The Hell in a Cell descended from the rafters of the AT&T Center as the diabolic Randy Orton battled the enigmatic Jeff Hardy in the night's opening match, the culmination of one of the most heated rivalries in all of WWE.
Hardy took the fight to Orton right from the bell and set out to retrieve a table from underneath the ring. Orton capitalized on a brief opening and delivered a clothesline that leveled The Charismatic Enigma. Hardy recovered, delivered a dropkick into the table that sent it into the ribs of his opponent and used a ladder to further exploit the injury.
The Viper grabbed a steel chair and blasted his opponent with it, regaining control of the bout, though briefly.
Hardy delivered a mule kick and corner dropkick to the chest that earned him a two-count as commentator Corey Graves questioned whether Orton was too confident entering the match. Both men feeling the effects of the brutality of the match, Hardy regained his composure and delivered Whisper in the Wind for another near-fall.
On the outside, Hardy set up a ladder V-style for a vicious suplex. The Viper countered, though, and sent Hardy face-first into it. His midsection in pain, Hardy was just barely able to shoot his shoulder off the mat and avoid defeat.
Sensing he was finally in control of the match and his opponent, Orton delivered spine-crushing chair shots about the back of his opponent. From there, he removed Hardy's steel-studded belt and used it to whip the exposed skin of the former WWE and world heavyweight champion.
"Randy Orton is systematically destroying Jeff Hardy," Graves commented as Orton trapped Hardy in a ladder and executed his trademark stomp.
Orton took a break from the savagery, applying an old-school headlock as the fans came alive for the popular face-painted babyface. Hardy fought his way out, delivered an inverted atomic drop and delivered a double leg drop to the midsection.
The third-generation heel grounded Hardy and retrieved a screwdriver from a toolbox. He stuck his finger in the piercing of Hardy, then used the tool to inflict torturous pain and punishment to his opponent, twisting and pulling on the extended earlobe of Hardy.
A low blow stopped the sickening display of stomach-turning violence.
Hardy used the belt to dish out a taste of Orton's own medicine. His back full of welts, Orton fought through the pain and delivered a draping DDT. Primed, Orton teased the RKO on a recovering Hardy. The Enigma countered and delivered the Twist of Fate. A chair draped across Orton, Hardy delivered the Swanton Bomb.
"How?!" Graves asked as Orton managed to kick out. The cameras caught a nasty wound on the left thigh of Orton as Hardy grabbed a ladder and table from ringside, determined to put his opponent away. Hardy delivered another Twist of Fate and unloaded with a series of rights and lefts that left the heel sprawled on the table.
Hardy climbed the ladder, held on to the ceiling of the cell and launched himself off with a splash that ended with him crashing through the table. The referee frantically called for medics as Orton demanded he count the fall, which he did. Medics applied a neck brace to Hardy as Orton stood on the ropes, triumphant and satisfied with the condition Hardy found himself in.
Orton defeated Hardy
The violence and sheer brutality of this one lived up to the tone of the feud and lived up to what fans expect from the cell gimmick.
Did Hardy jump off the top of the cell as many expected?
No, but he did not have to. The chair and ladder shots were vicious. The sight of Orton ripping and tearing and twisting at the ear of Hardy was sickening. The finish was dangerous and fresh. Everything about the match was exactly what it had to be.
It was the perfect way to kick off the show and featured a depravity that the Superstars later in the show will be hard-pressed to match.
In a day and age when too many complain about Hell in a Cell no longer carrying the aura of danger and violence it once did, Hardy and Orton brought both to kick off this show.
