Originally published on Trevor Trove on October 4, 2017
Finally the month and a half of post-SummerSlam wheel-spinning from Smackdown Live is at an end and we have Hell in a Cell this weekend. As someone who grew up during the attitude era, it’s pretty easy to be excited at the one-two punch coming up of Hell in a Cell and TLC as those are probably my two favorite gimmick matches. So let’s look at the predictions that will inevitably lead to free Portillo’s for my dear friend Cameron.
Kickoff Match – Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin vs. The Hype Bros
While I think Gable and Benjamin will win the overall feud that comes from this, I think a heel turn from the Hype Bros will give them the victory here, albeit through some sneaky means.
Randy Orton vs. Rusev
As much as I want Rusev to win here, I just don’t see Orton jobbing to him after months of jobbing to Jinder Mahal. Hopefully we get an actual goddamn match this time though.
Bobby Roode vs. Dolph Ziggler
Well they blew the best possible outcome they had for Ziggler’s new gimmick by wasting the Undertaker fakeout a couple week’s ago to set this match up. They should have saved it for the pay-per-view to get him the maximum level of heat. Ultimately, though I think Roode wins here since Ziggler seems to be the new go-to jobber for NXT call-ups this year.
United States Championship – AJ Styles vs. Baron Corbin
I’m torn here. I can see AJ winning and continuing to use the title to give newer stars (i.e. Tye Dillinger) a shot here in the midcard. But I can also see AJ dropping the belt here and going after the WWE Championship, if we assume a Shinsuke Nakamura win, paying off their tease from the Money in the Bank match.
Alright, I’ve talked myself into that. Corbin wins (probably through heelish tactics).
Smackdown Tag Team Championship Hell in a Cell Match – The New Day vs. The Usos
Based on their last couple matches, this will probably be the match of the night. Hell in a Cell seems like a bad choice strategically for New Day as it isolates their third man from being the support. And the way they’ve been passing the belt back and forth all summer would suggest the Usos win it back here but I’m gonna gamble on New Day retaining.
Smackdown Women’s Championship Match – Natalya vs Charlotte Flair
I just watched the Charlotte Flair/Sasha Banks Hell in a Cell match today for the first time so this is inevitably going to feel like a let down as a result but I predict a Charlotte win, followed by an immediate cash-in from Carmella, leaving Carmella walking out of Hell in a Cell as the new Women’s Champion.
WWE Championship – Jinder Mahal vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
Alright, Jinder’s had his little fun. Let see Nakamura win here. And I swear to god if this ends with the Singh’s interfering somehow leading to Jinder winning…AGAIN…I will just give up on expecting the creative team to tell any kind of interesting story.
But yeah, as mentioned above, I’m predicting Nakamura wins and we get to see a feud between Styles and Nakamura.
Hell in a Cell Match – Shane McMahon vs. Kevin Owens
Logic dictates that the actual wrestler will win over the mostly civilian, right? And that Shane will jump off something insane? And that Owens will walk away from this a made man in the company?
Yeah, I think Owens wins and he and Shane put on a hell of a show. Shane vs. Styles ended up being one of the major highlights of Wrestlemania, I think we’ll get another solid bout with him here, too.