And that left plenty of time for Steve Austin and Eric Bischoff to supply a few little non-wrestling skits that the crowd largely ate up. And while I have no complaints with carting out Austin and Bischoff for crowd-pleasing non-wrestling segments, I might take issue getting too far away using PPVs to feature a full roster full of matches that simply could not take place for free on RAW. Between the Austin/Bischoff fluff and the fact that Bad Blood went off the air at 10:35 (eastern... or about 10 minutes earlier than usual), there would certainly have been opportunities last night to allow a few of the in-ring stories develop a bit more.
But enough of that for now... here are the full results of the just-completed WWE Bad Blood PPV:
- Before the PPV, on a live edition of Heat: Teddy Long and Chris Nowinski approached D-Von Dudley, and seemed to get in his head after wondering aloud why D-Von's white half-brother is always bossing him around, telling him to get the tables.... Eric Bischoff and Steve Austin spun the "Redneck Triathlon" wheel, and "Belching Contest" came up as the second of the three events (joining the pie-eating contest)... and Ivory beat Molly Holly in yet another very sound, entertaining women's match.
- Following the requisite video introduction and hype from Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross, the PPV opener saw the duo of Rodney Mack and Chris Nowinski defeat the Dudley Boyz. The finish came following some failed double-team work between Bubba and D-Von, which opened the door for Nowinski to use his facemask as a foreign object. He KO'ed Bubba for the cheap pinfall. About five minutes long, and almost exactly the type of match you'd expect to see on RAW, though not necessarily on PPV...
- Backstage, Terri conducted the belching contest. Both Austin and Bischoff burped three times, with Austin's final unreasonably resonant final belch putting him over the edge. Actually, both Austin and Bischoff were belch-synching for this segment, which only underscored the fact that this was just somebody's excuse to use a bunch of (allegedly) funny sound effects. Only Austin's good cheer and sass mouth rendered this much fun to watch.
- With the managerial services of Stacy Keibler on the line, Scott Steiner defeated Test. Match started out with Test in control, and making frequent taunts towards Stacy, but eventually, Steiner was able to rally. The finish had Test deciding he needed a steel chair to beat Steiner, but Stacy tried to stop him. Test shoved her to the ground and got in the ring with the chair; but enough time had elapsed that Steiner was recovered enough to dodge the chairshot, causing Test to whack himself in the head with it after the chair ricocheted off the top rope. Steiner his his as-yet-unnamed finisher for the pinfall win. Probably about 7-8 minutes long, and actually pretty decent; to his credit, Test displayed something that very much resembled personality and charisma here, and I came out of this almost thinking Test really should have won here so that he could continue to develop that by forcing Stacy to remain his manager (sort of a Macho Man 2003 vibe, or something like it)...
- Backstage, Eric Bischoff introduced Steve Austin to the "four flavors of pie" he had brought to the building. Austin seemed suitably impressed by the babes, but had his good mood ruined when Bischoff insisted that he eat pie first. Finally, Austin relented, and said Bischoff could go first, but only if he (Austin) picked the flavor. Don't tell me you can't already tell exactly where this is going...
- Christian got himself intentionally disqualified against Booker T, which does mean that he lost the match, but retained the InterContinental Title. Booker was, predictably, over pretty huge with his hometown crowd, which was to the benefit of this match. After controlling the earlier stages of the match, Christian got a little scared when Booker made his comeback at about the 10 minute mark. He decided to grab his belt and walk-out, but the ref declared that if Christian was counted-out, he'd be stripped of the IC Title. So Christian brought his belt back into the ring, and almost immediately whacked Booker T with it to cause the DQ. Crowd chanted "Bullsh*t," but to be honest, I like this finish as a way of sustaining interest in Christian and the IC belt. OK match, but at no more than 10 or 11 minutes, this was not quite the epic affair I might have hoped for...
- Jerry Lawler got in the ring to conduct the Pie Eating Contest between Eric Bischoff and Steve Austin. Austin toyed with Bischoff for a bit, but after remembering Bischoff's admission that he digs "mature women," he brought out Mae Young to be on the receiving end of Bischoff's ministrations. Somewhere between grotesque and hilarious, this segment included Mae stripping down to a thong and delivering a Bronco Buster on Bischoff. When Bischoff invited Austin to take his turn, Austin decided to simply deliver a Stunner on Mae, and he forfeited Round 2 of the Redneck Triathlon, leaving us tied at one event apiece. Remember earlier when I used "It was too much like something you'd see for free on RAW" as a complaint? Well, let's just say it's probably just as well that THIS is not something we're exposed to every Monday night.
- La Resistance took the Tag Team Titles from Rob Van Dam and Kane. Match was standard fare, with RVD starting out on offense before becoming your babyface in peril. A tag to Kane led to the champs regaining control for a bit. However, at about the six minute mark, things broke down with all four men fighting in the ring. In the mess, RVD decided to hit a running senton from the ring to the floor on both members of La Resistance, but they moved, and RVD crashed down onto Kane, instead. La Resistance got RVD back in the ring, hit him with a double chokeslam-ish type move (Kronik's old finisher), and scored the clean pinfall. I guess it accomplished what it had to (gets the belts onto the heels so they can feud with APA, sets the stage for a further rift between RVD and Kane), but it didn't really do it in any style.
- Goldberg beat Chris Jericho in their first PPV showdown (almost five years after Jericho cut his first promos on Goldberg). Early part of the match was Goldberg in control, and Jericho just trying to escape. But finally, Goldberg was so hyped up that he went for a Spear on the floor, and wound up crashing through the ringside barrier when Jericho dodged. The story of the match had Goldberg's shoulder severely injured by the miss, which Jericho then focused on for the rest of the contest. Jericho went after the shoulder intently for about 6-7 minutes, and Goldberg's comeback always fell short when he could not make use of his right arm. Finally, after escaping the Walls of Jericho, Goldberg managed to nail the Spear, but using his healthy left shoulder, and from there, hit the Jackhammer for the clean pinfall win. Crowd was divided here (probably about 70% pro-Goldberg, though), and both camps got a lot to cheer for. A very entertaining match that was long enough to tell a good story (Goldberg's injured shoulder making him susceptible), but not so long as to over-extend Goldberg at all.
- Backstage, the Redneck Wheel was spun again, and it determined that the third and final contest between Austin and Bischoff would be a singing contest. Having heard Austin sing in the past, Bischoff figured this would be an easy win for him.
- Ric Flair managed to get the win over Shawn Michaels in a battle of the distinguished legends. Some back-and-forth chain wrestling/taunting got us started, but from there, Flair took the edge following a chopblock. He kept working over HBK's knee, setting him up for the Figure Four. Once locked in at about the 8 minute mark, the Fig. 4, left Michaels with no choice but to head for the ropes. After the break, Michaels was able to rally, though. He even got a little hardcore, setting up a table outside the ring. After a few teases, Michaels finally got Flair laid out on the table... then, after dispatching Randy Orton when he attempted to intervene, Michaels went up to the top rope and crashed through Flair and the table in a pretty spectacular spot. Michaels seemed to be firmly in control at this point, but unfortunately, a ref bump left the door open for chicanery. Randy Orton grabbed a steel chair after Flair had been KO'ed with the Sweet Chin Music, and blasted Michaels in the head. He pulled Flair on top of Michaels as the ref revived. Flair got the pinfall. A very sound, basic old school type of match, with the added attraction of Michaels' one amazing table spot. About 15 minutes of nothing but quality.
- Eric Bischoff hit the ring to entertain us with his singing... but when attempting to "sing" his own theme song, he was exposed by Austin as a lip-syncher. Funny, where was he during the belching contest? Oh, yeah, right... anyway, when forced to sing for real, Bischoff sucked pretty bad, and Austin said since he sucks, too, they might as well pick a different third event. He went to the wheel and just placed it deliberatedly on "Pig Pen Fun." Luckily, there just so happened to be a pig pen in the arena, and the rules are that the first man to be tossed in the pen is the loser in the Redneck Triathlon. Of course, after a suitable beatdown, Austin managed to toss Bischoff in the pig sty and win the Triathlon. Much beer-fueled celebration followed.
- Triple H survived Hell in the Cell against Kevin Nash, and retained his World Title in a bloodbath. The gimmickry started early, with HHH pulling a tool box out from under the ring. He busted Nash open with a hammer, and further opened the wound with a screwdriver. More fun from under the ring: HHH found a barbed-wire-wrapped 2" x 4", and tried to use it on Nash. But Nash managed to dodge it, and grabbed the 2" x 4" for himself. He busted HHH open with a few shots to the head. Nash also lodged the 2" x 4" in the top turnbuckle, and hit Snake Eyes on HHH into the barbed wire. Cool spot. HHH regained control by busting a wooden crate over Nash's head, and then using a steel chair. In fact, HHH also decided to use the chair to plaster Mick Foley, who joined HHH and Nash in wearing a crimson mask. That led to Foley deciding to go on the offensive, as he busted out Mr. Socko for a cameo appearance. However, HHH was able to escape the Mandible Claw with a low blow. But he was weakened. Nash started a rally, but HHH was able to turn things around again by shoving Nash into Foley, who in turn tumbled from the ring apron into the cage wall. From there, HHH grabbed his trusty sledgehammer, and hit Nash in the head with it. He followed up with a Pedigree, at which point Foley had gotten back in the ring. A slow, dramatic three count later, and it was all over. Ric Flair and Randy Orton both came out to the ring, and the PPV closed with Evolution celebrating their big wins together. You can be a dick and thank Foley, or the foreign objects, or whatever, but this was a flat out fun brawl. Outstanding 20 minute main event.
We'll have more thoughts/fall-out from the PPV tomorrow in a brand new Monday edition of OO...
E-MAIL RICK SCAIA
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Rick Scaia is a wrestling fan from Dayton, OH. He's been doing this since 1995, but enjoyed it best when the suckers from SportsLine were actually PAYING him to be a fan.
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