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WWE Raw’s Disastrous Hype for Hell in a Cell PPV

By Travis Hopson

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The go-home edition of WWE Raw before Hell in a Cell featured a legendary amount of talent but failed to push the PPV. What went wrong?

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WWE promised a lot for last night’s edition of Raw: Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and a confrontation between the Undertaker and Brock Lesnar. They needed to deliver something strong, not just because the ratings have been in the toilet, but because the build for this weekend’s Hell in a Cell PPV has been lousy to say the least. And while the WWE gave us all the legendary stars they promised, the result was totally less than the sum of its parts.

Raw only had one job to do and that was get people excited about HIAC. That’s it. But it seemed as if WWE had a plan to just stay the course and not make any waves. It began promisingly with Austin’s “breaking glass” theme music which sent the Texas crowd into a frenzy.  Undertaker came out to the ring, began to cut what sounded like a very dry, very bland promo, only to get interrupted by Lesnar. Here’s the confrontation we’ve waited weeks for, right? They had an epic brawl before their SummerSlam match, so why not here? Well, no. Paul Heyman couldn’t even sell this weak showdown. Lesnar threatened getting into the ring, but didn’t. Teasing fans only works when there has been a proper build-up of aggression, but somehow they’ve managed to make Lesnar-Undertaker 3 just another match. Worst of all, Austin was a non-factor. Guess he had to hurry backstage to set up the microphones for his podcast. Seriously, Texas Rattlesnake?

ALSO ON DAILY DDT: Ranking All 30 WWE Hell in a Cell Matches

What else went wrong? Ric Flair showed up and didn’t do much of anything. Why was he there again? When Flair shows up it should be a big deal, not just another common appearance. We’re talking about the Nature Boy, here! There was no John Cena “Open Challenge”, continuing what has been a lackluster run with the gold.  Worse, there was no real movement on who his challenger will be. With Cena taking time off WWE should be elevating a potential new champion, instead they have him in a 6-Man tag team match.

Speaking of which, WWE blew it with the Dudley Boyz and New Day, as well. Why give away Xavier Woods getting put through a table? Why not save it for the PPV? Did they somehow think fans are interested in the Dudleys as tag team champions again? Been there, done that. No, the fans want to see New Day put through tables, and now they don’t have to pay to see that. Good job.

Somehow, WWE also managed to waste what should have been the biggest moment of the entire year: a reunion of The Shield. Think about that—they blew a reunion of the freaking Shield! It actually got off to a good start thanks to Shawn Michaels, who built-up champion Seth Rollins by first tearing him down. It’s a smart tactic, and any other week his convincing of Rollins to team with Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose would have been brilliant. But not this night. It felt rushed and a bit desperate. Perhaps WWE was looking for something to draw audiences away from the Star Wars trailer, but there’s no excuse for the wasting of such an awesome moment. It also did nothing for Rollins’ upcoming match against Kane. Oh, and Erick Rowan returned (yawn).  Did anybody notice?

SmackDown is WWE’s last chance to make HIAC feel like the mega event it should be, but without the star power they had for Raw is there any reason to think they can pull it off?

Next: WWE Raw Review

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