WWE Hell in a Cell 2015 Results: Worst Booking Decisions from PPV

"What the hell were they thinking?"

It is a question we ask all too often in today's World Wrestling Entertainment—what with booking decisions that dumbfound the fans and leave them wondering why a certain Superstar is pushed over another or why a nonsensical finish occurs.

While Hell in a Cell on Sunday was largely an enjoyable show, with strong performances from key stars such as Roman Reigns, Bray Wyatt, Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker, it still featured a handful of those head-scratching decisions that WWE Creative has become synonymous with.

These decisions can adversely affect how over someone is going forward or the progression of key storylines. Worst of all, they hamper what was an otherwise perfectly acceptable broadcast.

In the wake of the October 25 pay-per-view, there has been a wealth of new stories and change in preparation for November's Survivor Series.

But not all of the emphasis for said change was good.

These are the worst booking decisions from Hell in a Cell.

Credit: WWE.com

Alberto Del Rio and Zeb Colter: Allies

From the moment the character debuted in WWE in 2013, Zeb Colter made his feelings about Mexicans clear. He was portrayed as a stubborn old man who was very much stuck in his ways, and there was seemingly no changing his mind or his political views.

That is why it made no sense for him to suddenly change course and align himself with Alberto Del Rio.

Especially when Del Rio was the emphasis for the character's creation in the first place.

Remember when Colter first appeared with Swagger prior to WrestleMania 29? How about all of the racially charged comments he made about Del Rio and his heritage? The entire reason Colter existed was because of Del Rio.

Yet now they're best buddies who have united to bring the United States and Mexico together.

It made little sense initially, and nothing the company did Monday night on Raw helped to clear any of it up.

Credit: WWE.com

Ryback and Kevin Owens in the Death Spot

The "death spot" of any WWE pay-per-view is the slot on the card just before the main event. Typically, it suffers from a crowd that is fairly burnt out and waiting to pick up for the most important match on the card. In years past, the writing staff would have just thrown two Divas out there to suffer the consequences of a tired and disinterested crowd, but thankfully, added emphasis on women's wrestling has changed that ideology.

Unfortunately, intercontinental champion Kevin Owens and Ryback found themselves saddled with that spot, which led to a lackluster four-minute match that the fans could not possibly have cared about less than they did.

Despite Owens and Ryback being two over talents, the story heading into the bout was uninspired at best. There was no reason for the fans to care, and the fact that it was thrown into that slot on the card hurt the match even more.

For a company that changes its decisions to emphasize the intercontinental title on a whim, booking it with such nonchalance is hardly the way to restore credibility or legitimacy to it, regardless of how popular the guy holding the belt may be.

Credit: WWE.com

The Dudley Boyz Are Idiots

Up until Sunday's broadcast, The Dudley Boyz had been fairly consistently booked by WWE Creative. They got a couple over on The New Day leading into Hell in a Cell, so it was fairly obvious that they would not win the titles, largely thanks to the company's 50-50 booking style.

But that did not mean they had to lose in a way that made them look like complete idiots.

Bubba Ray bringing the trombone into the ring rather than focusing on winning the WWE Tag Team Championships was bad enough. Falling for the same cheating that had doomed him and D-Von countless times in their wars with The New Day was even worse.

Like any other dense babyfaces, they allowed the heels to distract them, which led to the finish that saw the champions use a piece of the broken trombone to blast their opponents and score the pinfall victory.

When something like that occurs, with the babyface looking to stick it to the villains by breaking something as meaningless as a musical instrument, thus taking his eye off the match, it is easy to sit back and say, "Boy, he kind of deserved to get beaten." 

And that was the case Sunday night.

Booking babyfaces like mindless oafs is not productive. You would have thought WWE would have realized that by this point, especially given the weak babyface roster it has beyond John Cena.