WWE’s Hell in a Cell 2016 pay-per-view is scheduled for this upcoming Sunday night and it appears as though the card has been finalized outside of any last-minute additions, which means it’s time for another look at the superstars on the Raw roster who have been skipped over. For whatever reason, these men and women from the red brand weren’t deemed important enough to find a spot for at the event—at least as far as it’s currently being advertised. Some of those omissions might be justified, while others below are a bit more questionable. Let’s take a look at who will be sitting this show out.
Chris Jericho
No triple threat is going to happen, nor has any alternative match been set up for Chris Jericho, but it would be odd to not see him pop up on the pay-per-view in some capacity. The easy call is to have him interfere in the main event, somehow finding a way to insert himself into the cage on the behalf of Kevin Owens. However, the split has been teased, so perhaps he sits this out and Owens almost loses, blaming it on a lack of support from his friend, leading to a match between the two at Survivor Series.
Somehow, some way, Chris Jericho will not be completely M.I.A. for Hell in a Cell, but it’s looking like he might be relegated to a backstage segment adding a new name to the list or something along those lines rather than stepping in the ring.
Braun Strowman / Sami Zayn
Braun Strowman asked for competition and Sami Zayn offered himself up for sacrifice. This week’s episode of Raw showcased Strowman making quick work of Zayn, declaring him not up to par.
Given the circumstances of them coming to blows but not having an official match, that should be taken care of at Hell in a Cell. There’s more than enough room to include this on the card as it will assuredly be a relatively short fight. As much heart as Zayn has, his ability to out-speed Strowman should prove itself as effective as it was on Raw. Sooner than later, Strowman will catch him and it will be all over. It’s not the time for Strowman to lose quite yet and a win over Zayn could certainly help him transition to that next level.
The Tag Team Division Remainders
The four most prominent tag teams at the moment (The New Day, Cesaro/Sheamus, Enzo/Cass and Anderson/Gallows) are all busy locking up in two different matches, but there are two tag teams left on the roster who aren’t lucky enough to be in that same position: The Golden Truth and The Shining Stars.
By no means should this be a surprise, as they’re the jobbers of the bunch, but with the upcoming Survivor Series match, some steps should probably be taken to not make them look like such incredibly weak links—unless, of course, that’s the plan for two quick eliminations to be taken out of the mix.
Goldust and R-Truth defeated Primo and Epico on Raw, so even a pre-show match wouldn’t feel like it was necessary, but as Mark Henry and Titus O’Neil have been accompanying them recently, why not have the reverse? Henry and O’Neil can have a match on the pre-show while The Shining Stars and The Golden Truth accompany them to the ring. That way, they aren’t forgotten about, yet we don’t have to sit through the same match again.
The Women’s Division Remainders
Never mind Carmen Sandiego, where in the world is Nia Jax? I’m far beyond being her biggest supporter, but if she’s to become anything halfway decent, she can’t be skipping this many episodes of Raw and sitting out the pay-per-views as well. Braun Strowman is consistently upping the ante and progressing while Nia Jax has done nothing of note since defeating Alicia Fox.
Paige is obviously dealing with a multitude of different problems to explain her absence and Emma/Emmalina has yet to return but probably will make an appearance on next week’s Raw, yet Summer Rae is still another name we haven’t seen anything of for a long, long while.
Above all others, though, Bayley and Dana Brooke are surprising to see taking a backseat. There’s an opportunity for both of them to accompany Sasha Banks and Charlotte respectively to the ring for that Hell in a Cell match, but one of the core concepts of the cage is to keep outsiders at bay. That in itself might be an indication that Bayley and Dana Brooke will do something separately, such as a pre-show match or an impromptu buffer fight on the main card. Their arm wrestling segment on Raw was a means to keep their feud going without having them wrestle a normal match, and it was met with a chorus of boos and “boring” chants, so booking those two to have a good fight could help undo the damage done by that.
Bo Dallas / Curtis Axel / Neville
God help me, I don’t see how he’s worth all the effort, but someone in WWE must like Bo Dallas enough to keep giving him chances. For several weeks, he’s been trying a resurgence of the Bo-lieve gimmick, which has brought Curtis Axel and Neville into the mix. There was a temporary reunion of The Social Outcasts (or at least half of them, since one upgraded to champion status and the other is doing whatever “Aldo Rose” is up to)—but that reunion was short-lived when Dallas turned on Axel.
There are three ways WWE could go about bringing this feud into Hell in a Cell, but all of them revolve around the pre-show as it’s certainly not important enough to go on the main card. Dallas might have a singles match against either man, as Axel surely has a bone to pick with him just as easily as Dallas would have with Neville. The more entertaining route, though, could be a triple threat match between all three of them. Axel would be the tweener to balance out Neville’s babyface status and Dallas as the heel, adding a different dynamic to the situation. Since Neville has stepped away from this more so than Curtis Axel, he may be out of the feud, but wrestling Titus O’Neil on Superstars isn’t exactly a better alternative, so he might as well stick around.
No matter what, it would still be filler, but that’s better than watching another commercial or video package recap, right?
Do you think these men and women or any others not on this list should be booked on the card? How would you utilize them? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!
