50 Absolute Worst Things WWE Has Done In The 21st Century
10. HIAC 2019’s Referee Stoppage (2019)
There was a time when Hell In A Cell stood out as WWE's top match type. Ask any number of fans what bout should end blood feuds and they'd answer. Hell In A Cell. Ask many more which match they couldn't wait to play in the latest company video game and the call would come again. Hell In A Cell. The tanked up cage structure was once the choice of the gimmick match connoisseur.
It still kinda is despite many years of rather humdrum pay-per-views that numbed an audience once excited by the mere mention of HIAC. CM Punk and Drew McIntyre take a ton of credit for rescuing the gimmick with their blistering showing at Bad Blood 2024. In 2019, precisely nobody was gushing with the same sort of praise for Seth Rollins vs. Bray Wyatt's 'Fiend'.
Their Cell encounter had some sneakily great build (Seth visiting the 'Firefly Fun House' was quirky and unique), but then the show rolled around and WWE's infinite wisdom ruined everything. Creative deemed it necessary that Rollins and Wyatt go to a referee stoppage due to excessive violence. Unfortunately for them, the violence wasn't excessive - fans had witnessed a lot worse in prior HIAC matches over the years, and Rollins pelting Bray with some weapons was never going to cut it.
The live crowd booed the finish, and Seth later admitted he was so fired up about the embarrassment of it all that he wanted to strangle Vince McMahon once he returned back behind the curtain afterwards. The ending was so rotten that WWE announced a, 'Match Can't Be Stopped For Any Reason' stipulation for the 'Falls Count Anywhere' rematch at Crown Jewel.