10 Mistakes WWE Can't Afford To Make With Hell In A Cell 2016
If Triple H shows up, we riot.
We’re just two days away from WWE Raw’s second pay-per-view of the New Era, Hell In A Cell. It’ll be the first WWE event since 2009 to feature three individual matches inside the structure, and Sasha Banks and Charlotte will make history as the first women to ever compete inside the structure.
Last week’s speculation suggested that Sasha vs. Charlotte might close the show, but we likely won’t know for sure until Sunday. Regardless of whether they headline or not, there’s a lot of pressure on the women to deliver: this is likely the last time they’ll face each other for the foreseeable future, and they’ll need to go all-out to make the first women’s HIAC a memorable one.
Hell In A Cell 2016 isn’t just an important show for Sasha and Charlotte, though. SmackDown have already produced a set of quality PPVs in No Mercy and Backlash, but Raw’s Clash Of Champions was marred by shoddy booking. The red brand is already lagging behind SD’s tremendous weekly show, and they can’t afford another big step backwards.
A strong night of action will go a long way to restore Raw’s ailing reputation. To achieve this, they must avoid falling into familiar pitfalls, and prevent a repeat of Clash’s confusion by not leaving their audience bewildered and disappointed.
Here are 10 mistakes WWE can’t afford to make at Hell In A Cell 2016.
10. Have Dana Brooke Beat Bayley
Bayley hit the main roster with a bang. Hugely popular in NXT, she made a surprise appearance as Sasha Banks’ tag partner at Battleground to a great reaction, and was transferred to the main roster four weeks later. Unfortunately, that’s when things started going downhill: Bayley’s quest for the Women’s Championship ended in failure, and after being pinned at Clash of Champions, she was shunted way down the card.
The past month has seen Bayley wrestle needlessly competitive matches with local talents before making an enemy of the unseasoned, unconvincing Dana Brooke. On Monday’s Raw, they plumbed new depths with a shoddy arm wrestling contest that did nothing for either woman, and the crowd despised.
If WWE are trying to kill Bayley’s popularity, they’re doing a great job. It seemed inconceivable that fans would ever be driven to chant “boring” and “this is stupid” at one of Raw’s only effective babyfaces, but it happened, and losing to a rookie like Brooke is only going to worsen Bayley’s situation. The feud just hasn’t worked, and the only acceptable outcome here is a clean, decisive victory for the former NXT Women’s Champion.