WWE Hell In A Cell 2018: 5 matches that could take place inside the cell

The 10th Hell In A Cell pay-per-view in WWE history will take place in San Antonio, Texas on 16 September.

A total of 38 matches have been contested inside the steel structure since Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker battled it out in the first match of its kind in 1997, with 19 of those encounters happening at the Hell In A Cell event itself over the last decade.

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Since the PPV became an annual offering in 2009, there has often been more than one, and sometimes up to three, Hell In A Cell matches taking place on the same card, with 2012 (CM Punk vs. Ryback) being the only exception.

Last year, for example, The Usos defeated The New Day in a career-defining cell match, while the main event saw Sami Zayn help Kevin Owens triumph against Shane McMahon.

Ahead of this year’s show, it feels like more rivalries than ever are worthy of being settled inside the cell, so let’s take a look at five matches that could potentially take place in “The Devil’s Playground” next month.

#5 The Shield vs. Braun Strowman and two partners

It’s very rare that WWE has somebody pull double-duty on the same PPV – Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 30 and Seth Rollins at Night of Champions 2015 spring to mind – but there’s an outside chance that Roman Reigns could find himself in that position at Hell In A Cell.

After 18 months without a full-time Universal champion, it would be a terrible call by WWE not to have “The Big Dog” defend the title at the next PPV, so we can safely assume that he will face somebody in a championship match.

But where does that leave his fellow Shield members and the rivalry with Braun Strowman? The end of this week’s Raw with “The Hounds of Justice” and “The Monster Among Men” was the highlight of the show and it will surely lead to a six-man match further down the line.

If Braun can find himself two partners between now and Hell In A Cell (check out a list of possible candidates here), then an epic six-man battle inside the steel structure cannot be ruled out.

#4 Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch

Charlotte Flair became a WWE champion for the seventh time at SummerSlam

Carmella produced the greatest in-ring performance of her career in the SmackDown Women’s Championship Triple Threat match against Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch at SummerSlam.

However, following the announcement that she will receive her one-on-one rematch for the championship against Charlotte on next week’s episode of SmackDown, rather than at a pay-per-view, it looks like WWE could be quickly moving “The Princess of Staten Island” out of the blue brand’s title picture.

That leaves Becky as the obvious challenger to face Charlotte, who she attacked after the SummerSlam match, for the title at Hell In A Cell.

The rivalry between the two "Horsewomen" is one of the most interesting in all of WWE coming out of SummerSlam, so a match involving the former best friends would definitely be worthy of taking place inside the cell.

#3 Jeff Hardy vs. Randy Orton

Randy Orton has targeted Jeff Hardy ever since his return

Long-time good guy Randy Orton returned to WWE at Extreme Rules in July, completing his long-awaited heel turn by attacking Jeff Hardy after “The Charismatic Enigma” lost the United States Championship in a six-second match against Shinsuke Nakamura.

Since then, “The Viper” has made it his mission to destroy the "superheroes" on the SmackDown Live roster, starting with Jeff, who he has brutally attacked three times over the last month.

It’s getting more and more difficult for non-title rivalries to make it onto WWE’s ‘B’ PPVs these days, especially now that nine championships could potentially be defended at every event, but the heated feud between Jeff and Randy will surely be somewhere on the card at Hell In A Cell.

If this rivalry took place last year, it definitely would have led to a match inside the cell. This year, with so many intense feuds going on right now, it might not get the steel structure treatment, but it certainly wouldn’t look out of place if WWE booked them in that match type!

#2 Universal Championship match

Roman Reigns defeated Finn Balor on Raw this week

For the simple reason that Raw finally has a full-time Universal champion again, it wouldn’t be at all surprising if Roman Reigns put his title on the line inside Hell In A Cell at the PPV next month.

There have been suggestions that he could face Braun Strowman on the show, following The Shield’s attack on “The Monster Among Men” on this week’s Raw, but a pre-announced one-on-one PPV title match between the two seems unlikely and it would make the Money In The Bank contract feel meaningless.

In all likelihood, with Constable Baron Corbin in charge of Raw for the foreseeable future, there will probably be a No.1 contender match or tournament next week to determine a challenger for the title at the next PPV.

Whoever the winner is (Finn Balor? Drew McIntyre? Kevin Owens?), they are likely to step inside the steel with Reigns at Hell In A Cell.

#1 AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe

Samoa Joe has been very personal in his war of words with AJ Styles

If you could put your money on one match definitely taking place inside Hell In A Cell in September, most people would probably go for AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe.

The rivalry reached new heights at SummerSlam when Joe told Styles’ wife and daughter, both watching on from ringside, that he can be their “new daddy”, leading AJ to strike his opponent with multiple steel chair shots and get himself disqualified.

Joe was up to his old tricks again on the most recent episode of SmackDown, attacking the WWE champion from out of nowhere before sending another uncomfortable message down the camera to Wendy Styles, AJ’s wife.

The next natural step in this storyline is for the two rivals to do battle next month inside the steel structure for the first time in their careers.