WWE Hell in a Cell 2019 - 4 Reasons why the ending to the Universal Championship match was the right call
Chances are that if you are reading this, you were probably upset with how the main event match between Universal Champion Seth Rollins and The Fiend, Bray Wyatt, ended. Fans and analysts alike wanted a definitive finish to the match and a large majority was expecting the Fiend to defeat Rollins and become the new Universal Champ.
I was among that majority for the build to Hell in a Cell. WWE had dedicated a great amount of time, resources and detail to crafting everything regarding the Fiend, including his character, his entrance, his presentation and his Firefly Fun House. So heading into the PPV, a lot of people figured that all of that time invested into Wyatt's new persona would be paid off.
The ending was in stark contrast to what a lot of people were hoping for as Rollins ended up retaining the title via referee stoppage. While that taints the Fiend's aura in the eyes of many, if you analyze the ending after the fact, the booking decision was not as bad as everyone thought.
Personally, I'm more upset with two other recent title changes. Charlotte Flair won yet another title at the PPV, making her a 10-time Champ with her third reign of 2019. And even less palatable was the squash match of Kofi Kingston on the debut of SmackDown on FOX. Here we go again, another Lesnar title reign.
It would have been a great moment for Wyatt and the fans alike as it would have made up for some rather questionable booking that required Wyatt's character be rehabilitated. But a lot of things surrounding both the feud and WWE's booking this year make sense with further evaluation. Here are four reasons why the ending to the Universal Championship match at HIAC was the right call.
#4 It wasn't a normal wrestling match
Did the Fiend lose to Seth Rollins in a straight-up wrestling match where disqualifications, count outs and interference were in play? No.
Did he lose in a submission match? No. The fact is that big stipulation matches like this are usually booked this way to keep both men looking strong.
While the end result is often unsatisfying because fans want decisive wins and losses in their wrestling matches, no-contests and stoppage-type finishes are often used for special occasions. What was HIAC but a special occasion?
Many are upset that the Fiend not winning kills his aura and all of the build to the match. But if you have watched WWE for the last 10 years then you know that this isn't the end of the feud.
Too much was invested in the build to this particular PPV to simply have Rollins move on to another challenger. All of AJ Styles' title defenses as WWE Champion were usually in three-part feuds (Samoa Joe, Shinsuke Nakamura).
While the finish may have been upsetting to a degree, we need to at least consider the bigger picture and the long-term goals. It's easy to dislike the finish because it just happened, but it doesn't mean that he can't win the title down the road.