Guys, don't forget, this is Hell in a Cell. I know this is the PG+ era, but you have a lot more leeway in protecting somebody in a loss than you do in regular matches.
Let me put it in very stark terms: All of you are looking at this backwards by trying to look at months of booking, when really it's the last month and a half that matters. What's happened in that last month and a half? Ryback has more momentum than ever, while Punk has continually been made to look like a charlatan, a coward and a pissant whose accomplishments since Money in the Bank 2011 have been sacrificed at the altar of John Cena for an asinine storyline in which Punk weirdly has to cement his legacy against a guy that hasn't beaten him in 14 months.
What I'm saying is this: Punk absolutely needs to win this match because his very credibility as a main eventer has been put on the line. Ryback has so much momentum that as long as he isn't made to look like a normal human being, he'll retain his monster credibility. If Punk loses, then all of the dumbass speeches we've heard over the past few weeks that are dead wrong on their face are suddenly proven right, and that's a far worse scenario for Punk than people realize.
So I think one of two things is going to happen: The best thing that could happen to Punk is that Ryback bulldozes, Punk dodges and is beaten from pillar to post intermittently, then shows some grit and beats Ryback after he takes an unholy amount of punishment. That retains Ryback's cred while keeping Punk's for the inevitable matchup vs. Cena at Survivor Series (Because you know this is going to happen). The worst thing that could happen is a repeat of Bad Blood 1997, with Punk getting killed and being bailed out by Lesnar in the Kane role. This is because of the fact that, yeah Punk won, but he looked like a complete coward in doing so. This won't work because, unlike Shawn, the entire direction of his character and the build to this match has been directed toward making Punk look like a paper champion. Reinforcing that in a win just seems stupid to me going toward a match with The Rock.
You know they'll do the second one if he wins, though. Gotta have something for Cena to latch onto in the build.
or be booked around . He's not ready for that hell get taken out somehow cause cena will be healthy by then
Goldberg was terrible as a champion and WCW realized that pretty quick.
