Veteran NFL writer and Pat McAfee Show correspondent Mark Kaboly breaks down the return of the PLE ‘Bad Blood’ event after a 20-year hiatus.
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WrestleMania-like feel: Now, let’s not get crazy here with comparisons of a five-match PLE in October resurfacing for the first time in 20 years with the greatest sports-entertainment spectacular of all-time and the Super Bowl of professional wrestling. But there was a little feel of that for me with Bad Blood. The larger-than-life music entrances of Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns before the main event, the brutality of the Hell the Cell Match between C.M. Punk and Drew McIntyre, the WWE Legends and well-known rappers scattered around the ring and, well, the cameo from The Rock would’ve been labeled a WrestleMania moment if this was early April instead of October.
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Only one way to do it: There have now been 53 Hell in a Cell Matches in WWE history, if McIntyre and Punk isn’t at the top of that list now, it’s darn close after the performance these two put on at Bad Blood. They knew the only way for it to work was that it had to be brutal after more than a six-month feud and they delivered … plus some. There wasn’t any climbing to the top of the cage or big bumps while scaling the cage. The two stayed inside the cell and beat the living hell out of each other. Period. Nothing else was needed. McIntyre promised blood on his X account hours before the match that gave you his mindset. Nine minutes into the match, Punk was opened up after McIntrye used Punk’s face as a dart off the steel ring. Seven minutes later, a toolbox to the skull of McIntyre opened him up. Out of the 31 minutes of the match, Punk bled for 22 minutes and McIntrye for 15 minutes. How the Superstars follow that up over the next three hours might just have been the most impressive part of Bad Blood.
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More than blood: In the end, the Hell in the Cell will be remembered for the bloodshed. How can’t it? And to a degree, that’s a shame because this match and this rivalry, was much more than that. First, we are looking at a 47-year-old Punk in his third match since returning to the WWE and the 39-year-old McIntyre doing what they did which can’t be brushed to the side. Being able to intertwine the brutality that was needed with maneuvers like the GTS and the Claymore and even the slam off the apron into a table from McIntyre, the weapons used, the false finishes and, maybe more than even the buckets of blood shed, the storytelling that continued during and after the match has to be celebrated as well. The “pray to your God” line from Punk was powerful and fitting as well as McIntrye saying that Punk’s wife was going to leave him added to the story. It’s safe to assume this feud is over and will now let Punk be selective with his future matches and McIntyre will surely rebound and be a force for a potential run at the World Heavyweight Championship.
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All a setup?: I thought the tag match of Rhodes and Reigns against the Bloodline’s Solo Sikoa and Jacob Fatu had to bring something more than just a simple tag match. And it did. There was no true stand-out moment from the in-ring action other than Reigns getting back in action for the first time in six months and Rhodes taking the brunt of the damage doled out by Sikoa and Fatu. (OK, the splash off the top rope onto Fatu on the announcer table was spectacular). What it did do was set up months worth of matches — the New Bloodline vs. the Old Bloodline, Rhodes and Kevin Owens could see their relationship continue to eveolve and the wildcard of who the Rock was targeting when he made his return. So many unanswered questions came out of a simple tag match with the WWE’s top players is a win in my book.
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Jimmy and The Rock: Jimmy Uso made his long-anticipated return in somewhat spectacular fashion by taking out Tonga Loa and Tama Tonga and helped Reigns pin Sikoa. The hug with his cousin and then Jimmy urging Reigns to help out Rhodes after he got jumped in the ring would’ve been the highlight of the show. Then The Rock’s music hit and everything changed, at least for me. The Rock’s return, where he didn’t say a word and spent about a minute at the top of the ramp, overshadowed Uso’s return. Now, that’s not a bad thing because The Rock is The Rock and everything he does is entertaining. You can talk about potentially getting sore over Uso being pushed down a peg with his return but as we’ve seen all along there’s level to everyting involving The Bloodline.
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Time to go separate ways: The Damian Priest and Finn Bálor match went down as expected. The Judgement Day’s Carlito and JD McDonough were going to stick their nose in the match at some point and it was a matter of whether or not it was going to cost Priest the match. Carlito and McDonough did interfere but Priest was able to overcome that and a couple of Coup de Graces to pin Bálor. Priest has earned his way at another shot at a title – maybe the World Heavyweight Championship he was screwed out of by Balor at SummerSlam? Maybe an Intercontinental Championship shot? Something. He’s earned that chance. Incidentally, Bálor is in the same boat. He’s too talented, in my opinion, to not give it a run on his own. Time will tell.
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Liv needs a heavy?: The Women’s World Championship between Liv Morgan and Rhea Ripley ended when Raquel Rodriguez interfered in the match forcing a disqualification. Don’t read too much into this one way or the other. Morgan’s rivalry with Ripley surely makes it to WrestleMania (as it should) and to do that you have to change things up. Rodriquez evens up the size differential between Morgan and Ripley and maybe more importantly, it allows a break from The Judgement Day for Morgan and Mysterio and even Priest on the other side of the feud. Ripley dominated the match physically with Morgan, as she should have, before the return of Rodriguez.
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Is Nia Jax unbeatable?: The WWE Women’s Championship Match between Nia Jax and Bayley delivered big when it needed to. It hammered home that Jax is a freak of nature and is going to be tough to beat … unless there is some kind of outside intervention. At this point, that’s the only one Jax is going to lose. Jax manhandled Bayley physically for a majority of the match and Bayley excelled herself with physicality. But Jax tossed Bayley around the ring like a rag doll. The physicality Jax continues to show is impressive. The tease of Tiffany Stratton cashing in her Money in the Bank opportunity brought it all together.
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Goldberg vs. Gunther?: Who knows if Goldberg will get his retirement match against Gunther? It was teased as a possibility when the World Heavyweight Champion interrupted Triple H’s announcement of the coming Crown Jewel Championship Matches on Nov. 2 in Saudi Arabia and the Atlanta crowd chanted “Goldberg’ for their native son who was in the front row. Goldberg appears to be in great shape at 57 and could pull it off, but on this night, who cares if it happens. The spot was very entertaining and actually added another layer to Gunther’s public persona with three lines: “How can someone like be be impressed with a one-trick pony like you (wonder who gave him that line?), “I really hope that Bill is a better father than professional wrestler” to Goldberg’s son (Gage) and “I got three minutes for you” when Goldberg hopped the barrier. In such a small amount of time, Gunther killed it and his role as a key villain on Raw is growing.
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Odds and ends: The toolbox to the skull of McIntyre was painful to watch. … ‘Dirty’ Dom showing up in the Lucha Low Rider was spectacular. … Michael Cole with the line of the night about Dom: “I think he picked the lock. Did he learn that in prison?” … The look on Sikoa’s face when the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff marching band played Rhodes’ theme song outside the ring was fitting for Yhe Bloodline leader and also spectacular … You have to give Mysterio credit for taking that plunge out of the shark cage like he did. … Fatu was a little quiet in the tag match for my liking. … I don’t know if this shimmy-shake by Fatu is new or not, but it adds to his out-of-his-mind persona. … For a moment, it sure looked like Reigns faked getting pulled off the apron by Fatu when Rhodes tried to tag him in. I rewatched it like the Zapruder film and still can’t convince myself one way or the other. … Solo saying, “OTC, my ass,” to Reigns made me laugh. … When will we see The Rock next? … We all thought McIntyre was pulling out tacks. I am actually glad he didn’t. … Cole is always good but don’t sleep on Corey Graves. He was spectacular adding to the stories being told.
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