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The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported that until it was changed, possibly on the same day of the show, the match between Bray Wyatt and Seth Rollins for the Universal Championship was supposed to end differently. Instead of being stopped from hitting Bray with a sledgehammer, Seth was supposed to throw Wyatt off of the top of the cage, much like Mankind's iconic fall over 20 years ago. After the match was called off, Wyatt was to sit up, Undertaker style, and attack Rollins. From there, the event would have ended similarly to how really happened. It's not a gigantic change, but there are some positive sides to a slightly different conclusion.
The end of the Hell in a Cell match from the recent WWE pay-per-view was not received well by fans. Seth Rollins successfully defended his WWE Universal Championship against Bray Wyatt inside the eponymous structure, but the controversial call from the referee made many fans angry. WWE attempted damage control by having referee Rod Zapata defend himself by stating that he thought he was making the best decision for Bray Wyatt's safety by stopping the match before Rollins could act on his plan to use the sledgehammer.
There have been many opinions, mostly negative, about the way the match ended. It has recently come out, however, that there was allegedly a different finish planned to end the Hell in a Cell match. It still would have been controversial, but possibly not as controversial as what actually occurred that night.
#4 It would have been more memorable than the actual finish
People are going to remember the way the Seth Rollins vs. Bray Wyatt Hell in a Cell match ended. Chances are very low that people are going to forget. The problem is that it's going to be remembered the wrong way. Many, maybe most, viewers did not like the way the referee decided to call off the match. It's Hell in a Cell! There are no rules, you win by pinfall or submission, and there has to be a winner! Yes, the official decision puts Seth Rollins' name as the winner in the record books, but it took days for fans to receive that explanation.
If Seth would have done something drastic, like throw Bray off the top of the Cell, it would have been epic. There have only been two other men in the 40+ Hell in a Cell matches who have fallen from the very top of the structure. Mankind was infamously thrown off the top and through the announce desk by The Undertaker in 1998.
Shane McMahon willingly jumped off the top of the Cell in 2016 and 2018. Many others have fallen from varying heights, but nobody else has fallen from the top of the cage and landed on the floor. Rikishi was gingerly pushed off the top, but he landed very safely in the bed of a truck and it was a less-than-impressive visual.
The big point is that it has been over 2 decades since anyone was forcefully, with malice, thrown off the top of the Hell in a Cell. If Seth Rollins was so desperate to defeat The Fiend that he would resort to throwing him off the top of the cage with intent to cause serious injury, it would have never been forgotten, and the referee calling off the match may have been received with less ill will from the fans. The memory would be the fall, not the reason the bell was rung.
#3 It would have been better than almost every other fall from the Cell
Many Superstars have fallen from different heights off of the Hell in a Cell structure. Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose simultaneously fell from pretty high up the side of the cage in 2014. Shawn Michaels hung from the top of the Cell and fell through the announce table in the first match, way back in 1997, in a memorable bump that was overshadowed under a year later by Mankind. Kevin Owens fell from high up the side in 2018 and Shane McMahon twice jumped from the top (2016 and 2018). It's happened.
With the exception of Mick Foley's three biggest falls (off the top once, and through the top twice), there's little doubt that if Seth Rollins would have maliciously thrown Bray Wyatt would have immediately eclipsed almost every other fall from high atop the Hell in a Cell structure. Between the horror movie red lighting, the movie monster behavior of The Fiend, and the overall feeling of the situation, it was already tense. Add a gigantic, violent fall, and you have magic.
Imagine Seth trying to do everything that failed inside the cage, but trying again on top. Chairs, stomps, even the sledgehammer! Nothing is keeping him down. Find a way to protect Wyatt's head and have Rollins hit him with a couple of "unprotected" chair shots. Bray is already wearing a bulky mask, so you put some extra padding in there and pad the chair. The dim, red lighting is already obscuring the view, so it looks fine. After Bray completely ignores the shots and keeps walking forward, Seth gets desperate. He's being backed toward the edge of the Cell. One more chair shot and Bray stumbles, allowing for a Stomp. As Bray begins to stand, Seth looks off the side, picks Bray off, and hurls him off the top and through the announce tables below.
Make up your own ending from there. Seth gets ushered out by agents and security, forced to leave, while Bray soon sits up and destroys all of the refs and EMTs and agents trying to help him. Seth climbs down the cage but is held back. Bray isn't moving and the match ends, and they announce that the match is being stopped. Bell rings, Bray sits up and destroys Seth and everyone around. It doesn't matter as much.
You could even just end the show there. Seth tosses him from the Cell and doesn't know what to do with himself. The lighting goes black like usual for The Fiend, and his laugh track plays. The lights come back on, and he's gone. Just about anything works as long as you get that visual.
#2 You can find an exciting or innovative way to reach the top of the Cell
If the end of the match requires both men to end up on top of the Hell in a Cell structure, that means they have to find a way out. You have plenty of options. Seth Rollins or Bray Wyatt take bolt cutters to the chain to open the door. One of them throws the other one so hard into the side of the Cell that it rips open. Maybe one of them throws the steel steps at the other, but he ducks and the steps break a hole in the cage. There could have been interference by any number of Superstars.
You could also choose a different, more innovative option. Something that has never happened before. The lights could go out the way they do for Bray, with all of the theatrics. When they come back on, Seth is suddenly standing on the top of the Cell, extremely confused. Wyatt has disappeared completely. Or, Bray could be the one on the top of the cage with Seth standing clueless in the ring, and having to find a way to get out of the cage before climbing.
Maybe they're fighting, throwing back-and-forth punches, and the lights go out. When they come back on, nothing has changed except for the location -- now they're on top instead of in the ring. The lights could go out while both men are down on the mat, and when they come back on, they are standing face-to-face on top of the Cell, both man holding a weapon that he was not holding before.
Similar to Mankind in 1998, Wyatt could have started on top of the Cell. Instead of making his entrance and climbing, however, he could have been revealed there as the cage was lowered from the rafters. Maybe Bray can apparate a number of times, driving Seth crazy. The lights go out, and Bray is standing on the outside of the cage, directly where he was before the lights went down, but no longer inside. Maybe the lights go down again, and this time he's right in front of the door. The lights go down again, and suddenly an episode of Firefly Fun House starts. It's short, and it ends with Bray pointing out that Seth's opponent is standing on top of the Cell. Yowie Wowie!
None of it is perfect, and maybe it would go over miserably with the crowd. But why not at least try something different?
#1 The spectacle could have caused less of a negative reaction
In the end, the crowd was simply not happy with the outcome. Not the live crowd or the fans at home. Some people enjoyed the match itself, some people hated it. The biggest problem, though, is that while there were some cool, even innovative and unexpected moments during the match, they are going to go largely forgotten because of just how confusing and disappointing it felt when the referee ended the match early, and with no explanation (until days later).
Whether or not Bray Wyatt won that match, there were ways out. Many people believe WWE shouldn't have done the match in the first place if they didn't want Bray to win the title but they also didn't want him to be pinned or forced to submit. Maybe that's the case, but maybe it didn't have to be. With proper planning, almost anything can be salvaged.
It's not guaranteed, but the massive outpouring of hatred could have been avoided. Even if WWE decided to have the match end in the way it has recently been speculated, with a fall from the top of the Cell instead of the referee stopping Seth Rollins from ruthlessly attacking Wyatt with a sledgehammer, the crowd may not have gone home so upset. Sure, there's no finish, but they got to see a human being get tossed from the top of the gigantic cage! That's insanity.
Many people didn't really enjoy the Mankind vs. Undertaker Hell in a Cell match from 1998. Some say it was a really bad match, but holds a rightful place in history because of Foley's two memorable falls. That could have been what happened here. Have something unexpected happen. Shock the crowd. If you have Wyatt go flying like a rocket off the top of the cage and through the announce tables below, and then end the match, and the PPV shortly afterward (preferably after he disappears without a trace), the crowd might be too stunned to be upset. Fans would exit the building going nuts about seeing Bray's insane Mick Foley-style fall from the structure.
It's a classic distraction tactic. You don't have a way to conclusively end your match? Fine. Just do something that people will talk about more, and that will be what people remember, not the actual result.
