Sunday’s WWE Hell in a Cell pay-per-view is being advertised as featuring a “triple main event” with three different Hell in a Cell title matches. The one most people are talking about, however, is the Raw Women’s Championship match between reigning champion Sasha Banks and former champ Charlotte Flair. At one point, it was rumored that the match would be the main event of the PPV and thus, would go on last to close the show. But not so fast.
Since the landmark first-ever women’s Hell in a Cell match will be historic, and it is the single match on the card generating the most interest from fans, combined with the fact that the event is taking place in Banks’ hometown of Boston, it would seem to make the most sense from a storytelling standpoint (not to mention business- and PR-wise) to have the match go on last. But it’s looking like that won’t be the case.
According to Dave Meltzer in the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, there are a number of people inside the company who believe the women’s Hell in a Cell match should go on last — including Triple H, of course — but Vince McMahon is opposed to the idea.
Internally this is a big issue. The creative team is largely united in the belief of wanting Banks vs. Charlotte to go on last to make that point, that women can be the real main event. And doing so will elevate the standing of women’s wrestling in the company, and of Banks and Charlotte in particular.
The description was that this is still Vince’s sandbox, and right now it’s not likely to happen. The way we’re told is that Paul Levesque has also backed the creative team on the idea, but Vince is digging his heels in on this one and it’s led to a lot of frustration. As of Tuesday, the odds were against it happening, but Vince does change his mind and nothing is final.
Meltzer brings up a good point, in that the first true women’s WWE PPV main event is something that only happens once, so it can only be promoted once. In that case, it’s much better for there to be a massive build-up to whatever event that ends up being and accompanying massive PR push, rather than something that is decided at the last minute.
So it’s a bummer that Banks vs. Charlotte will probably not go on last, but honestly, we pretty much expected that all along. The first actual women’s PPV main event should be treated like the big deal it is, so we’ll keep waiting.
