Four reasons Samoa Joe should have won the WWE title at Hell in a Cell

Last night at Hell in a Cell, AJ Styles defeated Samoa Joe clean to retain his WWE title. The match itself was a slightly underwhelming encounter, given the talent of the two men involved and the heat they had managed to build during their feud, but it was the clean pinfall that was perhaps the most underwhelming element of the match.

Joe had been positioned as the big bad bully of Tuesday nights, and the match looked like the perfect opportunity to crown him as the new WWE champion. The former TNA star has been knocking on the door of a top title run for some time now, and fans are understandably disappointed that the WWE decided not to crown him at Hell in a Cell.

The two men will meet once again, going one on one in Australia at the WWE's first ever Super Show-Down event, but last night's result has somewhat dampened the excitement for the bout.

While AJ Styles is an excellent WWE champion, the WWE missed out on a big opportunity last night. Let's take a look at four reasons why Samoa Joe should have won the WWE title at Hell in a Cell.

#4 To continue the narrative

Samoa Joe has been tormenting AJ for the last two months

Samoa Joe has been terrorising AJ Styles and his family for the best part of the last two months now, and the story should have ended with Styles overcoming Joe after a hard-fought and brutal match-up.

Instead, Styles managed to outsmart his opponent and steal a pinfall against him. Not that there was too much wrong with the finish, it did a fairly good job of protecting Joe, It just feels slightly anti-climactic given the circumstances.

Having Joe win the belt at Hell in a Cell would have given fans an impetus to rally behind AJ, leading up to his big victory against the Samoan Submission Machine.

Instead, Joe Vs Styles at Super Show-Down has lost all sense of intrigue, with most fans believing Styles will pick up yet another victory over his long-time rival before moving on to somebody else.

#3 A change of scenario in the main event

Styles has held the WWE for nearly 12 months

AJ Styles is an excellent WWE champion, there is no denying that, but the former Impact and NJPW star has now been the WWE champion for nearly 12 months and a change of scenery at the top of the card would probably be welcomed.

Styles' feud with Samoa Joe has basically been a carbon copy of his feud with Shinsuke Nakamura, just replace low-blows with some family jibes and you've got basically got the same program.

WWE fans are a notoriously fickle bunch, and while AJ is beloved by legions of the fanbase, you only have to take a look at Charlotte Flair to see how quickly they can grow tired of seeing the same face on top all the time.

Joe could prove to be exactly the kind of WWE champion that fans love to hate, a bullying heel who ploughs through everyone in his way and is eventually stopped by a valiant babyface after a fairly lengthy reign.

#2 Momentum was on his side

Samoa Joe has been on a roll since joining SmackDown

Samoa Joe has been one of SmackDown's most consistent performers in recent months, and he has done an excellent job at bringing the best out of the WWE champion, AJ Styles.

His defeat at Hell in a Cell effectively puts a brake on that momentum and swings the pendulum completely in the favour of the champion.

Joe will now head into their match at Super Show-Down as the underdog, and that is not the position a top-level heel like Joe should be finding himself in.

#1 Last chance

Will Samoa Joe get another chance like this to win the WWE title?

While Samoa Joe will square off with AJ Styles once again at Super Show-Down in a few weeks, few fans will be expecting him to pick up the victory after he was beaten clean at Hell in a Cell.

There is no denying that the finish at Hell in a Cell protected Joe to some extent but like Shinsuke Nakamura before him, the defeat will still have done enough to damage him as a legitimate title contender.

Joe was in need of a big win at Hell in a Cell, and the fact that he didn't get it, means that he will just drop down the card following another inevitable defeat at Super Show-Down.