WWE Bad Blood takes place tonight (Sat., Oct. 5) from State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.
The event begins at 5 pm ET with the free Countdown show, which runs for one hour on YouTube, WWE.com, and various other social media outlets. That leads right on into the PPV at 6 pm ET, which you can stream from a number of devices if you have a subscription to Peacock in the United States and WWE Network everywhere else.
Roman Reigns’ return match isn’t special unless ‘the big guy’ finally returns to WWE
The main event of Bad Blood is a tag team match pitting Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns against Solo Sikoa and Jacob Fatu of The Bloodline.
On paper, this match should be a pretty big deal. Rhodes and Reigns are the two biggest stars in WWE. This is Roman’s first match since he lost the WWE championship to Cody six months ago. Jacob Fatu is the most protected heel on the SmackDown roster. Add it all up, and there’s a lot to like about this bout. The problem is that this match is promoted as the main event of Bad Blood, when it pales in comparison to CM Punk’s Hell in a Cell match with Drew McIntyre.
Solo Sikoa’s stock took a big hit when he was beaten clean by Cody a couple weeks ago, and this tag team match has zero stakes. “Roman Reigns’ return match” would normally be a solid main event hook for a WWE PLE, but not when there is a highly anticipated Hell in a Cell match elsewhere on the card while Roman is set to do battle in a zero stakes tag team match where the big angle leading up to it was a face-to-face meeting on a football field.
WWE had plenty of TV time over the last couple of weeks to add some extra pizzazz to Roman’s return match, but it didn’t happen. Instead, Cody went on The Pat McAfee Show and teased there will be major title implications for Crown Jewel coming out of this event. McAfee said he heard “the big guy” will be coming back to WWE this week, and The Rock happens to be in Georgia.
This had led to a ton of speculation that the Final Boss will make a surprise appearance at Bad Blood. If this is true, then it’s the exact missing ingredient that Roman’s return match needs to put it over the top as a must-watch attraction and the fitting main event of Bad Blood. But if The Rock isn’t in the building? Well, the Roman & Cody tag team match is cool and all, but it’s nothing compared to Hell in a Cell.
Will The Rock return to WWE tonight for a memorable angle that has major title implications at Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia? You’ll have to tune into Bad Blood to see what exactly happens when Roman Reigns returns to the ring as a babyface and joins forces with Cody Rhodes to fight The Bloodline.
The rest of the card
Here are the four remaining matches that are also advertised for Bad Blood:
CM Punk vs. Drew McIntyre in a Hell in a Cell match
Punk and McIntyre have feuded all year long, but they have finally reached the end of the rope. There are no more witty one-liners. There are no more silly bracelets. The hatred these two men have for each other has brought them to the point where they need to kill each other in a bloody and violent spectacle that the human body wasn’t meant to endure. That means their feud can only end one way, and that’s inside Hell in a Cell. What else really needs to be said?
Liv Morgan (c) vs. Rhea Ripley for the Women’s world championship, with Daddy Dom locked in a Shark Cage
Ripley is hell-bent on destroying Morgan and that piece of shit Dominik Mysterio ever since she was betrayed at SummerSlam. Ripley failed to beat Morgan for the women’s championship on that night as a result of Dom’s decision to ditch her for Liv.
Rhea is back for another title shot at Bad Blood, but she’s run into major problems dealing with that damn numbers game of The Judgment Day. As a result, Rhea’s knee is compromised coming into this title fight. However, General Manager Adam Pearce agreed to lock Dominik inside a Shark Cage to prevent him from helping Liv this time, so Ripley has that going in her favor.
Can Dirty Dom get over his fear of being locked behind bars in time to slip some kind of weapon through the cage to Liv and help her win?
Damian Priest vs. Finn Balor
Balor blames Priest for the fact that he never won the world title last year. Finn patiently waited for the right time to get his revenge, and that’s when he betrayed Damian at SummerSlam and screwed him out of the world title. Now Balor wants to prove that Damian Priest always needed The Judgment Day, and The Judgment Day never needed him. Of course, Finn has needed that damn numbers game of The Judgment Day to keep Priest down on the mat in recent weeks.
Priest is likely the better man in a fair fight against Balor, but he’s never going to get that fair fight until he finds some way to neutralize the other members of his former faction.
Queen Nia Jax (c) vs. Bayley for the WWE women’s championship
There was a tag team match a few weeks ago on SmackDown where Jax and Tiffany Stratton had a chance to force Bayley or Naomi to permanently leave SmackDown. However, Bayley and Naomi won the match, which meant Jax would have to defend her championship against one of them at Bad Blood. Bayley went on to beat Naomi to earn that spot, so here we are.
Bayley feels like she was cheated out of the belt when Stratton helped Jax beat her at SummerSlam. This is Bayley’s chance to right that wrong and reclaim her gold. But what if Stratton decides to steal the spotlight and cash in her Money in the Bank contract on the winner?
Summary
WWE Bad Blood is a hot card that’s carried by its top two matches. Roman Reigns is competing in a WWE ring for the first time in six months and teaming up with Cody Rhodes. CM Punk and Drew McIntyre will try to murder each other inside Hell in a Cell. The Rock might be in the building and ready to set up a major angle for next month’s Crown Jewel event. Dominik Mysterio is locked behind bars again. It sounds like a very good time all around if you are a fan of WWE.
What will you be looking for at Bad Blood?
