Hell in a Cell received mixed-to-negative reviews, with the Raw Women's Championship and tornado tag team matches receiving the most praise but the main event match being the overwhelming focus of criticism. Of note, the crowd rejected the perceived illogical finish of the main event match (a referee stoppage of a match under no disqualification rules that traditionally would not end in such a manner). The crowd soon started roaring thunderous "boos" whilst also chanting "bullshit", "refund", "restart the match", and also "AEW", in reference to All Elite Wrestling, a rival wrestling company. On social media, the event ended up trending "for the wrong reasons", as WWE fans made "memes about the ending to Hell in a Cell while questioning the logic behind the promotion's booking". Also trending after the event was #CancelWWENetwork. According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, the main event was perceived by WWE as "a disaster, and that's an understatement". WWE Hall of Famer X-Pac, who appeared on WWE's live reaction talk show Watch Along, reacted indignantly to the end of the main event. Acknowledging that WWE may not invite him back to such reaction shows, X-Pac nevertheless questioned: "how the hell do you get DQ'd in a Hell in a freakin' Cell?" Former WWE referee Jim Korderas also did not like the ending, since during the Hell in a Cell match "all of the rules are thrown out the window and in this match there needs to be a finality. This match was designed to negate stuff like a ref stoppage".
