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I’m looking forward to Sunday’s event. On paper, it’s looking good. I’ve seen a lot of stuff around the net, though, that seemingly disagrees with my sentiments. I’m reading words like stale, boring, and disappointing to describe Monday’s RAW. Perhaps I was watching a different show. I saw Cody Rhodes, Dolph Ziggler, and Christian get treated like major players. I watched Alberto Del Rio get booked like a dominant heel and the prohibitive favorite going into the PPV. That’s anything but stale, boring, or disappointing to me. In fact, I think the product in general has been more fun to follow in the last three months than in any non-Wrestlemania season in years because of all the new faces. 18 months ago, the top guys in the WWE were John Cena, Randy Orton, an active Triple H, an active Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Edge, Rey Mysterio, Batista, and Chris Jericho. Two became inactive, four retired/left, and one is out with injury, leaving just Orton and Cena remaining. CM Punk has taken an available top spot. Christian and Mark Henry have given all long-tenured veterans hope that there is a chance that they could get their day in the sun. Sheamus has become a versatile go-to guy on the outside looking in at the main-event. Then there’s the whole cast of new guys vying for what’s left and getting significant TV time. This is a good time to be invested in the product because we’re seeing the WWE transitioning and a whole new cast of characters involved in that shift. So, I will be venturing to the bar again on Sunday to catch the PPV. I don’t think this PPV has a must-see match like the last three, but the card looks like it will continue the streak of good outings for the WWE. Sheamus vs. Christian is a sleeper, for me, because I think they’ve quietly built a match that helps elevate events like this one. They have the ability to steal the show if they’re given the chance. Does it surprise anyone else how easily Sheamus has transitioned into being a top level babyface? He has gotten over much faster than I thought he would and he’s made it look easy. Based on the early booking, I think we’ll see Sheamus get the win at HIAC. I look forward to what will hopefully be a series of matches with Christian before he heads back up to the main-event to finish up his business with Mark Henry. Speaking of Henry, he continues to play his role as the dominant big man quite well. It begs the question: how long will he be the champion? My answer will be dependent upon how well he performs inside the Cell on Sunday. I still think he needs to have a standout main-event match to solidify his position. He did a nice job at N.O.C., but he needs to knock one out of the park. Orton is still riding a hot streak and if they can manage to evenly book this match so that Orton gets about equal offense, I think they could have the match of the night. Funny, not before four months ago would I have ever used Henry and match of the night in the same sentence. Henry is like the Rich Gannon of the WWE – here he is in the twilight of his career and he’s all of the sudden performing like a star (CMV1 note – Gannon was an NFL QB in his late thirties that suddenly decided to be good in pro-football – one of the most random “stars” in history). In my crystal ball, I don’t see Henry being a long-term answer as the champion unless the ratings stay consistently high with him as the champion. He deserves to be champion, but to champion his being champion for longer than a couple of months? Erroneous! Erroneous! The longest reign in recent memory was just over 5 months. If he makes it that long, I’d be surprised. Doctor’s Orders? They’ll get the belt on the guy that they want headlining Mania and it won’t be the World’s Strongest Man. Nevertheless, Henry retains at HIAC. My confidence level in this PPV being good is pretty high. The WWE has had two HIAC PPVs, each of which took place just 2-3 weeks after the previous PPV, and both were pretty damn good shows. CM Punk getting added to the Alberto Del Rio vs. John Cena rematch certainly didn’t hurt, either. Punk has been on such a roll that I have a hard time imagining the WWE title HIAC not being match of the night. I just want to know how good it can be. Alberto looked awesome on RAW. That was his best overall performance to date, in terms of him hyping a PPV match that he’s involved in. People forget that this guy was essentially debuting a year ago – it takes time to get it right. He’s got all the tools, though, and is a unique heel amongst the current crop that has a lot of intangibles and is easy to dislike. Ratings may end up being his downfall, but night’s like Monday will help him get over stronger. He was the star of the last hour of the broadcast. I’m intrigued by the result of the triple threat. Conventional wisdom suggests that, now that the belt is on Cena, he should be keeping it until the business with Rock picks back up and that’s certainly what I’m leaning toward. I think the simplest way for the WWE to go with Rock-Cena is to have Rock cost Cena the title at the Royal Rumble when the largest set of eyes will be on them. Why would Rock take away a chance to become champ again? Because it’s personal and the Rock knows well enough that Cena thinks their Mania match should be for the title. Something tells me it doesn’t matter to The Rock what Cena thinks. However, I do think that there’s a chance that Punk walks away the champion. Interest in the product was no greater over the last 6 months than it was when Punk won the belt. The jury is still out on his drawing ability, but there’s going to be some trial and error in this transition period. MITB made an extra million bucks than the year prior thanks to Punk. Summerslam was apparently down, but I find it an interesting parallel that MITB gained tens of thousands of extra viewers compared to 2010 while Summerslam lost tens of thousands of viewers compared to 2010. Could it be that the WWE simply has a fairly fixed group of PPV buyers right now and a big portion of them decided to spend their Summerslam money on the July PPV? I was one of those people. I just don’t see the need to spend a ton of coin on PPV when I can watch it live at a bar for three bucks and some beers or online the next weekend for free – that’s just simple math. I spent the money to see Punk vs. Cena in Chicago, though. I didn’t spend the money for Summerslam. Just saying – it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Punk wins the belt. One thing that sort of irks me about Hell in a Cell is that the WWE knows that is has been one of their money gimmicks for years, but they don’t make much effort to build feuds that fit the use of that gimmick during the summer. Wade Barrett vs. John Cena last year would’ve been a great use of the Cell, but it was just a standard match. It had been building for months. Instead, Kane-Taker 38 got the Cell, as did a lukewarm feud between Sheamus and Orton. The year before was much better, which is probably why it garnered 80,000 more PPV buys. This year is like last year. Neither one of these Cell matches really fits the theme of the gimmick. Orton vs. Cena and DX vs. Legacy had stories to provide reasoning for the use of the Cell to settle their scores. Orton vs. Henry nor the triple threat really have that back story that warrants “going to hell.” The WWE knows well in advance their PPV schedule and how close it will be to September’s event. Why not build a strong rivalry that makes the Cell make more sense? They’ll make more money that way and I know that’s what they’re aiming at… Back to the card…Beth vs. Kelly 3 is on deck and I’m more excited for this one after they had the best women’s match in at least two years (probably longer) at the N.O.C. Beth should win the title, here. I suppose Sin Cara vs. Sin Cara could get added to this card, but I’d caution them to build it up another three weeks for Vengeance. The issues are still building and we need to see a clear delineation between who is who and get that established in advance before this goes to PPV. I fear it’ll bomb if they don’t build it up a little bit more. I think maybe Jack Swagger and Dolph will team up to face Air Boom, but they could also do Dolph vs. Ryder for the US title. The wheels are in motion for either to take place, but I’d favor the latter. Dolph needs to get more chances to shine by himself. He’s too good not to. I love that he’s been getting more air time. That guy is a star in the making. Any thoughts on Hell in a Cell that you’d like to share? Predictions? Do you even care to watch?
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