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One of the most plaguing issues about the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view over the years is the fact that a large number of matches happened simply because the annual event was on the calendar.
Many matches occurred not because they were warranted by hatred-filled rivalries between the two participants, but because they had a PPV with the name of the match and thus had to use it.
The Undertaker and CM Punk had their first-ever meeting in a Hell in a Cell match, after only a few brief weeks of interaction. Punk was the Heavyweight Champion and the eponymous PPV was coming up, so the match was put in the Cell.
The match was about 10 minutes long and the cage wasn't used at all. Punk also wrestled Ryback two years in a row at the event (once in a handicap match where Paul Heyman teamed with Ryback).
What reason did those matches have to be inside the Cell? Roman Reigns and Rusev had a few interactions, and suddenly they were locked inside the giant cage.
Randy Orton and Jeff Hardy had a minor grudge, but since the PPV event was on its way and it was for the World Title, it was inside the Cell. The Undertaker and Shane McMahon were inside Hell in a Cell just because they wanted Shane O'Mac to reprise his role as "guy who falls from high places."
That's not to say that a lot of the matches didn't turn out to be good, because some of them were. Some of them were great, really. But they could have done matches that were identified if they weren't inside the gigantic, scary-looking cage.
There have been a few warranted ones, such as Charlotte Flair vs. Sasha Banks in 2016. They spent months getting more and more violent, which led to the Hell in a Cell making perfect sense.
Same goes for Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman, and even Shane McMahon and Kevin Owens made enough sense to be inside the structure (mostly on top, actually, but it was still cool).
The Usos and New Day had an incredible match, and it came after months of being at each others' throats, and they used their environment very creatively, in a match that could only happen inside that cage.
This year, neither match has enough build behind it to be inside the Hell in a Cell, however the character of Bray Wyatt's Fiend lends itself to being put inside the Devil's Playground. Becky and Sasha, while they have some history, it isn't personal and intense enough to have them step inside the cage. So what can be done to make the show, and the matches themselves, feel more important?
#5 Better utilize the Cell
One of the reasons the Hell in a Cell match became so popular was the fact that they utilized the steel mesh cage in some very creative ways. Be it the original Cell match that saw Undertaker launch Shawn Michaels into it over and over into the cage, Mankind being thrown off the top and then later chokeslammed (unintentionally) through the top and into the ring (which was emulated by Foley and Triple H on purpose two years later).
Later that same year, the end of 2000, Rikishi was chokeslammed off the top of the Cell by The Undertaker. In 2002, Triple H defeated Chris Jericho with a Pedigree on top of the cage.
Paul Heyman was kept out of the match during the Lesnar/The Undertaker match but still found a way to get involved when The Beast Incarnate used Heyman's belt to tie Undertaker to the side of the Cell and destroy his already broken arm with a chair.
Later matches, such as Triple H and Shawn Michaels vs. Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase, Jr was just a regular Tornado Tag Match that easily could have taken place outside of the cage, but it had to happen inside, since it was the inaugural Hell in a Cell event and they wanted to do three matches inside the structure.
The match was quite good but actually may have been less special because of the fact that it was shoehorned into the cage. Randy Orton and Sheamus barely left the ring in 2010. Neither did Randy Orton and Mark Henry in 2011 (although they still had an absolutely great match, the cage was just window dressing). Roman Reigns and Bray Wyatt spent a lot of time outside the ring, but largely avoided the steel that surrounded them. Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins had a reguar match in 2016.
The matches were inside the Hell in a Cell because the pay-per-view has to have those matches, so a pair of guys often get thrown in there and just have standard, run-of-the-mill wrestling contests.
If the pay-per-view has to happen yearly, at least utilize it for more than a guy taking one or two Irish whips into the cage before they spend the rest of time in the ring.
#4 Completely avoid crazy high-risk moves
Yes, the most iconic Hell in a Cell match is as well-remembered as it is because of the pair of insane falls taken by Mankind -- one off the top and one through the top. The issue with that was that it set a precedent for insanity.
Shawn Michaels had taken a fall through the announce table from about halfway up the Cell in the match about eight months earlier. Less than two years later, Cactus Jack reprised his role of "guy who falls through the top of the cage and into the ring". Rikishi was chokeslammed off the top of the cage 10 months later.
They went a little more than a decade before another truly crazy spot, but for the most part, the cage was used in a limited fashion, as discussed earlier. From about 2006 until 2016, the Cell matches were pretty tame, getting more and more tame with a few notable exceptions (Undertaker vs. Triple H in 2012 and Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar in 2015).
For a few years, the fans were pretty quiet until it looked like the Superstars were going to do something crazy, and there was often disappointment when nothing crazy happened. Fans had been programmed to expect brutality (use of the cage, crazy weaponry, and blood), and then after a couple of years that ceased as well, and expectations fell to nothing. The big attraction was the cage itself, not anything that was happening inside.
Shane McMahon returned and willingly dove off the top of the Cell in his return match against The Undertaker at WrestleMania 32 in 2016. In his match with Kevin Owens the following year at the Hell in a Cell PPV, Owens took a big fall from more than halfway up the cage, and Shane jumped off the top of his own volition again.
Because of that (and because he's been crazy for two decades), it was disappointing when nothing crazy happened in the Jeff Hardy/Randy Orton match last year, or in the Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman match, which was part of a feud that had escalated to the point where something insane was expected based on all they had already done.
Hopefully nothing crazy happens outside of the confines of the cage this year, but both the men and the women come up with innovative and creative ways to use their environment to make their matches special.
#3 Blood
This is definitely a controversial topic. The reason that this is a legitimate option, however, is that WWE has intentionally used blood on a number of occasions over the last few years. Even though it's the PG Era and blood has been almost nonexistent for over a decade, just shortly after the PG rating started in mid-2008.
Brock Lesnar made a mess of Randy Orton's head at SummerSlam 2016. CM Punk intentionally bled during a cage match against Jerry Lawler in the summer of 2012. Maybe most notable of them all, while it wasn't as terrifying as their match 13 years earlier, Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker both bled a heck of a lot during their Hell in a Cell match in 2015. Intentional, but apparently not through the use of traditional blades.
Granted, these were all major Superstars, but it doesn't mean WWE can't pull it out for special occasions. It also helps WWE to cut back on the rekindled expectation of Superstars taking dangerous falls.
A bit of blood after being thrown face-first into a cage multiple times, or having your face raked against the steel would make for a great visual, and when done correctly, blood can be beneficial to a wrestling match.
That's even more legitimate in 2019 because of how infrequent it is now. When Randy Orton was left as a shell of a person at the end of SummerSlam 2016 it was shocking, and people still talk about it. The same goes for when Kevin Owens headbutted Vince McMahon a couple of years ago and made him bleed (however little it was).
It would be showing some real progress in WWE's push for women's equality to have Becky or Sasha bleed on Sunday, but if not one of them, surely the terrifying new The Fiend character would become an even bigger attraction by making Rollins get his head closed up with a number of stitches backstage after she show.
It could also help Bray save face if he doesn't win the title. You don't win, but you do a ton of damage to the champion, which is a big statement to make.
#2 Spend months building toward the match and make it personal
WWE was able to make the match between Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman feel worthy of being held inside the Hell in a Cell because the two men spent months trying to destroy each other.
They did things to each other that could possibly kill a normal human being. So when they stepped inside the Hell in a Cell last year, it felt like they were supposed to be trapped in there together.
When Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose clashed inside the Hell in a Cell in 2014, it was a few months after The Architect turned on his Shield brothers and became a nefarious lying, cheating, heel. They spent months at each others' throats, so having a Hell in a Cell match was the culmination of a big rivalry with a lot of bad blood between the two men.
The Usos and The New Day had the hottest feud in WWE (especially in tag wrestling) in 2017. It escalated to violent levels, both physically and verbally, over the course of months. It led to the first-ever Hell in a Cell match for the tag team titles, and only the third-ever two-on-two tag team match inside the giant structure.
It made sense to do the match inside the Cell, and it came about organically. Undertaker's match with Triple H at WrestleMania in 2012 and the Lesnar/Undertaker Hell in a Cell in 2015 were also fairly sensible.
#1 Only have one Hell in a Cell match on the show
There was a certain bit of logic to having two Hell in a Cell matches when WWE had a pair of World Titles. Even though the rivalries didn't often lend themselves to such a brutal type of match, at least usually there were high stakes involved since the most important titles were on the line. That may not be the best reasoning, but at least it's an excuse to lean on.
The first-ever Hell in a Cell PPV in 2009 had three HIAC matches. The show in 2016 had three as well. With the exception of 2012, every other one of the nine Hell in a Cell events (if you include this Sunday's show) had two Cell matches.
Putting two (or more) matches of that purported importance seems unnecessary. It makes sense, if you are going to haul out the gigantic structure out of storage, that you get the most out of it, and using it twice in the same night is one way to get your money's worth.
The other, and what one could argue better, way to do it, is to make the match something to remember. Make it the end of a months-long, heated rivalry. Make it the one and only night in the entire calendar year in which there's such a brutal match that people can't help but talk about it.
Heck, use it as a punishment for someone who deserves it. You could argue that the Undertaker vs. Shane McMahon match was a punishment for Shane in 2016 -- he had just returned, out of nowhere, after being a ghost for seven years. He blindsided Vince and tried to undermine him. He wanted to take over the power and take the company away from his father.
In the end, the most important element is making the match mean something. Give the fans a reason to care not only about the structure itself, but about the men or women stepping into it. Make people hope that one of the participants gets the punishment or comeuppance that they deserve.
At Hell in a Cell 2016, there were three matches inside the cage. The only one that people talk about is the one between Sasha Banks and Charlotte Flair. It was important and meaningful in more ways than one. The other two were just title matches that could have happened in regular, stipulation-free matches.
Hell in a Cell 2019 is important because it's The Fiend's second official match and only the third or fourth singles title shot that Bray Wyatt has had since his debut six years ago. It's also important because WWE has planned to do the second-ever HIAC with two women inside.
They're spectacles, but wouldn't be happening if the Hell in a Cell PPV wasn't already an annual event. It doesn't mean one or both of them won't be great, but it would mean so much more if everybody wasn't spending all year waiting for October to arrive to see a Hell in a Cell match.
