Another month, another pay-per-view—it’s time to take a look at which superstars in WWE are missing from the card. Naturally, a bunch will be sitting out, as there just isn’t enough room for everyone to be involved, but these lists always focus on those who I feel are at least somewhat significant in the current climate.
For whatever reason, there are 7 names that spring to my mind for the 2015 Hell in a Cell event that I don’t see currently scheduled for a match, even though there’s a possibility that they will still show up in some fashion. The card is always subject to change, and John Cena’s US Open Challenge means there’s room for at least one more wrestler, so anything can happen, but these are the handful of people I can’t help but notice the absence of.
Dean Ambrose & Randy Orton vs. Luke Harper & Braun Strowman….and Erick Rowan?
Obviously, the biggest thing to call attention to is the situation applying to these five names. Originally, Randy Orton and Dean Ambrose were scheduled to face Luke Harper and Braun Strowman in the pre-show of the night. For some reason, that plan has changed, but no alternative has been booked yet.
To further complicate things, Erick Rowan’s been brought back into the fold, meaning The Wyatt Family now has four members. With Randy Orton possibly being written off television with his injury angle, that means Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose are outnumbered 4 to 2.
What is going on here? Are the other three members of The Wyatt Family just going to stand around the Hell in a Cell structure and not get involved? Surely, Dean Ambrose can’t try to follow suit, as they would just triple-team him and take The Lunatic Fringe out of the equation easily.
For that matter, why is Randy Orton not showing up? If there was a legitimate injury, we have no idea when he’ll be back, but if WWE is making this all up, then this would be the second pay-per-view in a row that Orton was set up to wrestle The Wyatt Family, but was taken out beforehand with an attack.
All of this seems sketchy and weird as well as counterproductive, as it means two-thirds of this feud is M.I.A.
The Miz
It’s hard to argue that The Miz is in a position right now where he demands a spot on every card, especially above many other names, but the fact that this has become a running theme is really odd to me.
Has he really gotten to the point where WWE views him more as a supplemental guy rather than a main roster competitor? Most of the time we see The Miz nowadays, he’s hosting an edition of MizTV or promoting a movie he’s working on rather than actually wrestling a match.
If this trend continues, it’s no longer going to be surprising for me to see The Miz ignored from a card, but that would be a shame. He’s an asset that has been relatively wasted for the past two years and could be utilized to such better means.
Big Show
For someone who just wrestled Brock Lesnar, you would think WWE would want to create some kind of feud for him to go into to help restore some of his credibility and keep him in the limelight, right?
Big Show missing an event is not the end of the world, nor his career, as he’s one of the guys who does this rather frequently, but some of this card just feels shoddily thrown together and I can’t see any reason why Big Show couldn’t have been included in the mix somewhere.
Could he be challenging for the United States Championship? While I’m far, far from being a member of the “please retire” brigade, I would have to agree with those who say they would be disappointed to see him be the one to answer that call. It’s too late to build up a feud for him to build a match around, too. Considering how much of a mess it could be to just throw something randomly together, it may be the best option for Big Show to sit this one out, but that’s mostly from a lack of preparation and planning on WWE’s part.
Stardust
Poor Cody Rhodes just can’t catch a break. It seems any time WWE uses him, it’s for a month and then he disappears for a few more weeks, only surfacing on Main Event and Superstars. Why this happens so often, I have no idea, but I do know that not only does it make him look bad, it also reflects poorly on The Ascension, who have had a terrible track record since joining the main roster.
The Astral Alliance or the Cosmic Wasteland or whatever they want to call themselves this week has yet to look credible, yet they have been together for long enough to have made at least some waves. Not being a top priority is one thing, but it’s starting to look like WWE’s creative team is actively trying to sabotage this trio rather than support them in any way.
Stardust is not the most popular star in the company at the moment, although how can anyone expect him to be if people rarely see him? At this point, the best Stardust can hope for is to be one of the many names lost in the shuffle and tossed into a random elimination match at Survivor Series, which is rather sad to think about, considering how talented he is.
What do you think of the names I’ve listed above and their lack of involvement in this event? Do you have any ideas on how WWE can insert them into the card? What other names did I not mention that you’re surprised to see sitting this show out?
Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!
