With Hell in a Cell 2019 coming up this Sunday night, the go-home show of Monday Night Raw failed to provide any real input on the card. We are still left with only three matches announced in advance, and it seems we’ll have to wait until Friday Night SmackDown is over and done with until WWE can start randomly announcing the rest of the lineup.
In the meantime, this has changed Superstars Missing from the Card to operate less as a status report and more of a guessing game. Nearly everyone has yet to be scheduled for this event as only eight superstars in the entirety of Raw and SmackDown are confirmed so far.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at how this is playing out so far and see how the men and women not currently advertised as being part of this event could find their way into a match, or if they’re doomed.
This post will eventually be updated to reflect any changes to the card once WWE starts actually announcing matches.
From the Raw Men’s Division
— The Ascension (Konnor & Viktor): They never, ever get booked on anything other than house shows. It’s surprising they’re even still employed.
— The Authors of Pain (Akam & Rezar): AOP have been on the backburner, but their recent vignettes show they’ll soon be back. Nothing was set up in advance for Hell in a Cell, so we’ll see them after this Sunday at some point, instead.
— Baron Corbin: How does King Corbin not have a match? How has WWE yet again not followed up on his push, just like with the Money in the Bank and United States title reigns?
— Bobby Lashley: If he wrestles in an impromptu match, it will likely be against Rusev.
— Braun Strowman: The Monster Among Men hasn’t been seen since he was attacked by The Fiend. He’s off selling that.
— Brock Lesnar: The Beast Incarnate doesn’t work twice in the same weekend. Come on, now. Wrestling Kofi Kingston for the WWE Championship could be the last we see of him until Crown Jewel, even. It’s very well possible he shows up more than that, but it’ll be on SmackDown, not on Hell in a Cell in a rushed title defense.
— Cedric Alexander: What was he going to do, wrestle AJ Styles for the United States Championship for the 10th time and lose even more definitively?
— Cesaro: Here’s hoping Cesaro skips out on this event to find some new ring gear to replace his awful pajamas-inspired getup from the last episode of Raw.
— Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder: These two fell down the jobber well once they dropped their tag titles and haven’t yet recovered in months.
— Drew McIntyre: The Scottish Psychopath has been out of action for several weeks due to an injury, but he should be back relatively soon.
— EC3: Unfortunately, EC3 seems relegated to Main Event and nothing more.
— Eric Young: EY is in the same boat as EC3 in that he appears on Main Event but never elsewhere.
— Heath Slater: Slater is one of those jobbers who gets a random push every couple of months. This is not one of those up-swing times.
— The Lucha House Party (Gran Metalik, Kalisto, & Lince Dorado): Absolutely nothing has been going on with this group to justify any match at Hell in a Cell for them.
— The Miz: Oddly, even The Miz has had no direction for Hell in a Cell while WWE has been focused on the television episodes, even if they’ve underwhelmed.
— Mojo Rawley: He doesn’t get booked, he STAYS not booked.
— No Way Jose: The answer to the question “Is No Way Jose on this pay-per-view”, unless it’s WrestleMania’s Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, is and apparently always will be “no way.”
— The O.C. (AJ Styles, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows): They don’t want none. Actually, they probably do, but WWE hasn’t bothered doing anything with them for this card. At most, they’d face Alexander and The Viking Raiders again.
— The Revival (Dash Wilder & Scott Dawson): Tag team titles mean nothing, and they’re a team that should be on SmackDown right now, anyway, as that’s the brand they hold the belts for.
— Rey Mysterio: After Lesnar’s attack on Raw, bringing Mysterio in for another match would seem strange.
— Ricochet: The one and only Ricochet could very well be an emergency backup plan person WWE tosses onto the card in a random match with no build, but until that happens, he’s missing in action the same as everyone else.
— Robert Roode: Tag team titles mean nothing, remember?
— Samoa Joe: Where’s Joe been these past few weeks??
— Sami Zayn: If Shinsuke Nakamura defends the Intercontinental Championship, Zayn will be there. Otherwise, there’s no point.
— Titus O’Neil: I say this all the time and it continues to be true: O’Neil is pretty much just an ambassador and not a real member of the roster, it seems.
— The Usos (Jey Uso & Jimmy Uso): The Usos have yet to make their return after a leave of absence following Jimmy’s DUI.
— The Viking Raiders (Erik & Ivar): Either they beat The O.C. again, wipe out some jobbers or do nothing. That’s the answer to what WWE has scheduled for Erik and Ivar, perpetually.
From the Raw Women’s Division
— Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross: There’s always a chance the women’s tag titles are spontaneously defended against The IIconics or The Kabuki Warriors, but other than that, these two are mostly on the television spectrum as filler, lately.
— Alicia Fox: Fox is still listed on the Raw roster, but she’s only been seen once in months where she was classified as a legend on the Raw Reunion special.
— Dana Brooke: Simply put, Brooke has no feud going on right now, unless they’re still having her wrestle Logan on Main Event in the future.
— Lacey Evans / Natalya: These two had a match on Raw to prolong their feud even more. It’s doubtful if they’re put on this card that anybody will really care all that much.
— Naomi: Naomi has been out of action for a while, dealing with personal issues. She should be back soon.
— Nia Jax: Jax will remain out with her knee injuries for the coming months and isn’t expected to return to action until 2020.
— Ronda Rousey: Rousey is still inactive due to her broken hand and her wishes to start a family. It is unknown when or if she’ll be returning.
— Ruby Riott: Riott’s shoulder injury will keep her on the shelf for the next few months.
— Sarah Logan: Logan has been sitting on the shelf for what I can assume is a lack of creative direction outside of her long feud with Dana Brooke.
— Tamina Snuka: Tamina is still on the injured list.
From the SmackDown Men’s Division
— Aleister Black: I guess nobody has picked a fight with him and he can only wrestle when that happens.
— Ali: Poor Ali. This guy has so much more to offer and WWE only seems to want to trot him out to lose to Nakamura here and there.
— Andrade: Despite having much to offer, Andrade is in no feud and has not been wrestling with any direction for weeks, as though WWE doesn’t know what to do with anyone but a handful of people.
— Apollo Crews: Nothing at all is going on with Crews at the moment.
— The B-Team (Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel): No spots on the card for jobber tag teams, even with only 3 matches announced in advance.
— Big Show: While technically still listed as a member of the SmackDown roster, Big Show is much more of an ambassador than an active wrestler.
— Buddy Murphy: Remember those three weeks when WWE remembered that Buddy Murphy is talented and was just sitting there on SmackDown’s roster doing nothing? Those were some good weeks. Murphy went back into obscurity after that.
— Chad Gable: Gable is one of my picks for someone who could easily have an impromptu match on this card. Still, they haven’t announced anything.
— The Colons (Epico Colon & Primo Colon): Just give these two their pink slips and send them home. There’s no point in employing them if they aren’t used for years.
— Dolph Ziggler: Tag team titles don’t matter in WWE.
— Elias: Elias is currently on the shelf with an injury that he’ll hopefully be recovered from soon.
— The Hardy Boyz (Jeff Hardy & Matt Hardy): Until Jeff Hardy comes back from his injury, it seems creative has nothing for Matt Hardy to do.
— Heavy Machinery (Otis Dozovic & Tucker Knight): Otis and Tucker lost a Raw tag team title match this week. While that doesn’t excuse them from this card, it was at least more than what plenty of other people have done and could somewhat justify their absence.
— Jinder Mahal: Mahal suffered a ruptured patellar tendon injury in a match against Ali on June 15th and will be out several months.
— Kevin Owens: If SmackDown were not the priority show, Owens and Shane McMahon would have had their ladder match at Hell in a Cell, instead.
— Lars Sullivan: The Freak will be out of action until 2020 due to a knee injury.
— The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods): A few weeks ago, these three had all the belts. It hasn’t been a good month for The New Day. At best, Kingston gets a rematch for his title or retains and faces someone like Orton. At worst, he drops the belt and all three members of The New Day do nothing.
— R-Truth: If Carmella and the 24/7 Championship is involved in this show, R-Truth will be seen.
— Randy Orton: The captain of Team Flair may just be sitting on his thumbs if he’s not helping build to that tag team match for Crown Jewel.
— Rusev: If he wrestles, he’ll face Bobby Lashley, most likely, but WWE could just want to have that story play out on television instead of at Hell in a Cell.
— Sheamus: The Celtic Warrior has been out of action quite some time due to injuries, and WWE has not given a timetable as to when or if he will be returning to the ring.
— Shelton Benjamin: Maybe Benjamin should dart his eyes around to look for an opponent and something to do, as he only came off the waiting line to lose in the first round of the King of the Ring tournament.
— Shinsuke Nakamura: The intercontinental champion could always defend his title in an open challenge or a randomly booked match that WWE doesn’t bother to build. It could happen. I’m just saying.
— Sin Cara: Sin Cara has said that he will be returning to action. We’ve yet to see it in a while.
From the SmackDown Women’s Division
— Bayley / Charlotte Flair: How is this not a match on the card??
— Carmella: We could definitely see the 24/7 champion running around backstage.
— Ember Moon: Other than jobbing out to Bayley, Moon has been doing nothing.
— Fire and Desire (Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville): Total Divas is where these two have had their focal points recently, not on Raw or SmackDown.
— The IIconics (Billie Kay & Peyton Royce): Kay and Royce have said that they want a shot at getting their tag titles back. It’s funny to think that will be given any spotlight on a week where most things have been pushed aside.
— The Kabuki Warriors (Asuka & Kairi Sane): These two haven’t even had their manager show up to help them in their past couple of matches and have fallen down the totem pole so drastically much since their days in NXT that it’s sickening.
— Lana: If Lana shows up, it’ll be to make out with Lashley and distract Rusev.
— Liv Morgan: It’s been a long while since Liv Morgan took off with promises of returning renewed. I’m wondering if WWE dropped that angle and she’ll just randomly show up post-draft as if nothing ever happened.
— Mickie James: James is out of action with a knee injury that has her on the shelf for 7-9 months.
— Zelina Vega: No Andrade, no Zelina.
Do you think these men and women or any others not on this list should have been booked on the card in some fashion? How would you have utilized them if given the opportunity? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!
