Annual WWE Pay-Per-View Reportedly Considered “Completely Dead”

The Triple H regime of World Wrestling Entertainment has slowly but surely made tweaks to the overall presentation. In the months since Paul “Triple H” Levesque took over creative control, NXT standouts like Hit Row and Karrion Kross have been given a renewed lease on WWE’s main roster, while former world champions such as Braun Strowman and Bray Wyatt have roared back to the company after over a year away. The changes to WWE have gone beyond the company’s talent pool too, as classic events like WWE Survivor Series are set to receive a War Games-style facelift.

While there is an attempt to revitalize some shows, others are being scrapped altogether. Speaking to GiveMeSport, insider WrestleVotes reported that the WWE Hell in a Cell premium live event is “completely dead.”

That’s not to say that the cage match stipulation will never return, but it will rather be saved for when a feud warrants it. As mentioned in the report, there won’t be Hell in a Cell matches just because “the calendar says so” anymore.

WWE has held Hell in a Cell pay-per-views since 2009, beginning with a show that was main-evented by D-Generation X facing The Legacy facing off inside the steel structure. This came in a year that was heavily-populated by gimmick shows, such as WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders, & Chairs and WWE Night of Champions. In the decade since, WWE ran more shows centered around match types, including short-lived events like WWE Fatal 4-Way (four-way matches) and WWE Breaking Point (submission matches).

Aside from staples like WWE Royal Rumble and WWE Money in the Bank, gimmick shows seem to quickly be becoming the way of the past. Triple H has said that he wants to make international stadium shows like WWE Clash at the Castle more regular, and that does not necessitate having a gimmick name attached.

“As far as the events go, when you put 62,000 fans going crazy like you had tonight in a stadium like this, it’s hard not to want to do it again,” Triple H said in September.” And it’s hard not to want to do it in a lot of different places that I think we will get this same type of reaction to, so there are a lot of markets in the world, there are a lot of stadiums in the world, there are a lot of places.”

There will be at least one international gimmick show next year, as WWE travels up north to Canada for WWE Elimination Chamber.