WWE Hell in a Cell 2014 Predictions

Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins

I kind of think that they should have put the briefcase on the line at least here. Ultimately, this will be match of the night but, in a way, the cell gimmick restricts what they could do. These two work well together, the heat has remained pretty high despite the awful segments that they had to do of late – Monday’s was saved only by Foley who practically had them within arm’s length of one another and they didn’t flinch. The guy was put through cinder blocks for Christ sake! And that stuff with the doll was embarrassing.

Logically, Ambrose goes over here. I just don’t think it will necessarily be a clean finish. Seth can lose and still look strong because he has the briefcase. Ambrose losing makes no sense because he has nowhere to go from there. Rollins v Orton would seem to be the obvious next step and Monday night more than lit the touch paper there.

I predict a Roman Reigns return to fight off the threat from The Authority who try to interfere.

John Cena vs. Randy Orton

I’m not going to moan about another Cena v Orton match. I actually think that this will be really good. AND I really liked the promo segment on Monday. I thought they did a decent job making me feel like this was a blow off match. I agree with Lance Storm to an extent, who recently stated that he thought that Orton was probably the best worker in wrestling today – anyone decnet could go in there and have a good match with him without too much prep.

And there’s the operative word, ‘prep’. If these two map out a really creative match that tells a good story and isn’t too spotty, I think they could steal the show. I’ve said many times before that Cena rarely doesn’t deliver on ppv. If you look back of the last 3-4 years, he’s barely had a sub 3* match on ppv and Orton can be fantastic.

So, yes, I get it, these two have wrestled plenty of times before but that doesn’t alter the fact that they are wrestling together this Sunday. I’d assume Cena goes over and that Orton turns babyface imminently.

Brie Bella vs. Nikki Bella

I really don’t care. Crucially, too, the crowd aren’t going to care either. Sorry. Nikki wins and makes her sister suffer for a month? Either way, it’s going to make for some bad TV over the next few weeks. Brie’s a better worker than Nikki. I don’t think this will any good at all though. 

Sheamus (c) vs. The Miz

Been a lot of fun this feud. But that’s about all I’ll credit it with – a lot of fun. I can’t believe the title needs to change hands unless they’re going to do something with Sheamus’ character longer term. The more interesting subplot is what they do with Sandow. They’ll either go with Sheamus clean here or Miz by DQ but god knows we don’t need another DQ finish.

Big Show vs. Rusev

Rusev ought to win but if he doesn’t Big Show shouldn’t be winning with by pin or submission. They’re doing a great job building Rusev up as a monster but, as I’ve said before, how many monsters after this initial push ever go on to be any good? He needs to start working with better wrestlers so that he can improve enough to be able to carry a main event programme and work 15-20 minute matches. Look at how Umaga, Koslov, Khali et al all got pushed to the moon and then once they were beaten, just went back to being soft nobodies.

I suppose, though, the intrigue will be surrounding what Mark Henry does. Does he turn or does Big Show turn on him? If you listened to Show’s promo last Friday, you could well argue that he’ll turn on Henry. Either way, I expect the interference to cause a messy finish of sorts.

AJ Lee (c) vs. Paige

AJ Lee to retain. They need to bring some other Divas up onto the main roster or go with Naomi who is by far the best new talent they have. Total Divas has been a blessing for many of them who now have screen time when they otherwise wouldn’t have but it’s also made for turgid feuds.

Gold and Stardust (c) vs. The Usos (Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso) 

Dust brothers to retain. I like their matches but in one way or another we’ve seen these teams work together too many times. No doubt they’ll kick the show off and it’ll be great and credit to these guys but it’s time for some new tag teams. They key will be the finish – how do they keep this fresh after so many outings together?

Dolph Ziggler (c) vs. Cesaro

They’re now doing a two out of three falls match. Dolph is on a losing streak. Cesaro is too good to lose. It makes sense that there is a title change but the title seems to mean virtually nothing any more so maybe not. They’ll have a great match but I think it’s time to pull the trigger on Cesaro and put him up in the main event slots. Perhaps that won’t/can’t happen until after the European tour. Dolph lost so easily on Monday that you kind of think that means he’ll retain on Sunday. My gut says Dolph, my head says Cesaro. I’ll stick on Dolph.