WWE Hell in a Cell 2015: WWE Creative Direction Needs Reboot Following Event

When the lights go down on WWE Hell in a Cell 2015 on Sunday, October 25, in Los Angeles, the real work will begin for WWE Creative.

That’s because in the months to follow, WWE Creative will be faced with the prospect of booking the remainder of 2015 without four of the company’s biggest draws: Brock Lesnar, The Undertaker, Sting and John Cena.

WWE Creative has already billed Lesnar vs. Undertaker as the final battle in their feud, and it’s probable that WWE fans won’t see either man until 2016. Sting’s status remains uncertain following his neck injury at Night of Champions.

WWE understands it has Lesnar, Undertaker and Sting for limited engagements. However, with WWE confirming that Cena will be taking time off following Hell in a Cell, as noted by the Washington Post, it's apparent that WWE Creative needs to use November and December to reboot not only storylines but the entire product heading into WrestleMania season.

It’s a risky bet for WWE, given how ratings for Raw have plummeted. WWE hasn’t garnered more than 4 million viewers for its flagship program since mid-June, while setting new lows throughout the months of September, according to Wrestling News World.

That’s what makes November and December so important for the company. WWE Creative will need to prove it can actually tell compelling stories and give a better variety of wrestlers more chances.

Absence of Cena will be most difficult hurdle

Credit: WWE.com

Lesnar’s a part-timer; his expiration date on 2015 is probably up after Hell in a Cell. The Undertaker won’t resurface until WrestleMania season, in all likelihood. Sting, even if healthy, would’ve done the same.

Cena, however, was the stalwart. That’s why his absence will be most troubling for WWE Creative. 

From a creative perspective, there have been few things more entertaining on Raw in 2015 than Cena’s challenges for the U.S. Open title. One could argue that Cena’s done more to showcase the company’s depth while helping to advance storylines from event to event than WWE Creative itself.

Cena’s U.S. Open challenges have featured the most logical builds and sustainable feuds, whether or not fans agreed with the booking decisions that came out of those matches.

Since capturing the title at WrestleMania 31, the regular feature on Raw has introduced casual WWE fans to midcard talent, featured NXT Superstars like Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens, and pushed bigger stories with Rusev and Seth Rollins. The Open Challenge has fueled feuds like Stardust vs. Neville and Cesaro vs. Owens, which WWE Creative has used to carry WWE programming both on television and at pay-per-views.

While the length of Cena’s hiatus is still conjecture—Nick Paglino of Wrestle Zone wrote that Cena is “off all live TV and live events through December,” while other reports suggested that Cena would return sometime in December—going an entire pay-per-view cycle without the most polarizing Superstar in the company is risky.

Going two entire cycles, should Paglino be correct, is borderline unfathomable.

Without Cena, there’s a big chunk of programming WWE Creative will have to fill. That’s a tall order for a group that, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Daily Wrestling News), is facing “enormous pressure” from WWE CEO Vince McMahon.

Instead of treading water with rehashed storylines, WWE Creative needs to get, well, creative.

Highlighting depth should be key during November and December

Usually, sagging ratings cause WWE to issue the full-court press, calling upon someone for a instant lift. It’s happening now in #Brocktober, also known as Brock Lesnar’s Go To Hell Tour. After Hell in a Cell, though, there won’t be anyone to call upon.

For months, Vince McMahon and WWE Creative have leaned on part-timers and one-off matches to generate ratings. What WWE hasn’t tried is to showcase its talent pool. There is more depth on the WWE roster today than ever before; depth that should be the nucleus of WWE programming’s run to close the year.

This abundance of talent hasn’t been highlighted by WWE Creative. Instead, the focus has been on Rollins, Cena and the bevy of part-timers who have headlined WWE’s major events, especially in the second half of 2015.

The remainder of the roster has been left to flounder, picking up scraps along the way. Count legendary WWE announcer Jim Ross among those who agree, as he wrote: "[Cena's absence] forces WWE's hand to develop other, main event level stars of which they are dangerously thin on at the top of the roster. This entire matter should give WWE Creative some new material of which they really need to feature."

Starting after Hell in a Cell, WWE Creative has a unique opportunity to showcase the Superstars just on the edge of main event status as well as its midcard talent. Shuffling the talent among the available titles and giving the titles semipermanent homes on the TV schedule would allow WWE to highlight its depth.

It could look like this:

• WWE Heavyweight Championship (Raw): Seth Rollins, Sheamus, Roman Reigns, Cesaro
• WWE Intercontinental Championship (SmackDown): Kevin Owens, Randy Orton, Rusev, Ryback, Stardust
• WWE United States Championship (Raw): Dolph Ziggler, Dean Ambrose, Bray Wyatt, Neville, Wade Barrett
• WWE Tag Team Championship (SmackDown): The New Day, The Dudley Boyz, Braun Strowman and Luke Harper, The Prime Time Players

It’s a rough outline; for instance, there’s nothing preventing Roman Reigns from appearing on SmackDown or The Wyatt Family from appearing together on either program. But it provides WWE Creative a framework to insert Superstars into new feuds while not focusing too much on one single Superstar.

If WWE Creative wanted, it could also reintroduce the concept of true No. 1 contenders for WWE titles. This might give even more airtime to midcard talents who may look to move up the ranks—an old archetype for sure, but one that's always been embraced by wrestling fans (see: Daniel Bryan).

Filling the pay-per-view vacuum

Including Hell in a Cell, the four most recent pay-per-views have been headlined by the part-timers (Lesnar, Undertaker, Sting) who won’t be around for the rest of 2015.

Luckily for WWE Creative, their absence is easily masked among the next two pay-per-view events: Survivor Series (on November 22 in Atlanta) and Tables, Ladders & Chairs (on December 13 in Boston).

The traditional Survivor Series format has been used sparingly over the years, with mixed results. While such a match is inevitable given its place in history, WWE could create a tournament for the event, with the last remaining Superstar being crowned the new U.S. champion.

Traditional title matches and the event’s namesake would fill out the card, but such a tournament would be a fitting gimmick for Survivor Series, crowing the ultimate Survivor, a la WrestleMania IV’s World Championship tournament won by "Macho Man" Randy Savage.

TLC is one of the few WWE pay-per-views that doesn’t require a headliner akin to Brock Lesnar or The Undertaker. That’s not to say WWE Creative can coast through December like it did last year, when six of the nine TLC matches earned two or fewer stars from Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Internet Wrestling Database).

The solution is to build feuds and construct matches further in advance than the three-week cycle that’s been commonplace in WWE Creative. And the way to do that is to build genuine interest in the roster from the bottom up.

That effort needs to start following Hell in a Cell, not the Monday after Survivor Series. Now is the time to reboot the product, to give wrestlers who’ve done all that’s been asked of them chances to shine.