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Everyone has opinions.
It's an old adage, and still holds true today. No matter how clear cut something may seem, there will almost never be total agreement on the matter. If you need an example, look no further than the Flat Earth Movement, which seeks to ignore verifiable scientific evidence in favor of their chosen conspiracy theory.
What about something less serious, such as pro wrestling? Surely the disagreements there will be more civil, right? Not so much.
The fans have spoken, and many of them are rather disgruntled about the finish to the Bray Wyatt vs Seth Rollins match for the Universal Championship.
For those living under a rock, Seth Rollins is still the Universal Champion, even though he didn't win the match. Or did he? Or was he disqualified? WWE issued an official statement saying the match was stopped with no official winner or loser, but that was hours after the event ended.
The Fiend was devastated by a vicious Seth Rollins attack, which prompted WWE to attempt to remove him via stretcher. Fans were confused because the match was apparently over, but with no official reason given. Bray Wyatt would later get off the stretcher and attack Rollins, meaning their feud will likely continue, but the controversy continues to rage on social media.
Here are five reasons why some fans are not happy with the HIAC main event finish.
#1. The Finish made the Fiend look less scary.
For weeks, Bray Wyatt's Fiend persona has been devastating legends of the sport. When you're portraying an invincible, pseudo supernatural being like The Fiend, it's important that you aren't made to look vulnerable like a mere mortal.
That's exactly what happened at Hell in a Cell. The Fiend was robbed of his aura of mystique. Seth Rollins's brutal attack rendered The Fiend incapable of defending himself, leading to referee stoppage--but apparently not a DQ finish (more on that in the next slide.)
The finish did no favors for Bray Wyatt, and may have proven detrimental to his career in the eyes of many fans.
#2. The finish was confusing to many fans.
Seth Rollins delivered a severe beating to The Fiend during the climax of the Hell in a Cell main event match, piling weapons on top of him and then striking the whole mess with a hammer.
Traditionally, Hell in a Cell matches are no disqualification affairs, so many fans were confused when the referee called for an end to the match, after Rollins ignored his orders and hit The Fiend with the hammer.
So, what happened? At first, most fans assumed that the finish was a DQ, but there were other ideas floating about on social media as well.
WWE's official website tried to clear up the controversy with this explanation, which for many fans came too little, too late.
“Clearly sensing that a line was about to be crossed, the referee tried to stop Rollins from using the hammer. But The Beastslayer did it anyway, bringing the tool straight down on the whole pile, causing the ref to wave off the match while a crew of medics tended to Wyatt. Rollins, who was clearly on the verge of madness, made the mistake of straddling his fallen foe and quickly found himself ensnared in the Mandible Claw as Wyatt rose up from his back and continued his attack."
So, straight from the horse's mouth, it seems as if neither man won the match, but it shouldn't have taken several hours of speculation and an explanation on a website to get that point across to fans.
#3. The Pay Per View was otherwise well received.
Perhaps the true tragedy of the controversy surrounding the end of the Bray Wyatt and Seth Rollins Universal Title match is that the rest of the Pay Per View by and large pleased the fans.
Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks had a classic inside the Hell in a Cell, digging deep into their respective move sets and delivering a lot of innovative offense.
The Kabuki Warriors defeated Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross, after Asuka unleashed the dreaded green mist utilized by The Great Muta and Tajiri in the past. Ali thrilled us all by coming up with an innovative counter to the RKO, and even the throwaway tag team match between Daniel Bryan, Roman Reigns, and the Bludgeon Brothers was well-received by fans.
When the finish came, it diminished the accomplishments made on the rest of the card, much to the chagrin of many fans.
#4. Many fans hoped to see Wyatt win the strap.
It's hard to put into words just how over Bray Wyatt's new gimmick has become.
For a man once discounted as a mid carder for life--at best--during his Husky Harris days, Bray Wyatt has done quite well for himself. In truth, he has wrestling in his DNA.
Bray Wyatt's real name is Windham Lawrence Rotunda. He is the son of 'Captain' Mike Rotunda, who was a WWE Tag Team Champion on two occasions with two different partners. Wyatt's father is also good friends with WWE Hall of Fame member and former Four Horsemen stable mate Barry Windham--which explains Bray's unusual first name.
Wyatt is a second generation wrestler who has really come into his own with the Firefly Fun House gimmick. Many fans were expecting him to finally break through to the 'big leagues' and win the Universal Title in a definitive manner, thus erasing memories of his previous WWE Championship reign, which was considered to be underwhelming.
When that didn't happen, many fans were upset, and it was exacerbated by the unusual and confusing finish.
#5. The confusing finish derailed WWE's momentum at a critical time.
Right now is a critical time period for WWE, perhaps the most critical since it looked like they were going to lose to WCW during the Monday Night War's early stages.
For one thing, WWE has recently moved its secondary main roster show SmackDown Live to the Fox Network from their long time home on USA. This has led to a lot of attention being focused on WWE, as fans new and old tune in to see what the company has to offer.
Of course, there's also the AEW vs. WWE rivalry to consider. WWE has pitched their NXT brand in direct competition to AEW's Dynamite show, and round one of the ratings war went to AEW.
With all of this going on, WWE needed to deliver a rock solid pay per view at Hell in a Cell that would give them plenty of momentum going forward. Although most of the event generally pleased fans, the main event debacle has derailed any chance of momentum for WWE.
There you have it: Five reasons why the Hell in a Cell 2019 main event finish angered some fans. How did you feel about the finish? Please comment and let us know, and as always thanks for reading!
One of Samoa Joe's colleagues had harsh words for him HERE
