Logistics dictated that SmackDown’s tag title match started the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view (PPV), and that meant the rest of the card had their work cut out for them.
The rivalry between current champs The New Day and The Usos has been one of the better feuds in recent memory, and taking it into The Cell was certainly fitting. The teams wasted no time making full use of the stipulation, too. After a pre-match promo from the champs, the legal men - Xavier Woods, Big E, Jimmy and Jey - all made for plunder hidden under the ring.
Well... that's ONE way to start a #SmackDown #TagTeamChampionship Match inside #HellInACell! #HIAC pic.twitter.com/XvBHnRvPgS
— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) October 9, 2017
A steel chain came into play quickly as Woods used it as part of tandem manuever. Not long after that, E was diving through the ropes and crashing into the cage... sometimes with an Uso in his path, sometimes not. And after using a whole marching band worth of trombones and percussion, it looked like New Day might quickly wrap the Usos contractual rematch.
.@XavierWoodsPhD has a FEVER, and the only prescription is MORE COWBELL... and more trombones... and a gong! #HIAC @WWEUsos @WWEBigE pic.twitter.com/IB8sMFRUsR
— WWE (@WWE) October 9, 2017
It wouldn’t be that easy. Before X could launch himself from the middle rope to attempt to finish things, one of the twins threw a chair right at his head. The flurry which followed would leave Woods incapacitated after having his head hip checked into the corner of The Cell.
E fought alone for a time, but his partner recovered to get back in the fight. They put the numbers game back in their favor, using kendo sticks in an innovative way to put The Usos in their own penitentiary...
The "penitentiary" tables have officially turned! #HIAC pic.twitter.com/FTm4KHahrJ
— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) October 9, 2017
Once free, Jimmy and Jey turned the tables again in an incredibly violent match:
This #HellInACell Match is looking like a straight up COLLISION COURSE! @WWEUsos @WWEBigE #HIAC pic.twitter.com/KuKOqHgl3Z
— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) October 9, 2017
The Usos put things on lockdown themselves after that, breaking out the handcuffs to punish Woods with a barrage of kendo stick swings. A furious E recovered to demolish both twins, but the back-and-forth continued. Woods saved his partner after a Double-Uce Splash, but after more stick shots that X tried to fight his way through, he was felled by the same move - but this one delivered onto a chair Jimmy and Jey had laid across his prone body.
That proved to be too much, as The Usos pinned him and became five time tag champs.
Get complete Hell in a Cell results and coverage of every match on the card by clicking here.