WWE’s final pay-per-view inside the ThunderDome takes place this Sunday, as the company has bumped up Hell in a Cell from its usual October date. The show is headlined by two Cell matches, both of which have world championships on the line. Drew McIntyre will look to finally dethrone Bobby Lashley and win back the WWE Championship four months after it was stolen from him, while Rey Mysterio will attempt to get revenge on Roman Reigns for repeatedly attacking Dominik on recent episodes of SmackDown.
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The latest betting odds don’t predict any of the champions will lose their titles, but will that actually be the case? And what does Alexa Bliss have in store for Shayna Baszler after haunting her via Lilly these past few weeks? We’ve once again assembled our team of wrestling writers to answer the biggest questions heading into the show. Check out their predictions below!
Was It The Right Call to Push This Show Up From October?
Connor Casey: Personally I still wish they’d ditch this as a themed pay-per-view and let the Cell matches be used for when it makes sense in a storyline, but we’ve been arguing about that for a decade at this point.
Evan Valentine: If this means that they are potentially bringing back Halloween Havoc to the main roster, then I’m all for it. If the WWE wants to switch around their pay-per-view events, I’m all for it. I think mainstays like WrestleMania, Survivor Series, and SummerSlam should stay as is, but everything else feels like fair game.
Matt Aguilar: I honestly can’t tell you that until we see how it plays out, but what I will say is that if you were going to somehow put a semi-fresh spin on Lashley vs McIntyre the Hell in a Cell format is probably better than the alternative. If the cell matches can deliver on the format’s more brutal and physical nature, I’ll say it was worth it, but if those matches don’t, then I don’t really know why we shifted things around.
Nick Valdez: To be honest, it makes sense in terms of the fact that live crowds will be attending again so this is an easy last one to get out in the ThunderDome and leaves some of the more notable pay-per-views for the crowd reactions. But that also means that I’m less interested in it overall considering we know there’s bound to be live shake-ups soon after.
Is It Time for Drew McIntyre to Leave the WWE Title Picture?
Connor: Part of me really wants to see a shake-up in the Raw main event scene and Lashley vs. Lesnar feels like a legitimate possibility for SummerSlam. But then I had a realization — Vince might want to book McIntyre vs. Lesnar II because fans didn’t get to see the first match in person back at WrestleMania 36.
Evan: YES. He had a really good run during the “COVID era” but I think it’s time to let Lashley have it for himself for a time. I think it’s time to develop some new rivalries for McIntyre and have him wielding another belt, or challenging someone who holds one, for the time being.
Matt: As annoying as I know it probably is, I’m going to say no. I can’t justify it from a story perspective either, but he’s just so damn likable, and everyone wants to see him get that title back with fans in attendance. If that’s the moment we’re just kind of slowly drifting towards, I’ll deal with it.
Nick: It’s funny that even the WWE has addressed this with the stipulation that he can’t ever challenge again (unless he wins), but it’s not so funny considering that this has been the main title picture for going on 18 months now. He was a fantastic pandemic champion, but after getting choked out by Lashley at WrestleMania 37 he lost all of that credibility as a potential contender in my eyes. You can’t stand in front of Lashley and keep trying like that. Sure there are actual reasons as to why, but story-wise, it doesn’t make sense that a loser keeps getting so many opportunities to eventually win.
What Spooky Shenanigans Will Alexa Use on Shayna?
Connor: Probably something involving that transformation she had back at WrestleMania. But then again, if they’re going to book her like they did Bray Wyatt, there’s a good chance Shayna makes her tap in five minutes.
Evan: I think that one of the biggest benefits to the organization in 2020 was the fact that without live audiences, they could really dive into the insanity of the Fiend and his “brood” with pre-taped matches. I kind of hope that they could go this route for Bliss but who knows. With audiences back, this might be a thing of the past.
Matt: Yeah, I’m thinking we get another glimpse at the ultra-powerful version of the character from WrestleMania, though we could see Fiend pop up and distract her from winning like she did to him.
Nick: I say we get nothing other than some ThunderDome graphic shenanigans. This is Alexa’s first real pay-per-view match since taking on this new character, so we’re not going to get the full extent of whatever her new supernatural powers are. It’s going to be a slow burn that’s going to start with some disappointment here. But it’s also the last chance to truly wild out, so who knows!
Rhea or Bianca — Which Champion is Being Booked Better Right Now?
Connor: I am utterly baffled by what they’re doing with Ripley right now. Here’s a woman who had so much personality down in NXT, but on Raw the best they can do for her is being mildly smug towards Charlotte. There’s no mention of their WrestleMania 36 match or the rivalry on NXT, even though it would actually give Rhea some character motivation. It’s Bianca.
Evan: I’d probably say Bianca. I think her run as champ has been good enough so far, and honestly, Bayley’s such a great heel and is oozing personality, so it works well.
Matt: It’s not even close. Bianca wins this hands down, but it should be much more of a battle. Ripley was pure gold in NXT, with this badass demeanor that didn’t require much else to shine. Here that shine is just getting overshadowed with a bunch of clutter and mixing of parts. Meanwhile, Bianca has been booked like a beast, and it’s only helped she’s gone from a fantastic heel Banks to the heel queen (yeah I said it) in Bayley. Over the past few weeks, we’ve actually seen Bayley help Bianca open up her promo arsenal a bit and not just rely on EST, and that will only continue.
Nick: Bianca! It’s not entirely Rhea’s fault, but she seems like a much better underdog. She’s in the middle of a completely different kind of build as unlike Bianca, Ripley’s not entirely the most dominant woman on her show right now. So we still have to see what’s to come of this Charlotte match, and maybe the build will change after that? As of now, it’s Bianca looking like the better champion overall.
What’s One Thing You Hope WWE Keeps Doing From the Pandemic Era
Connor: Shorter pay-per-views. They’ve been a godsend throughout the pandemic, please don’t let the monthly ones go back to being five hours long!
Evan: I mentioned it earlier, but the company should 100% continue incorporating pre-taped matches. Stuff like the Boneyard Match, Firefly Funhouse, and others really showed how creative the WWE can get with some of their superstars. While live audiences mean that the possibility of these happening in the future in pay-per-views becomes smaller, I think that the organization was really able to strike gold with these.
Matt: I’m with Connor The shorter pay-per-views have been really enjoyable, both in regards to covering them and watching them. It’s easier to keep a quick and steady pace, and you remove some of the bloat that plagued previous ones. Here’s hoping that stays the same moving forward.
Nick: I will also vote for shorter, tighter pay-per-views, but the one thing I’ve really loved is how consistent the storytelling is. I might have complained about Drew still being in the title picture not long before, but the stories and characters involved in certain title pictures have been given that time to evolve and shift in cooler directions. We have a lot of subtlety in the storytelling these days, and I hope we get we keep some of that rather than toss that out for the old way of just following the crowd and giving them what they want. Sometimes the fans don’t know what they want!
Predictions
Connor
- WWE Championship: Drew McIntyre def. Bobby Lashley (Hell in a Cell Match)
- Raw Women’s Championship: Rhea Ripley def. Charlotte Flair
- SmackDown Women’s Championship: Bianca Belair def. Bayley (Hell in a Cell Match)
- Alexa Bliss def. Shayna Baszler
Matt
- WWE Championship: Bobby Lashley defeats Drew McIntyre (Hell in a Cell Match)
- Raw Women’s Championship: Rhea Ripley defeats Charlotte Flair
- SmackDown Women’s Championship: Bianca Belair defeats Bayley (Hell in a Cell Match)
- Shayna Baszler defeats Alexa Bliss (because of Fiend distraction)
Nick
- WWE Championship: Bobby Lashley def. Drew McIntyre (Hell in a Cell Match)
- Raw Women’s Championship: Rhea Ripley def. Charlotte Flair
- SmackDown Women’s Championship: Bianca Belair def. Bayley (Hell in a Cell Match)
- Shayna Baszler def. Alexa Bliss (with some shenanigans teasing more to come)
Evan
- WWE Championship: Bobby Lashley def. Drew McIntyre (Hell in a Cell Match)
- Raw Women’s Championship: Rhea Ripley def. Charlotte Flair
- SmackDown Women’s Championship: Bianca Belair def. Bayley (Hell in a Cell Match)
- Alexa Bliss def. Shayna Baszler
