Batista vs The Undertaker (WWE, 11-18-2007)

WWE Survivor Series, Miami, FL

This is a request via Ko-fi. A Hell in a Cell match for the the world heavyweight championship, being defended by Batista. This was their fifth major match in 2007, and they were 1-1-2 coming into this match.

C&E to start, Batista with a side headlock. Batista off the ropes, shoulder puts Taker down. Over Taker on a drop down, clothesline from Batista. Kick to the gut from Taker, right hands, Batista off the ropes again, clothesline ducked, Batista with rights back. Undertaker off the ropes, clothesline ducked, Undertaker goes for the chokeslam, Batista fights out with elbows. Batista off the ropes, clothesline from Taker for two.

Undertaker with an elbowdrop. Batista in the corner, Taker with a right hand, another, headbutt. Batista whipped to the other corner, caught with snake eyes and a running big boot from Taker. Cover, two.

Taker goes out and finds a chair under the ring. Batista with a spear! Batista with the chair, rushes to the corner with it held high, Taker with a boot into the chair. Clothesline from Taker, another two count.

Undertaker goes for an armbar or triangle, Batista escapes and goes to the floor. Taker follows, slams Batista’s head off the steps. They brawl with Taker putting Batista down with right hands. Kick from Taker. Batista’s head raked on the cage and he’s cut. Batista with his head exposed over the apron, and Taker drops a leg, Batista dropping to the floor.

Taker knocks the top part of the steps away, leaving the base open, and then reaches into the ring and grabs the chair again. Taker uses the chair to help jam Batista’s throat as he slams it off the base of the steps. Batista bleeding from the mouth now. Taker just dominating the match.

Back into the ring, Undertaker covers, two count. Another cover, one. Really more of Taker choking with his forearm than covering, though. Wasn’t really looking for the win but to do more damage. Taker with a shoulderblock, another, and now an arm wringer. Taker goes up for old school, walks the ropes, and jumps into a spinebuster from Batista!

Both men down. Batista struggling to breathe. Rolls over and drapes an arm, two count before Taker gets a shoulder up. Right hands from Taker when they get up, rights back from Batista. Batista getting the better of it, finally getting an advantage. Taker off the ropes, clothesline from Batista.

Batista with shoulders to the gut, clothesline in the corner, and a running powerslam for two. Undertaker dumped through the ropes to the floor. Batista follows, slams Taker’s head off the steps, the ones not used before. Undertaker whipped into the cage, bounces off into a clothesline from Batista. Batista tries to whip Taker into the steps, Taker reverses and Batista hits these steps, too.

Taker gets Batista on the shoulder and rams him head-first into the cage. Batista bleeding even worse now. Chair shot from Taker! Back into the ring, Taker gets two. Taker goes for old school again, but again he’s stopped, this time on the climb. Batista with rights to the gut, climbing to the second rope and throwing more right hands. Batista hits the superplex!

Both men down again, Batista, bloody, crawling over slowly for a pin, but crawls into the triangle choke! Batista makes the ropes, but this is no-DQ so it’s a questionable call to break the hold. Either way, it’s broken. Batista outside, bleeding like a motherfucker, stumbling around. Taker dives out onto him with what little room there is, like a typical AAW dive, basically.

Batista in the corner of the cage, Taker with a right hand. Batista just stuck there in the corner and Undertaker fetches the top of the steps. Batista gets his feet up to block the steps coming him, and smacks Undertaker’s head off the ringpost. Batista has the steps now, and smashes Taker in the skull. And again. And again. And again. Taker bloodied now.

Back in the ring, Batista mounts Taker in the corner and throws right hands, then bites away at Taker’s bloody head. But Batista gets caught — Last Ride power bomb! Taker can’t capitalize right away. Chokeslam from Undertaker! Cover, two, Batista gets a shoulder up.

Undertaker staggering around, Batista woozily getting to his feet. Taker goes for the tombstone, Batista slides down and hits another spinebuster for two. Another spinebuster! Batista goes under the ring and finds a table, sliding it into the ring and setting it up while Taker tries to recover.

Batista sets for a power bomb through the table, and, well, it’s hard to say he hit a Batista Bomb, because he didn’t, but he hit a motherfucker of a jackknife power bomb through the table. Two count!

Batista slides the top of the steps into the ring now. Batista sets for another power bomb, but Taker counters with a backdrop onto the steps. Cover, another two count. Undertaker with a tombstone! One, two, BATISTA LIFTS THE SHOULDER. Taker can’t believe it!

Up on the steps — tombstone on the steps! Taker covers — 1, 2, EDGE APPEARS FROM UNDER THE RING AND PULLS THE REFEREE OUT! Edge hits Undertaker with a TV camera! Edge makes Edge faces! Edge with a chair, but he drops that and drapes Taker over the steps, head down. Edge with the chair, and smashes it against Taker’s skull against the steps! Edge puts Batista’s arm over Taker, and that’s the finish.

Rating: 4.5/5. Excellent, very physical match, and a top-tier Hell in a Cell. I don’t know if I’d ever watched this match before, actually. Maybe I had. Who knows? But I didn’t remember much of it, at any rate, and I usually remember a good bloodbath. They used the cage, put in the work to make a brutal, physical match, and it felt very much like the final match of a big rivalry that meant something.

I thought hard about the rating here, which I try to avoid doing anymore, honestly. I prefer it to be a gut thing because that’s how wrestling is best enjoyed, in the moment. I’m not big on crying that interference/non-clean finishes ruin things, but that definitely keeps me from going 5-spot here because it took me out of what had built to be, as JBL put it, a masterpiece, one of pure violence and top-end WWE-style drama. But that’s the story, right? That Edge ruined this incredible brawl. So I’m going 4.5, because it’s just too great of a match for 20 minutes to go down to 4, but can’t quite hit 5 for me.