10 Annoying Ways WWE Ruined What We Once Loved

Remember the time when Hell in a Cell used to be the final chapter in the most vicious of rivalries? Only the top stars who had been embroiled in an epic feud for months or perhaps even years could unlock it, because only those willing to do irreparable damage to their foes could survive inside the Devil’s Playground. Does anyone remember that time?

"No, you don’t," says Vince.

Now, Hell in a Cell is an annual attraction that has to happen for the sake of it. This is also true for other such stipulation based pay per views. Tables, Ladders and Chairs, matches used to be a special attraction that would get brought out only when the competitors had produced so much carnage that ordinary matches couldn’t contain their desire for violence anymore.

Turning these popular match types into entire shows only serves to diminish their importance. It inevitably leads to encounters that don’t deserve the stipulation (Sasha vs. Becky inside HIAC was the first match in the feud), modifications to the formula in order to drag it across a whole show (remember the Stairs Match on TLC?) and a gradual watering down of the aura and stakes originally associated with the thing.