WWE BAD BLOOD REVIEW

The fourth ever installment of the WWE PLE Bad Blood comes to us live from the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. It has been 20 years since the last Bad Blood event.

 

We open with the Hell in a Cell match. This will be the 53rd H.I.A.C match in WWE history. With the personal hatred between Drew and Punk at an all time high, this was the perfect "rubber match" to end the fued. It was a beautiful symphony of Blood, violence and storytelling. I like the fact that the match stayed inside the cell. They used weapons in new ways and really took their time to make every move feel important. In the end it was a Go To Sleep with a steel chain wrapped around Punk's knee that kept Drew down for the pin. One of the better H.I.A.C matches I've seen in a while.

 

Winner by G.T.S: C.M. Punk

 

Next we have the Women's Championship. Nia Jax defends against Bayley. Jax dominated early with powerful offense. Bayley was able to get some quick, high flying offense in. Once the Referee was knocked out, Tiffany Ran out and hit Bayley with the briefcase and teased a cash in. It was cut off by Jax. Tiffany continued to interfere leading to a anNIAlator to Bayley for the pinfall.

 

Winner, and still: Nia Jax

 

True to the PLE name "Bad Blood" we have another very personal match between Balor and Priest. It was a very evenly contested match with a mix of fast paced and power offense from both men. Despite interference from J.D and Carlito that led to Balor hitting multiple Coup de Gras, in the end it was a South of Heaven chokeslam that won it for Priest.

 

Winner by Pinfall: Damien Priest

 

Triple H came out to announce the attendance for the show, 16,092. (The largest gate for a WWE arena show ever) Also he debuted the Crown Jewel Championship which will be contested at the Crown Jewel PLE between the current Mens and Women's champions, who will face off this year and every Crown Jewel event going forward.

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Gunther came to the ring and picked a fight with Goldberg in the crowd. That allowed Sami to attack him from behind setting the stage for the big Championship Match on Raw Monday Night.

 

Next up, The Women's World Heavyweight Championship match. Liv defends against Rhea with Dirty Dom suspended in a shark cage. Rhea took an early advantage which Liv quickly countered and started to work heavily on Rhea's injured leg. During the match Dom managed to pick the lock of the cage and open the door. He spilled forward and was hanging by his ankle from a chain that he was locked into within the cage. Rhea hit a Riptide on the outside of the ring. She then took her focus off of Liv to use a kendo stick to beat Dom like a Piñata! In the process she was attached and power-bombed by a returning Raquel Rodriquez which resulted in a D.Q. Rhea technically won the match, but Liv retains the Championship.

 

Winner by D.Q.: Rhea Ripley. Still Champion: Liv Morgan

 

Main event time. This match was exactly what you would expect from 4 super talented athletes. Cody started off against Fatu. When Solo asked to be tagged in, Cody tagged in Roman. Eventually Cody was left as the legal man for a long time and the Bloodline thwarted multiple tag attempts between Cody and Roman. Eventually Reigns got the hot tag and action spilled to the outside. After some back and forth Roman got the advantage. The tag champs showed up to help the Bloodline. Jimmy Uso appeared and Super Kicked both of them on the outside. This distracted Solo and allowed Roman to hit the spear for the win.

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Winners by pinfall: Roman and Cody 

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After the match all 4 members of the Bloodline attacked Cody. After some convincing from Jimmy, Roman and Jimmy ran back in to make the save and clear the ring. Roman picked up the Championship, looked at it and slowly handed back to Cody. At that time The Rocks music hit. He came to the stage. Counted 1,2,e with his fingers and made the "cut" motion across his throat and walked back through the curtain. That's how the show ended.

 

Overall thoughts:

Out of 10, this PLE was a solid 8. I thought the traditionalist approach to the H.I.A.C. match was refreshing. And the creative use of the table, the missed Claymore into the steps and the bag of bracelet beads were a nice touch. Plus WWE goes blazing into the "Netflix" era with a ton of blood in that match. The blood added to the story and was necessary to bring closure to this fued! The returns were really good with Raquel, Jimmy and The Rock. I think the Tiffany tease cash in was done just ambiguous enough to keep pushing the relation forward between her and Jax, yet still creating that suspense that is sometimes missing from the Money In the Bank holder!