Hell in a Cell (2018)

The 2018 Hell in a Cell was a professional wrestling event produced by WWE. It was the 10th annual Hell in a Cell and took place on September 16, 2018, at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas. The event aired via pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming and featured wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. Previously, Hell in a Cell was held annually in October, thus the 2018 event was the first to not have occurred during that month. The event returned to the October slot the following year, but in 2021, the event series was moved up to June.

Eight matches were contested at the event, including one on the Kickoff pre-show. The main event, which was Raw's Universal Championship Hell in a Cell match between defending champion Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman with special guest referee Mick Foley, ended in a no-contest after Brock Lesnar returned and attacked both men, rendering them unable to continue. This was also Strowman's Money in the Bank cash-in match that was scheduled in advance. In the other Hell in a Cell match, which was the opening bout, Randy Orton defeated Jeff Hardy. In other prominent matches, AJ Styles controversially retained SmackDown's WWE Championship against Samoa Joe, Becky Lynch defeated Charlotte Flair to win the SmackDown Women's Championship, and Ronda Rousey defeated Alexa Bliss to retain the Raw Women's Championship.

Production

Background

Hell in a Cell was an annual professional wrestling event produced by WWE since 2009. The concept of the event came from WWE's established Hell in a Cell match, in which competitors fought inside a 20-foot-high roofed cell structure surrounding the ring and ringside area. The main event match of the card was contested under the Hell in a Cell stipulation.