Best Hell in a Cell matches: Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker (Badd Blood 1997)

The sequels are never better than the original, am I right?

The Cageside Seats countdown of the best Hell in a Cell (HiaC) matches concludes with the first ever in history, Shawn Michaels taking on The Undertaker way back in 1997.

Fans had never seen anything quite like it. Sure, steel cage matches were decades old by this point and the National Wrestling Alliance upped that ante when it extended that concept to involve more than one ring.

But the entire ringside area being enclosed by a single structure where there were no rules and anything was fair game? It had every single fan salivating at the possibilites. And considering two of the company's best workers, Michaels and 'Taker, were involved, it made the match even more enticing.

Let's get ready for tonight's pay-per-view (PPV) offering set to start in only minutes with a look back at how it al began.

The match came as a result of what happened a few months prior at SummerSlam. Bret Hart was defending his title against 'Taker with "HBK" as the special guest referee.

"The Hitman" and his greatest rival jawed at each other during the match and the Texas native swung a chair with intent to crack the Canadian's skull open. But instead, he hit 'Taker and gave Hart the win. 'Taker wasn't known for his understanding and ability to talk things out so the following month, he and Michaels went head to head.

After beaucoups of outside interference from D-Generation X, the match was ruled a No Contest although the animosity between the two men had not been resolved one bit.

That's when the idea for HiaC was introduced. More deadly than a normal steel cage match but with all the perks of  keeping those not involved in the match from affecting the proceedings, HiaC immediately became one of the most dangerous matches in the sport's history.

There were several insanely brutal spots like when Michaels nailed his opponent with a pildriver on the steps or the picture up above where the Hall of Famer smacked 'Taker across the back with a steel chair.

Since the only door in and out was padlocked shut several times over, there was no escape for Michaels. That was until he was thrown over the top rope and landed on a camera man. Frustrated, he proceeded to attack the helpless video jockey. The match continued while paramedics came in and tended to the fallen employee.

As they took him outside the cage, Michaels used this opportunity to hatch his own escape. It was a very clever way to get both men outside of the cage when there was seemingly no way to before. This is where the brutality of the match came to full focus.

Michaels is javelined into the cage several times over and gets busted open. To escape, he begins to climb the cage with 'Taker is hot pursuit. As they battled atop the cage, the live crowd is positively buzzing. The two men are fighting 16 feet above ground and anything could go wrong.

"HBK" attempts to scale down the opposite side of the cage but his opponent catches up with him. Dangling from the top of the structure, Michaels is helpless as The Undertaker begins to stomp at his hands. Unable to hold on, Michaels crashes through the Spanish announce table.

Even nearly 15 years later, it's still enough to get me into full mark out mode.

'Taker takes his beaten, bloody, and nearly broken opponent back into the ring and smacks him across the skull with a chair. Then, unfamiliar music hits, and we're treated to our first viewing of Kane, The Undertaker's presumed dead brother.

He rips the door off its hinges, Tombstones his big brother, and leaves while Paul Bearer shrieks in the background. Michaels, barely conscious, plops his arm on top of his opponent's chest and picks up the win and a shot at the WWF Championship at Survivor Series (cue ominous music).

What made this and every other HiaC match that made the list was so awesome was because it felt like a natural, organic progression to the feud.

The Undertaker can't seem to have a match with Michaels without DX getting involved so let's lock them both inside a cage. Batista always gets the better of Triple H but what about when the deck is stacked in "The Game's" favor and they tangle in a match that Triple H is duly familiar with?

Triple H and Shawn Michaels had a Three Stages of Hell match and a Street Fight and still can't settle their beef. Put them in a Hell in a Cell. That'll end it, for sure.

Now feuds are given the match simply because the program happens to be in October. It's not like HiaC only happened once every three or four years. There was usually one a year up until the HiaC PPV started up. Fans got plenty of chances to see the match but when it did happen, it MEANT something.

With the PPV and the blasé attitude about who gets booked on it the past couple of years, it has lost some of its impact and power.

Can it get some of it back tonight? Mark Henry has been on a tear lately and a brutal beatdown of Randy Orton would do wonders for the image of HiaC. The first ever triple threat -- between CM Punk, Alberto Del Rio and champ John Cena -- in a HiaC could also do the same.

We'll find out tonight.