Views From The Turnbuckle: Hell In A Cell Preview; A Step Above

The views expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect those of WrestlingINC.com or its staff.

With what feels like the 80th PPV show in the last month, WWE will close out the festivities with their annual "Hell in a Cell" show. First and foremost, I would like to say that I hope that this is the last HIAC PPV that we see. The idea of putting matches inside the Cell just because a PPV name demands it is silly and idiotic, I hope that the WWE will realize this soon and change their
thinking by this time next year.

The main match of the night is once again going to be Daniel Bryan vs Randy Orton for the vacant WWE Championship. This match has a few added elements, mainly that it is going to be inside the Cell and that Shawn Michaels will be the special guest referee. This match feels a lot better to me then Battleground's match did, and I am very interested in watching it because it can go a lot of ways.

Shawn Michaels has been a wild card in virtually every match he has ever been in, and this one is no different. He is every bit as likely to superkick Daniel Bryan as he is to Randy Orton. HBK could turn on his old friend, or his old student and both would not be surprising. The unpredictability of what Shawn Michaels is going to do is what is going to make this match special, so I definitely will be keeping a close eye on the action.

All though I have expressed my distaste for the HIAC PPV concept, but I actually don't mind this match taking place inside the Cell. Randy Orton and Daniel Bryan have had a long-standing feud and after several controversial finishes, they will settle it inside the Cell. That is what the HIAC was designed to be, a feud ender for major storylines.

This match is as much of a toss-up as there could possibly be, so I really do not have any faith in any particular result happening. I will go ahead and guess that Daniel Bryan wins the WWE Championship cleanly, if only because I think if they job out Bryan again he may begin to lose some of his popularity. Randy Orton could easily win, especially of HBK screws Bryan and aligns with Orton/HHH, so this match is really up in the air.

The second Cell match taking place is the handicap match between CM Punk and Ryback/Paul Heyman. The feud has been far from Punk's best work, and it will be refreshing to see Punk (hopefully) put this whole thing behind him after Sunday. Punk has beaten Curtis Axel about 50 times, and he has already beaten Ryback on several occasions. There really is not that much to gain from Punk having ANOTHER match with either of the Heyman guys.

This match should be predictable enough. Locked inside the Cell, Ryback and Punk will go at it for a while, with Heyman lurking in the corner away from the violence. Eventually Punk will put Ryback down with something extreme, like multiple GTSs or something, and then he will get his hands on Heyman. Heyman will try to escape, but will be unable to because of the Cell, and Punk will beat the snot out of Heyman for a few minutes and nab the pinfall, finally putting an end to the feud.

For the first time in at least a year, the World Heavyweight Championship is getting a really big part of the spotlight. The reason of course for this sudden emphasis is that John Cena will make his return to the WWE after being on the shelf for a few months due to elbow surgery. Cena, somehow, possibly with the aid of dark wizardry, became the number one contender for the WHC while he was rehabbing, and will challenge the incumbent Alberto Del Rio for the championship.

An interesting note is that Cena has yet to appear on WWE TV, and his first live appearance will presumably be at HIAC. This is very strange, especially because Cena is way ahead of schedule for his return to the ring. The question then must be asked: What if Cena doesn't even show up for his match Sunday? Cena has tweeted numerous times about his match, so we know it is not a trick that Vickie Guerrero is playing on ADR, so what the hell is going on here?

I really cannot even hypothesize what could happen between Cena and ADR. It is possible they have a straight match and Cena wins, or that they have a match and ADR retains. Cena's music could play, except he never comes out. Cena could work the match, but injure his arm more and go back out on the shelf for a few more months. Cena could win, but his arm is so ravaged that Damien Sandow cashes in his Money in the Bank briefcase and wins the WHC. The amount of possibilities that could happen make the WHC scene more exciting than it has been in a very, very long time.

At Battleground, the only match that really stuck out was the tag team match between The Shield and the Rhodes family. The match had a lot of flair and drama, with the Rhodes family taking the match. They built swimmingly on that match, with the Rhodes family taking the tag titles off of The Shield, making it a title match at HIAC.

The Uso's for whatever reason, are also involved in the match because they won a #1 contenders match a while back. This means that there will be a triple threat tag team match for the titles at HIAC. It has been awhile since we saw the tag titles on the line in a triple threat match, and those matches are usually fast paced and full of near-falls. The Shield and the Rhodes family are always good, and the Uso's have made big improvements in the ring recently, so this should be a good one. I think the Rhodes family retains, as the WWE continues to try and build on their strong momentum.

In a late addition to the card, Curtis Axel will defend his often-forgotten Intercontinental Title against the freshly turned Big E Langston. A lot of people are high on Langston as a face, and so far he has been pretty good. Langston is obviously immensely strong and can move around the ring very, very well for a bulky guy. His charisma was on display in NXT, so if he can tap into that as a face in the WWE, he can go a long way on the big stage.

The way I see it, it is pretty hard to be a worse IC Champion then Curtis Axel has been. Realistically, the WWE has nothing to lose and everything to gain in taking the title off of Axel, so they might as well give it to Langston. If the booking for Big E is consistently good, I doubt that they will regret the decision.

The Divas match should be pretty rudimentary, as AJ Lee will once again take on Brie Bella. AJ, as talented as she is, really, really needs to find an opponent that can push her to the next level, because Brie Bella is not that individual, and I don't know if any of the women the WWE currently have on the main roster can do that. AJ wins again in another match that seems very redundant.

Compared to Battleground, I think HIAC has had a very good build. Usually I am only really interested in one or two matches on a card, but I can honestly say that the WWE, WHC and Tag matches have me really optimistic about HIAC. Even the IC title match has some juice in it because I'm a big fan of Langston. Hopefully, the WWE will get back to where they were at Summerslam and not where they have been over the last two months.