We’ve already taken care of the superstars missing from Hell in a Cell 2016, but who are the lucky few who will not only perform, but likely steal the show in some capacity?
Whether it’s in a scripted or a non-kayfabe sense by factoring in everything from wins/losses, how much of an emphasis WWE puts on that superstar, their momentum heading into the next television episode, match performance and everything between, here’s the shortlist for who I think will be stealing the most spotlight:
Sasha Banks
With the Raw Women’s Championship being defended in the Hell in a Cell, by default, both Sasha Banks and Charlotte will undoubtedly be the two circling the biggest story of the night and it isn’t even up for debate. However, Sasha stands above Charlotte to supersede her for a few different reasons.
First and foremost, she’s probably walking away the victor. Potentially closing out the show at the end of the night by making history and retaining your championship is more than enough, but she’s also going to be doing this as the hometown hero. Boston will go nuts for her, amping things up to the next level.
Charlotte will get her praise, but she’ll be overshadowed by Sasha as far as this win goes.
Kevin Owens
Seth Rollins will definitely come out of this match looking like he hasn’t dropped down the ladder in the slightest bit, but he’s not going to be leaving with the championship. As much of a fight as he puts up, something will go down to screw him out of the belt. Whether that’s interference from someone like Chris Jericho or Triple H, some kind of shenanigans by Owens himself or a factor being kept under wraps for a surprise is still yet to be seen, but Owens retaining is a much safer bet overall.
Since Owens is a heel, the natural response on Monday Night Raw will be him gloating about how he was able to keep his title and defeat Seth Rollins despite the cards being stacked against him. He overcame the odds and should be given the proper respect he deserves for pulling out the win. This may even leverage him into getting November off for title defenses, as he could very well end up the team captain for Raw’s Survivor Series quintet.
Roman Reigns
Due to Rollins being injured relatively recently and the horrible press WWE would get if the women’s title match ended with some sort of injury, I’m convinced the United States Championship defense will be the Hell in a Cell match with the most violent edge to it. The other two will have at least some elements incorporating the cage and the No DQ atmosphere, but Roman Reigns and Rusev will probably perform the biggest spot(s) of the night. This will give them their fair share of time in the highlight reels and could end up making them the main subject of the water cooler talk the next day, depending on what spots are planned.
As with the other two matches, the winner of the fight gets a bump. Reigns is still fresh as the champion and unlikely to drop it any time too soon—particularly to Rusev—so while the fans may not be as receptive as WWE would like them to be when he wins, he’ll be having his hand raised nonetheless.
TJ Perkins / Brian Kendrick
By no means do I expect WWE Creative to spend a lot of time harping on T.J. Perkins as far as storyline viability goes, but I do think there’s a lot of potential weight to he and Brian Kendrick having a great match. So far, pretty much everything from the cruiserweight division has knocked it out of the park and it would be doing them a disservice not to assume that trend will continue. There’s a catch-22, though: with three Hell in a Cell matches on the card, it’s tough for a standard singles fight to seem like it could match up or surpass those gimmicks. Typically, the stipulations have a higher chance at providing the most entertainment. However, not being in the cage might actually turn out to be blessing in disguise. By default, these two will stand out for being different, and if the gimmick matches are hurt from overbooking, this could just be a breath of fresh air with no hindrances. Perkins should come out on top, but Kendrick could very well end up taking the title just to switch things up. Since I can’t quite decide, I’m giving them a tie on this one. I have some faith that both will be trying to overshadow the Hell in a Cell matches as best they can. It’s a gargantuan task, but it’s been done before, and those two are talented enough to possibly pull it off.
Those are my picks, but who do you think will end up being the primary focal points? Drop your predictions in the comments below!
