It was announced at the WWE SmackDown television taping on Tuesday night in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that at the upcoming WWE Hell In A Cell pay-per-view, the match between John Cena and Dean Ambrose will now have a stipulation.
The Cena-Ambrose bout will now be a no holds barred match with a contract on a pole, with the winner still advancing later in the pay-per-view to a match with “Mr. Money In The Bank” Seth Rollins. Based on advertising, the person who loses the Cena-Ambrose match will likely face Randy Orton later on in the pay-per-view.
You can read a complete SmackDown spoiler report for this week by clicking here.
Once an occasional treat for the WWE Universe, the Hell in a Cell match has become a yearly event since the introduction of the eponymous pay-per-view in 2009. Since its inception, the company has yet to truly knock it out of the park with Hell in a Cell, although fans have witnessed some memorable moments.
This year, it will be either John Cena or Dean Ambrose headlining the event against Seth Rollins inside the most ominous structure in sports entertainment. As the company builds up its next pay-per-view, here is a look back at the first five Hell in a Cell events.
5. 2012
This event really didn’t have a pay-per-view feel to it. The undercard was primarily filled with forgettable matches that had little impact on future storylines. The main event was also lacking due to injury.
It was clear that the company had no idea what to do after John Cena went down to injury, leading to Ryback receiving a premature main event push. From top to bottom, this event was lacking and easily locks up the honor of being the worst Hell in a Cell pay-per-view to date.
Main Event: CM Punk vs. Ryback (Hell in a Cell Match for the WWE Championship)
Best Match: Big Show vs. Sheamus
Worst Match: Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara vs. The Prime Time Players
As has been rumored for a while, WWE finally confirmed two of the top matches scheduled for the upcoming WWE Hell In A Cell pay-per-view.
At the end of Monday’s edition of RAW at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, it was announced by Triple H and Stephanie McMahon that at the Hell In A Cell pay-per-view, John Cena vs. Dean Ambrose will take place, with the winner earning the right to face Seth Rollins in an actual Hell In A Cell match later on in the pay-per-view.
Over the past few weeks, the WWE has gone all out in promoting Stone Cold Steve Austin. The company has promoted Austin’s podcast on a weekly basis, and reports indicate that the company is ramping up production on all Stone Cold merchandise.
When coupled with recent statements from Austin claiming he still has a final run left and reports alleging that he has been training for one final match, it seems like the Texas Rattlesnake will soon make his return to the squared circle. The only problem, however, would be choosing Austin’s opponent. Here are five potential opponents for Stone Cold Steve Austin if he decides to make his return.
5. Brock Lesnar
It appears that Lesnar is being saved for WrestleMania, where he will undoubtedly be fed to Roman Reigns. However, there is always a chance for a setback in Roman’s recovery. Most believe that it will be at least another month or two before Reigns returns, so the slightest setback could derail the company’s WrestleMania plans.
This could open the door for Austin to come in and challenge Lesnar. There is a decent story in place if the company decides to discuss Austin walking out in the early 2000s because he was not on board with putting Lesnar over. In all, this could be a blockbuster main event between two of the biggest stars in WWE history.
– It is said that even if WWE decides against doing a John Cena vs. Dean Ambrose match on RAW with the winner facing Seth Rollins in a cage at the upcoming WWE Hell In A Cell pay-per-view, that plans are to have a Cena-Ambrose singles feud eventually.
– WWE will be airing “Sneak Peek: The Best of Sting” on the WWE Network on Friday night at 10pm EST. The show will be a preview of the new WWE DVD, with the synopsis reading as follows:
“This Sneak Peek gives you a glimpse inside the seven hour collection of the best matches and moments starring the franchise of WCW – Sting.”
As we noted recently, the talk going around within WWE is that the upcoming Hell In A Cell pay-per-view will feature two cell matches, one with Seth Rollins and the other with Randy Orton. As we mentioned, the current working plan is for Dean Ambrose and John Cena to compete in a match on an upcoming RAW where the winner gets Rollins inside the cell at the PPV, while the loser gets to face Orton inside the cage.
Apparently the current plan is for the Hell In A Cell show to actually start off with Cena vs. Ambrose, with the winner main eventing the show inside the cage against Rollins, while the loser, also in a cell match, would compete with Orton.
WWE is reportedly looking to finalize their plans for the Hell In A Cell PPV this weekend and an announcement is expected on Monday’s edition of RAW.
Michael Cole’s latest weekly sit-down interview guest this week is John Cena.
This week, Cena talks to Cole about Seth Rollins interfering in his rematch with Brock Lesnar at WWE Night Of Champions, how he and Dean Ambrose have some common ground and the upcoming WWE Hell In A Cell pay-per-view.
This week on Raw, Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, and John Cena continued their three-way feud, as Seth Rollins ended the night by retrieving his briefcase and decimating his two foes.
Earlier in the evening, Cena and Ambrose once again hinted that there was tension between the two, with both claiming that they deserve the right to exact revenge from Mr. Money in the Bank, Seth Rollins.
Ambrose embarrassed his former partner earlier in the night, but Rollins got the last laugh.
Based on this week’s episode, it seems apparent that the reports released earlier in the week were true. In case you missed the news, the current plan seems to be that Dean Ambrose and John Cena will face one another at Hell in a Cell. The winner will be given the opportunity to face Rollins later in the evening, while the loser will be relegated to squaring off with Randy Orton.
The company is obviously hoping to develop a storyline that will reel viewers in for next month’s pay-per-view, and with Brock Lesnar apparently missing the event, it will take a lot more than a few singles matches to attract viewers, especially with the quality of Raw over the past few weeks. With that said, last night’s episode was admittedly a considerable upgrade over the previous few weeks.
So, how does the company attract viewers with no championship match and a card filled with contests that fans have seen over the past few months? The answer is clearly the briefcase.
Seth Rollins has become a main event player since winning the Money in the Bank briefcase back in June. He has teased cash-ins on multiple occasions, and attempted to slay the Beast at Night of Champions following the main event between John Cena and Brock Lesnar.
As of today, the current working plan is for either John Cena or Dean Ambrose to wrestle Seth Rollins inside the cell at the upcoming WWE Hell In A Cell pay-per-view.
Apparently Cena and Ambrose will have a match on RAW prior to the PPV, where the winner will earn the right to face Rollins in the cell.
As far as what the loser of the Cena-Ambrose match will do, it appears as though that person will work with Randy Orton at the PPV, or might be the “keeper of the key” outside of the cell match.
– Seth Rollins spoke to Quad City Times about his homecoming match at the WWE live event in Moline, Illinois on Sunday night. “It’s not a weekly game where you get pumped up,” Rollins said while waiting to warm up in the ring. “We’re doing this every night, but I’ll get pumped up right before the music hits backstage.”
– San Francisco Giants outfielder Hunter Pence led fans at the AT&T Park in a “Yes!” chant following the team’s final regular season game on Sunday. “Right now we’re not guaranteed another game here at home,” Pence said to the fans in attendance. “We’ve got to go earn that. It’s a part of the journey. Do you guys want to see another game here at home? Yes! Yes! Yes!”
Pence continued, “That’s what I’m talking about. Some of you are coming to Pittsburgh, some of you are going to be sitting on your couches, but you’re with us and you’re sharing that vision. Thank you! It’s been unbelievable and we cannot wait to see you again. One more time: Yes! Yes! Yes!””
On the latest edition of his “Talk Is Jericho” podcast, Chris Jericho revealed that he was originally scheduled to wrestle Seth Rollins at the WWE Night Of Champions pay-per-view.
Jericho noted that the plan all along seemed to be Jericho and Rollins, however, Vince McMahon reportedly changed his mind and instead went with Jericho vs. Randy Orton.
You can listen to the full podcast online at PodcastOne.com.
Sunday’s Night of Champions pay-per-view marked the end of the third quarter of the WWE calendar. With only three pay-per-views left in 2014, fans have almost reached the end of another exciting year of rasslin’.
With that said, it is now time to review the top matches from the third quarter. Feel free to compare these contests with the best matches from the first and second quarters:
Without further ado, here are the top five matches from the third quarter of 2014.
5. John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar (Night of Champions)
Some might disagree with this choice, but I feel that it warrants inclusion. The contest perfectly juxtaposed the first contest between Cena and Lesnar at SummerSlam. Instead of Lesnar dominating from the opening bell, it was Cena who quickly hit an Attitude Adjustment and controlled the pace throughout much of the contest. The match was booked well enough that the outcome seemed in doubt, and the no-finish ending was the perfect way to keep the title on Lesnar, not make Cena look too weak, and inject Seth Rollins into the storyline.
On paper, WWE Night of Champions didn’t look like anything special. It was mostly a card packed with rematches, and what would have likely been the best match of the night was cancelled a few days before the event.
With that said, it was hard to come away from last night’s event without feeling satisfied. The action was solid, the booking was logical, and the pay-per-view as a whole was entertaining. Throughout the night, some superstars squandered their time on camera, while others excelled. Here are the 5 superstars who made the most of their time at Night of Champions.
5. Gold and Stardust
The Dust Brothers are finally champions once again. After several months with the Usos at the top of the tag division, it is nice to see a new team carrying the straps. Both Gold and Stardust worked very well during their contest, and it served as an excellent way to start the evening.
It will be interesting to see where the brothers go from here, as they are already teasing a feud with former NXT Tag Team Champions The Ascension and there are few teams on the main roster worthy of a title shot. .
4. Chris Jericho
This was Y2J’s final match of his current run with the company. Although his program with Bray Wyatt fell a bit flat, it is always great to see Jericho back in a WWE ring.
He did not disappoint last night either, as Jericho and Orton put on a show for the Nashville crowd. The contest ended after a memorable spot that featured Orton hitting an RKO on Jericho after he dove from the top rope. Although he came out on the losing end last night, Jericho did everything he could to put Orton and the match over, and it served as an excellent conclusion to his current run.
3. Cesaro
From a wrestling perspective, the match of the night was easily Sheamus against Cesaro. The two worked incredibly well together, with a number of memorable spots and counters. Much like Jericho before him, Cesaro did not come out on top last night, but he showed why he is one of the best workers in the business.
Another United States Title run likely wouldn’t have done much to advance Cesaro’s career, so the loss isn’t really damaging, but it would be nice to see the Swiss Superman sporting a bit of gold in the near future (perhaps the Intercontinental Championship). Cesaro made the most of every second he was given, illustrating why he should be pushed as one of the future stars of the company.
WWE RAW emanates from the FedExForum in Memphis, Tennessee with the fallout from Sunday night’s WWE Night Of Champions pay-per-view.
WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar, who successfully retained his title in his rematch against John Cena on Sunday, is not advertised to be a part of the show. Also expected to be absent tonight are Chris Jericho and Roman Reigns.
Superstars that are advertised for tonight’s show include Dean Ambrose, The Wyatt Family, Randy Orton, John Cena, Seth Rollins, Triple H, Kane, Cesaro, Sheamus, Big E and The Usos.
In the case of Reigns, as noted above, he is not expected to appear, however he is included in the advertisements for the show. It’s worth noting that this is likely a case of advertisements that were released prior to his emergency surgery this weekend.
WWE is focusing on the following points in their “RAW Five-Point Preview” for tonight’s show.
– Who is next for Brock Lesnar?
– Will Dolph Ziggler look for retribution on The Miz tonight?
– What will Goldust and Stardust do next?
– Will Paige and Nikki Bella prey upon AJ Lee now that she’s the Divas Champion?
– Will Dean Ambrose strike at Seth Rollins once again?
Roman Reigns addressed his fans from his hospital bed in a new online video. Reigns spoke about how he went from preparing to battle Seth Rollins at tonight’s WWE Night Of Champions pay-per-view in Nashville, Tennessee, to dialing 9-1-1 for help and having emergency surgery to repair an incarcerated hernia.
Reigns said the following in the video, which you can view above.
“Yesterday I was here in Nashville promoting Night of Champions and my match against Seth Rollins. I was laying in bed and all of a sudden I felt a really sharp pain right below my belly button in my bladder region. Tried to gut it out but it just kept getting worse so I ended up calling 911. They sent an ambulance and once I got to the hospital, the doctor said I had a hernia and I needed to go into emergency surgery and here I am now.”
As things stand right now, Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins is 100 percent off of tonight’s Night Of Champions lineup. There is some talk within WWE, as we noted yesterday, of having Dean Ambrose make a surprise appearance at tonight’s pay-per-view to fill in for Reigns against Rollins, however that is purely speculation at this point.
Also as noted yesterday, Reigns will likely be out of action for up to six weeks. WWE is hoping to have him back in time for the Survivor Series pay-per-view, but even under the worst case scenario, he will be back in time for the Royal Rumble in January, meaning he will be able to work WrestleMania and that if WWE was planning on having Reigns be the guy to end Brock Lesnar’s dominant streak, they can continue on with that plan despite Reigns’ current situation.
Speaking of Reigns, he surfaced on Twitter today to thank fans for their support. He tweeted the following:
Thank you everyone for your kind words, support and prayers!! I'm hurting right now but it's great to know good people have my back!!
As noted earlier today, Roman Reigns has been rushed to the hospital in Nashville, Tennessee today to undergo emergency surgery.
WWE.com has updated their official statement, confirming that Reigns is off Sunday’s Night Of Champions pay-per-view, where he was scheduled to compete against Seth Rollins.
WWE wrote the following:
“WWE.com has learned that Roman Reigns has undergone emergency surgery for an incarcerated hernia. Reigns had been in Nashville to promote tomorrow’s Night of Champions pay-per-view. His recovery time will be evaluated by the local surgeon and WWE physician Dr. Chris Amann, but he will be unable to compete against Seth Rollins tomorrow night. Check back with WWE.com for further updates on Reigns’ condition.”
Night of Champions is only a few days away. Even though the WWE has been serving up plates of garbage on Raw for weeks now, many still have high hopes for this pay-per-view, as every title in the company will be defended.
With that said, here are my predictions for this Sunday’s Night of Champions pay-per-view, which in case you haven’t heard, can be viewed on the WWE Network for only $9.99 (or $12.99 if you’re afraid of commitment).
Nikki Bella vs. Paige (WWE Divas Champion) vs. AJ Lee
I don’t expect it to be a terrible contest, as two of the three competitors are great workers and Nikki isn’t the worst Diva fans have ever seen. In the end, I believe Nikki will capture the title with help from her sister, reuniting the Bella Twins and putting an end to their horrible feud.
Winner: Nikki Bella by pinfall
Sheamus (United States Champion) vs. Cesaro
This should be one of the more exciting contests of the night, but I unfortunately don’t see it being given a ton of time. Although Cesaro will put up a hell of a fight, Sheamus will retain after hitting a Brogue Kick, possibly setting up a feud with Rusev for the United States Championship in the near future.
The following are highlights from the latest blog by WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross:
On TNA’s future: “Heard the past few days that Impact Wrestling has more suitors to become TNA’s new Cable TV home in early 2015. That’s the good news but none of the cable networks are powerhouses but at least Impact has renewed interest from the cable world which is a good thing. I hope that for the Nashville based company’s sake that something positive works out for them. It’s obvious that major infrastructure changes will be in store for TNA but that’s not necessarily a bad thing as companies do that all the time. It actually might make the company more efficient and productive over the long haul.”
On Ric Flair’s surgeries: “Now sources are saying Ric Flair had an appendicitis attack and then the doctors found a hernia which both are considered minor surgeries but my take on that is that no surgery is ‘minor’ when a guy is 65 years old. Details are still unconfirmed but we hope that Flair heals quickly.”
On Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins: “Rollins vs. Reigns but the outcome was a head scratcher considering that the same two men will meet again this Sunday. To think that Reigns can’t ever lose, no matter the circumstances, to continue his build is dubious logic. In a nutshell I did not understand the outcome of Rollins vs. Reigns Monday night.”
Check out the complete blog at JRsBarBQ.com. You can also order JR’s Bar-B-Q products online at WWEShop.com.
We are one week away from the WWE’s next pay-per-view, Night of Champions. The card is essentially set and will feature a total of eight matches, with a rematch between John Cena and Brock Lesnar headlining the event.
With every title on the line, the card should provide fans with an exciting event that features a few surprises. Here are five potential Night of Champions shockers.
As seen here last week, the complete script for the September 1st edition of WWE RAW leaked onto the internet and those who watched the show realized how much WWE sticks to the script on their weekly flagship program.
The two key things that weren’t in the script that were clear when watching the show was the back-and-forth between Chris Jericho and Triple H in the opening segment, as well as the fact that John Cena put Seth Rollins through a table with an Attitude Adjustment later in the show.
The former was just off-the-cuff remarks between two veteran performers, while the latter is said to be a perfect example of how something significant can be changed very late in the writing process.
– Seth Rollins had a close call during Monday’s RAW. When the steel cage was being lowered, Rollins just made it into the ring in time. You can check out a GIF image of this below.
– The following independent wrestlers were part of Adam Rose’s “Rosebuds” on Monday’s RAW: Thea Trinidad (Rosita), Mandy Leon, Kacee Carlisle and Damien Darling.
– Chris Jericho wrote the following on Instagram regarding his leap off of the top of the steel cage at Monday’s RAW:
“I haven’t done this since an indie show near #Calgary in 1993. Guess I was just waiting for the right time to bust it out again… What’s that? I’m 43 now? NO WAY!!!! #thatshowyadoitkids #baltimorerocks #y2jisbackbaby #wweraw @wwe”
As things stand right now, the only matches officially set for the September 21st WWE Night Of Champions pay-per-view in Nashville, Tennessee are Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, Sheamus vs. Cesaro for the WWE United States Championship and Dolph Ziggler vs. The Miz for the WWE Intercontinental Championship.
According to reports, two additional matches that are all but confirmed are The Usos vs. Goldust and Stardust for the WWE Tag-Team Championships and Mark Henry vs. Rusev.
The plan right now for the WWE Divas Championship match on the card appears to be a four-way with Paige defending against AJ Lee, Nikki Bella and Brie Bella, as all four were linked together on all of WWE’s television shows this week.
Another match likely for the show, although it may not be a pay-per-view match, is Bo Dallas vs. Jack Swagger.
The key Superstars left without matches that are expected on the show are Chris Jericho (in his final match of his current run with WWE), Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan, Randy Orton, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns.
It appears WWE is going with a Reigns vs. Rollins match, so they may go with Jericho vs. Orton since the Jericho vs. Wyatt and Reigns vs. Orton matches are set for next week’s RAW to combat the season premiere of Monday Night Football. However, they could either way, with one final Jericho vs. Wyatt “blow-off” match, as well as another Reigns vs. Orton bout.
As noted in the past, the WWE Studios film “Lockdown,” which Dean Ambrose is off filming, is set to wrap up on the Saturday before Night Of Champions, so he could end up on the show if WWE chooses to go that route.
According to those within WWE, there are two main options as to how the company will book the finish of the main event at the Night Of Champions pay-per-view.
While at this point this is only speculation, one idea is for Brock Lesnar to defeat John Cena when someone screws Cena over, leaving Cena to then work with that person coming out of the show while Lesnar works with other Superstars until facing Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 31.
The other idea is for Cena to defeat Lesnar, while Seth Rollins loses to Roman Reigns, if they go that route with those two, and then have Rollins cash in his “Money In The Bank” briefcase on Cena.
