JC’s Top Rope Report: Can The WWE Really Screw This Up Again?

Columns, Top Story

This seems like a running theme with the WWE. Just when you think the WWE has something everyone wants to see in front of them, they have to find a way to screw it up. Now nothing seems to be set in stone at all for Hell In A Cell. But it does appear that the WWE is leaning towards doing what was reported last week.

The rumor was that John Cena and Dean Ambrose would fight in the opening match at Hell In A Cell. The winner would then get to fight Seth Rollins in the main event of the show inside the Cell. The loser would then face Randy Orton as a consolation prize.

Where oh where do we begin? Hell, lets start with Randy Orton. How much does this situation hurt Orton as a wrestler? Orton is reduced to being the consolation prize. An after thought. No one really wants to fight Orton unless they are forced to. I get that Orton has cooled off as a character recently, but no one should ever be reduced to being a consolation prize in any story whatsoever. I get that it seems like they are hinting at Orton breaking away from the Authority, but this just seems like such a bad way to do it.

Then we have the Dean Ambrose/Seth Rollins story. Ever since the Shield broke up, Ambrose has wanted to destroy Rollins. He had a chance at SummerSlam and didn’t finish the job. Then, Rollins puts Ambrose’s head through cinder blocks. Logically, when Ambrose returns, you would expect him to get his hands on Rollins in some type of one-on-one match. When these two first started feuding, I thought it would be awesome if they could get this feud to Hell In A Cell and have a match take place there. Well guess what, we’ve arrived to Hell In A Cell time. These two are still feuding, and it is the best program/feud that the WWE has going right now. Everything seemed to be building up right for these two to go at inside the Cell. But then we had to involve someone else.

And of course, that person ended up being John Cena. I’ve become somewhat of a Cena defender over the last year. I’m not saying that the guy is perfect, but he gets a lot of crap from people that isn’t warranted. Just when the WWE’s booking of John Cena wasn’t annoying me, they had to go and do this. They insert John Cena into the Ambrose/Rollins feud. Maybe there is some logic to Cena’s actions, but shouldn’t he be clamoring for another WWE Title match rather than going after Rollins?

I get that Brock Lesnar has limited dates, and the WWE wants to use them. But there was talk a few weeks ago that the WWE could negotiate more dates with Lesnar for some more money. Why not do that here? What the hell was point of the DQ finish at Night of Champions if there wasn’t going to be a third match at Hell In A Cell? That finish seemed like it was set up perfectly for two big matches at Hell In A Cell: John Cena vs Brock Lesnar and Seth Rollins vs Dean Ambrose. Both matches could take place inside the Cell. And I’m sure both matches would be different enough that they would each be great in their own way. Here’s the WWE, with two feuds that WARRANT a match inside the Cell. But they decided to screw it up. Since Hell In A Cell became a PPV in 2009, the following matches have taken place there inside the Cell:

2009: The Undertaker vs CM Punk, John Cena vs Randy Orton, D-X vs Legacy

2010: Randy Orton vs Sheamus, Kane vs The Undertaker

2011: Mark Henry vs Randy Orton; Alberto del Rio vs John Cena vs CM Punk

2012: CM Punk vs Ryback

2013: CM Punk vs Ryback and Paul Heyman; Randy Orton vs Daniel Bryan

How many of those matches really warranted a Cell, and didn’t just happen in one because of the PPV. I would say none. The Cell played a part in a storyline in 2011 more than anything else and it worked (Miz/R-Truth beatdown). You could argue that the match that warranted the Cell the most didn’t use it, and that was Wade Barrett vs John Cena in 2010. None of those other matches really had a blood feud that warranted use of the Cell.

But here is the WWE with TWO feuds that could warrant the use of the Cell, and they aren’t even going straight down that route. Why would you do a DQ finish at Night of Champions and not re-visit Cena/Lesnar the next month, just to at least give the feud some finality. But for some reason the WWE thinks it is necessary to add John Cena into this program. And even if you weren’t going to do John Cena/Brock Lesnar again, they could have had Cena do something else. Instead, they are trying to have John Cena ruin the best feud going in quite some time. They could have done a Cena/Rusev feud to elevate Rusev. I would have accepted anything other than this scenario being played out for Hell In A Cell.

Since Brock Lesnar won the WWE Title, I thought for sure he would fight at Hell In A Cell. The match is tailor made for someone like him. It seemed like it fit perfectly. The WWE could have had Lesnar fight at the Cell. Then if Daniel Bryan really is ready to return in November, the WWE could build Survivor Series up as the return of Bryan. Build Bryan back up for a couple months, then give him a match against Lesnar at the Royal Rumble.

It’s really quite simple. But once again, the WWE decided to over complicate things for their audience. If the crowd on RAW Monday was any indication, they don’t want to see Cena vs Rollins either. And if that does happen, the crowd will side with Rollins. But we’ve seen the WWE screw up simple things before, so this shouldn’t be much of a surprise. Hopefully the WWE sees what is wrong with this scenario, but knowing them, they probably don’t see what the big deal is. I mean, everyone wants to see John Cena fight Seth Rollins instead of Dean Ambrose right? RIGHT???

*crickets*

Until Next Time,

Justin C

Follow Me On Twitter @JCWonka