Ryan Dilbert's 10-Count: WWE Storytelling Remains Sluggish, Uninspired

1. WWE Creative in a Slump

WWE fans keep standing in front of the box of dynamite, waiting for one of the sticks to go off. None of them have.

The company is limping toward Hell in a Cell, with so many of its rivalries and narratives not advancing or leading to anything.

Roman Reigns is set to battle Bray Wyatt inside The Devil's Playground at the pay-per-view. After the two enemies collided in a whirlwind of a brawl on Sept. 28, WWE has failed to build on that, and its writing team has been uncreative to a surprising level.

On the Oct. 5 Raw, Reigns and Wyatt met as part of a six-man tag match. It ended with The Big Dog pointing at Wyatt before nailing Luke Harper with a spear. The following week, Reigns followed a clash with Braun Strowman with a showdown with The Eater of Worlds.

They stared at each other between the ring ropes. Reigns tagged Wyatt with a right hand.

That's it.

Like with too many of the current feuds playing out on WWE TV, there has been too little in the way of surprises, too few curveballs and a lack of increased animosity.

Ryback and Kevin Owens have had just scraps to work with during their Intercontinental Championship feud. The Big Guy chased the champ out of the ring on Oct. 5. On Monday's Raw, each man won their respective matches, but there was nothing presented that night to further their hate for each other.

That's not the makeup of a memorable rivalry.

The battle for the Divas title is equally as lacking. WWE had Brie Bella pin Charlotte in tag team action on Monday's Raw. The underhanded nature of that victory had to have left Charlotte frustrated, but that can't be the peak of this feud.

Last week's contribution to the story amounted to a 40-second interview with Charlotte backstage.

Where are this rivalry's big moments? Where is WWE to make fans' jaws drop or hearts race?

Where is the modern-day version of The Four Horsemen breaking Dusty Rhodes' arm, Jake Roberts holding a cobra in biting range of Randy Savage or Chris Jericho leaving Shawn Michaels bloodied by smashing his head into the Jeritron?

WWE is inviting Michaels, Ric Flair, Brock Lesnar and Undertaker to next week's Raw. That's a Band-Aid fix to the current ratings tailspin.

The company has to realize, though, that viewership is at time-to-panic lows (Monday's Raw scored just a 2.33 rating, according to ProWrestling.net) because of an inability to engage.

Whether it's on Walking Dead or in the squared circle, the audience keeps coming back when the stories are good. When writers employ a lazy, paint-by-numbers approach and offer few discussion-generation moments, the fanbase drifts.

Someone in the writer's room needs to be bolder and more aggressive. Vince McMahon has to demand that his staff push boundaries and inject energy into the WWE product. Right now, the company's programming needs to be ignited.

2. Neville Can't Escape King Barrett

Neville finds himself in a situation in which WWE doesn't seem to know what to do with him.

He's higher on the priority list than Damien Sandow, who has been absent from the screen so much that one has to wonder if he is part of the Witness Protection Program somewhere. But Neville's not moving from feud to feud either. 

WWE keeps having him tangle with Bad News Barrett.

Since moving to the main roster, Neville has faced Barrett 13 times, amounting to 23 percent of his matches. Neville's record (link contains SmackDown spoilers) in those battles is 5-8.

After facing him in the buildup to King of the Ring and in the tournament itself, Neville collided with Barrett at SummerSlam as an extension of his rivalry with Stardust. Now that the Stardust story appears to be over, he's back to butting heads with his fellow Englishman again.

WWE has teamed The Man Who Gravity Forget with Cesaro and is having him take on Barrett and Sheamus. 

There has to be a fresher story in which to include Neville. There has to be someone else on the roster he can battle.

3. Throwback Video of the Week: The Russians

If WWE needs a reminder of how to book a Russian monster, it need only pull up videos of Nikita and Ivan Koloff. Rusev doesn't have to be a lovesick puppy spiraling down a soap opera-like angle. He can be a beast from a foreign land, an unfeeling brute.

That's what both Koloffs were in the '80s for Jim Crockett Promotions.

A great sample of their fearsome nature came in an interview conducted by David Crockett. Ivan barked at the announcer for the bulk of it. Nikita, feeling slighted by Crockett's questions, cold-cocked him with the Russian Sickle clothesline.

Now that Summer Rae has ditched The Bulgarian Brute, this is the direction Rusev needs to go. WWE should sharpen his claws and let him tear at anyone standing in his way.

4. What Does it Take to Bring Cena Down?

Much like in their Steel Cage match in early 2013 on Raw, Dolph Ziggler vs. John Cena on Monday's Raw was the story of one man unable to bring down another, no matter what he swung at him.

Ziggler locked in the sleeper hold. He followed a headbutt with a Zig Zag. He drove Cena's head into the mat with a DDT from the second rope.

Each time, it only netted him a two-count. Cena, meanwhile, simply hit the Attitude Adjustment to close things out.

In their collision in the cage from two years ago, Ziggler also had Big E and AJ Lee helping him out. The Showoff smashed Cena's face into the cage, Big E slammed the door on the babyface's head and Ziggler again hit every signature move in his playbook to no avail.

WWE books Cena as existing on another level from his foes. And Ziggler is consistently treated like the perennial runner-up, more gutsy than successful.

5. Hell in a Cell's Championship History

Seth Rollins has to worry more than his fellow champions when Hell in a Cell arrives.

The Intercontinental Championship has never changed hands at the event. Neither has the United States Championship or tag team titles. The Divas title has seen a new champ crowned at the PPV just once.

That's one out of 20 title defenses going the way of the champion.

The WWE title, on the other hand, has a history of movement at this time of year. Titleholders have defended five times at Hell in Cell, and three times a new champion has emerged.

Credit: WWE.com

Maybe it's because the buzz from WrestleMania has worn off by that time, but it's clear that WWE likes to name a new champion in October. Rollins isn't expected to lose against the veteran Kane, but the numbers make it hard to bet on him with confidence.

6. The Great Khali vs. Cement

The Great Khali's ad for Ambuja Cement in India may just be the best thing he has ever done:

7. An Opportunity for Prince Pretty

Tyler Breeze came up short in his latest big matchup. He looked to end Apollo Crews' undefeated streak but instead became a springboard for another star once again.

WWE continues to make Breeze the Ziggler of NXT. The defeat to Crews marks the fifth straight loss at an NXT live special.

• TakeOver: Respect (Apollo Crews)
• TakeOver: Brooklyn (Jushin Liger)
• TakeOver: Unstoppable (Finn Balor)
• TakeOver: Rival (Hideo Itami)
• TakeOver: Fatal 4-Way (Tyson Kidd, Sami Zayn, Adrian Neville)

Even if the company doesn't see main event potential in him, there's a chance to tell a compelling story here.

The sting of these losses can cause Breeze to snap. He can stumble against more and more opponents before finally tapping into the darkest, most vicious side of himself.

He can begin to win by any means necessary, using brass knuckles when the referee isn't looking, attacking his opponents backstage before the match or hiring crooked referees. A desperate, angry Breeze would be fun to watch.

8. A Kane Hit list 

Expectations are low for Kane's faceoff with Seth Rollins at Hell in a Cell.

He doesn't have a long list of great matches a la Daniel Bryan or The Heartbreak Kid. He's instead been a steady, consistent worker. Plus, he's approaching 50.

Still, Kane has put together some impressive performances, some of them quite recent. These bouts are reminders of what Kane looks like at his best:

• Kane vs. Triple H vs. Mankind vs. Davey Boy Smith vs. The Rock vs. Big Show: Unforgiven 1999
• Kane vs. Chris Benoit: Bad Blood 2004
• Kane vs. Shawn Michaels: Unforgiven 2004 
• Kane vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Edge vs. Alberto Del Rio: TLC 2010
• Kane vs. Daniel Bryan: Extreme Rules 2014

The Unforgiven clash against Michaels showed off Kane's agility. The big man isn't going to be that version of himself come Hell in a Cell, but he can be the stalking monster that he was against Bryan.

9. After the Party Winds Down

What is WWE thinking with Adam Rose? After the party-animal gimmick flopped, he's now taken to wearing glasses, becoming far more serious and building every promo around the word "poop."

There isn't anything cryptic or intriguing about this version of him. This is far too one-dimensional of a character to take off.

Why not just have Rose devolve back into his Leo Kruger persona from his NXT and Florida Championship Wrestling days? That's when his promo work was at its best. And his brawling, hard-hitting in-ring style allowed him to thrive.

A rain-on-everyone's-parade persona isn't nearly as promising.

10. Lance Storm on Roman Reigns

Reigns bombed in front of the Chicago crowd, but it's not his fault. WWE never should have asked him to do a lengthy promo, and certainly not one with as little meat as that one had.

As former WWE tag champ Storm pointed out, that kind of monologue is ill-advised:

WWE has to realize that Reigns is best suited to be a man of few words. Let him snarl and brood, punch and roar. Trying to make him a wordier soldier will assure his failure.

Hell in a Cell history courtesy of TheHistoryofWWE.com. Match statistics courtesy of CageMatch.net.