The night after Night Of Champions on the very-first RAW SuperShow, World Heavyweight Champion Christian faced Intercontinental Champion Cody Rhodes in a non-title Champion vs. Champion match. Wade Barrett, who was on guest commentary, vowed to win the Big Gold Belt at Hell In A Cell by challenging Christian to a rematch. Barrett couldn't capture the title one night ago. Just as Christian was about to finish Rhodes with the Killswitch, Barrett jumped on the apron and distracted the referee. This allowed Rhodes to escape, hit Cross Rhodes, and pick up the victory. Rhodes stared at Barrett angrily, and even confronted him later that night in the locker room about not needing help to win a match. Barrett then trashed Rhodes' IC title reign, stating he has retained the strap over mediocre challengers. This led to a brawl between the two. Four days later on SmackDown, Barrett made good on his promise by challenging Christian to a rematch in New Orleans. Just then, Rhodes came out and stated that Captain Charisma's next challenger should be one who already IS a champion and one who has an actual chance of winning. Barrett and Rhodes argued until Interim SmackDown General Manager Mike "The Flame" Anderson stopped it. Teddy Long was brutally assaulted by The Executioner last month. Anderson came up with the only logical solution: Put Barrett and Rhodes in a #1 Contender's Match. The winner faces Christian for the World Heavyweight Championship in two weeks. Anderson also informed Captain Charisma that the title will be defended inside The Devil's Playground. Out of the three men, only Rhodes has experienced Hell in a Cell, back in 2009 when he was part of The Legacy with Ted DiBiase (the two lost to D-Generation-X). Later that night, Barrett and Rhodes fought the way two heels would normally fight: With extreme brutality. Barrett set the tone early on by going to his bareknuckle brawler roots, but Rhodes gained the upper hand eventually and even nailed the Beautiful Disaster Kick. That only got a two-count. Barrett just barely kicked out. Rhodes waited for Barrett to get up so he could get another Disaster Kick, but Barrett ducked and referee Scott Armstrong received it instead. Barrett, after hitting Rhodes with Wasteland, grabbed a steel chair from under the ring and assaulted the Intercontinental Champion with it. Rhodes surprisingly turned the tables with his own chair attack and one shot ended up sending Barrett over the ropes. Rhodes nailed blow after blow to Barrett and eventually the two were fighting in the crowd. Armstrong had gotten up at this point and started counting. At one point, Barrett trapped Rhodes' arm in the steel railing and wrenched on it. Barrett then got a running start and went for a Big Boot while Rhodes was sitting down on the steps, but the Intercontinental Champion was resourceful and caught Barrett with a drop toehold, sending the Englishman face-first onto the steps. Armstrong counted to 10 and it was ruled a double countout. Anderson came out with another logical solution: Because it was a draw, both Barrett AND Rhodes will face Christian on October 2. For the first time ever, we were getting a Triple Threat Hell in a Cell Match. Just like at last year's PPV with the Fatal-4-Way, WWE once again loves to make history.
On the next RAW SuperShow, the World Heavyweight Champion teamed up with Big Show against Barrett, Rhodes, and Mark Henry in a 3-on-2 Handicap Match. It was probably for the best since Show can easily make up for the missing face partner. The two behemoths, with their own meeting inside The Devil's Playground coming up, brawled all the way backstage while Barrett took advantage of a World's Strongest Slam from Henry on Christian. The referee refused to count because Barrett isn't the legal man, it's Rhodes. Barrett went to the Intercontinental Champion, who was on the floor incapacitated, and yelled at him to get back in the ring. Rhodes actually mouthed "f*** you" to Barrett before getting in the ring. The IC titleholder tagged in Barrett, who had no choice but to get in. Barrett failed to hit Wasteland and Christian took him down with the Killswitch. ONE! TWO! THREE! Before the World Heavyweight Champion had time to celebrate, Rhodes blindsided him and hit Cross Rhodes onto Barrett's body. Rhodes then held up both the World Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championships, knowing this might be the scene in six days. Four days later on SmackDown, Christian faced SmackDown Money in the Bank winner Daniel Bryan in the main event, while Barrett and Rhodes were forced to team up again. This time, their opponents were Justin Gabriel and Tyson Kidd, better known as International Airstrike. For some reason, the two worked better this time around, and after Barrett took Kidd down with Wasteland, Rhodes finished him off with Cross Rhodes while Barrett took care of former Nexus groupmate Gabriel. Barrett and Rhodes smiled at each other in victory, and silently realized that Hell In A Cell shouldn't be about them. It should be about Christian, and making sure he doesn't win. Later that night, Barrett and Rhodes disrupted the Christian/Bryan match by assualting them both. Barrett picked up the World Heavyweight Championship and tried holding it up, but Rhodes stopped him and the two ended up in a tug-of-war over the title to end the show. Arda Ocal mentioned on Ring Posts that it seemed like a symbolism of what's been going on over the past two weeks. And who would disagree with him? At Hell In A Cell, tensions will boil over as three men will make history. For the first time, a trio of SmackDown Superstars were going to compete inside The Devil's Playground together. Will Christian overcome his first trip inside Hell in a Cell and two challengers at once to remain World Heavyweight Champion? Will Wade Barrett finally avenge that battle royal loss and win his second world title? Or will Cody Rhodes do what no man has done since Triple H in 2002 and walk into RAW SuperShow with the Intercontinental AND World Heavyweight Championship?