Real Reason For Backstage Altercation! New WWE Titles! The Rock Returns, WWE Bad Blood | WrestleTalk

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0:00 - WWE Bad Blood 2024 Review
1:30 - CM Punk vs Drew McIntyre
3:56 - Bayley vs Nia Jax
4:50 - Damien Priest vs Finn Balor
5:59 - Triple H’s Super Big Announcement/Branded Content Deal
7:36 - Liv Morgan vs Rhea Ripley
8:52 - Cody Rhodes & Roman Reigns vs Solo Sikoa & Jacob Fatu
Real Reason For WWE Backstage Altercation! New WWE Titles! The Rock Returns, WWE Bad Blood | WrestleTalk
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Transcript

00:00The Rock returns to WWE?

00:03Still trying to make that belt happen?

00:05WWE has paid loads of money by Saudi Arabia, and they're trying to make this belt happen.

00:11And what is the real reason behind the backstage altercation following the PLE?

00:17Still doesn't sound right.

00:18Still want to say pay-per-view.

00:19I'm Oli Davis, and this is my review of WWE Bad Blood.

00:27In about 10 minutes, support WrestleTalk.

00:31Some quick admin before I get into the review.

00:33This channel is made possible by your support, because YouTube money is in the toilet.

00:38So please check out our Patreon at Patreon.com forward slash WrestleTalk, where you can watch

00:42loads of exclusive videos, like a bonus episode of Worst Match Ever with Luke Sullivan and

00:48Tempest watching the awful John Cena vs Miz at WrestleMania 27, where The Rock shows up

00:54at the end.

00:55That's Patreon.com forward slash WrestleTalk, where you can support us from as little as

00:59$2 a month.

01:01Speaking of shows that have The Rock show up in the main event…

01:04Better luck next time, CM Punk Segway.

01:08WWE Bad Blood opened with a video skit of Triple H giving Cody Rhodes a super secret

01:15mission.

01:16They're bringing back Bad Blood, so Cody has to do an old school stakeout with the

01:20rapper Metro in Atlanta.

01:23I'm quite confused by all of this, but it's so shiny and expensive looking, I don't

01:27really mind.

01:28What I do mind, however, is the goddamn rubber match, blood feud, and a Hell in a Cell stipulation

01:34opening the show.

01:36As reported, CM Punk vs Drew McIntyre was the first match on the card, entirely because

01:41The Rock was going to show up for about a minute at the end of the main event.

01:45I get why they did it, and it probably is the right move, but that doesn't mean I

01:49have to rationally accept that.

01:51Punk and Drew took the lemons of not getting the main event spot, though, and turned them

01:55into beef tartare.

01:57Because what they lacked in show-closing prestige, they made up for with blood.

02:02So much blood.

02:03There were fists and weapons from the start, with Punk inventively using the underside

02:07of a table as more powerful than its wooden top.

02:10I've never seen that before, and it was really smart.

02:12Like the ring apron is the hardest part of the ring, that metal frame is the hardest

02:16part of the table.

02:18But then Drew hit a Claymore on Punk on the outside, and threw him into the cage wall,

02:22busting open Punk's head.

02:24Punk retaliated by whacking Drew in the skull with a toolbox.

02:28Which covered McIntyre's face with blood so quickly, it absolutely 100% must've been

02:32a blood capsule.

02:33Which is a great idea, I've been saying WWE should use fake bloods for years.

02:38Oh.

02:39It's real blood.

02:41The match entered finisher mode with GTS and Claymore kickouts.

02:44The ref had to use a towel on Drew because there was so much blood gushing from his head.

02:48McIntyre suplexed Punk off the apron through a table outside in a spot so terrifically

02:53foreshadowed, I started to believe that Drew might win.

02:56Especially when he hit Sheamus' white noise on the steel steps and a low blow.

03:00But Drew's biggest enemy isn't actually CM Punk, it's himself.

03:05It's how he gets in his own way.

03:07And when he could've just hit another Claymore to win, he decided to keep humiliating Punk

03:12instead.

03:13In a poetic visual, Drew tipped a bag full of Friendship Bracelet beads all over him

03:19in the best use of that MacGuffin so far.

03:21But it didn't just give Punk a little bit of time to recover, it fired him up too.

03:26Punk stuffed Drew's mouth with beads, wrapped a chain around his knee and hit a GTS to win.

03:32Punk could barely stand afterwards, falling over on the entrance ramp as EMTs tried to

03:36put an oxygen mask on his face, but he valiantly walked out by himself.

03:40An excellent match, far and away match of the night and of their trilogy, and a fittingly

03:45bloody close to their feud.

03:48While I feel bad blood having three hosts and Jade Cargill, Bianca Belair and Naomi

03:51was excessive, I am grateful.

03:53They wore red, so the cage didn't have to be.

03:56Bayley and Nia Jax had the tough job of following the Hell in a Cell match next, which was made

04:00even tougher by Jax sometimes forgetting how to wrestle.

04:04Nia is arguably on her best run ever inside the ring, but this match unfortunately felt

04:08more like the Jax of old.

04:10The move looked so bad, Nia reversing the Bayley powerbomb into a Hurricanrana, that

04:14I think it was a worse version of the move than John Cena's.

04:18Bayley kept the intensity up as much as she could, telling the basic story of her speed

04:22having to overcome Nia's power, but she was undone by interference finish.

04:27Nia accidentally front splashed the referee, letting Tiffany Stratton run down to take

04:31out Bayley with the briefcase in her first of four interference spots.

04:39When Nia came to, with a Kane sit-up spot no less, it looked like Tiffy was trying to

04:43cash in her contract.

04:44Bayley got a good nearfall off that distraction, but Jax won shortly after, building tension

04:49with Stratton.

04:50Jax vs Bayley told the story of the smaller underdog babyface fighting against the monster

04:55heel's strength.

04:56Damian Priest vs Finn Balor was a similar story of big vs small, but with the heel-face

05:00dynamic awkwardly the other way around.

05:04The guy with the power advantage Damian was the face, and Balor, who had to overcome that,

05:09was the heel.

05:10The layout didn't do Finn's credibility any favours.

05:13After Judgment Day have looked pretty weak against the Terror Twins since the SummerSlam

05:16turn, Balor never looked like a real threat against Priest here.

05:20Every time I thought Finn was going to cut Priest off and get that heel heat, Priest

05:25just hit his move anyway.

05:27Spots designed to have Priest's move reversed, or him run through a barricade, was actually

05:31just him pouncing Finn over the commentary table, or him powerbombing him onto the apron.

05:36Even when we got the inevitable Judgment Day rundown for the second of four consecutive

05:41interference spots, with Carlito and JD McDonough, Priest overcame that super easily, barely

05:46an inconvenience too.

05:48Finn hit two coups de grace to the back, but Damian caught the third into a South of Heaven

05:52for the win.

05:53At least we can hopefully move on from this now.

05:55So expect Team Judgment Day vs Team Terror quintuplets at WarGames.

05:59Intriguingly, at the start of the show, it was announced Triple H would have a historic

06:04announcement.

06:05Could it be a major signing?

06:07SmackDown going three hours?

06:08John Cena teasing yet another WrestleMania in-

06:11Enter your hometown here.

06:13Whatever it is, I thought, pretty smart PR move.

06:16WWE should announce something big to keep pushing the Mr McMahon Netflix series down

06:20the news cycle to make sure they can look as good as they possibly can.

06:25Oh, it's sports washing for Saudi Arabia.

06:28Triple H announced that at Crown Jewel, a new annual tradition will begin, where the

06:32two men's world champions will face each other, and the two women's world champions

06:35will face each other, where there will be a definitive winner.

06:39Expect many interference spots.

06:41But their own championships won't be on the line.

06:43Instead, they'll be fighting for the Unicron of Belts, the Crown Jewel title.

06:49So Saudi Arabia can kind of say they've got the biggest belt in all of wrestling.

06:55Sports washing.

06:56But the truth is, it works.

06:59Gunther interrupted, as he will very likely be the men's Crown Jewel match, to roast

07:03Goldberg at ringside, saying he didn't actually like him more than Bret Hart, and that he

07:06hopes he's a better father than he is a wrestler.

07:09Sami Zayn brawled with Gunther, building their Raw match, and Goldberg got his hand raised

07:13by Triple H. Which is quite the turnaround from an interview Bill gave back in March,

07:17where he accused Leveque of booking Asuka to beat his undefeated streak because they

07:20don't like each other, and that Paul has given everyone the spear move.

07:24So Goldberg said, you're next to Gunther, which I suppose means a match.

07:36WWE's reluctance to beat the Terra Twins in any way continued next, when Rhea Ripley

07:41won via TQ against Women's World Champion Liv Morgan.

07:45Morgan took the majority of the opening, working over Rhea's knee, but Ripley rolled out

07:49of the oblivion to make her comeback.

07:51At least Liv looked way more of a threat than Finn did.

07:53Dominik Mysterio was hanging above the entrance ramp in a shark cage rather than the ring,

07:57presumably because of the Hell in a Cell rigging, and just… managed to open the door. Which

08:03was never explained how he was able to do that. Afterwards, he fell out, hanging upside

08:07down by his ankle. Ripley couldn't resist a pinata, and started whacking him with a

08:11kendo stick.

08:12This was when Raquel Gonzalez, not Rodriguez, made her return for our third of four consecutive

08:18interference spots to beat up Ripley, and the referee called for a DQ. Meaning, I guess

08:24Raquel is in judgement day now. Enjoy losing, Raquel.

08:28I feel like Ripley could've been pinned by Liv here, with the double reasoning of

08:31her getting distracted by Dom and the Gonzalez interference. Liv could've distracted the

08:37referee rather than WWE booking an unsatisfying DQ finish. Feels like Ripley is often super

08:43protected at the expense of all others.

08:45The midcard never really mattered here, though, because now it's time for the main event.

08:52Not a Hell in a Cell. Boy, I wonder who the biggest stars are here.

08:55The two lads who got one entrance together, or the two lads who got separate entrances

09:00with two separate 20 person plus bands. And pyro. It's Roman Reigns and Cody Roach.

09:05They're the biggest stars, most definitely.

09:07This main event felt like a throwback to a simpler time in a really effective way. This

09:11was two mega over babyfaces wrestling a basic tag match with incredible drama. It was Roman's

09:17first match back. He had tension with his tag partner Cody. He has more tension with

09:21Solo, Sakoa and Jacob Fatu on the other side of the ring. Solo and Fatu are on the exact

09:26same page. Cody and Roman are, at best, frenemies. I would've held off on Roman tagging in

09:32for longer, but it was still really effective, having Cody get worked over to build to Reigns'

09:36second hot tag. Roach realised he'd have to sacrifice himself

09:40to take out Fatu, hitting a splash off the top rope through the announcer's table.

09:44He saluted Roman before he did. But the mandatory Tongans distraction for

09:47the fourth of four consecutive interference spots led to a Solo nearfall and… wait a

09:54second… one, two, three… three Tongans. But it wasn't Hikalaya who revealed himself

10:03under the hood. It was a returning Jimmy Uso to the biggest pop of the night. He took

10:10out both Tongans, Roman hit a spear on Solo to win, and the estranged cousins embraced.

10:16Not content with jobbing out new blood once, though, Jimmy acted as Roman's moral compass

10:20here. Reigns felt like he wanted to leave Cody to the Wolves once the match was over,

10:24but Jimmy convinced him to save Rhodes, beating up Solo and chums again. Roman tensely handed

10:29the championship belt back to Cody in a foreshadowing moment for when they meet again.

10:34When the other person in their Thrapple feud showed up too. Because just like I proved

10:39on Friday before anyone else had said it, before any reports, I just connected the dots.

10:45Rock the Dwayne Johnson showed up to a slightly less loud pop than Jimmy's, still wearing

10:49that People's Championship I think only he cares about.

10:52To stare disprovingly at everyone in the ring, count one, two, three, and then make a slit

10:59in his throat gesture. Was he counting Tongans? Or was it a WrestleMania triple threat tease?

11:05The Rock is back in WWE. But very innovatively, that wasn't the final

11:11major plot point of the night. Because fan footage has come out after the

11:15show of Kevin Owens turning heel on Cody Rhodes, or face depending on who you sympathise more

11:21with, in a backstage altercation attacking him by a production truck just like The Rock

11:26did back in March. Cody posing with Roman and Jimmy must've

11:29been the final straw for KO. So why did this happen off-air rather than

11:34on TV? Apart from the obvious answer of, it's well cool this way.

11:38According to Wrestling Observer Radio, the real reason is WWE becoming concerned about

11:43how modern audiences react to heel turns. A lot of the time, they just cheer, reacting

11:48to it like it's an impressive high spot rather than a sad, tragic character moment.

11:53This can often undermine and damage the babyface in that situation.

11:57To get around a live crowd reacting this way, WWE booked KO's turn on Cody off-air to

12:03protect Rhodes as a babyface and cement Owens more as a heel.

12:07It's also far more realistic having this attack leak out via fan footage rather than

12:12WWE's official accounts. Overall, Bad Blood was a two match card. I give it 77%.

12:19Please go support us on Patreon at Patreon.com forward slash WrestleTalk for loads of bonus

12:23videos. And also go watch our latest WrestleTalk original episode, looking at the true crime

12:29case of when a wrestler was sent to prison for a wrestling move. Here's a clip.

12:34What happens when a professional wrestling match breaks down into a real act of violence?

12:40When a wrestler, in the heat of the moment or as a planned act of revenge, gives their

12:45opponent one of the industry's oldest, darkest secrets known as the receipt.

12:51The unfortunate truth is nothing. It's an established practice in the industry. That

12:57is until a landmark case in 2021 that changed British law and potentially the future of

13:04wrestling around the world. I'm Oli Davis, and this is the story of when

13:09a wrestler was sent to prison for a wrestling move.

Real Reason For Backstage Altercation! New WWE Titles! The Rock Returns, WWE Bad Blood | WrestleTalk

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