Pantoja’s WWE Bad Blood 2024 Review

WWE Bad Blood 2024

October 5^th, 2024 | State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia

It’s my final review before I go on vacation!

Hell in a Cell: CM Punk vs. Drew McIntyre

Michael Cole said, “The trilogy is about to begin.” No, that was at SummerSlam. Anyway, this got off to a relatively intense start fitting of the rivalry. About on par with what they’ve done in previous matches but still. I thought their use of the table was rather creative instead of the same old generic spots we’re used to. A Claymore outside was followed by Punk being sent into the cell and getting busted open. Drew methodically picked him apart until Punk rallied and used a toolbox on Drew to make him bleed. What is this, a Jon Moxley match? Drew was gushing, almost like Eddie Guerrero at Judgment Day 2004. Drew went for a Claymore but Punk rolled outside to avoid it and when Punk hit the GTS, Drew rolled outside to avoid a pin. Punk applied the Sharpshooter that Drew tapped out at the last PPV but he broke it with a wrench. Drew responded with a sweet deadlift suplex off the apron and through a table. Drew survived a GTS and Punk survived an Air Raid Crash on the steel steps. When it looked like Drew had a bag of thumbtacks, it turned out to be beads, referencing the whole bracelet gimmick. Drew missed a Claymore and took a sick bump on the steel steps. Punk shoved the beads down his throat and won with the GTS after 31:23. The match they needed to have. This was the war we’ve wanted from them and was a fantastic throwback to when Hell in a Cell matches actually felt violent. [****¾]

WWE Women’s Championship: Nia Jax [c] vs. Bayley

Their match at SummerSlam was dreadful and nearly made me regret the ticket I bought to the show. Nia dominated early on, forcing Bayley to have to fight from beneath. That’s the obvious story to tell but the problem is that Nia really isn’t very good so it all comes off poorly. There was a spot where Bayley hit a tope suicida and Nia kind of just fell awkwardly on it. It did make it look like Bayley hit a brick wall but I don’t think that’s what they were going for. There was also a spot where Nia tried to counter a powerbomb into a rana but she just fell to the ground. Commentary fought for their lives to try and cover Nia’s botches. A ref bump led to Bayley getting the visual win, as expected. Tiffany Stratton arrived to a huge pop. She laid out Bayley and went to cash in but Nia saw her and she stopped. It all led to a Tiffany distraction that allowed Nia to hit her finish and retain in 14:12. Yeah, just like SummerSlam, that sucked. [DUD]

Damian Priest vs. Finn Bálor

These two had a great match during the COVID-19 days of NXT (****). Thankfully, there was a sense of hatred here as too many matches these days don’t have that level of intensity that they need. They were trading shots early and one of the ones from Priest looked like it could’ve knocked Finn out. Priest took control and was on the verge of winning until Judgment Day cronies showed up. Finn hit the Coup de Grace but it’s 2024 so of course one finisher wasn’t going to end this. Priest cleaned house only for Finn to counter his chokeslam into a rollup for two. He then added a double stomp to the back of the head that would’ve been a cool finish. His next one hit the back and Priest wouldn’t go down so Finn went up again, only to get caught by the throat and hit by South of Heaven for the finish in 12:50. That was a good match though it didn’t exactly stand out all that much. [***¼]

Triple H made an announcement for Crown Jewel that the reigning WWE and World Champions will go one-on-one that night with neither title on the line except for a new special Crown Jewel Title. So Cody vs. Gunther and Rhea/Liv vs. Nia most likely. Those are choices. Gunther then spoke to Goldberg in the crowd and dissed him as a father. Why are we not done with Goldberg as a society? Instead of them battling, Sami Zayn showed up to brawl with Gunther instead, with security breaking things up.

Women’s World Championship: Liv Morgan [c] vs. Rhea Ripley

I loved their SummerSlam match so much (****¼). Dom and Liv had a special entrance with a lowrider. That man really is Eddie’s kid. Dom sold the fear of being in the shark cage so well. That man gets so many of the little things about wrestling. Rhea was on fire to start only for Liv to target the knee and turn the tide. She stomped on the knee viciously and held serve for a while. Rhea had to rally for some hope spots and close calls but was getting her ass kicked. Liv talked trash and slapped Rhea before doing the Eddie Guerrero shimmy and trying Three Amigos. As Rhea turned things around a bit, Dom picked the lock and opened the cage but was still high off the ground. Rhea went up top and did a Frog Splash but made sure to YEET before leaping. Dom ended up falling and because he was shackled by his feet, he got stuck hanging upside down from the cage. Rhea took some time to beat him around like a pinata with a kendo stick. Suddenly, the returning Raquel Rodriguez showed up to level Rhea, resulting in a disqualification after 14:32. That was decent up until that finish, though a far cry from the first encounter. [**½]

Raquel hilariously placed Liv on Rhea to cover by the bell had already rung so the crowd laughed. Raquel then carried Liv out in celebration.

Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns vs. Jacob Fatu and Solo Sikoa

Solo looked very annoyed at the over-the-top marching band entrance for Cody. Unfortunately, the song didn’t really sound the way it should’ve and it kind of missed the mark. Roman also got a special entrance. This was like a lot of Bloodline tag stuff in that it was methodically paced. They did a lot of staring down and standing around before Roman ended up taking a surprising heat segment as Solo and Jacob teamed up to work him over. Of course, it was just to set up a longer heat segment for Cody, building to the hot tag for Roman. From there, the stuff we got was solid enough but it’s the same formula that we’ve had beaten to death over the years. We got announce table spots and stuff with a steel chair as expected. Then Tama and Tonga showed up for the expected run-in, which was thwarted by the arrival of the returning Jimmy Uso. That got a great pop. He helped take out the brothers and then Reigns beat Solo with the Spear after 25:49. We’ve seen this formula over and over and it takes way too long to get to the point. When it was the Usos or Sami and KO, it worked but Solo isn’t clicking and even Jacob in this environment wasn’t great. It still was fine, it just dragged. [**¾]

Post-match, Roman and Jimmy embraced. Roman then looked at Cody and signaled that he was coming for the title. As he and Jimmy left, the Bloodline jumped Cody so they returned to clean house. We got another Roman/Cody staredown until The Rock’s music hit! The Final Boss stepped out onto the stage, counted 1,2,3, and that’s how it ended.

6.0

The final score: review Average

The 411

That was kind of a one match show. Finn/Priest was good, there were two decent matches, and then a trash Bayley/Nia match. Thankfully, the Hell in a Cell match more than delivered