Hell in a Cell Card Both Jam-Packed and Too Light on Big Matches

At press time, there were eight matches scheduled for Sunday’s WWE Hell in a Cell pay per view. Three quarters of those matches are championship bouts. However — and maybe it’s just me — it feels like the card is pretty thin. How can this be?

Since WWE eliminated brand exclusivity from the pay per view schedule, most of the major shows have been fairly similar in card structure. One or two matches would take place on the Kickoff Show, and anywhere between eight and twelve matches would be on the main card. But just a few days before Hell in a Cell, the card is rather empty.

As of late Thursday night, eight matches had been announced for Hell in a Cell. Precisely zero are scheduled on the Kickoff Show right now. And it’s not for lack of talent: sure, there’s a bunch of tag matches on the show, but none of those matches are taking other superstars away from a storyline.

Superstars like Finn Bálor, Bobby Lashley, Sasha Banks, Bayley, and the Riott Squadd from Raw are nowhere to be found on Sunday’s card. SmackDown superstars including Andrade Almas, Rusev, Shinsuke Nakamura, Naomi, and Asuka are similarly absent. SO what gives?

The frustrating thing to go along with this thin card is that the eight matches already scheduled don’t have a clunker among them. Six of the eight matches have a championship up for grabs, and the two non-title matches feature a Hell in a Cell clash and a mixed tag match between two of SmackDown‘s hottest couples.

Full disclosure: when I sat down to write this piece, my initial instinct was to pick one match that would “steal the show,” and write about how and why. Looking at the card, every single match seems great! How could I pick one to steal the show when all of them have the potential to be average at worst?

This presents two potential problems. First, there’s a real possibility of fan fatigue in the live crowd. If every match delivers as expected, and nothing gets added, there’s no cool-down anywhere in the mix. If the crowd can’t recuperate, they’ll be dead by the main event, or sooner.

The second problem? WWE does nothing to erase the precedent they’ve set in terms of ignoring talent outside of “major” storylines. United States Champion Shinsuke Nakamura missed a few weeks of TV after SummerSlam when there was no story for him. You’re telling me there’s no room on an eight match card for the US Champ?

Again, it’s not like there aren’t superstars who could feasibly have a match at Hell in a Cell, or on the Kickoff. Chad Gable and Bobby Roode recently formed a tag team — wouldn’t a Kickoff match at least be a good test for them? How about SAnitY, or Gallows and Anderson? What have they been doing?