett's plan? Had it been foiled by the WWE locker room? Nope, it was still to come with the debuts of Michael McGillicutty (Mr. Perfect's son) and Husky Harris (Irwin R. Schyster's son) that cost Cena the match and his chance of getting rid of the Nexus for good. This was a refreshing take on the stale direction that it could have gone (the current stable members interfering yet again) and made the man against men feud that much more interesting.
Unified Divas Championship: Michelle McCool (c) vs. Natalya ?
Another horrible Divas clash on pay-per-view. A couple of minutes of lackluster action from the bell lead up to Natalya locking in the Sharpshooter on the champion, only for her to win the match by disqualification thanks to Layla throwing her shoes into the ring from the outside. Stupid, stupid finish.
World Heavyweight Championship Hell in a Cell Match: Kane (c) vs. The Undertaker ??
This would have been a good match, except for the ending, had it not been contested inside the cell. Like Sheamus/Orton, the structure wasn't a significant part of the actual match. This pay-per-view could have been called, if it had to rhyme, Rage in a Cage, with the main events held in Steel Cage Matches, that's how useless the actual cell was, sans a couple of slams into the wire mesh walls. This was basically a re-run of their No Holds Barred match from Night of Champions, except they went all around ringside rather than the arena, since they were trapped.
I couldn't have anticipated Paul Bearer turning on The Undertaker because it had already been done back in the '90s, so I did not expect the birth of such a recycled storyline at this event. What are they, TNA? And it was handled so poorly. I don't think any of the live crowd could have actually seen what had happened when Bearer shone a bright light from the urn into the Deadman's eyes. I say bright, but it really wasn't, even in the purple darkness that fell over the arena as the Phenom signaled for the end. For not only the second Hell in a Cell bout of the night, but the Kane vs. The Undertaker one-on-one match inside the cell that many, including me, have been waiting years for, this was extremely disappointing.
EXTRAS ? In the first of two home video exclusives, Josh Mathews speaks to John Cena backstage after his defeat at the hands of Nexus; and then we return to the September 27, 2010 edition of RAW where Randy Orton sent Chris Jericho back on hiatus from the WWE with a punt kick. The second exclusive follows this footage, showing Jericho taken away from the ring on a stretcher.