Photo Credits: WWE
WWE will present Bad Blood on Saturday, October 5th, in Atlanta, Georgia. The main event will be CM Punk vs. Drew McIntyre in a Hell in a Cell match. A match in which we have seen incredible moments and feuds come to an end. Leading up to the show, I am looking back at some of the classic matches that have taken place inside the structure.
I will discuss the first Hell in a Cell in The Undertaker’s rivalry with Brock Lesnar at No Mercy 2002.
The storied rivalry between The Undertaker and Brock Lesnar took a brutal turn in 2002 at No Mercy when they collided inside the infamous Hell in a Cell—a match The Undertaker helped make famous.
One of the key elements going into this match was The Undertaker’s injured hand. On the October 3rd, 2002 episode of SmackDown, The Undertaker lost a Falls Count Anywhere match to Matt Hardy due to Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman’s interference. After the match, Lesnar attacked The Undertaker with a propane tank, breaking his hand. There was speculation about whether The Undertaker wrestled the Hell in a Cell match with a legitimate broken hand, but this has never been confirmed.
Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar tried to have the cast banned, arguing that it gave The Undertaker an unfair advantage. Despite their complaints, The Undertaker was allowed to wear the cast during the match. Things took a bizarre turn when Heyman and Lesnar introduced a woman named Tracy, who claimed she had an affair with The Undertaker. This part of the storyline felt unnecessary and was quickly dropped when Tracy admitted there was no truth to her claims.
As the main event at No Mercy approached, it was clear the Hell in a Cell match had a meaning and a purpose. As a kid, I loved these matches because they truly meant something. You could see the look of intimidation on the wrestlers’ faces as they stepped into the unforgiving structure. Lesnar, who had dominated WWE since winning the title at Summer Slam that year, soon realized the danger of being locked inside the Hell in a Cell with The Undertaker.
Despite his youth and power, Lesnar was pushed to his limits by The Undertaker’s brutal offence, which included repeatedly using his cast as a weapon. The cell became a battleground filled with blood and carnage, especially as both men bled heavily. In a moment that shocked many, Lesnar managed to reverse The Undertaker’s Tombstone Piledriver into his F5 finisher, securing the victory and retaining the WWE Championship.
This match remains one of the bloodiest and most iconic Hell in a Cell encounters in WWE history. Both men delivered a performance that should be remembered as one of the greatest of their careers, solidifying Lesnar as a dominant champion and The Undertaker as the master of Hell in a Cell match.
