21 Things You Probably Don't Know About 'Hell in a Cell'

No Hell in a Cell match that has ever aired on Monday Night Raw has ever resulted in a clear-cut winner.
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ATLANTA, GA - APRIL 03: Wrestler The Undertaker during WrestleMania XXVII at Georgia Dome on April 3, 2011 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage)
ATLANTA, GA - APRIL 03: Wrestler The Undertaker during WrestleMania XXVII at Georgia Dome on April 3, 2011 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage)

1. The very first 'Hell in a Cell' match, which featured Shawn Michaels against The Undertaker at In Your House: Badd Blood in October 1997, is best known for the debut of Kane, The Dead Man's brother. What has been forgotten is that it was a number one contender's match for the WWF Championship. Because Michaels won, thanks to Kane tombstoning The Phenom, he was booked to face WWF Champion Bret Hart at the 1997 Survivor Series the following November. We all know how that turned out.

2. Since the introduction of this concept in 1997, there has been at least one Hell in a Cell match every year except 2001.

3. Before it was given its own pay-per-view in 2009, the match was booked for various supercards like WrestleMania 15 and Survivor Series 2007. It has never taken place during a Royal Rumble event.

4. When Triple H enters the Cell as either WWE Champion or the World Heavyweight Champion, he never loses.

5. When Triple H teams up with Shawn Michaels in a HIAC match, D-Generation X always wins.

6. No Hell in a Cell match that has ever aired on Monday Night Raw has ever resulted in a clear-cut winner. During a June 1998 episode, The Undertaker and Stone Cold Steve Austin battled Mankind and Kane to a no-contest. Two months later, during another Raw show, a match between Kane and Mankind ended the same way.

7. Despite creating some of the most memorable moments of his career inside and out of that giant cage, Mick Foley has never won a Hell in a Cell match. He's 0 for 4.

8. Shawn Michaels is the only man to act as a special guest referee in two different Cell matches. At the 2013 Hell in a Cell event, he officiated the Randy Orton/Daniel Bryan contest for the WWE title. (His unexpected Sweet Chin Music on the Yes Man allowed The Viper to take the strap.) He previously officiated The Undertaker/Triple H epic at WrestleMania 29. Mick Foley is the only other special guest referee in the history of the concept. He was the third man in the ring during the Triple H/Kevin Nash Cell match at Badd Blood 2003.

9. The World Heavyweight Championship has only changed hands once in a HIAC match. At the inaugural HIAC pay-per-view in 2009, The Undertaker took the gold away from CM Punk in the opening contest.

10. John Cena has never successfully defended the WWE title inside the Cell at a HIAC pay-per-view. He dropped the belt to Randy Orton at the 2009 show. Then, in a triple threat match against Punk and Alberto Del Rio in 2011, thanks to the interference of his personal ring announcer Ricardo Rodriguez, Cena lost it to the Mexican Aristocrat.

11. The Hell in a Cell match has been held at more Badd Blood pay-per-views than at any other non-HIAC WWE supershow. Besides Michaels/Undertaker in 1997, Triple H beat Kevin Nash in 2003 and The Heartbreak Kid in 2004.

12. The Triple H/Michaels 2004 Badd Blood HIAC match is the longest one in history. According to Wikipedia, it lasted nearly 50 minutes.

13. There were 3 HIAC matches between June and August 1998 (the two aforementioned Monday Night Raws and the infamous King Of The Ring classic between The Undertaker and Mankind). Eleven years later, there were three Cell matches in one night at the first HIAC pay-per-view. There has never been more than three in a given year.

14. The 2013 HIAC match between Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton marks the one and only time two challengers have contended for a vacant WWE Championship inside the Cell. In every previous HIAC title bout, there was always an established champion defending his belt.

15. The Undertaker and Triple H have both won six Hell in a Cell matches apiece, the most in the history of the concept. However, The Dead Man has appeared in more Cell matches altogether. Twelve compared to The Game's nine.

16. Batista is the only man to successfully defend the World Heavyweight Championship in a HIAC match twice. He defeated Triple H at Vengeance 2005 and The Undertaker at Survivor Series 2007.

17. WrestleMania 29 wasn't the first time The Cerebral Assassin and The Dead Man wrestled in a HIAC match. At Armageddon 2000, they were two of the five challengers after Kurt Angle's WWF Championship in the only Six-Pack Challenge that has ever taken place inside the Cell. (The name actually didn't exist back then.) Stone Cold Steve Austin, Rikishi (father of The Usos) and The Rock were the others. Angle retained.

18. There have been two handicap matches inside the Cell. CM Punk disposed of Ryback and Paul Heyman (who spent the entirety of the match on top of the cage) at HIAC 2013 and D-X beat The Big Show and Vince & Shane McMahon back at Unforgiven 2006.

19. Speaking of Punk and Ryback, they are the only two competitors to have wrestled inside The Devil's Playground in back-to-back HIAC pay-per-views. The Straight Edge Superstar won both encounters in 2012 and 2013.

20. Only one Cell match has never taken place on TV or at a pay-per-view. On September 26, 2011, WWE Champion John Cena defended his title against CM Punk, Alberto Del Rio, Jack Swagger and US Champ Dolph Ziggler in a HIAC match that took place after Monday Night Raw went off the air in Kansas City, Missouri. According to Wikipedia, it lasted 5 minutes. Cena retained.

21. At No Mercy 2002, Brock Lesnar successfully defended his WWE Championship against The Undertaker in a HIAC match. Twelve years later, he ended The Streak at WrestleMania 30.

Read more by Dennis Earl at dennisearl.wordpress.com

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