WWE Bad Blood 6-13-2004

WWE Bad Blood - Live from The Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio

We start out with the classic WWE pre-PPV video. It hypes the two main events tonight; Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels - Hell in a Cell and Chris Benoit vs. Kane for the World Title.

The pyro flies and we're right into our first match.

Match 1 - World Tag Team Championship - La Résistance(c) vs. Chris Benoit & Edge - Chris Benoit & Edge win by DQ due to Kane's interference, however La Résistance remain the World Tag Team Champions. Benoit had Sylvan Grenier in the Crippler Crossface but Kane's pyro went off and Benoit released the hold. Kane then layed out both Benoit and Edge with big boots and chokeslams. Benoit was then tossed out of the ring and rammed into the ring stairs. Kane backed away up the ramp laughing as Chris Benoit was left in a heap ringside. Remember, Benoit has to fight Kane with the World Title on the line later tonight.

Backstage, we see Eric Bishoff and The Coach discussing Coach's match with Eugene scheduled for later tonight. Bishoff has barred William Regal from ringside so Coach has Eugene all to himself. They both then notice Eugene has overheard everything they said. Bishoff offers Eugene the opportunity to get out of the match with Coach if he quits wrestling tonight. Eugene, of course, chooses to wrestle.

Match 2 - Chris Jericho vs. Tyson Tomko - Chris Jericho wins with his current finisher; the step up Enziguri. The end saw Trish try to distract Jericho but Tomko ran into Trish and knocked her off the apron setting up for Jericho to hit the Enziguri for the win.

Backstage, Todd Grisham is interviewing Randy Orton regarding his match later tonight with Shelton Benjamin. The crowd is all over Orton and he takes exception to this and goes out into the arena with a mic and cameraman in tow. He goes on about how great he is and how long he has been the Intercontinental champion; his normal "respect me" speech. He is interrupted by Shelton Benjamin's music and Shelton makes his way to the ring. Shelton asks if Orton ever shuts up because no one want to hear what he's saying. He notices Orton is in his wrestling gear, and so is he, so lets have the match RIGHT NOW. Leads into...

Match 3 - Intercontinental Championship - Randy Orton(c) vs. Shelton Benjamin - Randy Orton wins by rolling through a cross body off the top rope by Shelton and hooking the tights to retain the Intercontinental Championship. One of the best moments of the night was when Ric Flair, having come down to "support" Randy Orton, got pulled into the ring and put in the figure four leglock by Shelton. While he had the move on Flair, Shelton rolled up Orton and ALMOST got the win. Very nice. I have a feeling where Orton's storyline is going...a match with Eugene.

Cut to the women's locker room and Lita is getting ready for the Fatal Four Way match for the Women's Title. Matt Hardy comes by to wish her luck in the match. A knock on the door breaks up the moment as Eric Bishoff and a herd of security come in. Bishoff informs the couple that he is worried Matt will interfere in the World Title match tonight and he is here to remove him from the building. Matt at first refuses until Bishoff threatens to take Lita out of the Women's Title match if Matt doesn't comply. Matt wishes Lita luck and leaves with Bishoff and the herd.

Match 3 - Women’s Championship - Victoria(c) vs. Gail Kim vs. Lita vs. Trish Stratus - Fatal Four Way (First Pin or Submission Wins Title) - Trish Stratus wins by rolling up Lita after Lita hit Gail Kim with the snap DDT to become the NEW Women's Champion. Nice work by all four ladies in this match and congrats to Trish for becoming the first five time Women's Champion.

Match 4 - Eugene vs. Jonathan Coachman - Eugene wins with a Rock Bottom and a People's Elbow (yes, you read that correctly). After the match, Garrison Cade tried to attack Eugene and got a Stone Cold Stunner (again, yes, you read that correctly) for his trouble. As Coach stumbled to his feet, he also got a Stunner. One odd point in the match was when a woman in a bikini came down with a tray of cookies and distracted Eugene (with the cookies). A few people I watch the events with said she looked a bit like Stacy Kiebler (the younger sister she mentioned recently...).

Match 5 - World Heavyweight Championship - Chris Benoit(c) vs. Kane - Chris Benoit wins by rolling up Kane for the pin to retain the World Championship. Many times in this match, we saw Chris Benoit going for his standard compliment of moves with them having little to no effect on Kane. More than once, Benoit tried to get the sharpshooter on Kane with no luck, then when he did get it locked in, Kane was able to struggle to the ropes after a LONG time. Kane hit a chokeslam late in the match, but Benoit kicked out. The ending saw Benoit hang onto Kane's arm when he tried to power out of a Crossface attempt and roll him up. A nice match that left both men looking strong.

Match 6 - Hell In A Cell - Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels - Triple H wins via THREE Pedigrees! After hitting the third Pedigree they both collapsed and it took almost a minute for Triple H to put an arm over Michaels for the three count. Not much action with the cage in this (one of the first Hell In A Cell matches I can recall that had no action outside or on top of the cell) but there was a lot of bouncing off the walls of it. Triple H and Michaels beat the tar out of each other in this one. Some of the highlights:

- Triple H grabbing Michaels in a bear hug on the outside the alternating between smashing him into the ring post and the corner post of the cell over and over.
- Two NASTY stair shots to Michaels by Triple H, which busted Michaels open.
- Two equally as NASTY chair shots to Triple H by Michaels, which busted Triple H open (see the pattern?).
- The look on Michaels' face when he found that ladder under the ring (they used the shot on Raw Monday night...I bet we'll be seeing that shot for a while).
- Michaels dropping the elbow off the ladder onto Triple H while he was laid out on the table that Triple H had brought into the ring. The best part was when he got to the top of the ladder, he was at the roof of the cage, so he just fell and didn't jump, but still the same effect.

After the three count, Orton, Flair, and Batista come down to collect Triple H and they help him up the ramp. The ref helps Michaels up from the mat to cheers from the crowd. He waves to the crowd as we fade to black.

Review - A good PPV overall. The weakest match is probably a tie between Eugene vs. Jonathan Coachman and Chris Jericho vs. Tyson Tomko due to the fact that 1. Eugene matches are 90% story and 10% action (as they should be) and Tomko is still VERY green. If you see the replay, check him out falling before Jericho even gets close to him on the Enziguri. The match of the night had to be the Hell In A Cell. They went for an announced 47 minutes and 26 seconds. That is unreal. Kudos to them and to the whole brand for a great show.