2024-10-06 17:00:03
The Rock returned at WWE Bad Blood 2024
Credit: WWEWWE Bad Blood 2024 from the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Ga. advertised five matches. This included two title matches as Nia Jax defended the WWE Women’s Championship against Bayley while Rhea Ripley looked to regain the WWE Women’s World Championship against Liv Morgan with Dominik Mysterio suspended in a shark cage.
Bad Blood also advertised a heavily anticipated showdown between Drew McIntyre and CM Punk inside Hell in a Cell. The main event featured Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes teaming together for the first time ever to take on the Bloodline. If Reigns and Rhodes weren’t enough when it comes to star power, The Rock returned at the end of the night.
Last week’s broadcast of WWE Raw garnered 1.516 million viewers.
The Big 3 (Jade Cargill, Bianca Belair and Naomi) kicked off the show as the hosts, and then WWE immediately lowered the cage as they talked up the rare amount of hate Drew McIntyre and CM Punk have for one another.
Drew McIntyre and CM Punk called back to Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin with a bloody sharpshooter. They then seemed to be doing a callback to Hell in a Cell 1998 with thumbtacks, but instead, they were plastic beads for a friendship bracelet.
The main ingredients for this match were a wrench, a steel step, a table and friendship beads. It all combined to tell a fantastic story that called back to ‘90s WWE while keeping continuity with CM Punk and Drew McIntyre’s literal blood feud.
For more details on CM Punk vs. Drew McIntyre, see this article.
Nia Jax wore Bloodline red for her latest title defense, which may or may not be a coincidence.
Poor Bayley and Nia Jax were tasked with having to follow a brutal Hell in a Cell match. They actually did a good job getting the crowd into it, especially when Bayley teased a power bomb on Nia Jax. Nia countered with an extremely awkward hurricanrana and it temporarily killed the crowd.
Fans chanted “Tiffy Time!” and “we want Tiffy” as the match soldiered on. Bayley played to the crowd by pointing to her wrist.
Jax has been better than ever during this current run, but botched multiple spots, including pop-up Samoan Drop on Bayley. Bayley came back with a Samoan Drop of her own.
While Jax was stirring, she landed on referee Jessika Carr. This led to inevitable speculation of Tiffany Stratton hitting the ring. As Bayley caught Nia in a visual three-count, Stratton hit the ring and bludgeoned Bayley with the briefcase. Stratton woke Jessika Carr up, but Nia Jax sat up like The Undertaker.
After a teased cash-in from Stratton, Jax defeated Bayley with a super Samoan Drop and an Annihilator.
WWE legends and stars in attendance include Quavo, Lil Baby, Goldberg, X-Pac, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Diamond Dallas Page, Killer Mike, Booker T and Metro Boomin.
Fans seemed to be fatigued for this match, which had the least stakes of any on the card. Balor’s strategy was to chop down the big tree, and fans rallied behind Priest as he fired up. Priest has great fire, and is on his way to becoming an elite babyface.
As Priest closed in on a win, Carlito hit the ring and distracted the referee. JD McDonagh attacked Priest on the outside, leading to a Coup de Grace but Priest kicked out.
Priest took on the whole Judgment Day, but when he went for a South of Heaven, Balor turned it into a rollup for another nearfall. Back came Balor with two more Coup de Graces to the back. Priest hit the South of Heaven for the win.
Triple H announced 16,092 fans, WWE’s 60th sellout of 2024. He also announced the largest-grossing arena event in State Farm Arena history.
Triple H appeared alongside a championship belt as he announced that in just four weeks, the WWE world champion and the WWE champion will face off. Neither title will be on the line, but there will be a definitive winner, and the winner will be crowned the Crown Jewel champion.
GUNTHER interrupt Triple H and called out Goldberg. After saying Goldberg was his favorite wrestler just last month, he turned on his former idol by calling him a “one trick pony.”
Before Goldberg and GUNTHER could do battle—after GUNTHER insulted Goldberg as a father—Sami Zayn hit the ring and attacked GUNTHER. For more on the WWE Crown Jewel Championship, click here.
Dominik Mysterio and Liv Morgan arrived in Dom’s famed low rider, but Dom was promptly thrown in the cage. The cage was raised over the ring, but not in the middle of the ring.
After Rhea Ripley dominated the early goings of this match, Liv Morgan attacked Rhea’s leg.
Liv Morgan debuted a unique new move—the Homewrecker—on Rhea Ripley for a nearfall. A great name for a move, but she should have debuted it as an alternate finisher. The Homewrecker is a modified Made in Japan.
Dominik Mysterio was able to open the shark cage door bet was still suspended in midair.
Raquel Rodriguez returned to force a disqualification. There was an awkward moment where Rodriguez tried to drape Morgan over Ripley for the pin, but the referee had already called for the DQ.
Cody Rhodes was played out by an HBCU Marching Band (University of Arkansas, Pine Bluff), while Roman Reigns was played out by a full orchestra (the Georgia Philharmonic). Meanwhile, in AEW, their main event stable is inspired by the skinhead movie Romper Stomper. Pro wrestling has something for everybody.
Jacob Fatu was kept as strong as anybody, and wasn’t taken out until he was put through a table by a Cody Rhodes splash. This protected him from taking a pin.
Jimmy Uso returned, helping Roman Reigns win as he pinned Solo Sikoa. After the match, The Rock made his long-awaited (and rumored) return. This sets up what should be another great WarGames match at Survivor Series.
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