Retro Wednesday: Best Hell In A Cell Match Ever?

Throughout the past few weeks, I have covered a few memorable Hell in a Cell matches. Whether it was dubbed as being the best, the worst, or the strangest, the 29 matches of the series has switched championships, produced moments, and even ended careers.

There are many Hell in a Cell matches that were good, and some that many desire to forget. However, there are only a handful that were really a cut above the rest.

Personally, I think there is one Hell in a Cell match that clearly takes the cake. Not because if the length, the level of technical wrestling, or championship implications, but the resonating effect that it left to those watching live and on a television screen.

In 1998, Undertaker and Mankind had been feuding off and on for two years. At the King of the Ring PPV (yeah, the one that Ken Shamrock won), the two looked to end their intense rivalry by competing under the confines of the cell. However, the biggest moments of the match did not happen under the cell, by on top of it.

The first major spot was a one-up from the spot the Shawn Michaels took a year prior at the inaugural HIAC match. Although Michaels fell from the side of the cage to the announcer's table, Mankind topped that impressive bump exponentially, as the Undertaker tossed him from the top of the cage, resulting in Mankind being tumbled onto the announcer's table and the match presumably ending. At least we thought.

Mankind showed his amazing toughness by returning to the match, taking another bump by getting chokeslammed through the cell and splatting onto the mat. Foley has said in many interviews and documentaries that this particular bump was one of the most painful bumps he has ever taken in his life.

To make matters worse, he was greeted to a bed of thumbtacks, before Undertaker finally put him out of his misery and defeated him shortly after. Without question, in my opinion, this match set the bar of Hell in a Cell matches, and may never be duplicated.

Classic match.

Let us know your favorite Hell in a Cell match below.

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