PWI Weekly for September 30, 2024
PWI Weekly for September 30, 2024
Cage Match Chaos: Punk vs. McIntyre, Blood & Guts, And More!
Rages in Cages, Hells in Cells, Dominik Mysterio behind bars … we love them all. The steel cage is still arguably the greatest gimmick match to enter the professional wrestling landscape. And, in this edition of the PWI Weekly, we pay tribute to the storied match type.
MATCH OF THE WEEK
With less than a week until Drew McIntyre and CM Punk collide in what could be the blow-off to their near-year-long feud, we have to believe there is no better stipulation for it to happen under than Hell in a Cell. The infamous cagematch that made its debut at In Your House: Bad Blood (October 1997) will house the Scot and the Chicagoan as they attempt to humble, humiliate, and heap pain upon one another.
The original HIAC contest between Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker is rightly regarded as a classic. Whether McIntyre and Punk can carve out their own space in Hell in a Cell lore remains to be seen. Either way, we are excited to see it unfold … because, quite frankly, PWI is all about more gore in 2024.
A QUICK WORD ABOUT …
At one time, AEW attempted to trademark the WarGames match name. The classic Jim Crockett Promotions cagematch—which later became a WCW staple—would have been a natural fit for the promotion often viewed as the spiritual successor to those companies. Though the business end of the wrestling business prevented AEW from being able to trademark the WarGames name, it certainly didn’t deter them from continuing on with the idea of promoting a double-ring steel cage match.
Rechristened as “Blood & Guts,” AEW’s answer to WarGames has been a spectacle over the years—and has certainly followed through on providing what its name suggests. While some have been horrified by the brutality and “stunts” on display in the contests, many more fans have lapped it up. Today, Blood & Guts firmly sits in the AEW oeuvre as one of wrestling’s premier cage bouts.
SPOTLIGHT MATCH
Before going on to worldwide fame as Yokozuna in the World Wrestling Federation, Rodney Anoa‘i wrestled around the world under the moniker of The Great Kokina. In this classic 1991 contest from Puerto Rico, the future WWE champ clashed with the island’s legendary Carlos Colon.
FROM THE VAULT
Although today’s Royal Rumble events tend to feature more straightforward wrestling fare—apart from the titular battle royals—things were a little different back in 2012. In this classic picture from our Vault, Daniel Bryan (Bryan Danielson) sits victorious after defeating Mark Henry and Big Show inside a steel cage. The World heavyweight championship contest opened the 2012 Royal Rumble PPV. And it was a rare occasion when another stipulation took center stage on a Rumble show.