Want more wrestling news, rumors, and results? Be sure to visit PWInsider.com and PWInsiderXtra.com.
Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins - Hell in A Cell.
Dave: I hope WWE gets the message and lets these guys main event. With all due respect to Orton and Cena, I think this will be the better actual match as well as something fresh that the fans want to see. This one isn’t over yet and Ambrose has been chasing so I think he gets close, but Rollins sneaks out with the win to keep the feud going.
Mike: In the last day or so, the belief among those I spoken to is these two will close the show as WWE has heard the fans' message loud and clear. This should be a hell of a brawl. Dean Ambrose could really use the win here, especially since Seth Rollins holding the briefcase means he can still be a threat to the WWE title picture. This should be the official coming out party for these two as main eventers and the follow-up will be as important, if not more important, as the in-ring work here.
Richard: While this doesn’t have the 12 year build, this is the type of match that Hell in a Cell was envisioned for. Since Rollins’ early advantage over Ambrose was that he was able to flee Dean, that trump card is gone. I hope they don’t do something like make Kane the referee to give Rollins an advantage because these two men just need to be given a ring and be told ‘Do your thing’. It worked so well to end their feud in FCW when they went about 35 minutes. This needs to end the PPV. This is for the Class of 2012.
John Cena vs. Randy Orton - Hell in A Cell, Winner Receives WWE World Heavyweight championship shot.
Dave: I love how they were selling that this would end their decade of war, and they sold it for about a week. Ugh. Anyway, it should be a good match and the winner gets the Title shot at Brock Lesnar. Because of the booking being a bit stale, either guy winning isn’t anything revolutionary but Orton winning (and also breaking away from The Authority, even if it’s not a full face turn) at least we haven’t seen him and Brock so I am hoping they go with Orton winning. It’s time for Cena to take a break from the top of the card. It will make it mean so much more when he comes back up to the top down the line.
Mike: From an in-ring standpoint, this should be fine, but so was their Royal Rumble bout and that was booed out of the Arena live. Cena vs. Lesnar doesn't have the same big-time feel after WWE rushed to the rematch, so I foresee an Orton win. Orton vs. Lesnar and Orton vs. Rollins feels far fresher. I'm going with Orton here.
Richard: The prospect of Cena/Lesnar III looms over this one, but you also have the possibility of Orton/Lesnar and if Orton can get past Lesnar to win the title, then you set up the Authority Civil War with Rollins holding the briefcase over Orton’s head at all times. I hope they have a good match so Ambrose and Rollins will have to ‘up their game’ to outdo Randy and John. And if Orton wins, he can try to get inside Rollins’ head to wish him luck later in the show.
Big Show vs. Rusev.
Dave: Rusev HAS to win here. They should book this as competitive for 7 or 8 minutes, then Rusev dominates in the last few minutes. They should not do a cheap, backdoor win here. Rusev needs a strong win and losing in that fashion will not hurt Big Show a bit.
Mike: Given the way Big Show asked Mark Henry not to get involved and Henry has been so despondent since he lost his feud to Rusev, I almost smell an angle where Henry turns on his country and joins Rusev. Whether that happens or not, Rusev needs to win. He shouldn't lose until he's face to face with John Cena.
Richard: I wish they wouldn’t have given us another taste of the Big E/Rusev feud because that has been the best match up for the Bulgarian Russian Brute so far. If this was during the 1980s, this would probably be the hottest angle due to the Cold War overtones. I hope the focus is on the hatred that each man has and not to make it about Big Show getting revenge for what Rusev did on Raw. After Show taps out, I think we see Mark Henry come to the ring and while it would appear that he was going to show his support for Show, he ends up attacking Show and hitting the World’s Strongest Slam to set up Henry/Show.
Nikki Bella vs. Brie Bella - Loser becomes the winner's "Personal Assistant" for a month.
Dave: Ugh. This could go either way, with Total Divas taking off for a few months. I personally hope this is the end so I have Brie win so she makes Nikki pay for a while.
Mike: This could be REALLY ugly. If they want to go with comedy for the stipulation, Brie will win. The only problem there is that, unlike say Jimmy Garvin ending up David Von Erich's ranch-hand, is that Nikki doesn't really have the pure hatred from the fans needed for that comedy to really work as the fans get to see her "getting what she deserves." If they want to go with really building Nikki as a piece of garbage, torturing her sister certainly is the way to go. For some reason, Brie has already pinned Nikki on Raw, which was ludicrous, but what's done is done. I'm going with Nikki.
Richard: At least it isn’t ‘Loser has to watch a continuous marathon of Total Divas for 30 days’ as the stipulation. If Brie wins, it would be hilarious to see Nikki having to ‘rough it’ in Daniel and Brie’s house (and it would get Daniel on television). If Nikki wins, I hope we see Nikki let Stephanie and the Authority order Brie around.
WWE United States champion Sheamus vs. The Miz.
Dave: I expect a lot of begging off from Miz, as well as help from Mizdow, but as HHH said a few weeks ago, they are a comedy act. If they have a comedy act beat Sheamus, it’s the wrong way to go.
Mike: I expect a Brogue Kick and I expect Mizdow to do a great job of playing off the match. Beyond that, not much. Miz could really, really use some great matches, but I don't see that happening here.
Richard: The more Sandow in this match, the more I will enjoy it. Sheamus uses the Cena playbook and gets worked over for most of the match, only to hit the Moves O’Doom and then get the win with the Brogue Kick. In a perfect world, we see that Sandow also signed the contract and he pins Sheamus to win the title.
WWE Intercontinental champion Dolph Ziggler vs Cesaro - Best of Three Falls.
Dave: I hope they give this the time it deserves but my hunch is the first two falls happen in less than five minutes and then they go to the third fall. I like Dolph but I don’t see him as a future World Champion. Cesaro, on the other hand, has a chance at being one. He has been booked so badly that they need to rehab him and they should start here. It is not to late to do so, but the time is getting nearer. They need to commit to him and see what they have.
Mike: In a perfect world, they will give this 30 minutes or so, but I don't know if that's a realistic expectation in 2014's WWE. This has the potential to be the best in-ring action on the entire show. I almost expect Cesaro to end up the winner here, as he's been severely under-used since winning the Andre Battle Royal.
Richard: Cesaro has become the Orton of the midcard titles where he can lose dozens of title matches but he will still stay in the mix. As a fan of Cesaro’s I like that he is going to get the chance to showcase his talent in a match that should get about 15 to 20 minutes, but as a fan of logic, there is no reason why Cesaro should get a title match after LOSING one CLEAN on Smackdown. I would love to see a two fall sweep for Cesaro and in convincing fashion so he gets that credibility in the eyes of those who still doubt what he can do. Dave is right about how they need to show that they will commit to Cesaro considering he WON the Andre the Giant Battle Royal and was on a major roll until they threw roadblocks at his push.
WWE Tag Team champions Goldust & Stardust vs. The Usos.
Dave: Sadly, while the work is great in this feud there are no real stories to tell here. Flip a coin. The Dusts retain.
Mike: The match will be good, but we've seen it so often that your eyes may begin to glaze over feeling like you are seeing a repeat. Honestly, the best thing that could happen here is that it's revealed The Wyatt Family split was all a ruse and they show up and lay waste to everyone here to set up some new storylines. I love all four of these guys but this needs something fresh. The work itself will be good. I don't see a title change.
Richard: Please let these four men wrestle without cutting any promos. While the tag team division has suffered a bit since they took Harper and Rowan out of it (They are free but when will they come back?), these four men have given us great matches no matter how they have been paired off. I think Goldust and Stardust will get the win and then all four men will apologize for that opening segment on Main Event.
WWE Divas champion AJ Lee vs. Paige
Dave:
Mike: These two have yet to hit the level of match in the ring that you would expect given Lee's work in the past and Paige's work in NXT. Let's hope the constellations are all in place and we finally see it happen. I go with Lee winning.
Richard: WWE is doing their best to make me not care about the two best female wrestlers in this company with the secondary stuff they are doing with them. I am afraid that this match will suffer in terms of time because of what else is on the show (2 Cell Matches and the 2 out of 3 Falls Match), and as the featured Women’s Match (It isn’t like one of these two women is the CHAMPION, but neither is currently on Total Divas). No interference from ‘best friends’ please and let them give us an 8 to 10 minute match that will make fans of women’s wrestling proud. I can dream, can’t I?
MizTV with Damien Mizdown (Kick-off Show)
Dave: Hopefully, it’s a good segment.
Mike: This could be really funny if they let Mizdow show off some of the silly comedy and don't overscript it.
Richard: We will find out that Sandow is better at everything that Miz does, including interview segments. Just don’t save it for 7:50 PM Eastern like they did with the Peep Show last month.
If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!
Bang On Casino
