WWE’s next pay-per-view, Hell in a Cell, will make wrestling history. For the first time ever, two women will compete in a Hell in a Cell match as Sasha Banks defends the Raw Women’s Championship against Charlotte. This is the third time that Banks will break a barrier in WWE, as she was part of the first WWE Network Special women’s main event in company history — which also happened to be the first women’s iron man match in company history.
A lot of wrestling fans are understandably excited about the Hell in a Cell match, but at least one prominent wrestling figure isn’t a fan of the move. Former WCW President and WWE General Manager Eric Bischoff doesn’t think the match can possibly live up to expectations, so he’s down on the whole idea. On the 12th episode of the Bischoff On Wrestling podcast, he went on record as saying he “doesn’t like it at all.”
“I don’t like it at all. I don’t like it. The standard for Hell in a Cell is pretty high. It physically is what it is. It’s a hardcore match. It’s an extreme match. It’s all of the above and then some. I’ve talked before about expectations and managing expectations with the audience. Sometimes you can do such a great job building something up that you forgot to remember that you also have to deliver. I am not taking anything away from either of those athletes that happen to be women. I am suggesting that the audience may not necessarily want to see that type of entertainment and that type of match out of that type of an athlete. That’s just my opinion.”
You can probably take issue with the idea of the standard for Hell in a Cell being high, especially if you watched the first 20 minutes or so of the Shane McMahon vs. Undertaker match at WrestleMania 32. Knowing the track record of both Banks and Charlotte, these comments are only going to motivate them to go even more all-out then they were already planning on doing.
I don’t think anyone is expecting blood or anything, and the Cell might not even get used all that much (especially if recent HIAC history is taking into consideration), but of the three Hell in a Cell matches at the PPV, this is definitely the one I’m most looking forward to. I don’t think I’m alone in that. If Eric Bischoff isn’t on board, well heck … more for the rest of us.
(h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription)
