WWE Hell In A Cell 2018: How Many Cell Matches Is Too Many?

The card for WWE’s Hell In A Cell PPV already has two cell matches booked. With so many personal feuds, is there room for any more? Or is three too many?

Every fall, WWE cruelly rewards its most personal rivalries with a Hell In A Cell Match. It wasn’t always this way. At one time, the company reserved the Devil’s Playground as a last resort for the most grueling grudges. Before the inaugural themed PPV in 2009, there had only been 16 HIAC matches in its 12-year history.

The Hell In A Cell event has since become one of four gimmick shows (Extreme Rules, Money In The Bank, TLC) that are nearing a place of permanence on the WWE Calendar. With that, the total match count will hit 40 after this year’s event.

This year, two have already been made official with Randy Orton taking on Jeff Hardy and a WWE Universal Championship match between Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman. As crazy it sounds, you did read that correctly. The Legend Killer and Charismatic Enigma are having a grudge match in 2018, AND there’s a Raw World Title defense on a non-Big 4 PPV.

The two veterans have a great deal of animosity for one another, but what’s the end game? If this doesn’t lead to Orton or Hardy challenging for a title, the only rational explanation would mean it’s one of their swan songs.  Besides, as things stand, three other blood feuds could take a trip to Hell. So how many is too many?

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In 2016, WWE booked the stipulation three times on one show. Was the triple necessary? Probably not. Looking back, The Big Dog and Rusev could have settled their score in a singles.  By the time the historic first-ever Women’s Cell rolled around, the gimmick’s mystique began to fade.

After a trio of the same stipulation in the same night, there’s bound to be some overlap So does that make three the magic number? Not necessarily. It wouldn’t be out of the realm of impossibility for WWE to tell three compelling stories all within the confines of the demonic steel structure.

Is this the year for them to do it? AJ Styles and Samoa Joe feud has passed the point of no return. It seemed like they were par for the course on a trip to hell. Then there’s Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch. The former best friends are nearing mortal enemy territory.

It’s been two years since women have stepped into the Cell and this rivalry is personal enough for it. At the risk of Smackdown coming across like the land of the grudge matches, there is one more conflict that might be only able to be resolved inside the Devil’s Playground. You guessed it – R-Truth and Carmella.

In all seriousness, it feels like we are due for at least one more Hell In A Cell match on September 16th. Fans, though, might feel like they went through hell after enduring a triple threat of Cell matches. Maybe there’s a reason WWE didn’t add a Tag Team Money In The Bank this year.

A triumvirate of multi-man ladder matches would have been overkill. Even, at times two of the same stipulation can feel like too many. But at the same time, this year’s shortage of gimmick matches had fans and writers alike concerned by the lack of advertised violence. It seems that no matter what Creative puts together, they can do no right. If there is another Cell match on the card, which feud is the most deserving?