WWE Hell in a Cell 2017: Results and observations from the show

Judging solely off the matches that carried Hell in a Cell's namesake, the Smackdown Live-exclusive pay-per-view delivered.

As for the rest of the show, well, it had varying degrees of results.

Overall, the ninth annual Hell in a Cell pay-per-view was a success for WWE. It provided a couple of very memorable matches and it closed with a story that will make Smackdown Live intriguing to watch moving forward.

Here are the full match results from the brand new Little Caesars Arena in Detroit:

- Kickoff match – Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable def. The Hype Bros

- WWE Smackdown Tag Team championship (Hell in a Cell) – The Usos def. The New Day

- Randy Orton def. Rusev

- WWE United States championship – Baron Corbin def. AJ Styles & Tye Dillinger

- WWE Smackdown Women's championship – Charlotte Flair def. Natalya via disqualification

- WWE championship – Jinder Mahal def. Shinsuke Nakamura

- Bobby Roode def. Dolph Ziggler

- Hell in a Cell – Kevin Owens def. Shane McMahon

Sami Zayn helped Owens beat McMahon

To steal a line from the late, great Jack Buck, I don't believe what I just saw.

After all of the dastardly things Owens has done to Zayn over the years, including a power bomb on the ring apron just a couple of weeks ago, Zayn essentially rescued his former best friend from certain doom Sunday when he pulled him off the announce table just before McMahon completed his plunge from the top of the Hell in a Cell structure.

As McMahon went crashing through the announce table, Zayn stood by with a shocked look on his face, as if he was having an out-of-body experience. It was almost like he was in shock and awe like everyone else.

But wait, there's more.

Zayn shoved all of the medical personnel aside and helped Owens pin McMahon to end the match. Given what Zayn and Owens have been through over the years, this was quite the shocking development.

Before all of that happened, McMahon and Owens had an entertainment match that provided plenty of tense moments for the viewers.

The match was pretty basic when it was within the confines of the cell, but things got ratcheted up a few notches when Owens and McMahon made their way to the top of the structure.

Once up there, Owens and McMahon essentially had a match within a match. They performed body slams and suplexes, all of which had myself and others legitimately scared for their safety.

I know I was definitely afraid of one of the panels in the roof giving away and one or even both men falling through.

Eventually, Owens used common sense and began to climb down, which actually garnered boos from the apparently bloodthirsty fans in Detroit, but McMahon stopped him halfway through his descent.

McMahon slammed Owens' head into the cell a few times, which caused the latter to lose his grip on the structure and fall helplessly through an announce table below.

Medical personnel ran out to aide Owens, but McMahon pushed them aside and thought about pinning his now battered opponent.

However, McMahon opted not to, placed Owens on one of the other announcer tables and climbed back up the cell. He stood on top of it for a moment, crossed his heart and took his death-defying leap.

I thought the moment of Zayn pulling Owens off the table will eventually become one of the most memorable plot twists in WWE history.

It was so well executed that people didn't even notice Zayn had even assisted Owens until WWE ran replays of McMahon's brutal fall.

Zayn, to his credit, spectacularly played his role here. He looked like he knew what he had done and instantly recognized the consequences to his actions. This was especially the case when he looked at the fans at ringside.

You can see him reluctantly coming to terms with what he just did, but at the end of the day, he felt like he had to for some reason.

I assume we will find out why Zayn helped Owens in the coming days/weeks, but for now, I am very, very interested in seeing where this goes from here.

The New Day, The Usos tore it up again

I'm not sure where The Usos and The New Day go from here, but on Sunday night, they hit yet another home run during their Hell in a Cell bout.

The New Day brought some semblance of comedy to the match with their variety of weapons, which included a couple of unicorn kendo sticks, a cowbell and a gong.

But this match was no gong show and it got brutal very quickly. At one point, The New Day, which comprised of Xavier Woods and Big E with Kofi Kingston watching from outside of the cell, managed to trap one of The Usos in the corner of the cell with the help of multiple kendo sticks, including one that went right across his face.

The Usos used kendo sticks of their own and handcuffs to keep The New Day at bay and eventually picked up the win for their fifth reign as tag team champions.

I really couldn't say enough good things about this match. It was everything I expected and some.

I would say it was a nice ending to arguably the best WWE feud of the entire year, but I'm not so sure given that The New Day should be owed a rematch for the titles they just lost.

Of course, WWE could always break its own rule, as it has many times before, but time will tell on this one.

Nakamura fell short … again

I have been one of the few defenders of how Nakamura has been presented since he was called up to the main roster after WrestleMania.

Before Sunday night, he had lost only two matches (One if you don't count Money in the Bank as a blemish on his record) and defeated John Cena and Orton … clean. The list of people to accomplish that last feat is very, very short.

But after Sunday night, I cannot blame anyone for being upset, as Nakamura lost yet again, and although it wasn't necessarily the cleanest loss in the world, it was pretty close.

Nakamura seemingly had the match won when he hit Mahal with the Kinshasa, but the referee was pre-occupied with ejecting the Singh Brothers.

That allowed Mahal enough time to recover and reach for the ropes on the ensuing pin attempt. Moments later, Mahal hit the kalas and picked up the victory.

I understand what WWE is trying to accomplish with Mahal, that has been understood from the very beginning of his title reign, but where does the company go now with Nakamura?

The company touts him as a rock star, but after Sunday night he looks like anything but. I would even go as far as Hell in a Cell being the first thing WWE has actually done to damage Nakamura.

I would not go as far as to say WWE has ruined Nakamura, but Sunday definitely didn't help.

Women's title match ending was underwhelming

For a match I was really looking forward, I came away kind of underwhelmed with what Charlotte and Natalya did at Hell in a Cell.

That is not to say what they did was — although I thought the ending left a lot to be desired — I just thought that Charlotte and Natalya were capable of more.

Maybe we'll get that moving forward, but it didn't help this particular event increase in quality.

Also ...

I thought the United States title match was probably the best non-Hell in a Cell match on the card and I have no issue with Corbin winning the United States title.

I know some fans do have an issue, which is something I will never understand, but that's OK.

The Fashion Files returned and it was pretty funny. Having Cesaro's face on the board with caption "Tooth Fairy 3" was hysterically funny.

Vaughn Johnson has a podcast with Nick Piccone called the Straight Shooters on WildfireRadio.com. Check it out here HERE.