World Wrestling Entertainment – Bad Blood 2004 – 13th June 2004
So Smackdown’s most recent 2004 pay-per-view offering was largely poor. It doesn’t change the fact that, on the whole, WWE pay-per-views thus far this year have been a largely enjoyable experience (Benoit-related difficulties aside). I’m hoping for more of the same from Raw’s latest effort here. The main event sees the culmination (for now) of the Triple H/Shawn Michaels rivalry as they enter Hell In A Cell; a match which seems to have thoroughly divided opinions – people either love it or they hate it. Elsewhere Chris Benoit is persecuted by those in power and forced to wrestle twice in one evening – first against La Resistance (teaming with fellow Canadian renegade Edge) then defending his World Title against Kane. Randy Orton’s excellent Intercontinental Title reign continues with a defence against Shelton Benjamin, whilst Chris Jericho continues his issues with Christian and Trish Stratus as he steps into the ring with Christian’s sidekick Tyson Tomko. Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler are in Columbus, OH.
La Resistance vs Edge/Chris Benoit – World Tag Title Match
Now sporting the Quebec colours and the Fleurdelisé flag of Quebec, La Res have morphed into arguably their most watchable version. Grenier and Conway hold the Raw Tag Titles, but face fierce competition tonight in the form of multi-time Tag Champion Edge and the reigning World Champion Chris Benoit, who is being forced into competing twice on the same show in a bid to soften him up before his big title defence with Kane later tonight.
Yes, the vast majority of the arena are chanting ‘USA’…even though the only American in the match is part of the anti-American, La Resistance team. Benoit eschews the logic of staying on the apron and letting Edge carry the load as he demands to be tagged in so he can dish out some pretty stiff shots to Sylvain. Conway makes the mistake of trying to trade chops with the World Champion…and it won’t surprise you to know that he loses. The defending champions team up on Edge, ambushing him from behind allowing Conway to drive his suspect neck and back into the guardrails. La Res actually start working Edge’s neck, which is great strategy considering the injury problems he’s had over the past year. A clumsy Grenier connects a little more than Edge might have liked on a leg drop then gives him no time to recover before cranking back on a camel clutch. Even when he escapes, Edge collapses right back down onto his bad neck by delivering a spinning heel kick…and when he finally makes it to his corner he finds that Benoit as been knocked off the apron, forcing him to remain in the ring for even longer. Eventually Benoit does get tagged and piles into La Res with a barrage of devastating suplexes. Sharpshooter applied on Grenier only for Conway to break it. Edge nearly steams into Benoit with a Spear but catches himself at the last minute…then Spears Conway instead as Chris puts Grenier in the Crippler Crossface. Kane runs in and attacks Benoit, causing a rather uninspired DQ finish at 10:13
Rating - ** - The match was largely acceptable viewing, albeit rigidly formulaic…but that finish really sucked. Was Kane coming out and kicking Benoit in the head really the only conclusion that creative could come up with for this? You can book more inventively than this on primitive early versions of EWR. La Resistance delivered perhaps their best pay-per-view outing to date, generating genuine heat from the crowd and working Edge’s neck like actual intelligent wrestlers. You felt like these guys could actually have delivered a far better match but were restricted by their position on the card and bigger plans for Benoit.
Benoit and Edge get Chokeslams from the rampant Big Red Machine, apparently injuring Benoit’s back even further damaging his hopes of retaining the World Title later tonight.
Eric Bischoff psyches up The Coach to beat up his mentally handicapped nephew Eugene later tonight.
Chris Jericho vs Tyson Tomko
Tomko is Christian’s bodyguard figure, so it’s only natural that he is now sent to fight Jericho and finish the job that Christian was unable to at Backlash. Trish Stratus, the woman who spectacularly scorned Y2J’s affections, is at ringside to further stack the deck against him.
Jericho is too fast for Tomko, but when he is eventually clubbed down with a lariat he is powerless to escape the clutches of the ‘problem solver’. He uses missile dropkicks to keep Tyson at a distance and bashes his skull against the ringpost as he looks to attack Y2J’s injured ribs. PRESS SLAM GUTBUSTER by Tomko! He keeps working on Jericho’s midsection and although he is being promoted as a ‘no thrills’ asskicker he actually does have a few crowd-pleasing spots. Y2J can’t even get off his feet for his usual flying forearm spot, and even his bulldog isn’t executed with its usual elevation. Lionsault dodged into an Argentine backbreaker for 2. Jericho is desperate and rakes the eyes. With Tomko blinded he is able to start attacking a leg and when Trish Stratus makes an error by trying to get involved, Jericho polishes the big man off with a running enziguri at 06:04
Rating - ** - Nothing special or memorable, but this one had plenty of energy and actually featured one of the massive influx of muscled up, can’t-wrestle-for-sh*t ‘talents’ of this era (Morgan, Heidenreich, Jones, Tomko, Mordecai, Boogeyman, Snitsky, Suzuki etc) producing a decent in-ring performance. Jericho bumped around with reckless abandon and Tomko had enough about him to keep up with the veteran. On this showing alone, it’s no surprise that Tomko would go on to have a semi-successful post-WWE career in Japan and TNA.
Randy Orton tells Todd Grisham that he is a day short of six months as Intercontinental Champion. He then storms through the crowd on a tirade, prompting Shelton Benjamin to come out and demand they have their scheduled match right now…
Randy Orton vs Shelton Benjamin – WWE Intercontinental Title Match
Orton has been a dominant IC Champion and looked stronger than ever the last time Raw was on pay-per-view when he defeated Cactus Jack in a career-making Hardcore Match. Tonight he faces rising star Shelton Benjamin, who bested Orton’s Evolution stable-mate Ric Flair at Backlash, and holds two pinfall victories over Orton himself on television in the build-up to this event.
Benjamin has taken an unprepared Orton by surprise and nearly pins him in the first few seconds. Randy’s performances as IC Champion have started earning him some real crowd support, with a vocal minority loudly chanting his name throughout the opening minutes. He rewards their support by tossing the challenger into the guardrails…but Shelton recovers quickly to back drop him into the front row. The champ just can’t get out of the blocks and has been totally overwhelmed by Benjamin’s speed and tenacity. Stinger Splash misses though, buying Randy some time. Ric Flair struts down the aisle to lend his support to his Evolution colleague as he starts to establish himself in the match. He cranks on the neck like a vice, trying to set Shelton up for the RKO. STALLING Argentine neckbreaker scores next to inflict yet more punishment to that body part. A lengthy chinlock comes next – as is common in Orton matches where he is relied upon to take the lead. It’s effective and makes perfect sense in the context of the match…it’s just not that exciting to watch. With Flair roaring his approval (perhaps he’s a fan of irony), Orton takes an ill-fated trip to the top rope where he misses a flying crossbody. The two men go toe-to-toe in the middle of the ring in a physical slug-out…before Benjamin’s athleticism sees him explode from the canvas into a football tackle. Flying lariat, which beat Flair at Backlash, gets 2 on this occasion. T-Bone Suplex blocked…RKO blocked! DRAGON WHIP! Shelton is too wounded to pin him right away though. Stinger Splash nailed this time, followed by the T-Bone Suplex! Flair puts Randy’s feet on the ropes when he seemed done for! Shelton takes out his frustrations on the Nature Boy and puts him in the Figure 4! SMALL PACKAGE ON ORTON AT THE SAME TIME…GETS 2! Orton rolls through another top rope lariat attempt and wins by grabbing the trunks at 15:03
Rating - *** - Another seriously tame finish rather spoils what was a pretty enjoyable match. Orton tended to need someone with more seasoning than Shelton Benjamin to produce his best work, and once again he did look limited here. However, his potential was still there for all to see and – most importantly of all – after the success of his feud with Mick Foley he was now seriously over with the fans. For the vast majority of the time these guys weren’t doing a whole lot more than trotting through their usual routines, but the crowd were molten hot for it. Orton was a cool, fresh and potent force on the undercard whilst Benjamin was a dynamic and exciting, athletic young wrestler just starting to find his way. They didn’t necessarily mesh perfectly, but I think the audience on the whole was enthusiastically supportive since we had two members of the ‘next generation’ showcasing their skills.
Lita asks Matt Hardy for a good luck kiss as she prepares for her Women’s Title match. Eric Bischoff barges in and has security eject Matt from the building so he doesn’t get involved in Kane’s business.
Victoria vs Trish Stratus vs Gail Kim vs Lita – WWE Women’s Title Match
Is it racist that Gail is simply billed as ‘from Korea’? Anyway, Victoria is defending the belt but didn’t really have a whole lot of traction as a babyface champion. Lita and Trish are the stars of the division, and Gail was the exciting newcomer who did cool spots (albeit amongst a whole lot of botches).
If Victoria was in any doubt as to where she ranks in the Women’s division – even as champion her entrance gets sandwiched with Gail Kim in between Lita and Trish. She nearly vents some frustration by finishing Gail with an early standing moonsault. Lita piles in to give Kim a version of Poetry In Motion before getting into it with her old friend Trish. Tyson Tomko gives Stratus some assistance, gets thrown out, and is so f*cking uncharismatic he looks asleep through the whole sequence. In the midst of that Victoria nearly wins with a spinning backbreaker on Gail. The usual ugly as sh*t Lita headscissors nearly cripples Trish...before Kim traps her in a dragon sleeper. Lita straight up MURDERS Gail with a DDT…only for Trish to sneak up and grab the win (and the belt) at 04:42
Rating - * - Absolutely no flow or logic whatsoever, but plenty of workrate and tenacity from the four women. At times it felt like Lita or Gail might kill themselves (or someone else) but it was undeniably exciting watching four legitimately talented athletes throw their bodies around with such reckless abandon. Trish was the right person to hold the belt at this point as she was way over following her WrestleMania heel turn, so anything other than her winning would have felt hollow…and I loved her cowardly manner of victory too.
Jonathan Coachman vs Eugene
I’m not sure what to call this. It’s not really an angle to any justifiable extent, and it certainly won’t culminate in a match of any quality either. Eugene is Raw GM Eric Bischoff’s kayfabe nephew. William Regal is employed (wasted) as his babysitter/manager. Coach has taken to bullying poor Eugene, who has bumbled around depicting someone with learning difficulties with varying degrees of poor taste. Along the way Eugene has picked up a few friends, like The Rock and Chris Benoit, but ultimately got cruelly booked against (and subsequently destroyed by) Kane – at the behest of Coach. Even his ‘Uncle Eric’ is against him in this scenario…because in the WWE it’s okay to do insulting impressions of people with learning impairments, and it’s even funnier to book them into angles where they get cruelly bullied for it by their employers.
Eugene impersonates a bowling ball (or that fat kid from Hook) and generally has fun at Coach’s expense. He then leaves the ring to play with a stuffed bear brandished by a conveniently placed plant in the front row. She’s not even a great actor, as right afterwards she sits down in her seat and goes back to looking bored as sh*t. If she’s still in that seat during the next match I’ll eat my underwear. Another random hot girl, this time dressed in a bikini, is brought down the aisle by Coach. She has cookies – which as everyone know people with learning difficulties can’t resist no matter what they are currently doing. Eugene shakes off being brained against the cookie tray, and fights back with a couple of atomic drops and an airplane spin. Garrison Cade and his 80’s haircut destroy Eugene’s stuffed animal…which makes him so pissed off he hits Coach with a Rock Bottom. Special People’s Elbow gives Eugene the win at 07:32
Rating - DUD - This wouldn’t even belong on a three hour episode of Raw, it was that juvenile and pointless. I always felt sorry for Eugene. Supposedly Nick Dinsmore was once a pretty solid wrestler, but wound up wasting the best years of his career stuck with the silly gimmick. WWE weren’t being noble, ‘tackling an issue’ or ‘raising awareness’ with this gimmick - they were just exploiting learning difficulties for cheap laughs. And why the hell does Coach keep getting booked to wrestle on Raw pay-per-views during a time when the company had obscene amounts of talent rotting away in dark matches and on the minor shows? This was quite the waste of time
Eugene delivers a horrible version of the Stunner to Cade as well, and celebrates with a begrudging hug from William Regal.
Chris Benoit vs Kane – World Heavyweight Title Match
So we already know the story here. Benoit is being forced to wrestle twice by the evil Eric Bischoff. But then again, this is a guy who is supposedly actively bullying and encouraging subordinates to assault his nephew with learning difficulties, so Benoit probably shouldn’t be too surprised. Earlier in the evening we saw Kane cost Benoit and Edge the World Tag Titles…and now he wants to take the Wolverine’s precious World Heavyweight Championship too. Kane has said he is jealous of Benoit’s ‘normal life’, and wants to ease the pain and suffering of his existence with the big gold belt. Benoit, on the other hand, views this as just another mountain to climb or just another time he has to prove his doubters and critics wrong. He won the Royal Rumble from the #1 spot. When people thought that was a fluke he defeated Triple H and Shawn Michaels, two of the greatest champions of all time, in one match at WrestleMania 20. Then when people thought THAT was a fluke he did it for a second time in his hometown of Edmonton. By this point he doesn’t feel there are any obstacles he can’t overcome – and that includes near-seven foot tall burn victims.
Benoit dishes out some of the stiffest chops I’ve ever seen in the WWE, instantly reddening Kane’s sizeable chest. They sound like gunshots inside the arena but even they only have limited impact before the Big Red Machine forcibly ejects the champion from the ring. The size and power of Kane make him a hell of an adversary but Benoit fights him tooth and nail. He uses all of his wrestling acumen to avoid the meaty jabs and strikes of the challenger, tossing out big shots of his own and frantically looking for big submissions like the Sharpshooter or the Crossface. Next he rattles one of Kane’s arms into the turnbuckles looking to soften him up…only for Kane to emphatically wipe him out with a lariat. Kane can work a body part too though – and demonstrates that by targeting the neck. His massive size mean it doesn’t need to be anything fancy and he soon has Benoit slowed to a total standstill. Neck cranks, vices and clubbing blows rain down on the neck before once again Kane tosses the flagging World Champion out of the squared circle. Going to the floor presents Benoit with an unlikely opportunity though, enabling him to drive Kane’s shoulder into the ringpost. Unfortunately, for the second time, right after he lands a significant blow to Kane’s arm or shoulder Benoit gets tagged with a big lariat and put right back on the ground. He switches tactics and focuses on the leg instead – and is at last able to keep Kane on the ground for more than a few seconds at a time. The knee also gives him a handy escape route when the challenger tries to give him a Chokeslam. Sharpshooter applied, and that’s significant since Kane had already proven he wouldn’t quit to the Crossface on Raw a week or so earlier. Kane escapes…into ROLLING GERMAN SUPLEXES! Due to Kane’s size every one of those essentially drops him on his shoulders too. Flying Wolverine attempted…but Kane sits up! GERMAN SUPLEXES AGAIN! FLYING WOLVERINE NAILED! Kane’s chest is actually bleeding from the force of Benoit’s chops too…and again he sits up! CHOKESLAM! GETS 2! The Machine climbs for his diving clothesline…COUNTERED TO THE CRIPPLER CROSSFACE! KANE STANDS UP! LA MAGISTRAL CRADLE! BENOIT WINS! He retains at 18:13
Rating - **** - I’m struggling to think of many matches in Kane’s entire career that I’ve enjoyed more than this one. These two had a tough gig in that they weren’t the main event or main attraction of this show, and nobody really brought into this feud in a major way. The two intelligent pros defied all of that and produced a gripping and violent war that never once resorted to smoke, mirrors or cheap shenanigans. It may have been a little slow in the middle, but this was old-school professional wrestling with two tough battle-hardened veterans leaving everything in the ring over a World Championship. Benoit tried to use his speed and technical skill, but just couldn’t get the better of Kane’s size and power and soon found himself (and his injured neck) on the receiving end of some serious punishment. Attacking the leg brought him into the contest and finally weakened his massive challenger to the point where he could execute the German suplexes, the flying headbutts and successfully attempt the Crossface. And the finish brilliantly enhanced the reputation of both men – as Kane’s toughness meant he refused to tap, before Benoit’s skill and resourcefulness as a mat wrestler meant he snuck the win with a flash pin. Old fashioned, and something of an acquired taste but I thought these two absolutely nailed it.
Todd Grisham grabs Benoit as he walks through the curtain for a rather bizarre post-match interview where he gets the champ to look at clips and talk us through his strategy. This segment didn’t feel entirely comfortable, but definitely added an air of legitimacy to proceedings. Hard to tell if that was the intention or if they were just stalling for time though…
Triple H vs Shawn Michaels – Hell In A Cell Match
After feuding (on and off) for the best part of two years and still unable to find any closure, these two finally agreed to enter the traditional battleground where all the top feuds go to be settled. It’s Shawn Michaels – the man who participated in the first ever HIAC – against HHH, a man who has already ended careers in this intimidating structure before. The World Title isn’t at stake tonight, and after years of friendship, bitter fallings out, heated rivalry and some absolutely epic match ups they look to bring everything to a head here tonight.
Neither man moves for the first minute of the match, which indicates that this one is going long. Plenty of back and forth punch exchanges ensue in the minutes that follow with HHH following Kane’s lead from the previous match and repeatedly throwing the faster, smaller competitor out of the ring. It isn’t long before Michaels is flexing his suspect back…so it’s a genuine surprise when he manages to smash Helmsley’s head against the Cell and cause him to bleed for the first time. Even with blood seeping from a cut on his forehead Hunter is still able to crunch HBK’s back against the apron by throwing him over the ropes for a fifth time. JR has picked up on Shawn’s back problem and calls it with the kind of succinct gravitas that sets him apart from so many other commentators. Pretty soon HHH is attacking the back too, meaning despite his blood loss he is dominant as we hit the ten minute mark. Scooping Michaels up, HHH spikes him repeatedly into both the ringpost and the Cell to inflict yet more punishment to his ailing spine. Sidewalk slam on a chair comes next, followed by a CHAIR BACKBREAKER for 2. Looking to attack the back again HHH attempts an abdominal stretch only for it to be countered with a hiptoss over the top rope which purchases some precious recovery time for Michaels. Low blow blocks the Pedigree, and amusingly Shawn then ‘works that body part’ with a flurry of inverted atomic drops. BACK BODY DROP FROM THE RING STEPS TO THE FLOOR by Triple H! Shawn can hardly stand up now, and sees the Sweet Chin Music countered with STEEL STEPS TO THE FACE! Blood pours from his forehead as he staggers around, right into another big swing with the metal steps. Shades of the Taker/HBK Hell In A Cell now as HHH shoulders his former friend and sprints him face-first into the structure. This match has gone almost half an hour and it ha been almost totally one-sided. Once again though, Michaels is able to block the Pedigree – this time with a Dreamer-esque DDT. He follows that with a wild chair shot into Hunter’s face, forcing a third blade job of the contest and still more ‘bad blood’ to flow. Shawn pulls out a ladder and uses it to do yet more damage to HHH’s blood face. He also dishes out multiple shots to The Game’s ribs, quickly opening up an injury comparably severe to his own back problems. FLYING ELBOW DROP MISSED! Credit to Shawn, he bumped that like an absolute maniac meaning it looked totally brutal. It leaves both men wounded, bloody heaps on the canvas gasping for air and desperately throwing punches. At almost forty minutes HHH drags a table into play – a feat which expends so much energy that he is the one who winds up being draped across it. Shawn sets up the ladder…FLYING ELBOW OFF THE LADDER, THROUGH THE TABLE! This time it’s HHH’s turn to pull out a low blow to counter a finisher – hitting Shawn in the balls as he lines up Sweet Chin Music then dropping him with the Pedigree. But both guys are so exhausted neither man is able to cover. SWEET CHIN MUSIC FROM NOWHERE! And still they can’t be separated! Triple H retorts with one of the sloppiest Pedigrees you’ll ever see before they flop back to the ground. There is a really weird vibe in the crowd now, with half of the audience giving them a standing ovation and the other half watching in rather bored silence. Both are entirely understandable given we’re over 45-minutes deep, and they’ve spent much of the last five lying down on the ground doing almost nothing. HHH lands a desperate third Pedigree and barely drapes an arm over Michaels for the win at 47:24
Rating - *** - I couldn’t help but be reminded of their ill-fated Three Stages Of Hell Match back at Armageddon 2002 as I watched this. Just like that night they actually had some really strong ideas and plenty of neat stuff…but such a staggeringly bloated time allowance that even with some creditable material the whole thing became a bit of a slog to get through. Forty seven minutes was far, FAR too long for this match, culminating in a laughable final few minutes where they essentially did NOTHING. I didn’t buy it as an emotional, dramatic conclusion to their feud. I felt like I was watching two guys past the prime of their careers, stroking their egos and trading rather lazy false-finishes instead of creating any real drama. As usual, HHH working Shawn’s back was pretty interesting…except this time they had SO MUCH time to play with that they spent the best part of half an hour on that segment before it frizzled out and went absolutely nowhere. As usual Shawn flipped, flopped and bumped like a demon for Hunter, who in return did little more than rattle off his usual grudge match routine. Their best matches (Summerslam 2002, Royal Rumble 2004 for example) have generally been shorter, dynamic, punchier affairs with a sense of urgency and drive fuelling the tension and intensity. This was, for all the hard work, bumps taken and blood spilt, a rather sprawling, messy and unstructured affair. Token blade jobs, cursory table breaks, ladder dives and a lazy ‘we’re going long so people will definitely think it is epic’ mentality took the place of actual story-telling. I’m not saying it wasn’t a good match. I’m not saying Hunter and Shawn don’t deserve credit for killing themselves in there. I’m just saying that this was far from their best work together and a somewhat limp end to their feud. Plus, I know I’m possibly a little out of touch – but doesn’t the ‘good guy’ traditionally win the feud ender. I know that rule doesn’t apply everywhere, but I struggle to see why Shawn didn’t go over here. It was the logical ending to their rivalry if you ask me. It’s not like HHH was a young, rising star who needed the rub…if you’re a heel, you should put the babyface over shouldn’t you? Or am I being too simplistic?
Tape Rating - ** - Definitely a better show than the last Smackdown ppv but, as usual with the brand-exclusive pay-per-view offerings, the card was bogged down in the middle with plenty of low-rent filler which would be fine on free television but feels jarringly out of place when you’ve invested decent money into paying to watch this show. Thankfully only a couple of matches are truly awful, and it’s hard to argue that with Benoit/Kane and HHH/HBK you’re not getting your money’s worth through sheer workrate alone. In the end the success of this ppv lives and dies on how much you enjoyed the Hell In A Cell main event. Personally I thought Benoit/Kane stole the show, and was the best thing on this card by some distance.
Top 3 Matches
3) Randy Orton vs Shelton Benjamin (***)
2) Triple H vs Shawn Michaels (***)
1) Chris Benoit vs Kane (****)