Seven Matches WWE Can Book for Hell in a Cell Following WrestleMania Backlash

WrestleMania Backlash is officially in the books, but WWE made it abundantly clear that a few of the feuds from Sunday night will continue in the coming weeks. The company confirmed that the next pay-per-view will be Hell in a Cell five weeks from now (reportedly in order to move Money in the Bank to July so it can be in front of a live crowd), meaning that we’ll see two to three matches inside the titular steel structure. Based purely on what happened tonight, along with some clues that have been dropped on television and in interviews, here are seven possible matches WWE can book for Hell in a Cell 2021.

What was your favorite match from tonight’s show? What bout are you most looking forward to next month? Let us know in the comments below!

Seth Rollins vs. Cesaro — Hell in a Cell

Instead of Roman Reigns standing triumphantly with Jey Uso and Paul Heyman, the show decided to go off the air with Seth Rollins obliterating Cesaro’s already damaged arm with a steel chair. So guess where this is going? Right inside Hell in a Cell! Hopefully, Rollins can redeem himself from the last time he was in a Cell match, while Cesaro can keep his momentum rolling without being in another title match for now.

Jey Uso vs. Jimmy Uso — Hell in a Cell

The natural inclination is to put Reigns in a Cell match but:

A) He doesn’t really have an opponent that calls for that

B) We’ve already seen him have a Cell match with Jey, having one with Jimmy would feel the same in a lot of ways .

C) This could be a lot more fun.

They’re obviously playing into the rift between Jimmy and the rest of the family, so why not give us a violent brother vs. brother match that sees Jey eventually force his brother to fall in line? Plus, when’s the next time a Uso vs. Uso match is going to make logical sense? 

Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte Flair — Hell in a Cell

The finish to Sunday’s show-opener made it overwhelmingly clear Flair’s mission of chasing the Raw Women’s Championship isn’t over. And while her character work has been great since the lastest heel turn, WWE hasn’t really dived into the actual rivalry between Flair and Rhea Ripley with virtually no mention on television of their WrestleMania match last year or the follow-up down in NXT. If they bring that in and if they mention how Ripley’s defeat derailed her career for nearly a year, it would make all the sense in the world to put them inside the Cell. 

Roman Reigns vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

Cesaro is back to feuding with Seth, Edge has disappeared, Kevin Owens and Big E are both in the Intercontinental Championship picture and Daniel Bryan’s status is TBD. That doesn’t leave Reigns with a lot of options for his next opponent, but giving Nakamura the same one-month program push Cesaro just got would lead to an outstanding match.

Bianca Belair vs. Bayley

Shenanigans were abound in that clunky finish to the SmackDown Women’s Championship match, which means the feud between Bianca Belair and Bayley will continue. 

Drew McIntyre vs. Jinder Mahal

McIntyre was floating the idea of a rivalry with Mahal a full year ago, and Jinder just tore into his former 3MB band member during a recent interview on The Bump. While it wouldn’t have the WWE Championship involved, a program between these two would have some great real-life drama behind it. Plus it gets Drew out of the WWE Championship picture for a little bit and he needs a bit of a break.

But what does that leave for Lashley? Well…

Bobby Lashley vs. Damian Priest

Raw is seriously hurting for some fresh matchups — there’s a reason we were campaigning for Draft days after WrestleMania 37. But looking at the roster right now, there aren’t a lot of options for Bobby other than another clash with McIntyre or Strowman. Keith Lee is still out of action, Bray Wyatt is absent, Randy Orton, Riddle and AJ Styles are all in tag teams, Sheamus is doing his thing with the US title and WWE doesn’t seem interested in positioning somebody like Kofi Kingston, Ricochet or Mustafa Ali as an underdog challenger. If there’s anybody on Raw with some real momentum right now who hasn’t already been beaten by Lashley, it’s Priest. 

Mind you, the idea of handing Priest a loss like this doesn’t sound great. But if tonight’s main event proved anything it’s that you can make somebody a main event-worthy star even in defeat as long as they’re not made to look foolish or outclassed. If Priest puts up a valiant effort it will make it more believable when he tries to make a world championship run down the road.