Why did WWE bring back the Bad Blood PPV? I understand getting rid of Hell in a Cell as an annual event, I'd been calling for that for years, but why did they bring back a title from two of their least successful periods? This event will mark the 27th anniversary of the first-ever Hell in a Cell, but I don't think that's a good enough reason. Come up with something new.
So it's another five-match PPV and troublingly WWE's third in a row without any black male wrestlers on the card. Yeah, nothing odd there... Christ, even Bianca Belair, once pushed as a major star under Vince, is relegated to a co-host. Why do PPV events need hosts? It's not SNL and it's not an awards show. The announcers are the de facto hosts and always have been. Anyway, Triple H ain't beating the allegations of racism with a lineup like this. Sorry.
The lineup looks typical of WWE B-shows and should provide a few decent matches but will once again be a forgettable, paint-by-numbers affair. Let's take a look....
WWE Women's Championship: Nia Jax vs. Bayley
Jesus, this again? Their match at SummerSlam was a snoozer and I still don't understand why Nia got pushed again. WWE's women's division it far from the hotspot it once was.
Pick: Nia retains
Women's World Championship: Liv Morgan vs. Rhea Ripley
The stip for this one is that Dominik Mysterio will be in a shark cage above the ring. Which of course means he'll either find a way to escape or someone else will interfere to help Liv retain. Match should be fine, these two are both good workers and the feud gets a good amount of heat.
Pick: Liv retains
Damian Priest vs. Finn Balor
Once again Mr. Balor is punching above his weight class so to speak, placed in a feud he very obviously has no chance of winning because he's been booked as such a non-threat for so long. How different would his fortunes have been had he not dislocated a shoulder in 2016? Again the match should be solid but I'd be surprised if the crowd were super hot for it.
Pick: Priest
Hell in a Cell: CM Punk vs. Drew McIntyre
WWE should really just stop trying to do brutal blood-feud matches unless they're prepared to go TV-14 with it. This match coming only three weeks after the visceral bloodbath that was Hangman vs. Swerve is just gonna look tame and lame by comparison. I'm not saying they have to take the risks those guys did, but for a feud that initially promised "uncomfortable violence," they haven't come anywhere close to that. Maybe this match will get there, but based on how sterile every HIAC match has been over the last decade or so, I kinda doubt it. Punk will finally get his tiebreaker win and move on to Seth Rollins I guess?
Pick: Punk
Cody Rhodes & Roman Reigns vs. Solo Sikoa & Jacob Fatu
This will go artificially long and be yet another good 20-minute match buried inside a 35-minute one. I could not give less of a shit about Roman and his annoying family squabbles. Didn't care about it 18 months ago when it was white-hot, certainly don't care now that The Bloodline has been so watered down it includes non-relatives. I'm sure the WWE faithful will eat this crap up with a spoon and ask for thirds and fourths, but this stuff to me is NWO 1998 boring. The Godfather Saga this shit ain't. Anyway, it's Roman's first match since WrestleMania so he isn't losing here. This will undoubtedly lead to yet another Bloodline-related WarGames match in November. God I hate WWE's WarGames....
Pick: Cody & Roman
There ya go. Same B-PPV shit, different month.
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