List of current champions in WWE
At the top of WWE's championship hierarchy are the WWE Universal Championship on Raw and the WWE Championship on SmackDown. The Universal Championship is held by record two-time champion Brock Lesnar, who won the vacant title by defeating Braun Strowman at Crown Jewel on November 2, 2018; previous champion Roman Reigns had to relinquish the title due to illness (leukemia). The WWE Champion is Daniel Bryan, who is in his fourth reign. He won the title on the November 13, 2018, episode of "SmackDown Live" by defeating AJ Styles.
Hell in a Cell (2013)
The main feud heading into Hell in a Cell was between Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton over the vacant WWE Championship. After defeating John Cena to win the WWE title at SummerSlam in August, Bryan was betrayed by the special referee of that match, Triple H, which allowed Orton to cash-in his Money in the Bank contract and win the championship. In their rematch at Night of Champions in September, Bryan defeated Orton to win back the title, albeit with the referee Scott Armstrong deciding the pinfall with a very fast count. This controversial ending to the match resulted in Armstrong's (kayfabe) firing and Bryan being stripped of the WWE Championship by Triple H the next night on "Raw". Bryan and Orton's next scheduled encounter for the now-vacant title on pay-per-view at Battleground on October 6 ended in a no contest after Big Show interfered and attacked both wrestlers and the referees, including a returning Scott Armstrong. With still no WWE Champion yet, on the October 7 edition of "Raw", general manager Brad Maddox announced that Bryan and Orton would again compete against each other for the vacant WWE title in Hell in a Cell and with a special referee for the audience to choose from amongst WWE Hall of Famers Booker T, Bob Backlund and Shawn Michaels; Michaels won the vote.