Predicting the match order at Hell in a Cell 2017

It's one thing to predict the winners and losers at Hell in a Cell 2017, but how about taking a guess at the match order on that card?

WWE has announced 7 different matches for the main card of Hell in a Cell 2017, not counting the Kickoff match featuring the Hype Bros versus Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable.

Here is my subjective view of how important each of these 7 segments rank on the Hell in a Cell card, ordered from most important to least important.

1. Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon
2. New Day vs. The Usos
3. Jinder Mahal vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
4. Natalya vs. Charlotte Flair
5. Randy Orton vs. Rusev
6. AJ Styles vs. Baron Corbin
7. Bobby Roode vs. Dolph Ziggler

It is important to come up with a list like this to get an idea of which matches are going to be placed in the key spots on the card or take up the most time, and which matches might end up in the cool-down spots or be given the least amount of time.

Main event

This is one of the few brand-exclusive events where the WWE Championship match seems unlikely to main event the card. It can’t be completely ruled out, but SmackDown Live has been the Kevin Owens show for the last month. The special nature of this being a Shane McMahon Hell in a Cell match means that the main event slot is probably going to be reserved for KO and Shane.

As for Mahal’s match, WWE sometimes throws in a cool-down match between two important matches at the end of the card. But Mahal’s match doesn’t feel particularly important on this night, and so like at SummerSlam 2017, I don’t think WWE needs a cool-down match. I’m placing Mahal and Nakamura right before the main event.

That gives me the following card:

Segment 1:
Segment 2:
Segment 3:
Segment 4:
Segment 5:
Segment 6: Jinder Mahal vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
Segment 7: Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon

What about the other HIAC match?

Considering that I have two of the more important matches at the very end of the night, I expect the tag team cell match to run somewhere in the first three segments of the night, to carry the first half of the card.

When WWE includes three Hell in a Cell matches in one night, they usually open the show with one, put another one in the middle, and main event with the last one. This year’s card only has two cell matches, so WWE doesn’t necessarily have to open the night with a cell match. I think this tag cell match will end up in Segment 2 or Segment 3.

Segment 3 seems like the best choice to me, as WWE can pad it on either side with two of the least important matches of the night.

That gives me the following card:

Segment 1:
Segment 2:
Segment 3: New Day vs. The Usos
Segment 4:
Segment 5:
Segment 6: Jinder Mahal vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
Segment 7: Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon

Good luck with Segment 4

The match that has to follow the New Day and Usos will be in a tough spot, and so it should go to one of the least important matches of the night. In my scenario, that is Segment 4.

The women’s championship match is too important for that spot. Considering that Baron Corbin can’t even beat Tye Dillinger, I could see him in that spot, and of course Ziggler could be there as well. Whichever of these two matches avoids Segment 4 will probably end up in Segment 2, since that is another relatively unimportant segment.

I think it makes more sense to throw in Roode’s entrance earlier in the night, so I’ll put Corbin in Segment 4 and Roode in Segment 2.

That gives me the following card:

Segment 1:
Segment 2: Bobby Roode vs. Dolph Ziggler
Segment 3: New Day vs. The Usos
Segment 4: AJ Styles vs. Baron Corbin
Segment 5:
Segment 6: Jinder Mahal vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
Segment 7: Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon

Opening match

The opening match of the night is usually one of the mid-level attractions with good work rate that normally doesn’t require a dedicated video package ahead of time to hype it up.

The bottom 4 matches from my rankings above could all feasibly open this card. When Nakamura debuted on PPV against Dolph Ziggler in May 2017, they opened the card. That could very well happen again with the fancy entrance of Bobby Roode taking the place of Nakamura against Ziggler. If the New Day’s cell match ends up in Segment 2, I think WWE would probably open the card with Bobby Roode.

But as for what I’ve already put together, I only have Charlotte’s match or Orton’s remaining for Segment 1 and Segment 5. My guess is that Charlotte is going to win the championship, and I think it makes more sense to put a big babyface moment like that in Segment 5, right before the two final matches which both look like they could be going to the heels. If Carmella is going to cash in afterwards, then this one might be more likely to open the night.

That leaves Orton and Rusev for the opening segment.

Finalized card

So here is my final prediction for the match order at Hell in a Cell, along with guesses on the bell-to-bell match times.

Segment 1: Randy Orton vs. Rusev (12 minutes)
Segment 2: Bobby Roode vs. Dolph Ziggler (9)
Segment 3: New Day vs. The Usos (18)
Segment 4: AJ Styles vs. Baron Corbin (10)
Segment 5: Charlotte vs. Natalya (12)
Segment 6: Jinder Mahal vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (14)
Segment 7: Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon (22)

That's my prediction for the match order at Hell in a Cell. What's yours?