Worst in the World: Seth Rollins vs "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt-Hell in a Cell 2019

...You knew it was coming. After this happened, you knew it would be showing up in a series chronicling the worst wrestling matches of all time. This match isn't even a year old, but it's already gone down as one of WWE's most catastrophically bad matches in the company's history. Seth Rollins and Bray Wyatt's Hell in a Cell match for the Universal Championship won the Wrestling Observer Newsletter's Worst Match of the Year and received -2 stars from Dave Meltzer, the lowest a WWE match has gotten since 2007. To put that in perspective, here are some matches that happened between then that got a better rating than this match:

• Sting and Abyss' Last Rites match
• AJ Styles vs Frank Trigg in a worked MMA match
• WrestleMania XXV's Miss WrestleMania Battle Royal
• Santina Marella vs Vickie Guerrero & Chavo Guerrero in a Hogpen match 
• The match where Jeff Hardy got trashed before the main event
• Santino Marella vs Ricardo Rodriquez in a Tuxedo match
• John Cena vs John Laurinaitis
• That match where Breezango had fake sunburns at Money in the Bank 2016
• Alexa Bliss and Bayley's Kendo Stick on a Pole Match
• The Undertaker vs Goldberg at Super Showdown 2019

THE UNDERTAKER VS GOLDBERG AT SUPER SHOWDOWN 2019. That's the territory we're in right now. And honestly...Meltzer's right. This match is horrendous. Maybe Taker vs Goldberg is worse on a technical level, but that was a one-off match with zero storyline purpose on a propaganda show. This is so much worse in every way, for a variety of reasons. This was the icing on the cake of one of the worst, most blatantly phoned in shows WWE has ever put together. Hell in a Cell was so poorly thought out that only three of the nine matches were actually announced less than 48 hours before the show started. And with All Elite Wrestling launching Dynamite just four days before this show and beating NXT by a fairly wide margin, WWE needed to knock this out of the park. They didn't, and Seth Rollins vs Bray Wyatt is the worst of this awful show. It's now or never. Let's get into this.
Before the match starts...the red lights.

It's awful and I hate it. I get it, it's supposed to be creepy and yes, it does fit with the Fiend character...but this is visual torture. The red Hell in a Cell is already bad and hard to look at it, but this is worse. It feels like I'm watching this through a Virtual Boy, and nobody wants that. It is almost literally a red flag. Rollins cautiously & slowly approaches the Fiend before the Fiend charges at him. The Fiend tosses him away, prompting Rollins to charge at him and hit him. Rollins hits the ropes, only for the Fiend to catch him with a running headbutt. Rollins then proceeds to run around the ring, avoiding the Fiend, which leads to one of the reasons this whole feud was bad. Seth Rollins was a massive coward. The defining moment of this feud saw Rollins, the babyface champion who dethroned the biggest & baddest heel in the company just months before this, cowering in the corner as the Fiend took out Braun Strowman. That, combined with Rollins becoming a total asshole on Twitter, made it impossible to cheer this guy.
After Rollins circles the ring, he grabs a kendo stick from under the ring as the Fiend stares at him. Rollins enters the ring and hits the Fiend with the kendo stick. He no-sells it. Rollins hits him again, still nothing. This is a sign of bad things to come. Rollins goes for another shot, but the Fiend blocks it and punches Rollins into the corner. Rollins fights off the Fiend and goes for a diving double axe handle, but the Fiend catches him and hits a Uranage. Rollins rolls out of the ring, but the Fiend follows him and beats him down at ringside, throwing him around the cage. The Fiend continues to batter Rollins, throwing him into both sets of steel steps before going under the ring. However, Rollins springs back up and hits the Fiend with the steps three times, knocking him off his feet for the first time. Rollins grabs a table from under the ring before hitting two suicide dives and throwing the Fiend into the steps. Back in the ring, Rollins sets up the table as the Fiend gets back to his feet. Rollins goes for a third suicide dive, but the Fiend catches him and hits a Sister Abigail into the cage wall.
The Fiend throws Rollins back in the ring and goes for a Uranage through the table, but Rollins finds out and hits an enziguri followed by a superkick, laying the Fiend out across the table. Rollins quickly heads to the top rope and hits a diving splash through the table, but a beaten down Rollins can't make the cover. The Fiend gets to his feet before Rollins, who responds with a superkick and the Curb Stomp...and Wyatt gets right back up. That moment was cool, but this is where the match completely falls apart. Rollins hits another superkick and goes for another Stomp, but the Fiend catches him and hits a second Sister Abigail, but Rollins kicks out at two. The Fiend grabs Rollins and snaps his neck.

So yeah, the match is over. Seth Rollins is dead.

The Verdict

Oh no, wait, because even though he just had HIS NECK SNAPPED and he is LITERALLY MOTIONLESS, not only is Seth Rollins not dead but right after Rollins gets thrown out of the ring, he's rolling around. I know we're dealing with a cult leader turned children's TV show host who becomes an invincible monster because he put on a spooky mask, but that's wrestling. It's weird sh*t you have to suspend your disbelief for or else you can't enjoy it. This is just beyond suspending disbelief. If he had sold it like it hurt and didn't PARALYZE HIM, then yeah, it's all fine. But no, he falls down to the mat lifeless until he gets thrown out of the ring.

The Fiend goes back under the ring and pulls out the giant mallet from the Firefly Funhouse. Rollins gets back to his feet, only to be rammed into the cell by the Fiend with the mallet. Dio Maddin says that Rollins was almost impaled, which just means Dio Maddin doesn't know how impalment or hammers work. Rollins fights back with three superkicks and Stomps the Fiend onto the mallet. If your keeping track, that's Stomp #2 of the match. If you aren't...you might want to start. Just saying. Rollins follows up with a springboard knee strike. The Fiend doesn't go down. Rollins hits another one. The Fiend doesn't go down. Rollins hits two more superkicks, and this is where the match stops being a wrestling match and becomes comical. Rollins hits the Stomp (#3)...then another (#4)...then another (#5)...then a Pedigree (which he should never do because his Pedigree has always looked awful)...and finally, another Stomp (#6)...AND THE FIEND KICKS OUT AT 1. That's seven finishers in this match so far, five in succession...kick out at 1. By the way, when Rollins was hitting all those finishers, the crowd was booing him hard. The babyface is getting booed out of the building because this match is so beyond bad at this point.

Rollins follows this up with a superkick and another Stomp (#7)...and another (#8)...and another (#9)...and ANOTHER (#10)...AND ANOTHER (#11) before he decides to leave the ring. Rollins grabs a chair from under the ring and smashes the Fiend in the head. Rollins covers...THE FIEND KICKS OUT AT 1. Rollins goes under the ring and grabs a ladder. He lays the chair across the Fiend's head and smashes the ladder onto the chair. Rollins covers, the Fiend kicks out at 2. Rollins goes under the ring again and grabs a toolbox. Rollins covers the Fiend's face with the ladder before...putting the chair in between the ladder?

I don't know what that's going to do but sure, why not? Rollins smashes the toolbox across the ladder multiple times before placing it onto the pile. Rollins goes back under the ring and grabs a sledgehammer. Now, take yourself back to earlier in the match when the Fiend used his mallet, and that was totally cool with the referee. A mallet, which is essentially just a big sledgehammer. Keep that in mind with what happens next. Rollins gets back in the ring and goes to smash the Fiend with it, but the referee steps in the way and talks him out of it. And I mean TALKS HIM OUT OF IT, saying things like "THAT'S NOT WHO YOU ARE" and begging him not to do it. That's so weird. This match is supposed to be the most dangerous WWE has to offer. It's literally called Hell in a f*cking Cell. And what is the referee going to do if Rollins hits the Fiend with the sledgehammer, disqualify him? That's ridiculous, you can't get disqualified in a Hell in a Cell match...you can't get disqualified in a Hell in a Cell match, right?...Right? Rollins looks down, looking like he's on the verge of tears, and then slams the hammer down...and the referee calls for the bell. The match is over. A Hell in a Cell match, a match where getting thrown off the top of it and falling 20 ft to the ground and getting dropped through the top of the cell and falling so hard that the ring dents on impact aren't enough to end the match, ended because Seth Rollins hit a pile of stuff with a sledgehammer. And remember, big giant sledgehammer, totally fine. Regular sized sledgehammer, absolutely not OK. And WWE can say it was a referee stoppage and not a DQ, but the fact is, the end is the same; a Hell in a Cell, the most brutal match type in WWE history, had to be stopped because someone was being too brutal.

The cell rises as Rollins yells at the Fiend, all while the crowd BOOS THIS INTO OBLIVION. Think of the worst, most hostile crowd someone like Roman Reigns ever faced, and this reaction can actually compete in terms of contempt. Medics attend to the Fiend before Rollins bends over and yells at the Fiend. That allows the Fiend to reach up and lock in the Mandible Claw on Rollins. So again, to clarify, this match ended because the violence was too much, only for the person who had all that violence inflicted on them to be totally, 100% fine after the fact. The Fiend throws Rollins out of the ring and hits a Sister Abigail on the outside. The fans start chanting "RESTART THE MATCH!" but they're not getting it.  The Fiend exposes the concrete under the mats and hits another Sister Abigail. The Fiend locks in the Mandible Claw again, causing Rollins to spit up blood.

The lights go out, the crowd boos, the Fiend stares back at Rollins from the entranceway. The crowd boos some more, the lights go out again, Bray Wyatt laughs, the show ends.

The Verdict

I mean...what else is there to say? It's bad...it's really bad. Just about every single element of this match is bad. The red lighting is horrible, it makes watching the match a struggle and it's painful for the eyes. The cowardly, unlikeable Seth Rollins makes it impossible to root for the babyface. The comical no-selling of the Fiend went so far beyond intimidating that it was just laughably terrible. This was a complete burial of Seth Rollins' moveset. Think about this; 11 Stomps, 6 superkicks, 2 flying knees, a Pedigree, and a frog splash through a table, and Rollins could barely keep him down for two. And the finish...my god, the finish. Not only does it go against everything WWE has ever told us about Hell in a Cell. Not only is it made even worse by the fact that the post-match showed there was no kayfabe reason to actually end the match. But for the second year in a row, Hell in a Cell ended with the main event, the titular Hell in a Cell match, ending without a real winner. I honestly don't know how Hell in a Cell could ever be treated as a big deal again. The last two years, especially Hell in a Cell 2019, have proved that gimmick is a joke and means nothing. 

Thankfully, there is one thing this match didn't accomplish. This match could've killed the Fiend. This should've been Bray Wyatt's night. The man came back from a brutal character assassination that the WWE creative team has carried out on him for years and got over in a big way with something he came up with. He was the hottest thing going in WWE. He was one of the few bright spots, and one of the few really great things WWE has had going for the last few years. This should've been his night. But this match was so awful, it could've killed the character dead right there and then. A match this bad can last with a wrestler forever. Think about Kaitlyn and Maxine. Both went on to become solid workers, with Kaitlyn becoming Divas Champion and Maxine finding her stride in Lucha Underground as Catrina. But when you read their names, what's the first thing you thought of? I guarantee you, it was their disaster of a match on NXT. This match could've ruined the Fiend forever, but thankfully, the fans stuck behind him, and WWE corrected the mistake at Crown Jewel and gave the Fiend the Universal Championship. This match is a dumpster fire in the worse way. This is so bad that it's unbelievably bad. Like, you have to see it to believe that it exists. The only positive that I can even give this match is that nothing moves-wise was messed up or done wrong, which isn't saying much when a guy like Seth Rollins is involved. That's the only thing that stops this from being the worst match ever. Because as bad as everything about this match is, it still isn't...this:

Rankings (Best to Worst)

1. Rick Rude vs Jake Roberts-WrestleMania IV
2. Too Much vs Al Snow & Head-King of the Ring 1998
3. Randy Orton vs Bray Wyatt-WrestleMania 33
4. Vampiro vs Sting-Great American Bash 2000
5. T&A vs Head Cheese-WrestleMania 2000
6. Triple H vs Sgt. Slaughter-D-Generation X: In Your House
7. Konnan vs One Man Gang-SuperBrawl VI
8. Ultimate Warrior vs Hercules-WrestleMania IV
9. Rick Rude vs Hawk-Clash of the Champions XXV
10. Shelton Benjamin vs Viscera-New Year's Revolution 2006
11. Steve McMichael vs Reggie White-Slamboree 1997
12. The Tag Team Fatal 4-Way Match-WrestleMania 13
13. Tag Team Battle Royal-WrestleMania XIV
14. The Chamber of Horrors-Halloween Havoc 1991
15. The Natural Disasters vs Money Inc.-WrestleMania VIII
16. Ivan Koloff vs Paul Jones-Clash of the Champions IV
17. ODB, Taylor Wilde, and Roxxi vs The Kongtourage-Genesis 2009
18. Ivory vs Tori-SummerSlam 1999
19. Jerry Blackwell vs Boris Zhukov-SuperClash II
20. Nikita Koloff vs Bobby Eaton-Bunkhouse Stampede
21. Alex Wright vs Steve McMichael-Halloween Havoc 1997
22. The Great Khali vs Kane-WrestleMania 23
23. Savio Vega vs Crush vs Faarooq-Ground Zero: In Your House
24. Total Divas vs Other Divas-Survivor Series 2013
25. The Oddities vs Kaientai-SummerSlam 1998
26. Hulk Hogan vs Sid Justice-WrestleMania VIII
27. Paul Ellering vs Teddy Long-Capital Combat
28. Dusty Rhodes vs Big Boss Man-Saturday Night's Main Event (10/31/1989)
29. Tyson Tomko vs Stevie Richards-Unforgiven 2004
30. Kane vs The Great Khali-SummerSlam 2009
31. Hollywood Hogan vs The Giant-Hog Wild
32. Hollywood Hogan vs The Giant-Souled Out 1997
33. Dustin Rhodes & King Kong vs Awesome Kong & The Equalizer-Battlebowl
34. Finlay & Little Bastard vs The Boogeyman & Little Boogeyman-No Way Out 2007
35. Jake Roberts vs Andre the Giant-WrestleMania V
36. Yokozuna vs King Mabel-In Your House 4
37. Dusty Rhodes vs The Honky Tonk Man-SummerSlam 1989
38. Sting & Hawk vs Meng & Kurasawa-Clash of the Champions XXXI
39. Hulk Hogan vs Randy Savage-Uncensored 1998
40. Al Snow vs Big Boss Man-Unforgiven 1999
41. Mickie James vs Ashley-Royal Rumble 2006
42. Christy Hemme vs Big Fat Oily Guy-Against All Odds 2007
43. Stevie Ray vs Konnan-World War 3 1998
44. Vampiro vs The KISS Demon-Bash at the Beach 2000
45. Team WCW vs nWo Wolfpac vs nWo Hollywood-Fall Brawl 1998
46. Vampiro vs Oklahoma-Starrcade 1999
47. Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant-WrestleMania III
48. Van Hammer vs Terrance Taylor-Clash of the Champions XVI
49. Junkyard Dog vs Moondog Spot-Wrestling Classic
50. The Undertaker vs Goldberg-Super ShowDown 2019
51. Hiroshi Wajima vs Tom Magee-All Japan Pro Wrestling 1988
52. Jim Duggan vs Big Boss Man-Royal Rumble 1990
53. Meng vs Jim Duggan-Uncensored 1995
54. Jim Steele vs The Equalizer-SuperBrawl IV
55. D-Generation X vs Brothers of Destruction-Crown Jewel
56. Wendi Richter vs Leilani Kai-WrestleMania
57. Edge vs Triple H vs Vladimir Kozlov-Survivor Series 2008
58. Kevin Sullivan vs Dave Sullivan-SuperBrawl V
59. Steve McMichael vs Brian Adams-Road Wild 1998
60. Scott Hall vs Roddy Piper-SuperBrawl IX
61. Kane vs The Great Khali-Breaking Point
62. PN News & Bobby Eaton vs Steve Austin & Terrance Taylor-Great American Bash 1991
63. Scott Steiner vs Sid Vicious vs Jeff Jarrett vs Road Warrior Animal-Sin
64. Hollywood Hogan vs Roddy Piper-SuperBrawl 1997
65. Batista vs The Great Khali-SummerSlam 2007
66.  Sable vs Tori-WrestleMania XV
67. Super Invader vs Todd Champion-WrestleWar 1992
68. King Kong Bundy & Jim Neidhart vs Yokozuna & Jake Roberts-Heroes of Wrestling
69. Sid Vicious vs The Nightstalker-Clash of the Champions XIII
70. The 8-Divas Tag Match-Survivor Series 1999
71. The Fabulous Freebirds vs The Renegade Warriors-Halloween Havoc 1990
72. The Knockouts Gauntlet-One Night Only: Live! 2016
73. Rick Rude vs Masahiro Chono-Halloween Havoc 1992
74. Mike Awesome vs Vampiro-Halloween Havoc 2000
75. Bray Wyatt vs John Cena-Extreme Rules 2014
76. Brothers of Destruction vs KroniK-Unforgiven 2001
77. Mabel vs The Undertaker-King of the Ring 1995
78. Wendi Richter vs The Fabulous Moolah-The Brawl to End it All
79. David Flair vs Kimberly Page-Mayhem 1999
80. The Truth Commission vs The Disciples of Apocolypse-Survivor Series 1997
81. The Bushwhacker vs The Fabulous Rougeaus-WrestleMania V
82. The Beverly Brothers vs The Bushwhackers-Royal Rumble 1992
83. Teddy Long vs Eric Bischoff-Survivor Series 2005
84. Greg Valentine vs George Steele-Heroes of Wrestling
85. Abdullah the Butcher vs One Man Gang-Heroes of Wrestling
86. Major Gunns vs Miss Hancock-New Blood Rising
87. Bradshaw & Trish Stratus vs Christopher Nowinski & Jackie Gayda-RAW (7/8/2002)
88. Triple H vs Scott Steiner-Royal Rumble 2003
89. Hollywood Hogan vs The Warrior-Halloween Havoc 1998
90. Mr. T vs Roddy Piper-WrestleMania 2
91. The Royal Family vs Clowns R' Us-Survivor Series 1994
92. The Blacktop Bully vs Dustin Rhodes-Uncensored 1995
93. Pat Patterson vs Gerald Brisco-King of the Ring 2000
94. The Four Doinks vs Team Bigelow-Survivor Series 1993
95. Sting vs Jeff Hardy-Victory Road 2011
96. Oz vs Tim Parker-SuperBrawl
97. Ultimate Warrior vs Andre the Giant-Saturday Night's Main Event (11/25/1989)
98. The Doomsday Cage Match-Uncensored 1996
99. Kane vs The Undertaker-Judgement Day 1998
100. Rebel vs Shelly Martinez-One Night Only: Knockouts Knockdown
101. Kaitlyn vs Maxine-NXT (10/19/2010)
102. Sabu vs The Sandman-November to Remember 1997
103. Seth Rollins vs "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt-Hell in a Cell 2019
104. The Bushwhackers vs Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff-Heroes of Wrestling
105. James Storm vs Chris Harris-Lockdown 2007
106. John Laurinaitis vs John Cena-Over the Limit 2012
107. Ultimate Warrior vs Goldust-In Your House 7
108. Los Villanos vs Los Psycho Circus-Triplemania XXIII
109. Jenna Morasca vs Sharmell-Victory Road 2009

Thanks for reading. I know this was a lot longer than the normal Worst in the World, so if you're still here after all of this, I really appreciate it. I'm gonna try to get back into writing for this blog and my other one (The Basketball Section if you enjoy sections about basketball.) With everything going on in the world right now, I'm trying to adjust to the way things are going to have to be for a while with school, work, and my mental health.

Lastly, I just wanna thank everyone who still reads this blog regularly. I know I haven't been the best with keeping up to date with this, and I'm sorry about that. My anxiety and depression have a habit of keeping me from doing stuff like this, especially when it seems like what I'm doing isn't good enough. The people who keep reading and commenting give me that encouragement to come back. I can't thank you enough, it means the world to me that you've stuck with this, even when I haven't.

Until next time...