#13
Alberto del Rio vs. CM Punk vs. John Cena
Hell in a Cell ’11
This is by far the best Hell in a Cell match in the dedicated pay-per-view’s history, so far. It gets swept under the rug because of how poor the WWE’s annual fall season has been for several years, but this is definitely an underrated match that deserves some recognition.
An argument could be made that Alberto del Rio had no place in the title feud between CM Punk and John Cena. An argument could be made that having him win the WWE Championship at all muted one of the best stories WWE had done in years, in the infamous “Summer of Punk” angle. An argument could be made that Hell in a Cell would have been the perfect way to end a program between CM Punk and John Cena. All of these arguments are totally valid.
But just judging this match on its bell-to-bell value, it totally belongs on the second half of this list. The crowd was behind Punk and reigning champion Cena equally, and fully against Alberto del Rio. The action was very solid, with almost 24 minutes of wrestling, weapons and mayhem. The inevitable heel shenanigans that saw Ricardo Rodriguez assault a referee and unlock the Cell were well booked and executed. I like that Cena got locked out, as it put a ton of heat on ADR for him to go over dirty while the champion could only watch from the outside as he lost the title.
This was a really fun match, with a good crowd, and one of the few acceptable heel-tastic screwy finishes in recent years.
