10 Fascinating Facts About Famous Wrestling Titles
4. The Champion's Advantage At Hell In A Cell
Nobody won a World Title inside Hell In a Cell until 2009.
This fact brings into focus that the old identity and aura associated with the stipulation is, sadly, long dead. Nowadays, the stipulation is mostly presented at a fixed point of time on a schedule first, story second basis. Happily, since most major feuds become a trilogy by creatively bankrupt default, it barely matters when the Hell In A Cell pay-per-view takes place.
Statistically, the chances are that at least one feud will have rumbled on long enough at any point to justify the gimmicked blow-off - insofar as the length of the programme and the amount of sh*tty, inconclusive finishes packed into it, anyway.
It took until the Undertaker defeated CM Punk at the inaugural pay-per-view to break this particular streak; elsewhere, the cage only lowered when a blood feud had reached the ultimate conclusion. Titles were defended in the Cell, but this was a last refuge of the scoundrel sort of deal - in which the babyface would have the heel trapped with nowhere to run, i.e. how cage matches are meant to function. Given the outrageous rate of inflation, these titles must have changed hands at every other pay-per-view.
Actually, as you'll discover imminently, that isn't a remotely (or mathematically!) snarky thing to claim...