The Rock is back and he doesn’t appear happy with Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes – with a simple hand gesture signaling his feelings.
The massive return ended and lifted up a mostly entertaining Bad Blood pay-per-view from State Farm Arena in Atlanta on Saturday.
It delivered a superb Hell in a Cell match,a trio of returns and some creative bumps in the middle of the card – including one booking decision that appeared to be rejected by the crowd – as four of the five matches included some form of outside interference.
It ended, however, with a stellar flourish that has The Bloodline story on the path to Survivor Series and WarGames.
Here are five takeaways from Bad Blood:
Angry Boss
Most of the match between Solo Sikoa and Jacob Fatu against Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns feels inconsequential because it was all a setup for the returns and moments at the end.
A few things to note would be Reigns getting a stronger babyface reaction than Rhodes after both got WrestleMania-like entrances with live music.
The payoff to the hot tag to Reigns felt a little lackluster and Fatu was booked as a monster. It took Rhodes giving him a callback top-rope splash through the announce table to finally keep him down. Rhodes saluted Reigns to tell him, “You take it from here.”
The rest of the new Bloodline came to the ring with Sikoa in trouble. Sikoa grabbed Reigns and yelled at him, “You lied to me! You told me I was next in line!” as another figure with a mask appeared outside the ring between Toma Tonga and Tonga Loa.
It was a returning Jimmy Uso, who was taken out by the new Bloodline in storyline. He opened the door for Reigns to catch Sikoa off guard and spear him for the win. The hug between Uso and Roman drew a big pop.
A little bit after a nod of appreciation to Rhodes, Uso had to coax Reigns to return to the ring to help the “American Nightmare”, who was getting pummelled by the Bloodline. Reigns picked up the Undisputed WWE championship and slowly handed it back to Rhodes.
It was then The Rock’s music hit for the first time since April. He stood alone with the Bloodline retreating to the stands. He didn’t say a word. We got a raised eyebrow, his fingers in the air going 1-2-3 and a slit of the throat.
It feels like he is either signaling Reigns, Rhodes and Uso as targets or making reference to pinning Rhodes at WrestleMania and Reigns getting pinned 1-2-3 by Rhodes there. In the Finals Boss’ mind, he might be the rightful next person to face Rhodes and not Reigns.
Steeling the Show
CM Punk and Drew McIntyre gave their trilogy a proper ending with an excellent, bloody and hard-hitting Hell in Cell match that will go down among the best.
It had the one wild spot of McIntyre suplexing Punk from the apron in tight quarters through a table on the outside. Both men were bloodied at different points, Punk with shots from a wrench and McIntyre with a blow from a toolbox.
There were plenty of weapons used, and mostly with a purpose. Punk did damage to McIntyre’s back, including dropping him on a flipped-over table with the legs torn off. The wrenches, however, kept popping up.
McIntyre hesitated using one midway through the match and missed on a Claymore. He later used a wrench to break the Anaconda Vice. Punk was willing to smash a pleading McIntyre with a wrench at the end, but the Scottish Warrior countered with a low blow.
That is where McIntyre’s hubris and desire to humiliate Punk – which has cost him throughout this feud – did so again. McIntyre, instead of thumbtacks, dropped friendship bracelet beads on his opponent’s head.
He would miss the Claymore attempt and smash his already injured lower back into the ring steps in the middle of the squared circle. Punk took advantage, wrapped a chain on his knee to the GTS for the third time in the match and pinned McIntyre to finally end this feud.
Punk collapsed on his way to the back to sell the brutality of it all while being attended to by medical personnel. Is World Heavyweight champion Gunther next?
Ripped Away
The crowd in Atlanta was ready for Rhea Ripley to get her full revenge on Liv Morgan and Dominik Mysterio. They were moving toward that crescendo with Ripley beating Mysterio like a pinata as he hung from the shark cage by his chained ankle.
It was at that moment Raquel Rodriguez returned after months away with a storyline injury inflicted by Ripley to attack Mami and cause the match to be a DQ and have Morgan – her former tag team partner retain the Women’s World championship.
The crowd booed the finish and not getting a clean winner and not Rodriguez, as was probably intended. That could change going forward, but the decision backfired on WWE for one night as we likely have to endure potentially months more of this story before the real payoff.
Everything leading up to the questionable finish was good. Mysterio – who got a fun Low Rider entrance with Morgan — played into his panic of being raised in the cage while being afraid of heights. Morgan went right after Ripley’s knee, the injury that was at the center of the story leading up to the match.
Morgan attempted a Three Amigos suplex, but Ripley countered the third one. Ripley went to the top rope and paid homage to Eddie Guerrero in her own way and Jey Uso before a frog splash, but Mysterio got the cage door open somehow and Morgan kicked out.
Morgan and Ripley fought to the floor as the challenger delivered a Riptide as Mysterio watched. Mysterio fell over the edge trying to check on Morgan. Ripley, after taking Morgan back to the ring, pulled a kendo stick from under the ring to beat Mysterio. It set the questionable finish in motion.
WWE likely want to keep the title on Morgan, but she needs some muscle to make it believable.
It was part of a so-so night for Judgment Day-related matches. Damian Priest and Finn Balor turned in a match that probably would have been better suited for Raw. There was nothing wrong with it, but nothing special either.
Priest controlled the match early and often with plenty of heavy offense. Predictably, things turned when The Judgement Day’s JD McDonagh, Carlito and Mysterio got involved. It gave Balor the opening for a Coup de Grace, but Priest kicked out. Eventually, Balor went for another top rope move and Priest caught him for a South of Heaven to win.
Queen Still Reigns
The end script remained the same after Bayley and Jax went out of their comfort zones. That was especially so for Jax, who dished out numerous counters – including a hurricanrana reversal. There was a fun spot where Jax was down outside the ring and Bayley couldn’t drag her back.
Bayley had the match won with a Rose Plant, but the ref was out after Jax accidentally fell on her. Tiffany Stratton would come charging out with her Money in the Bank Briefcase and knocked Bayley down. Just as Stratton was about to officially cash in, Jax did an Undertaker-like sit-up and argued with her friend in the corner over her near betrayal.
Bayley took advantage and applied a rollup on Jax. She kicked out and Bayley looked to go back to the top rope. Stattron threw the briefcase at her to distract her. Jax jumped up and delivered an Avalanche Samoan Drop and then pulled Bayley over to hit an Annihilator to retain the WWE Women’s championship.
Jax, the Queen of the Ring, has been referred to as Queen a lot lately. Could a returning Charlotte Flair be next?
Added Bonuses
WWE did a VIP area in one of the suites where the hosts Bianca Beliar, Jade Cargill and Naomi were throwing a party for WWE stars, legends and artist Metro Boomin, which they cut to twice. I’d much rather see a sixth match, though I thought taking time to introduce around a dozen WWE Hall of Famer ringside was a cool use of them.
It appears WWE laid the groundwork for a potential Gunther vs. Goldberg match as the World Heavyweight champion came out and started throwing insults at the Hall of Famer and former Atlanta Falcon, who was sitting ringside with his family. Goldberg got hot and jumped the barricade after Gunther told his son, Gage, that he hoped his dad was a better father than a wrestler.
It came after Triple H announced the men’s and women’s world champions will face each other annually at Crown Jewel in matches that will have definitive outcomes to determine the winner of newly unveiled Crown Jewel champion belts. This reeks of WWE creating more new awards to give out at Saudi shows – such as the Greatest Royal Rumble belt and the Best in the World Cup — to make them feel prestigious. The booking for this should be interesting to say the least.
Biggest Winner: CM Punk
Biggest Loser: Finn Balor
Best Match: CM Punk vs. Drew McIntyre
Grade: B+
