| WWE Bad Blood | |
|---|---|
_logo.png){kind=logo} WWE Bad Blood logo as of 2024 | |
| Promotions | WWE |
| Brands | Raw (2003–2004, 2024) SmackDown (2024) |
| First event | Badd Blood: In Your House (1997) |
| Signaturematches | Hell in a Cell match |
WWE Bad Blood is aprofessional wrestling event produced byWWE, aConnecticut-basedprofessional wrestling promotion. The event was first held in October 1997 when the promotion was still called the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and that first event was held as the 18thIn Your Housepay-per-view (PPV) event. After six years and after the promotion had been renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), Bad Blood returned as its own PPV event in June 2003, replacingKing of the Ring. In 2005,One Night Stand replaced Bad Blood;Vengeance had also moved to June that year asThe Great American Bash moved to July. Bad Blood had been announced to be revived in 2017; however, these plans were scrapped in favor of an event titledGreat Balls of Fire. After a 20-year hiatus, Bad Blood returned in October2024, and became the first Bad Blood to air on WWE'slivestreaming platforms.
The first Bad Blood is known for introducing theHell in a Cell match, a 20-foot high roofed cell structure that surrounds the ring and ringside area. It has been contested at every Bad Blood with the match headlining the events in 1997, 2003, and 2004. To coincide with the firstbrand extension, the 2003 and 2004 Bad Blood events were both held exclusively for wrestlers of theRaw brand division. The brand split ended in 2011 but it returned in 2016. Since April 2018, all of WWE's main roster PPV and livestreaming events have featured wrestlers from both the Raw andSmackDown brands.
Bad Blood was first held as anIn Your Housepay-per-view (PPV) event. In Your House was a series of monthly PPVs first produced by theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) in May 1995. They aired when the promotion was not holding one of its major PPVs and were sold at a lower cost.Badd Blood: In Your House was the 18th In Your House event and took place on October 5, 1997, at theKiel Center inSt. Louis, Missouri.[1] The event was notable for introducing theHell in a Cell match and the debut ofKane.[2]
In May 2002, the WWF was renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) as a result of a lawsuit from theWorld Wildlife Fund over the "WWF" initialism.[3] Also around this time, the promotion held adraft that split itsroster into two distinctivebrands of wrestling,Raw andSmackDown!, where wrestlers were exclusively assigned to perform.[4] In 2003, WWE reinstated Bad Blood as its own PPV (with the stylization being "Bad Blood" instead of the previous "Badd Blood") to replace the previously annualKing of the Ring PPV; King of the Ring ceased being produced as a PPV (until2024), but thetitular tournament continued to be produced periodically. To coincide with the brand extension, both the 2003 and 2004 Bad Blood events, which were both held in June, exclusively featured wrestlers from the Raw brand. Like the original event, the 2003 and 2004 events featured a Hell in a Cell match as the main event.[5][6] After the 2004 event, however, Bad Blood was discontinued and doubly replaced byOne Night Stand andVengeance;[7][8] the latter had also moved into the June slot asThe Great American Bash moved into the July slot that Vengeance previously held.[9]
In March 2017, WWE announced that it would be reviving Bad Blood to be held on July 9, 2017, from theXL Center inHartford, Connecticut.[10] However, these plans were scrapped in favor of an event titledGreat Balls of Fire.[11] After 20 years since the last Bad Blood event, WWE announced that Bad Blood would in fact return and be held at theState Farm Arena inAtlanta, Georgia on October 5, 2024, the 27-year anniversary of the first Bad Blood.[12] Like the previous editions, the2024 event also featured the Hell in a Cell match but it opened that year's show instead of closing it. This would also be the first Bad Blood to air via WWE'slivestreaming platforms, a medium that WWE began using in 2014. The event also featured wrestlers from both Raw and SmackDown as WWE's pay-per-view and livestreaming events have featured wrestlers from both since 2018.[13]
| Raw-branded event |
| # | Event | Date | City | Venue | Main Event | Ref. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Badd Blood: In Your House | October 5, 1997 | St. Louis, Missouri | Kiel Center | Shawn Michaels vs.The Undertaker in aHell in a Cell match to determine the number one contender for theWWF Championship atSurvivor Series | [1] | |||
| 2 | WWE Bad Blood (2003) | June 15, 2003 | Houston, Texas | Compaq Center | Triple H (c) vs.Kevin Nash in aHell in a Cell match for theWorld Heavyweight Championship withMick Foley as thespecial guest referee | [5] | |||
| 3 | WWE Bad Blood (2004) | June 13, 2004 | Columbus, Ohio | Nationwide Arena | Triple H vs.Shawn Michaels in aHell in a Cell match | [6] | |||
| 4 | WWE Bad Blood (2024) | October 5, 2024 | Atlanta, Georgia | State Farm Arena | Cody Rhodes andRoman Reigns vs.The Bloodline (Solo Sikoa andJacob Fatu) | [13] | |||
(c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match | |||||||||