WWE And TNA: 7 Worst Moments Of The Week (Oct 30)

5. Time To Put The List On The List

Steph (and the writing team that she leads) would rather make herself laugh than sell tickets.

I just think that the last episode of Raw before Hell in a Cell should be ominous. The tone for that night should be much more serious than usual; there should be an aura of dread, because we may not see a couple of these competitors for some time as the match they’re in is incredibly dangerous. At least it should be positioned that way.

Instead, the show revolved around the list. Last week, I expressed some concern for Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho. While I think their shtick is pure gold, Monday was not the night to center an entire show around their goofball comedy act.

Thinking outside the box for a moment...what if instead of Braun Strowman holding the list, and Jinder Mahal being yelled at for promoting peace, they aired a brief pre-recorded sitdown interview with a family member of one of the Cell participants. They talk about how they’re worried about their child/sibling. They tell us that when they heard their family member joined the company, the one thing they never, ever wanted to see them do was compete in a Hell in a Cell match, because it was far too dangerous. Or you know, anything that makes two people fighting inside of a cage seem like it could have some sort of consequences to it.

That’s not the approach WWE chose to take, because when people started to cheer the list weeks ago, it immediately became more important than Hell in a Cell, which used to make them a lot of money, but didn't make people laugh. Priorities have changed, and for the worse.

Well, at least one man did try to take things seriously, though he failed spectacularly...