WWE Hell in a Cell 2020 Results: Reviewing Top Highlights and Low Points

From the ashes of the WWE draft came Hell in a Cell 2020 where several feuds reached boiling point and others were just getting fired up.

The pay-per-view featured three HIAC matches, with several championships on the line and one of them doubling up on the gimmicks as an I Quit contest.

As with any show, there was potential for this to be great and plenty of opportunities to come up short. Now that the event has ended, how did things play out? Was it a red-hot PPV with plenty of amazing moments, or did more negatives stand out?

Presented in order of appearance, here is a breakdown of some of the highlights and low points of Hell in a Cell 2020.

WWE Hell in a Cell 2020 Results

• R-Truth defeated Drew Gulak by pinfall to retain the 24/7 Championship.
• Hell in a Cell I Quit match: Roman Reigns defeated Jey Uso to retain the Universal Championship.
• Elias defeated Jeff Hardy by disqualification.
• The Miz defeated Otis by pinfall to win the Money in the Bank briefcase.
• Hell in a Cell match: Sasha Banks defeated Bayley by submission to win the SmackDown Women's Championship.
• Bobby Lashley defeated Slapjack by submission to retain the United States Championship.
• Hell in a Cell match: Randy Orton defeated Drew McIntyre by pinfall to win the WWE Championship.

For the most part, nearly every WWE Kickoff show is a low point. By and large, the same applied for Sunday's version.

R-Truth and Drew Gulak had a standard match for the 24/7 Championship that was nothing worth going back to watch again. There wasn't even a title change, although that wouldn't have mattered, either.

However, there was one highlight, when R-Truth referred to Jeff Jarrett as the "Road Dogg" Jesse James version of Double J rather than the WWE legend's own variation of the nickname. 

For all the downsides to not having fans in attendance, a match like this benefited from being able to hear all the trash talking and interactions inside the ring.

The highlight of the Universal Championship match was easily the story being told through the dialogue, rather than the action itself.

That may upset some people who wanted more of an action-packed ride, but considering how bad most stories are these days in WWE, seeing this was more than worth sacrificing pure athleticism.

Some particularly great moments were:

• Roman Reigns saying, "The head of the table never quits" to psych himself up to keep fighting.
• Hearing Jey Uso say "I can't breathe" after being speared.
• Uso utilizing the strap and saying he would whip the "dogs--t" out of The Big Dog.
• When Reigns locked in the guillotine, he shouted "I swear to God, I'll take your last breath. Don't make me."

Wrestling has always been melodramatic, but this feud has been awesome. It is the best character work Reigns has ever done and put The Usos on a different level.

When an event has only a handful of matches announced ahead of time, showing that WWE doesn't care about much other than the main three selling points, the rest of the card has to step up to prove its worth.

However, Elias vs. Jeff Hardy didn't exceed any expectations. It was nothing beyond what fans would normally see on a regular episode of Raw.

WWE uses the disqualification-finish crutch far too much, but pay-per-views and special events should be immune to lame endings like that.

Unfortunately, what happened here was Hardy using a guitar on Elias to get himself disqualified, rendering this contest pointless.

Unlike the Hardy vs. Elias match, The Miz vs. Otis had actual stakes attached to it, a heel turn, the split of a tag team, and a surprise switch of the Money in the Bank briefcase. That more than justified its spot on the card.

This started off with Otis debuting a new theme song. So many recent changes in this department have been awful, as most of the music has been incredibly generic, although this sounded decent. Following Tucker's attack on his Heavy Machinery teammate, however, it became clear why Otis had a new-look to his entrance.

Tucker's turn on his friend is far from the most shocking split in WWE history, but it was still a surprise.

However, The Miz has suddenly upped his status on the roster and become one of the main Superstars to watch, which will be interesting.

This segment did so much in such a short time, which is what was needed after the uneventful contest before it.

After teasing a split between Bayley and Sasha Banks for the past three years, they've finally had their match and WWE didn't succumb to the temptation to drag out a title change.

The match was fine but not as epic as it should have been considering its build. The most important contest between the two remains the one at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn in 2015, but this was good enough for a mention in their respective resumes.

In an ideal situation, Bayley vs. Banks would have taken place at a show like WrestleMania in front of thousands of fans. That wasn't to be, but the right call was made in having The Legit Boss walk out with the title.

Retribution have looked awful since the start of their WWE career, and the company continues to book them in ways that kill the group's credibility.

Not having a match advertised in advance for Hell in a Cell is one thing, but deciding on an impromptu challenge on the Kickoff show that most people don't watch is another.

Then, two minutes before the bell, The Hurt Business pointed out how silly people like Slapjack look with their ridiculous masks. Moments later, he was tapping out to The Hurt Lock, as Bobby Lashley and his crew sent Retribution packing yet again.

How are fans supposed to get invested in this faction if they continually come off as laughable instead of intimidating after regular losses?

By no means should Slapjack have won the title, but this only helped further the negativity surrounding Retribution.

On its own, this was a solid match with a surprise ending that made sure both Randy Orton and Drew McIntyre looked strong.

However, it didn't live up to Hell in a Cell matches of the past. McIntyre's fall, for instance, is nothing we haven't seen a dozen or so times before.

As a heel champion, Orton also has far fewer options to feud with on Raw right now compared to McIntyre. We've already seen The Viper against Keith Lee, so who else can make for an interesting opponent?

In comparison, the babyface Scot could have feuded with Bray Wyatt, Sheamus, AJ Styles, Braun Strowman and the newly crowned Mr. Money in the Bank, The Miz.

Factoring that in with how next month's Survivor Series should feature the WWE and universal champions against each other, why does WWE have the all-heel Orton vs. Reigns contest penciled in?

If the answer is to have McIntyre win the title back on Raw before then, the Scot should have just retained the belt. If the answer is that WWE doesn't care about the mess that will happen in the coming months, then it has no one but itself to blame.

Anthony Mango is the owner of the wrestling website Smark Out Moment and the host of the podcast show Smack Talk on YouTube, iTunes and Stitcher. You can follow him on Facebook and elsewhere for more.