WWE Hell in a Cell 2017 Matches: Best Booking Outcomes for Hell in a Cell Bouts
Sunday night, SmackDown Live presents Hell in a Cell live on WWE Network from Detroit.
As is the case with any WWE extravaganza, the outcome of the night's matches are of the utmost importance. Not only are they significant to the overall quality of the show, they dictate creative direction.
Considering the number of stories and rivalries for WrestleMania season that begin taking shape in the fall months, Sunday's outcomes take even greater precedence.
From the match between Kevin Owens and Shane McMahon all the way to the lower-card bouts, including Bobby Roode vs. Dolph Ziggler and Randy Orton vs. Rusev, the foundation of the SmackDown brand will be reinforced by the outcomes and finishes that accompany Sunday's contests.
Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin vs. The Hype Bros
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The narrative put forth by WWE Creative is that Zack Ryder and Mojo Rawley are growing increasingly frustrated by their string of losses and must do something to change their fate.
That something will not come Sunday night in Detroit.
The best booking option available, especially in such an afterthought of a match, is for Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin to defeat The Hype Bros in a decisive and clean fashion. The loss would continue Ryder and Rawley's downward spiral into heeldom and spark their upcoming change in attitude.
Wasting the actual turn on a Kickoff Show that will be forgotten by the time the pay-per-view kicks off would be a major misstep that would minimalize the team's new role, though.
Randy Orton vs. Rusev
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At SummerSlam, Randy Orton delivered an RKO that put Rusev down for a three-count in nine seconds. The Bulgarian Brute followed up that humiliating defeat days later on SmackDown Live by attacking The Viper and scoring a victory in roughly the same amount of time.
Since then, the feud has been as shoddily booked as any on the card, and that is saying something.
Orton has dropped an RKO here and there, including to Aiden English, who has aligned himself with Rusev in recent weeks.
With no real heat for the program to speak of, and two ice-cold characters taking to the squared circle, does anyone even care who leaves victorious?
A win for Orton means nothing. He is a 12-time WWE champion and a future Hall of Famer. There is no upward movement to be made for the third-generation star.
A few months back, a win for Rusev over Orton would have meant the world. It would have bought him credibility and probably set him up for a sizable push. As it stands, though, a win would simply serve as a Band-Aid on a larger issue with Rusev: the disjointed and inconsistent booking of which he has been a victim.
The best outcome would be for Orton to catch Rusev with the RKO and put an end to the glimmer of hope fans may have of Rusev actually receiving a real push anytime soon.
Bobby Roode vs. Dolph Ziggler
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After weeks of Dolph Ziggler disrespecting Superstars of bygone eras, mocking fans over their lack of respect for his in-ring contributions and promising the most epic entrance ever at Sunday's pay-per-view, Bobby Roode emerged from...wherever the hell it is he went and challenged The Showoff to a match at Hell in a Cell.
The bout, sure to be a fine one, is a foregone conclusion.
While SmackDown Live needs heels and Ziggler could conceivably fill that role, the fact management clearly loves it some of the Glorious One means Roode is most certainly going over.
As he should.
His potential rivalries, matches and championship aspirations are significantly greater than Ziggler's, whose days as a WWE Superstar could very well be winding down given his various outside interests, including stand-up comedy.
Roode winning clean with a Glorious DDT is the best finish available.
United States Championship Match: AJ Styles vs. Baron Corbin
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Baron Corbin's star fell significantly throughout the summer.
He won Money in the Bank but unceremoniously cashed in and failed to capture the WWE Championship five days before SummerSlam. John Cena beat him in one of the most uninspiring pay-per-view matches of the franchise star's career, and PWInsider (h/t WrestlingInc) reported Corbin's heat with management was off the charts.
When a Superstar is talented, has a distinctive look and potential to be a big star, though, he still manages to get opportunities others in similar positions would not be granted.
A demotion for Corbin meant a United States Championship rivalry with AJ Styles, which should have been the first stop on the road to a major WWE title push anyway.
Corbin has worked with Styles before, including a WWE Championship match late in 2016 that also involved Dolph Ziggler. That match, a legitimate candidate for "TV Match of the Year," demonstrated the chemistry Styles and Corbin have with each other.
Sunday night, they will once again meet in a bout that should serve as the coronation of The Lone Wolf as a legitimate star of WWE's future.
There will be some who argue the best finish is Styles going over clean, but at the end of the day, Superstars are created by working with established veterans and beating them to earn credibility and, in this case, championship legitimacy.
Yes, Corbin could cheat to beat Styles and continue building heel heat for himself, but a clean victory courtesy of End of Days is exactly what he needs to earn even a modicum of respect from the WWE Universe.
Hell in a Cell for the SmackDown Tag Team Titles: The New Day vs. The Usos
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The rivalry between The New Day and The Usos ranks right alongside Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman and Samoa Joe vs. Brock Lesnar as the best programs of 2017. Their matches together may even catapult their feud past the others.
The in-ring exploits of the current and former champions have stolen many a show, including the otherwise terrible Battleground pay-per-view in July.
Each match has gotten more intense, featured more death-defying spots and grown in brutality.
New Day won the titles back in a Las Vegas Street Fight on the September 12 episode of SmackDown. Shortly thereafter, it was determined the only way for the two teams to settle their differences was inside Hell in a Cell.
The first match of its kind since 2009, when D-Generation X battled Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase, the tag team war will likely steal the show out from underneath the likes of AJ Styles, Shane McMahon and Kevin Owens and bring the feud to a satisfying conclusion.
With that said, months of tag team hot potato will end Sunday when The New Day picks up the win and moves on to their next challengers.
SmackDown Women's Championship Match: Charlotte vs. Natalya
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Natalya shockingly won the SmackDown Women's Championship at SummerSlam, capping off a sudden rise to the top of the blue brand's women's division.
Her fall will come just as suddenly Sunday night when she taps out to Charlotte Flair's Figure Eight.
The second-generation competitor should win the title cleanly from Natalya in what is likely to be a physical, hard-fought match if their previous battles are any indication. Her win and subsequent celebration should be short-lived, however.
Carmella's eventual Money in the Bank cash-in has been hanging over the division like a dark cloud since July, essentially bringing any creative advancements whatsoever to a screeching halt.
The Princess of Staten Island should cash in, win the title and set up a program with Charlotte that will carry the division into the new year.
WWE Championship Match: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Jinder Mahal
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Jinder Mahal is a stronger heel than Shinsuke Nakamura is a babyface at this point.
That may not be a popular sentiment around the internet, but beyond Nakamura's electrifying entrance, WWE Creative has done a horrific job of explaining why anyone should care about The Artist.
Sunday night at Hell in a Cell, Nakamura should lay waste to The Singh Brothers and tease winning the WWE Championship, only to be outdone one more time by Mahal with a cheap roll-up or small package.
Nakamura winning the title is still, obviously, the end game, but until WWE Creative figures out exactly what story it is trying to tell with The King of Strong Style, The Maharaja should retain and make fans actually want to see the hero conquer the villain.
Falls Count Anywhere Hell in a Cell Match: Shane McMahon vs. Kevin Owens
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Shane McMahon returns to the Hell in a Cell structure fans last saw him leap off at WrestleMania 32 against The Undertaker.
Yes, the prodigal son has never been one for using logic when there is a monstrous steel structure to jump off, and Sunday will be no different.
McMahon will take a huge bump and pop the crowd, but at the end of the night, it should be Kevin Owens who has fans talking about the sheer brutality with which he approaches the main event.
The Prizefighter needs to win Sunday, or the entire rivalry loses its purpose.
A match like this, against a special attraction like McMahon, is designed to put the full-time star over. If Owens does not win, his momentum is shot, even if the program is setting up a bigger, more significant match involving other McMahon family members.
A brutal Pop-Up Powerbomb through a table or onto a chair would be fun, but with the added Falls Count Anywhere stipulation, a powerbomb on top of the cell would be the most fitting way to wrap up the match and feud.
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