Shawn Michaels Revisits His First WWE Hell in a Cell Match Against The Undertaker in 1997; ‘This Unbelievable Structure’
Shawn Michaels has recalled his first WWE Hell in a Cell match against The Undertaker in 1997. Find out what he said.
Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker scripted history on October 5, 1997, at St. Louis when they clashed against each other in the first WWE Hell in a Cell match. That was a historic match, which also saw the debut of masked Kane, Taker’s kayfabe half-brother, who gave The Deadman a horrific Piledriver toward the end of the match.
Michaels, who was battered and bruised by the end of the match, just put his one hand on The Undertaker to score the pin and win the match. The Heartbreak Kid recently recalled being in the match with Taker and said that he still takes pride in competing in the Hell in a Cell match.
While talking to The Ringer, he said, “I guess I always took pride in the fact that I was always the guinea pig—to see how some of these matches, these new ideas, these new, creative thoughts would work.”
He further stated that when he first saw the concrete structure, he wanted to get to the top of it. “I can remember walking into St. Louis, seeing this unbelievable structure that they had built, and I thought to myself, ‘Oh, it would look like a playground.' The first thing that I said is, ‘I got to get on top,'” TJR Wrestling quoted Michaels.
The fight indeed went to the top of the cell, and it ended terribly for Michaels as he was knocked off the steel structure by The Undertaker. Michaels took a huge bump on the commentary table, a video WWE played for several years later.
The WWE Hall of Famer said that he and Taker put on a spectacular match and revealed that he didn’t realize then that it would go on to become one of the greatest matches in WWE.
Since then, WWE has seen 52 Hell in a Cell matches and will see the 53rd match inside the concrete steel structure between Drew McIntyre and CM Punk at Bad Blood on October 4, 2024.
The two have vowed to destroy each other inside the cell, leaving their opponent battered by the end of the match. Let’s see who gets better of his opponent in the match.