Bad Blood (2003)

Triple H as the World Heavyweight Champion

The event featured eight professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds, plots and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed either villains or fan favorites as they followed a series of events which built tension, leading to a wrestling match. All wrestlers were from the Raw brand – a storyline division in which WWE assigned its employees to a different program.

The main event at Bad Blood featured World Heavyweight Champion Triple H defending the title against Kevin Nash in a Hell in a Cell match. The buildup to the match began at Backlash, where Triple H nailed Kevin Nash with a sledgehammer during a six man tag team match, enabling Triple H to pin Nash for the victory. At Judgment Day, Nash defeated Triple H in a singles match via disqualification but didn't win the championship.[2][3] On the May 19 episode of Raw, after Triple H successfully defended the World Heavyweight Championship against Ric Flair, Co-General Manager Steve Austin announced that due to Nash winning at Judgment Day by disqualification, Nash would face Triple H again at Bad Blood for the World Heavyweight Championship in a Hell in a Cell match.[4][5] On the May 26 episode of Raw, the feud between the two wrestlers intensified when Randy Orton and Triple H attacked Nash.[6][7] On the June 2 episode of Raw, Nash teamed with Shawn Michaels and The Hurricane defeated Evolution in a tag team match. After the match, Nash delivered a Jackknife powerbomb to Triple H.[8] On the June 9 episode of Raw, Austin announced that Mick Foley would officiate the Hell in a Cell match as the guest referee.[9][10]

One of the featured preliminary matches was Shawn Michaels versus Ric Flair in a singles match. The hype to this match began on the May 26 episode of Raw, where Michaels challenged Flair to a singles match for later during the show, which Flair accepted. As the match was about to take place, Co-General Manager Eric Bischoff announced that the Flair versus Michaels match was to take place instead at Bad Blood. Later that night, Flair and Michaels lost to Triple H in a handicap match after Flair betrayed Michaels, enabling Triple H to finish him off with the Pedigree.[6][7] On the June 2 episode of Raw, Michaels and Flair were in a promo, where they both discussed who was the better wrestler. Later, Michaels, along with Kevin Nash and The Hurricane defeated Evolution.[8][9] The feud between Flair and Michaels enhanced on the June 9 episode of Raw. During the show, Flair and Michaels managed Randy Orton and The Hurricane, respectively; after Orton defeated The Hurricane, Flair and Michaels brawled until the program went into a commercial break.[9][10]

The other featured preliminary match was Goldberg versus Chris Jericho in a singles match. The buildup to the match began on May 12 episode of Raw, where a "mystery assailant" attempted to run Goldberg over with a vehicle, though Goldberg was able to avoid it. Later that night, Goldberg went on to defeat Christian in a Steel Cage match.[11][12] On the May 19 episode of Raw, it was revealed that Lance Storm was the "mystery assailant". He, however, told Austin that he was only hired to run Goldberg over and that Jericho conspired the attack.[4][5] On the May 26 episode of Raw, Jericho held a promotional in-ring segment titled The Highlight Reel. During the segment he explained that he conspired the attack because he grew jealous towards Goldberg's success in WCW, disliking Goldberg's ego and felt that since joining the WWE, he had achieved everything he had ever wanted in his career especially becoming the first WWE Undisputed Champion in history and all that was left was to defeat Goldberg and challenged him to a singles match at Bad Blood. Afterwards, Goldberg came down to the ring and accepted Jericho's challenge, and as he was about to perform a spear, Jericho sprayed Goldberg's eyes with pepper spray.[6][7]

A non-physical rivalry developed between the Co-General Managers, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Eric Bischoff, who were feuding over who was the better authority. On the June 2 episode of Raw, it was announced that both men would face each other in a series of non-wrestling contests labeled the "Redneck Triathlon" at Bad Blood. The contests would include a belching contest, a pie eating contest, and a singing contest.[8]

After Bad Blood, Steve Austin announced an Elimination Chamber match to take place at SummerSlam for the World Heavyweight Championship, a match contested in a ring surrounded by a steel structure of chain and girders. The match featured, Chris Jericho, Goldberg, Kevin Nash, Randy Orton, and Shawn Michaels; at SummerSlam, Triple H won the match to retain the World Heavyweight title.[20][21] The storyline between Flair and Michaels ended when Michaels was announced as a participant in the Elimination Chamber match, in which Flair would not participate.[22][23] Although their feud ended, the feud reengaged five years later in 2008. At WrestleMania XXIV, Michaels defeated Flair in a retirement match, a stipulation that only applied to Flair. As a result, Flair retired from professional wrestling.[24][25]

Jericho and Goldberg continued to feud over several weeks before being announced as participants in the Elimination Chamber match, in which Goldberg eliminated Jericho.[20][21] During the weeks leading up to SummerSlam, Kane would turn on Rob Van Dam after the loss of their tag titles, and his unmasking which occurred eight days after this event along with his heel transformation, would lead to the promotion of a No Holds Barred match between the two at SummerSlam in which Kane won, ending their team.[20][21] La Résistance would engage in a feud with the Dudley Boyz, eventually a match was scheduled for SummerSlam between the two teams over the World Tag Team titles. La Résistance was able to win the match and retain the titles.[20][21]

The Compaq Center had a maximum capacity of 16,285, which was reduced for Bad Blood.[26] The event grossed US$500,000 in ticket sales from an attendance of 10,000—the maximum allowed.[27] The event retailed as $34.95, but was offered free of charge to members of the United States armed forces who were returning from the Iraq War.[28] Not counting the buys from military personnel, the event received 285,000 pay-per-view buys. The promotion's pay-per-view revenue was $24.7 million, which was greater than the following year's revenue of $18.5 million.[27] Canadian Online Explorer's professional wrestling section rated the event a four out of ten possible points. The main event was rated a five out of ten possible points, while the standard match between Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels rated a seven and a half out of ten possible points.[16] Pro Wrestling Torch, a newsletter and wrestling website in operation since 1987, rated the event a three and a half out of ten possible points.[29] Both websites criticized the fact that the pay-per-view ended twenty-five minutes before the original scheduled runtime.

The event was released on DVD on August 18, 2003.[30] The DVD was distributed by Sony Music Entertainment.[31] The DVD debuted on Billboard's Top Weekly DVD sales chart on September 6, 2003, reaching a peak position of second.[32] The DVD remained on the chart for eight more weeks, ranking lower every week. The DVD finally ranked on October 25, 2003 reaching a final position of 19th.[33] The DVD also received reviews from customers; the average customer rating from Amazon.com was a three out of five possible stars.[34]

• Stone Cold Steve Austin won the "Burping Contest"
• Eric Bischoff won the "Pie Eating Contest" by forfeit
• Stone Cold Steve Austin won the "Pig Pen Fun"

• Official Bad Blood (2003) website (courtesy:Archive.org)