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Torch Trivia
Torch Trivia: How much do you know about Hell In A Cell? Jul 31, 2008 - 3:00:00 PM
Ian Hunter here, walking on out to the sound of a car cash and a bad guitar riff, getting ready to do some hardcore commentary with Good Ol’ J.R. For those of you who haven’t read spoilers for SmackDown this week, I won’t ruin the surprise, other than the fact that they touched on the fact that it’s been ten years since Mick was tossed fifteen feet down to the arena floor at the 1998 King Of The Ring. And now here we are a decade later, and it’s another brutal match involving the Undertaker and chain-link fencing. Wow, progression. So in honor of that event and what we’ll be seeing in a few weeks, this week’s trivia is about Hell In A Cell. But first, we need to answer last week’s questions.
1: The complete list of cities visited on the 1986 tour (in order) are: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Washington, D.C.; Memphis, Tennessee; Charlotte, North Carolina; Cincinnati, Ohio; Charleston, West Virginia; Jacksonville, Florida; Richmond, Virginia; Fayetteville, North Carolina; Johnson City, Tennessee; Norfolk, Virginia; Greensboro, North Carolina; and Atlanta, Georgia.
2: D. Ray “War Machine” Taylor was the one to surrender at the end, surprising everyone who thought it was going to end with Dillon (as it always used to). On a side note, this was Taylor’s last NWA appearance before leaving for the WWF to become The Big Boss Man.
3: B. Windham supposedly recommended Sting, which in hindsight if you looked at it, Luger vs. Sting might have been the perfect distraction to the loss of Flair.
4: E. The man formerly known as Earthquake versus the man formerly known as the Guardian Angel. Both men’s careers were going no where and were only around to make appearances on opening matches of Nirto and Saturday Night. The match was a last minute addition to give both men a spot on the card due to their star power from WWF.
5: C. The Baltimore Strap Match was in the running as a suggestion for the Shane Douglas/The Wall match, but was changed after Shane complained that his right arm wasn’t 100% and probably wouldn’t be able to give his best in the match. They had the Ambulance match instead, and got about the same reaction they would have if it were just a normal wrestling match.
I thought we’d be able to break the curse this week, but no. Everyone, literally everyone had four out of five, and it wasn’t even the first question that threw people off. So we’re still on our winless streak. Although I must say, the turnout of people trying to beat that streak has tripled the answers we normally get. So keep trying people as we start it up again. Answer the questions and email your answers to TorchTrivia@gmail.com. We'll post the names of those who got ALL FIVE correct. Good luck to you all!
1. The first inception of the Cell was at In Your House: Badd Blood, 1997. And one hell of a PPV event it was at the time. The Attitude era was on the horizon, which this match obviously contributed to. The arrival of Kane who was an equal nemesis for the Undertaker, the beginning of Shawn Michaels health issues after tossing himself into fences all night, and of course the extreme gore factor that WWF was becoming more known for. The match was shrouded in the awe of the announcement that Brian Pillman died earlier that day, but the event carried on and Undertaker and Michaels threw in more hits to cover for the loss of his match. In total, how long was their match?
A. 25:00
B. 27:00
C. 29:30
D. 30:00
E. 31:50
2. In the early incarnations, the Cell was used as a high point to any feud that “just could not be handled any other way.” The best examples of this would be Cactus Jack against Triple H, and the six-man version in 2000. But the second Cell match, Undertaker vs. Mankind, is the supreme one people look at when they look at those types of Cell matches. Despite what many may think, the fall to the floor from the top of the cage was planned. What wasn’t planned was the second one where Foley went through the roof. According to his later accounts, Foley doesn’t even remember the rest of the match, and at one point that night asked Undertaker if he used the thumbtacks, even though he clearly had them stuck in his arm while talking. Breaking from character, one person actually told Foley it wasn’t worth it on camera and demanded he stop before he got himself killed. Who was it?
A. Vince McMahon
B. Earl Hebner
C. Terry Funk
D. Gerald Brisco
E. Sgt. Slaughter
3. The Cell has been used every single year since it’s creation, with the exception of 2001. After the six-man match at Armageddon 2000, McMahon wanted to pace out the next use of the Cell for a special occasion. Which took them almost a year and a half to get to at Judgment Day 2002 with Triple H and Chris Jericho. The buildup had been coming out of the divorce angle leading up to WrestleMania X-8 where Hunter took the Undisputed Championship from Jericho (who was seeing Steph on the side… we think). After a loss of the belt to Hogan, they were back to feuding for pride. In the midst of all this there was apparently a rumor that Hunter was going to go to the nWo at the end of the match, which was later changed when they brought someone else into the picture. Who?
A. X-Pac
B. The Big Show
C. Ric Flair
D. Shawn Michaels
E. Scott Steiner
4. Next will be a write-in question. In mid 2002, WWE rebuilt the cage to prevent wrestlers from climbing on top of it anymore, out of fear for injury risk and the fact that wrestlers like Triple H complained that they were being encouraged to climb up top for the cheap pop. So they raised the first section of fencing up an extra foot so it would be difficult to climb the extra length of fencing without the support bar. The first match to take place inside the newly built cage would be Brock Lesnar against Undertaker for the championship at No Mercy 2002. Fans were clearly bored with the match as they were expecting a chokeslam from the top as always from Taker. The match ended with a F5 after a reversed last ride, and then Lesnar did something that pissed the audience off royally. What did he do?
5. The Undertaker may be the most experienced man in the Cell with eight matches under his belt so far, and a record setting 9th at SummerSlam. But the King Of Kings has the best track record when it comes to Hell In A Cell. Winning 5 of his 7 matches, while Undertaker only has 3 wins. One of the losses was a collective one with Kurt Angle's win in 2000, but Hunter's second loss in the cage came at the hands of Batista. After the demise of Evolution and the fallout of WrestleMania 21 and Backlash making Batista 2-0 against Hunter, they put them inside the cell to get Batista over with the fans just one more time and give Hunter some time off. But this match wasn't originally going to be Hell In A Cell and was even billed at some house shows as something different. What kind of match was it going to be?
A. Cage Match
B. Strap Match
C. Submission Match
D. First Blood Match
E. Lumberjack Match
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