#20
CM Punk vs. Ryback & Paul Heyman
Hell in a Cell ’13
Essentially, this was CM Punk vs. Ryback for the second year in a row, since Paul Heyman was never actually in the ring at any point during the match, or after. And if you want to get technical, about 90% of the time the totally made-up wrestling “rule book” says you can’t start the match until everyone is in the ring, so…
This was another short visit to Hell for CM Punk, whose combined time in all five of his Hell in a Cell matches is just 55:33. The one thing I can say for certain about this match is that it was better than the first. Once again, nothing truly interesting happened bell-to-bell, but they were a lot more physical this time around, bringing various weapons into play and really showing the hate necessary for this kind of match.
The problem was, nobody cared about Ryback in this situation. The fans came to see Punk get his hands on Paul Heyman inside Hell in a Cell. What they got was a repeat of the year before’s weak main event, and a screwjob finish between Randy Orton and Daniel Bryan later in the evening, leaving the paying audience more than a little disappointed. Of course, Punk did climb the cage and get his hands on his former mentor, but a few shots from a kendo stick and a GTS don’t really make up for a mediocre program overall.
