WWE Hell in a Cell 2009 Review

Match 1: World Heavyweight Championship - Hell in a Cell - CM Punk (c) vs. The Undertaker
Rarely does the World Heavyweight Championship match jerk the curtain. Not to mention this is a Hell in a Cell match. Their weird 2009 feud was ready to culminate here under The Undertaker's specialty match. They placed the foundation of the match early with CM Punk using his quickness to get away from The Undertaker and trying to get in his offense before The Deadman could even reach him. Undertaker would eventually catch up and lay a good beating into Punk. However, Punk got more than enough offense to make this match a great one. I was scared that this would be a squash match inside the Cell but that definitely was not the case. Undertaker barely hit his Tombstone and wins the match to score another World Heavyweight Championship. Punk's summer glory would eventually come to an end following this match as there were lots of rumors swirling around that Punk disrespected the locker room at this time. Whether that is true or not, The Undertaker is back as SmackDown's top dog.
Winner: The Undertaker
Rating: ***1/4

Match 2: Intercontinental Championship - John Morrison (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler
Remember how sweet that SmackDown roster was in 2009? John Morrison had some great matches against Rey Mysterio for the Intercontinental Championship as Dolph Ziggler was establishing himself as a contender. This match right here really came out of nowhere. It may have started a bit slow and the crowd seemed to have died down from the previous contest but they definitely fired up the train a few minutes later. Ziggler looked like a legit contender here as he was able to get in a very substantial amount of offense against the champion before Morrison was able to land a swift knee to Ziggler's face before following it up with a Starship Pain. While the match was great, it did suffer from a slow start and a dead crowd. Not to mention that there were way too many nearfalls that may have taken some out of the match. Regardless, great showing from the SmackDown boys.
Winner: John Morrison
Rating: ***1/4

Match 3: Divas Championship - Mickie James (c) vs. Alicia Fox
It's really hard to take these Divas matches seriously sometimes. Especially when you see what kind of product the women are putting out in 2016 and go back to see something like this. Basic Divas match here with sloppy action before James hits her DDT for the win. Moving on.
Winner: Mickie James
Rating: 1/2*

Match 4: Unified Tag Team Championships - The Big Show & Chris Jericho (c) vs. Batista & Rey Mysterio
Trying to recreate their magic from 2005, Batista & Rey Mysterio team up to take on the The Big Show & Chris Jericho for the gold. With the experience all four guys in the ring have, it's no surprise how well they worked with each other. Every move made sense, every spot was timely placed and every pin had a meaning to it. I loved how they made Show a beast again in 2009 as he made the team of himself with Jericho a force to be reckoned with. Mysterio accepted the challenge against the giant and ultimately failed. But it was a cool moment to see Mysterio refuse to tag in Batista and respond to the call. It's also hilarious to see Jericho gloat throughout the match despite Show doing almost all of the work for his team. Despite coming close near the end, Big Show was able to stop the momentum that Batista & Mysterio had created with a nasty punch to the face of Mysterio as he flew off the top rope. Another great match from the SmackDown brand here with a great finish. Amazing how easy these four guys made it look out there.
Winners: The Big Show & Chris Jericho
Rating: ***1/2

Match 5: WWE Championship - Hell in a Cell - John Cena (c) vs. Randy Orton
I can't even tell you how many times I've seen these two in a PPV match. After their match at Breaking Point, they have a rematch set here inside the second Hell in a Cell match of the night. These matches become hard to review when you've seen so many of them and try to differentiate them. The match itself felt very similar to their Breaking Point match with the exception that they were inside the cage and this time, Orton got the win. Very slow paced match here. They made every little move count and they spaced them out. That would work if they weren't inside the damn cage. I felt the hate between the two but this is a Hell in a Cell match, I wish they would have sped up the action and make use of the cage more so than what they did. Orton was able to punt Cena in the skull to win and capture another WWE Championship. While I still think they should have had Cena win and make this the finale, they went on to have an Iron Man match of all things at the next PPV. One of the more dull Hell in a Cell matches that you'll see in a lifetime.
Winner: Randy Orton
Rating: **3/4

Match 6: R-Truth vs. Drew McIntyre
The fall of 2009 was the time when Vince McMahon wanted to handpick his next big thing. That man... Drew McIntyre. Thought it was odd choice back in the day and I still have the same feeling in 2016. The dude was so inexperienced, had the worst entrance music prior to his Broken Dreams one and was pretty to boring to watch. That isn't to say he didn't improve within the next couple years because he certainly did. But as for this night, the crowd was not having any of this match. R-Truth managed to squeeze in some offense but from the start, this was all McIntyre. McIntyre hit his DDT finisher to score the win as his boring and generic rock music played right after.
Winner: Drew McIntyre
Rating: *1/4

Match 7: United States Championship - Kofi Kingston (c) vs. The Miz vs. Jack Swagger
One last championship match before the main event as Kofi Kingston defends his gold against The Miz and Jack Swagger. Always been a fan of these three and a triple threat match against each other on a PPV can only be good. For whatever reason, I just didn't feel like this match clicked on all cylinders. The action was pretty fast but at the same time, everything felt like it was planted out in advance. The ending sequence was a fun one as Swagger hit Miz with his finishing powerbomb before Kingston nails Swagger with a kick to the face for the win. Good match before the main event to get a spot on the PPV for these guys.
Winner: Kofi Kingston
Rating: **3/4

Match 8: Hell in a Cell - D-Generation X vs. Legacy
The heated feud between these two teams finally hits its conclusion inside Hell in a Cell. Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase of Legacy looked confident after talking things over with Randy Orton after his title win. However, he made sure to remind them that win or loss, nobody comes out of it the same. Legacy sneak attacks D-Generation X from behind as Triple H & Shawn Michaels were coming down to the ring. The fight starts outside Hell in a Cell before the bell even rings as the mayhem gets taken into the stands. Finally, Legacy gets the advantage and lock themselves inside with Michaels as Triple H was forced to watch as his partner got decimated. Finally, and I mean finally, Triple H comes back and opens up the door and makes the save for his team as they lay out Legacy for the win. Hard to give this match more than *** when it was basically a handicap match. This was Legacy beating down Michaels for a strong part of the match before Triple H made the save that seemingly took forever. After their big win at Breaking Point, you think a win here for Legacy would have been in their cards. 2009 in a nutshell.
Winners: D-Generation X
Rating: **3/4

Overall Show Thoughts and Rating:
This was a hard show to grade. On one hand, the SmackDown side of things delivered for the most part while the Raw side of things didn't bring too much to the table. This was the inaugural Hell in a Cell PPV and it would have been nice to start things with a bang. But with the PG perimeters at its peak, it was hard to do anything out of the ordinary as it felt like the matches were trapped in a box. I liked have the D-Generation X vs. Legacy match close the show, but it really fell flat on its face. 
Rating: 6.75/10