WWE Bad Blood review: The Bloodline drama continues

The Rock is back. Jimmy Uso is back. But the Bloodline drama? It never ends.

Saturday’s Bad Blood in Atlanta, Georgia continued the Bloodline storyline that has developed following the events of WrestleMania 40. After being taken out by Solo Sikoa shortly following that show, Jimmy Uso made his return on Saturday, helping Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes by taking out Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa. After the match, he reunited with Reigns, then ultimately convinced him to help Rhodes once he was jumped by Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa.

Then, just when you thought the show was over, guess who made his appearance? The Final Boss himself, The Rock. Holding his People’s Championship given to him by Muhammad Ali’s widow, he stared down Uso, Rhodes, and Reigns in the ring as the show closed, casting uncertainty about what may happen next.

You’ll notice that I didn’t say much about the match. Well, that isn’t particularly important. It was fine, there were some cool moves, and of course, there was the usual DRAMA seen in Roman Reigns matches. But the match won’t be remembered. The Rock and Jimmy Uso making their returns was what mattered the most. And it worked!

So now the question is, what’s next? For Cody Rhodes, it seems like Kevin Owens who jumped him in the parking lot in a social media angle. As for the rest of The Bloodline, The Rock has made it clear he’s been seeing what has been going on, but when he’ll be seen again is anyone’s guess. Survivor Series is drawing nearer, meaning there will be a War Games match…will old vs. new square off?

In the opener, CM Punk defeated Drew McIntyre in one of the best Hell in a Cell matches I’ve seen in a long time and was easily the best match on the show by a country mile. Yes, it had the usual WWE weapons plunder I find so annoying in these cage matches, but they did it in such a compelling, captivating way that I can’t complain about it. Both men bled buckets during the match and by the end, the ring was covered with red stains. Good! A Hell in a Cell match shouldn’t be a yearly PLE, it should be a rarely-used match used only when meant to end a feud, and this felt like it. Then again, so did their Bash in Berlin match. But this was much better.

Nia Jax retained the WWE Women’s title in a bad match against Bayley. Before I say anything, look. Jax has been in some matches this year that were not bad. I thought the Elimination Chamber match with her and Ripley was fine. But this title run has not been impressive, and this was a banner match that exemplifies her case for Most Overrated in the upcoming Wrestling Observer Awards. There was one spot where Jax attempted something new by doing a hurricanrana. The problem was, there was no effort to do the spot correctly. She just kind of fell, then Bayley had to sell it like it connected. Then Jax won after Stratton teased cashing in, then didn’t and got Jax mad, then helped Jax win anyway. This is all building to a Stratton face turn on Jax down the line. Here’s the thing: I don’t care. I don’t want to see Nia Jax win. I don’t want to see Nia Jax lose. I just don’t want to see Nia Jax.

Liv Morgan retained the Women’s World title over Rhea Ripley in a match that was better than the previous match, but had maybe a lamer finish. You see, Ripley had the match won. Then she saw Dominik Mysterio dangling off the shark cage. Instead of pinning Morgan and winning the title, which any normal human being would do, Ripley instead told the referee she had “unfinished business” with Mysterio, took out a kendo stick, and began beating Mysterio like he was a pinata. Then Raquel Rodriguez made her return and laid out Ripley for the DQ. The work was fine, but nothing special. These two aren’t done yet, clearly, and will probably have one more stipulation match before the year ends, hopefully with a better finish.

Finn Balor and Damian Priest had a decent match, but it wasn’t much better than a Raw match which, when you think about how long they’ve been building this feud, is somewhat of a disappointment. This also felt like a House of Torture match at times with tons of interference with the other Judgment Day members. Balor and Priest probably also aren’t done with one another so we’ll probably see more from them too.

And that will do it for Bad Blood! Good open, good ending, not much to say about the middle. Next up is Crown Jewel on November 2, where the WWE and World Champions, both male and female, will take on one another for the Crown Jewel Championship. Well, it’s a gimmick, I guess!