Seth Rollins def. Dean Ambrose (Hell in a Cell Match)

DALLAS – When one steps into Hell, it’s probably best to watch your step, lest the Devil himself come and find you.

Dean Ambrose thought he was the most dangerous man to set foot inside the place where rivalries are settled. The WWE Universe likely thought so, too. Seth Rollins may not have initially, though he was definitely convinced before all was said and done. But for all the inspired brutality The Lunatic Fringe unleashed within the 20-foot wide and tall, five-ton steel structure, he turned out to be second best when Bray Wyatt made his return and laid waste to the former United States Champion, robbing him – once again – of his promised payback against Rollins for the unconscionable betrayal that reduced The Shield to ruins.

Photos of the thrilling Hell in a Cell finale

Before that final twist of fate, however, Ambrose had been putting the screws to his former “brother” in truly inventive fashion. Rollins may have gotten the win but the WWE Universe likely hasn’t seen a Hell in a Cell performance quite like Ambrose’s since the days of Hardcore Legend and resident Cell guru Mick Foley, whom Ambrose emulated by starting the fight by climbing atop the Cell with a Kendo stick holstered over his shoulder and evil intentions on his mind, daring Rollins to follow him. 

Against his better judgment, Rollins obliged The Lunatic Fringe, though he only did so after dispatching J&J Security to the rafters to occupy the former U.S. Champion. Ambrose, having come for a fight and gotten one, made quick work of his Cruiserweight foils and pursued Rollins down the side of the cage for a heart-stopping scuffle that ended with both men taking the worst way down, crashing through the two announce tables at ringside.

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Ambrose’s homage to The Hardcore Legend didn’t stop there: After the carnage settled, he tore himself free of a gurney intended to carry him to the locker room, assaulted the EMTs tending to Rollins and threw his old running mate into the Cell, demanding that the door be locked behind him so J&J Security could no longer interfere. The referee, being of sound mind and body, did as he was told.

And then the bell rang.

With the contest begun in earnest, The Lunatic Fringe riffed from atrocity to atrocity like a jazzman. He produced implements from thin air – poof, there’s a Kendo stick; abra cadabra, a screwdriver! – and the man who declared himself the “Future of WWE” nearly found himself eradicated from the timeline thanks to Ambrose, who did as much damage with his taped-up fists – “Choose Hell” seemed an appropriate credo to scrawl on them – as his bag of tricks.

When Rollins did get offense in, it was either at the expense of his own body or due to some timely help from Kane, who appeared at ringside and blinded Ambrose with a fire-extinguisher. The interference all but gift-wrapped The Lunatic Fringe for Rollins, though it wasn’t long before Mr. Money in the Bank found his head laid out on a pair of cinderblocks, while Ambrose prepared to repay his old brother with a Curb Stomp through the cement.

However, before Ambrose could administer a figurative lights-out to the onetime Architect, a literal blackout stopped him dead in his tracks. A ghostly incantation echoed through the arena and a single lantern, enveloped in mist and a spectral image, materialized in the middle of the ring. While Ambrose was distracted by the ensuing image, Bray Wyatt made his move. The Eater of Worlds stormed through the fog and flattened The Lunatic Fringe. Survivor that he is, Mr. Money in the Bank pinned his old buddy and got out of the Cell while the getting was good, leaving Ambrose to suffer a final Sister Abigail from Hell in a Cell’s most unexpected gatekeeper.

Ambrose chose Hell. The choice, it seems, was mutual.