What is Hell in a Cell? A history of the infamous Bad Blood battle

It’s official, ladies and gentlemen of the WWE Universe. Not only is Bad Blood returning to raucous fanfare as one of the most brutal premium live events (once a pay-per-view in yesteryear) this October, but so is the infamously visceral Hell in a Cell match — featuring none other than CM Punk and Drew McIntyre.

This is hot on the heels of Punk defeating McIntyre in a strap match at SummerSlam.

But for the uninitiated: what in the world is “Hell in a Cell”?!

Well, I’m glad you asked, because it’s the ride of your life, is what it is.

The Beginning

It’s a match with roots that stretch back to the Year of Our Lord 1997, when Shawn Michaels’ interference in a match between The Undertaker and Bret “The Hitman” Hart led to Taker and the Heartbreak Kid going all out in a no disqualification match that involved the lowering of a metal housing structure not only over the ring, but being bigger than a normal cage, it encompassed the entire ringside area as well.

The Insanity

Things got insanely brutal when WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley got his hands on it, regardless of which version of himself was participating — the 1998 version involving Mankind facing off against The Undertaker in one of the most insane matches you will ever see in your life.

Seriously, it was a horror movie.

It’s the one you’ve seen clips of, undoubtedly, Taker throwing Mankind off of the top of the massive structure onto a table that was far, far below them. Mankind would need to be helped to a stretcher that was leading him away from the match when he got off of it and limped back to the ring for more brutality.

The match effectively took on a life of its own, an ironic way of describing something that drags superstars so close to their death.

The Inhumanity

There have been many variations of the match and the women’s division eventually got involved when Charlotte Flair and Sasha Banks went at it in 2016, with Flair taking the Women’s Championship off of her. Two years later, the structure was remade to be smaller and more … ahem … intimate as wrestlers beat the holy hell out of each other, including pulling out tables, chairs, kendo sticks and even a ring full of thumbtacks.

CM Punk is no stranger to what awaits him, considering he participated in a Hell the Cell match against The Undertaker himself, in 2009, and again on two other occasions — owning a 2-1 record with his lone loss being to The Dead Man — while Drew Mcintyre has been involved in two to date, being 0-2 in his first two tries.

Advantage, Punk.

But considering anything goes during a Hell a Cell match, and the current cache of both Punk and McIntyre, it’s impossible to predict who breaks their 1-1 series tie on Oct. 5 in Atlanta.

One thing that is guaranteed, though?

UNFILTERED VIOLENCE.

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