What we learned from ‘Hell in a Cell 2017’: Say it ain’t so, Sami

WWE Hell In A Cell promised to be a huge night. It promised to be a brutal night. It even promised to be a shocking night — but nobody could have expected what happened at the end of the main event. This was a night that could send shockwaves through WWE SmackDown Live, and it’s going to take a long time for everything to shake out.

Kevin Owns defeating Shane McMahon was probably not a huge shock to many WWE fans. After all, he’s one of the most ruthless superstars in the company, so pairing his unique brand of destruction against Everyone’s Favorite Dad in Shane O’Mac was really only going to end one way: with Shane getting carted out strapped to a back board.

But how Owens won is going to have the WWE Universe buzzing for weeks to come.

That’s because after a long and grueling match, Shane actually had himself set up to win. Owens was lying helpless on an announce desk after being thrown off the side of the cell and into another desk, and Shane was set to leap off the top of the cell and crash through Owens and the table from a great height, as he is wont to do.

Then Sami Zayn appeared out of nowhere, and everything changed.

Zayn pulled Owens of the table at the last second, sending McMahon crashing through it on his own. Then after talking a moment to assess the carnage, Zayn pushed Owens into Shane and yelled at the referee until he counted the pinfall.

Why it matters: For Zayn to do this, to help Owens like this after everything they’ve been through over the past two and a half years since Owens betrayed him in NXT, is utterly shocking. These two went from best friends to waging a seemingly unending war against each other. Zayn warned Shane for weeks about what would happen if he took this match ... but no one thought that this is what he meant.

Where do we go from here? All eyes will be on SmackDown on Tuesday, because one question needs answering: Why, Sami? Why?

This could be the beginning of something huge. Zayn and Owens have a long history together, and whenever they’ve been united, few can stop them. No matter what, though, this is already some of the best storytelling WWE has done in a long time.

Jinder Mahal is still the WWE Champion, having defeated Shinsuke Nakamura once more. Unlike his past “triumphs,” though, this one was different, because Mahal beat Nakamura clean in the middle of the ring.

Make no mistake, the Singh Brothers — who have been a constant nuisance ever since Mahal started his rise to the title — tried to interfere in the match. But referee Charles Robinson was having none of it this time and threw them out of the match. That seemed to set up Nakamura to hit his trademark Kinshasa knee strike on a reeling champion — but Mahal countered it beautifully, and moments later the bell was ringing and Mahal was a victor once more.

Why it matters: This is Mahal’s first truly clean win as a champion, and if nothing else it’s refreshing to see a different finish in one of his matches. It’s certainly looking like he’s going to be the WWE Champion for quite awhile yet, probably through at least Survivor Series at this point, and possibly even past the Royal Rumble. Such a long reign is not something anyone would have imagined six months ago, but here we are.

For Nakamura, things are a bit murkier. It feels like his stock has fallen a bit recently, and fans already aren’t reacting to him like they did for his debut or back in NXT. He needs a bit of a reset at this point, but it’s tough to see another program that can help re-establish his momentum right now.

The Usos are the dominant force in SmackDown’s tag team division once more, dispatching The New Day’s Xavier Woods and Big E inside Hell In A Cell to kick off the night. Rarely before have the tag team titles been decided inside the Cell, and frankly whoever has to next is going to have a rough time topping that match.

Why it matters: Despite Woods blaming himself for the loss on Twitter later on in the night, no one in that match should feel an ounce of shame. It was the best match yet between these two teams — and that’s a very high bar at this point — and all four men in the ring performed magnificently.

It’s almost a shame that the match carried a no-rematch stipulation, because it wouldn’t be a shame at all if these two teams wrestled each other forever. But now the trio of The New Day need to figure out what comes next, and The Usos move on to their next opponents. The question is who that could be, especially with a thin tag division and the trim brothers seeming to somewhat back to their old good natured selves. There is a pair of old friends who may have just reunited, though...

Baron Corbin is the new United States champion after defeating Tye Dillinger and the now ex-champ AJ Styles in a surprise triple threat match. Dillinger wasn’t added to the match until the pre-show, and Corbin took full advantage by isolating the man who had been a recent thorn in his side late in the match to seal his victory.

Why it matters: Winning his first belt in WWE indicates that Corbin has regained the faith of those in the back after being deemed unready for the main event scene and losing his Money In The Back cash in in embarrassing fashion. Now with a title in hand he can establish himself as a major force in the company, and Dillinger will make a good first feud for him as champion.

As for Styles, he had done about all that he needed to with the United States championship, and with Survivor Series and the Royal Rumble looming in there next few months it was time for him to pivot to something new. Don’t be surprised if he’s butting heads with Mahal soon, because no one else on SmackDown is positioned to challenge the so-called Modern Day Maharaja right now.

Natalya remains the SmackDown women’s champion thanks to an intentional disqualification, taking a chair to Charlotte Flair just as it looked like her old rival was about to take the upper hand for good in the match. She didn’t stop there, though, continuing to attack Charlotte and just about wearing the chair out on her, including a number of targeted shots at her legs.

Why it matters: It was a shame to see an entertaining match end that way, but it gives you the sense that this feud isn’t over. Charlotte may get some time off after the beating she sustained after the bell, but the match itself was definitely good enough for WWE to come back to this whenever she comes back, because there’s a lot more story to be told between the modern day representatives of the Hart and Flair families.

Randy Orton and Rusev wrestled again. Orton won again with ease, but at least this time it resembled a real match.

Why it matters: It doesn’t really. This program only exists because neither Orton nor Rusev have anything else to do right now, and frankly they still won’t for awhile, so this probably won’t be the last filler match they work. At least they teased a chance of a Rusev win this time.

Bobby Roode was triumphant in his main roster pay-per-view debut, but he only got to enjoy his victory for about a second and a half before Dolph Ziggler struck back and left him lying in the middle of the ring as the self-proclaimed greatest wrestler in the company walked away.

Why it matters: Roode and Ziggler actually worked a fairly entertaining match, at least one much more so than was predicted before the show. But Roode’s character still needs some fleshing out for the main roster, especially given his significant change in nature, so it’s for the best that their story continue for now — though maybe Ziggler can try being at least a little more interesting than he’s been of late.