Hell in a Cell Predictions

Hello! It's not been quite as long as the gap between Fulham posts, but still- it's been too long. I don't have to do my Hospital story for this one, and I think I explained it in my RAW Review- but for those unaware I ended up moving the Friday before last and I didn't have the Internet for a week. I know October's been a bad month for Reviews, but all I can do is apologise. Anyway, we're now onto Hell in a Cell- and it's definitely going to be an interesting PPV tonight. I won't say the build has been necessarily "bad", but it's been bad. I don't care about anything on the card, I'm not claiming this statistic- but someone on Reddit worked out that every single match on the card has happened in the last two months. Combine that with just general bad TV and it's not exactly a recipe for success.

Anyway, let's kick this thing off because there's actually a lot of potential in this card.

Pre-Show: Sheamus, Rusev & King Barrett v Dolph Ziggler, Cesaro & Neville
It goes without saying that the unknown in this whole dynamic is Tyler Breeze. I was over the moon that Tyler Breeze got called up, it's been long overdue. I do have some worries about the Breeze gimmick translating onto the Main Roster- but for now I'm willing to push those to the back. With that said, I think they rushed this Breeze call-up. Actually, I don't think- I know. They wouldn't have put Dolph in this match if Breeze was pencilled in to start a feud with him before the PPV.

The fact it's on the Pre-Show is what's bothering me in-terms of the Prediction. The usual law of the Pre-Shows is the Babyface goes over. But, if they're going to do Breeze/Ziggler I can't see a scenario where Breeze and/or Summer don't cost Dolph the match. If this were on the Main Card I wouldn't have any issues with predicting it- as such I will, but I do have my doubts.

I personally can't see it happening, but there's always a chance the Breeze/Ziggler stuff was a one off and Breeze is doing the Open Challenge tonight- but as I said I can't see it happening.
Winner: Sheamus, Rusev & King Barrett

The Dudleys v New Day- Tag Titles
While it's far from a guarantee, I think the Dudleys are getting the Titles tonight. The fact that apart from last Monday they've built up New Day to the point they have makes me think New Day are losing the Tag Titles. I don't think it's necessarily the end of New Day's night (more later), but I don't know what else they can do with this New Day/Dudleys stuff other than New Day dropping the Belts. I know I wanted them to keep building it until TLC, but then I remembered it's WWE and they can't do a long build for anything. Also, this position on the card isn't a coincidence (again, more later). There's a possibility they open with the Reigns/Wyatt match so they can "top and tail" the show with Cell matches, but I don't think they will somehow.
Winner: The Dudleys

Kevin Owens v Ryback- IC Title
I'm praying that the WWE will put Owens over clean here. I said in my Predictions last month that I wanted Owens to go over strong, in the process establishing him as a credible champion and being a good building block to raise the prestige of the IC Title. That didn't happen, but it doesn't mean it can't still happen now. Owens is winning without a doubt, it's just a case of how he wins.
Winner: Kevin Owens

Roman Reigns v Bray Wyatt- Hell in a Cell
This is actually one of the more interesting matches on the card from an outcome perspective. I think Reigns is winning, actually he 99% is. Bray just doesn't win any of his "big" matches, I don't know if it's because he's young or whatever- but he just doesn't. Then you've got Roman Reigns who is, well Roman Reigns- and as we're fast approaching Mania season they're going to try and give him another mega-push most likely starting with a decisive win tonight. If this was the Main Event I'd be predicting shenanigans with Strowman ripping the door off and killing Roman, but it's not- and as such it's a safe bet Reigns will win.
Winner: Roman Reigns

Charlotte v Nikki Bella- Divas Title
While I think Charlotte's winning, or rather praying- I'm genuinely not that sure. Between the Paige stuff that hasn't really had a pay-off yet and the fact Charlotte's been made to look as bad as she has this month (I realise that could also mean she's winning tonight) has made me have doubts. As I say, I do think Charlotte's winning- and hopefully after this Nikki will start to be phased out and we can move forward with Charlotte/Paige or- well, anything else.
Winner: Charlotte

John Cena v ???- US Title
I don't like these sort of matches on a PPV. Especially for something big like Cena's last match in around 6 or 7 weeks. It's the main reason Cyber Sunday didn't work. With that said, I think there's a few different options so I'll look at the 5 possibles from my point of view.

Kofi Kingston- With New Day losing the Tag Titles earlier on in the night- combined with the weird "feud" of sorts between New Day and Cena this one makes a lot of sense to me. We've obviously already had Cena/Xavier and Cena/Big E, so in that respect it seems like a no-brainer that it'll be Cena against Kofi. Then you've got the obvious 3-on-1 dynamic which can come into play should Cena be losing the Title (which, as I've said I'm not sure he is). Overall I actually think this is the most likely option- and looking at Paddy Power they've got it at 20/1, so that might be worth a punt.

Samoa Joe- It's going to be really weird if Breeze and Joe are both called up in the same week given their current feud down in NXT. With that said, I think it could happen- and with Paddy Power as of writing this having him as the favourite to answer the challenge at 8/15 it could be happening. For those of you that don't know, Joe and Cena have some history and to the best of my knowledge they're friends- so with Cena going out for a period of time he may be more willing to drop the Title to one of his friends. I still personally think it'll be Kofi, but I can't say I won't hit the roof if Joe's music plays.

Dean Ambrose- With Orton out of the picture, Ambrose is free to do whatever tonight. SO HE'S TURNING ON ROMAN, but really- I think the idea that Ambrose is somehow going to "replace" Cena during his time off is just weird. They had to shift around the Live Event schedule because Cena was taking time off, and Ambrose is someone with some proper name value- that in no way means WWE are gearing up for an Ambrose push. While I'm not saying there won't be an Ambrose push, it's such a tenuous link that I can't see that as a reason for it. But, with Ambrose free you never know I suppose.

Daniel Bryan- Firstly, I don't want this to happen for a second. I've made my views clear whenever the topic of Bryan wrestling again has been brought up. I know Bryan wants to Wrestle again, but for me it'd be quite uncomfortable. With that said, I've seen it brought up- and he's joint 2nd favourite on Paddy Power so I thought it was worth mentioning.

Heath Slater- This one has bothered me quite a bit. The WWE are acknowledging this Slater stuff because they've been putting various skits up where Slater gets denied the chance. Would it have killed them to just do it? I'm not 100% ruling it out, because stranger things have happened- but this is one of the times where I feel they missed out on a really cool spot.

With all that considered, I think it's either going to be Kofi or Joe. I'm still convinced it'll be Kofi because he's the only one of New Day who hasn't faced Cena in an Open Challenge, combined with the fact the 3-on-1 advantage is enough cause for Cena to lose while still saving face.

I've already discussed Cena taking time off and him possibly not dropping the Title, but I do think he will the more I've thought about it. So, FREEBIRD RULE OVER THE US TITLE IT IS.
Winner: Kofi Kingston (Cena dropping to whomever answers)

Seth Rollins v Kane- WWE Title
I don't think this one needs much explaining. The fact it's not in a Cell means there's a lot of potential for shenanigans and they've already blown the whole "Korporate Kane" gets fired angle and it'll just mean we get Demon Kane 100% of the time. There is a small chance they give the Title to Kane and give him a "thank you" sort of run, but as I say- it's a small chance.
Winner: Seth Rollins

Brock Lesnar v The Undertaker- Hell in a Cell
This is obviously going to be the one that's going to be talked about the most. I'll start this off by saying how I'd book it. I'd literally have Brock kill Taker for 20 Minutes, basically the Cena match- but more violent given it's in a Cell. It depends a lot on how you look at things though. It's been nagging me to a point doing these Predictions that because Taker is most likely retiring at Mania in about 6 Months they might want him to go into it "looking strong". That of course means he'd win tonight, but at the same time Brock CAN'T lose tonight or he's fucked. I do think Brock's going to win, but what I've said about Taker is an idea I just can't shake.
Winner: Brock Lesnar

While the build for the PPV tonight hasn't exactly been great, I do think there's a lot of potential in quite a few of the matches on the card. I suppose we'll just have to wait and see really, but I do have reasonably high hopes for tonight- and that always goes well and never results in disappointment.

Thanks for reading as always, barring anything more annoying happening- these Posts are back now. Obviously with these Predictions, the other half is the Review which'll be up tomorrow so hopefully you'll stay tuned for that. Before that, I hope you tag along on Twitter for my first live-tweeting's in absolutely ages (or at least it's felt like that). Thanks again for reading, and let's hope the WWE does the right thing and HIT'S SLATER'S MUSIC!