WWE HIAC: A good Seth Rollins story was buried in a bad main event
By Brett Grega
The controversial Hell in a Cell main event between Seth Rollins and Bray Wyatt actually had some good storytelling buried in it that may signal an upcoming change for the WWE Universal Champion.
Hold on, hold your horses, stop, just give me a chance to explain. Before you throw tomatoes, shoes, or some other offensive object at me through your screen, allow me to deliver a brief disclaimer about my thoughts on how WWE handled Bray Wyatt versus Seth Rollins.
First off, I’m in no way defending that Hell in a Cell match. It was pretty atrocious on just about every level of atrocity one could think of as far as booking goes. All it needed was for Vince McMahon to somehow win the Universal Championship ala 2000’s WCW, and it would have truly been a booking disaster of historic proportions.
Looking back on Wyatt’s role alone, there’s no questioning that WWE trapped themselves in a corner like they practically never have before.
After being hit by everything besides the kitchen sink, wait there was no kitchen sink involved right? Ok, good just wanted to make sure I didn’t miss something. Anyways, after being hit by an umpteen stomps, and a variety of weapons ridiculously stacked on top of each other, having Bray Wyatt bounce back like Michael Myers in “Halloween” makes it nearly impossible for anyone to realistically beat him.
When somebody inevitably does have to beat Wyatt, it’s now guaranteed to look nonsensical and weak compared to this match. When you add that in with the weird red lighting, poor pacing, and non-finish to end the match itself, you have a terrible main event. Period.
Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean it was a complete waste. Believe it or not, and I suspect many rightfully already lean towards the “not” side, WWE actually might have continued to plant the seeds for an intriguing storyline in that match.
Seth Rollins use of a sledgehammer to end the match signified yet another turn towards the darkness for the Universal Champion. It now marks two huge matches pay-per-view matches in a row where Rollins was forced to resort to the tactics of his long-hated rival, Triple H, to walk away with his title.
Now, I understand it may seem like it’s been a little while since we really saw any semblance of a storyline between Rollins and Triple H, but just think about it for a minute.
Almost every major part of Seth Rollins personality right now in some way traces back to Triple H.
His entire “Kingslayer” gimmick is based off of his feud with Triple H. Before that, his betrayal of Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins was prompted by “The Game,” and marks something which he’s had to atone for numerous times since.
The good-natured version of Rollins we know today was something that had to constantly be justified on WWE TV for quite some time before it was finally accepted, largely because of that history with Triple H.
In other words, the fact that Bray Wyatt was already able to get Seth Rollins to reach back deep into his dark past to find a way to retain his title could make for a compelling angle to this rivalry.
Rollins having to come to a final personal reckoning with his villainous past in order to truly beat Wyatt, or to be forced to fully turn back to his heelish ways to get the job done, would make for a pretty good story in my eyes.
It’s a story that we know WWE can pull off well, just think of how great the somewhat similar Tommaso Ciampa versus Johnny Gargano rivalry was in NXT, and it could lead to a long overdue character change for Rollins too.
It also makes for a good excuse for Bray Wyatt actually taking a loss here, as it could be mentioned that the only goal he ever really cared about was proving that the heroic Seth Rollins was a fraud. In other words, he never really wanted the Universal Championship, it just so happened to be the tool he needed to use to expose the truth about Rollins’ character.
I know that’s probably not ideal, and it might make Wyatt too much of a side component to some sort of greater story for Rollins, but it actually could be intriguing to see play out if you ask me. At the very least, it might be something positive to come out of that Hell in a Cell match, and that alone honestly would be enough for me to want it to happen right about now.