One would think that the Hell in a Cell structure would provide a babyface challenger with a distinct advantage against a heel champion: the champ is trapped (sometimes) and the challenger can use any means necessary to take the champ down. Same goes for a heel challenger, who can use anything inside the cell or the cell itself to incapacitate the champion. But thats simply not the case. As crazy as it sounds, a world champion has far better odds of retaining his title inside Hell in a Cell (11 times out of 15) than he does against the winner of the Royal Rumble (8 times out of 22). Out of 15 title matches, only three times has a title switched hands inside Hell in a Cell, two of which came at the first Hell in a Cell PPV in 2009 (Undertaker over CM Punk and Randy Orton over John Cena). The other match was a three-way bout at the 2011 HIAC, with Alberto Del Rio beating CM Punk and Cena, who was the champ. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzyaDPf_bvk The oddball match (as you might have noticed there have been three title switches and 11 defenses) is the 2013 cell match between Orton and Daniel Bryan, which was for a then-vacant title. With no title on the line in either HIAC match this weekend, it means that it will be at least four years since a champ defended his title in the cell.
Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.
