411 Wrestling Fact or Fiction: Was CM Punk vs. Drew McIntyre at WWE Bad Blood the Match of the Year?

Welcome back to the 411mania Wrestling Fact or Fiction. I’m your host Jake Chambers.

Fact or Fiction is an open battlefield! I put out the call for anyone who wanted to step up, and some commenters actually responded! This week, the first of those brave wrestling fans is joining me on the words-soaked mat – the one they call Chilly.

So drop that Hell in a Cell cage on top of us, and let’s get it on!

Statement #1: The CM Punk vs. Drew McIntyre Hell in a Cell match at Bad Blood was the best WWE match of 2024 so far.

Chilly: FACT – I value a lot the drama and sports entertainment side of wrestling when it comes to matches, just as much as I’d do with promos and segments of similar nature, maybe even more so than some of the more casual fans out there, and until Bad Blood my favourite WWE match of the year was Roman vs Cody 2, for this exact same reason.

Bar the placement on the card, everything about Drew vs Punk 3 felt like a big deal. The amount of blood and violence, which hasn’t been seen in WWE since the Ruthless Aggression Era, the fact that it revitalized the reputation of Hell in a Cell as a brutal and career-changing match type, the story leading to the match itself, which I’d argue is the best one out of any promotion on the planet in 2024. Plus, if you wanna be cheeky, there’s also the aspect of Punk proving to his detractors that he can hang in high intensity matches like these without the risk of falling apart.

The bell-to-bell action, what leads to it and what comes after aren’t aspects that should be analyzed in a bubble. I loved this match in a way that I haven’t loved a match in a long time, not just because the action was incredible, but because it lived up to the sky-high expectations it created.

Jake Chambers: FACT – So much of what bores me about wrestling these days is that the matches are so performative. I want it to feel real. I want to forget I’m watching theatrics and believe I’m seeing a fight. Everything should be about the struggle to win. The story had been built up that winning this match meant really trying to end the opponent’s career. And that’s what it felt like from the start to finish. Actually, this is what every match used to be like in the WWE/F, especially stuff from the ’80s or earlier. There was so much more of a struggle and strategy on display where simple moves that were meant to hurt or end a match looked big and dangerous. I guess we’ve progressed to the “cinema” era of pro-wrestling, but damn doesn’t it feel good to see a match that gives you the illusion of a real struggle again?

Statement #2: You are excited for ANOTHER Kevin Owens heel turn.

Chilly: FACT – Fuck it. Yes, I am. We all saw it coming a mile away, true, and I wouldn’t even say that is a bad thing by itself, but there’s many aspects that make this heel turn different from his others, even taking away the way it was executed (which I found to be very cool, by the way). This isn’t the same relapsing bully that got tired of playing nice with his short term allies, for a time it genuinely felt as if, despite keeping his personality intact, he turned over a new leaf and tried to the best of his ability to take down the Bloodline because it was the right thing to do. Kinda like it happened with Drew way back when, Kevin’s heel turn can easily be justified in a way that makes him come off as sympathetic while not taking away his edge, and I’m excited to see how it develops. This will inevitably lead to another successful title defence from Cody somewhere down the line, but hey, Drew lost A LOT too in the last couple of years, and he turned out just fine in the end, so I’m willing to be patient.

Jake Chambers: FICTION – I think this officially makes Kevin Owens worse on the heel-face flip-flopping than the Big Show, right? It’s gotta be official. Someone fact check that. It’s so silly that it drove me to write a full column about it… in 2017 (LOL). I don’t know what it is about Kevin Owens, the heel or the face, that never seems to be able to elevate from that B+/A- level. And this is for a guy who has main event-ed Wrestlemania (Night 1, that is) on two different occasions. But not matter how heel or face he gets, you’ve never going to buy him as a Night 2 main event-er, admit it. In his ROH days, I was certain he had a Bryan Danielson / CM Punk mix with a sprinkle of Cactus Jack that was going to make him the biggest star in the WWE one day. Being in that top tier, the one percent of the one perfect, is clearly an incredible accomplishment, but then why do these also-ran face/heel turns always make me so sad?

Statement #3: WWE has successfully “sportswashed” Saudi Arabia for the WWE fanbase.

Chilly: FICTION – Overall, I think not, and it’s definitely not for lack of trying on WWE’s part. Saudi events have improved a lot in quality over the years, going from filler PPVs full of bizarre matchups, likely at personal request of the same people commissioning the events in question, to become fully integrated in WWE’s yearly PPV schedule, in spite of some occasional quirks, that much needs to be recognized.

Has this fact alone been enough for certain people to simply turn a blind eye to the political implications behind this partnership? Likely yes.

Have certain people simply stopped caring over the course of the years? Pretty much.

Is there a noteworthy percentage of people who has actually never cared in the first place, whether they’d publicly admit to it or not? You bet.

But even so, I don’t think the Saudi PPVs have yet accomplished what they set out to do, which is to improve the reputation of the country they take place in. Fans will put up with it as long as the card is good, wrestlers will put up with it as long as the checks are good, and WWE will try to keep this passive dynamic alive until either the Saudis get bored with it or the money starts drying up, and when the split up inevitably happens the general fan reaction will likely sound something like “well, good riddance, I guess”.

Jake Chambers: FACT – Chilly makes some good points, but I think the general lethargy about the relationship is exactly what Saudi Arabia paid for. This went from a headline-making controversial deal that some wrestling fans said they would boycott (didn’t happen). Even some wrestlers refused to go at first because of the heat (kind of slightly happened). None of this is even a topic of interest anymore: everybody watches, all the wrestlers go, and no one complains. It was almost funny to hear the crowd “boo” Crown Jewel at Bad Blood the other day because it was just like a wrestling audience boo-ing a heel. And as much as you might “hate” the heel, you accept that they are necessary for the show.

¡SWITCH!

Statement #4: You definitely want to try Wendy’s Saucy Nuggs after it was featured in advertising all around the arena during the Bad Blood main event.

Jake Chambers: FICTION – Look, we’ve got to keep on WWE for this new nonsense of fully-sponsored matches. “Saucy Nuggs”, c’mon. We’ve got it on the announce table, it’s lining the barricade around the ring, on the ring apron, and circling the arena stands. We should at least be laughing at how stupid it is when – on top of all that – a Wendy’s box shows up in the top corner of the screen during the main event of a PLE with the two biggest stars in the company in the ring. This is not blue chip advertising we’re talking, although I suppose it is a tick more classy than co-sponsor Morgan and Morgan, the personal injury lawyer mega-chain. Do we just not care? WWE brags about making more money than they ever had, with billion dollar TV rights deals and recording breaking gates, and yet it’s in this era of super wealth that they need to fill our screen with the grossest product placement we’ve ever seen for a company that almost had no shame before.

Chilly: FICTION – Man, sometimes I get a bit angry thinking that Bray Wyatt’s last match was a seizure-inducing mess that was made virtually impossible to be taken seriously due to the Mountain Dew sponsorship being so invasive, despite the action in it being solid. I don’t hate advertising in my wrestling, hell, I think it can be integrated in a way that makes the presentation feel more sports-like, NJPW does this perfectly, for example.

I get it, WWE makes a fortune out of Wendy’s plastering their logo all over the place, but it’s just SO ugly. And it’s not a matter of having to pick between that and traditional ad breaks either, WWE PPVs have fucking both now, and their TV product has been made nearly unwatchable because of all the advertising in the middle of the matches. It’s genuinely infuriating, and I don’t see things toning down any time soon.

Statement #5: The bodyslam is an outdated wrestling move.

Jake Chambers: FACT – I’m not sure when or why the bodyslam grew out of fashion in wrestling matches, but it seems to be considered lame at this point. When I was a kid, not only was the bodyslam a pretty important move used in most wrestling matches, the word itself was mainstream. Every normie knew that a “bodyslam” was part of pro-wrestling. So why is it gone now? Is it an unsafe move that they don’t want to teach in wrestling schools? Someone fill me in on why the bodyslam is so uncool. I think it looks damn impressive, especially if you slam the opponent really hard with some style. Bring back the bodyslam!

Chilly: FICTION – Is it really? It’s been somewhat phased out, I haven’t been seeing it as often as I used to even just a decade ago, but I never considered it to be an outdated move any more or less than staples of this beautiful fake sport like chops, suplexes or chinlocks, nor have I seen people define it as such.

I think in the right moment and the right place a good old fashioned bodyslam could still get a pop from the crowd, and I’m sure there’s been at least a couple instances of something like that happening among both major companies, that are currently escaping my memory.

Statement #6: Ricochet will be a regular main event-er in AEW over the next few years.

Jake Chambers: FICTION – I think it’s been pretty clear than mid-carders from the WWE generally remain mid-carders once they go over to AEW. It doesn’t help that they are presented identically to how they were in WWE, just as they’ve done with Ricochet so far. He has the same character and wrestles the same style still and I just don’t see why that would elevate him to another level in AEW. Maybe AEW should look back at how WWE used to re-create the mid-carders who jumped over from WCW back in the day. That one ’90s run gave us Goldust, Mankind, Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Faarooq, and Stone Cold. Some new gimmicks might be what these guys need.

Chilly: FICTION – Outside of the low stakes world of indie wrestling promotions (and I mean that respectfully, I love the indies), Ricochet’s ceiling has always been that of a low midcard talent.

In WWE, his entire career was severely stunted by the fact that he has the personality of a wet rag and is noticeably smaller compared to most of the roster. Could he have been used better than he was, under a more motivated creative team? Without a single doubt. Could his athletic skills have been used to make him stand out from the rest of the roster? Most definitely. But even so, could you realistically imagine Ricochet holding a midcard belt in 2024’s WWE without dragging down its value? I don’t, and frankly I feel the same way about him in AEW as well, except worse, since he doesn’t even have the upside of standing out anymore. He’ll be a Collision regular by next year, never moving past that until the end of his contract unless his promo game seriously improves, and rightfully so.

Big thanks to Chilly for taking part this week! Look from him in a comment section near you!

As well, I want you to go and check out his awesome Steam game: TRAUMA Pro Wrestling

It’s awesome to see creative work come to life – especially if it’s from someone who is generally just a name that pops up in the comments section regularly. We can take for granted that there are some talented people hidden in there, and if you love this site, and you love wrestling, then we should support each other! Head over there and check it out!

And next time on FoF the Larry Csonka Memorial Wrestling Fact or Fiction Tournament will continue!

In the previous first round match, Jeremy Thomas took on Theo Sambus in a knock-down, drag-out… and the voting is still very close! So if you missed the poll, click the link, go back, read again, and vote for the winner in the end!

We’ll see you next time for the second match up in Round 1!