Badd Blood '97

Badd Blood: In Your House

Match 1- Rocky Maivia, Kama & D-Lo Brown def Legion of Doom (Handicap Match)

Match 2- Max Mini & Nova def Tarantula and Mosaic

Tag Team Championships

Match 3- The Godwinns def The Headbangers (c)

Segment- Gene Kiniski, Jack Brisco, Dory Funk Jr, Harley Race, Terry Funk, Sam Muchnik & Lou Thez are honoured with awards.

Vacant Intercontinental Championship

Match 4- Owen Hart def Faarooq (Intercontinental Title Tournament Finals)

Match 5- Disciples of Apocalypse def Los Boricuas

Match 6- Bret Hart & The British Bulldog def The Patriot & Vader (Flag Match)

No.1 contenders match for the WWF Title

Match 7- Shawn Michaels def The Undertaker (Hell in a Cell Match)

Analysis

Preamble

On this day, Brian Pillman would sadly pass away in his hotel room. The show opened with a cold and shallow mention of Pillman's death. A BRIEF mention was made on commentary, before they decided to move on from the matter straight away. Apparently they made a 'proper announcement' on the free for all pre show, but surely a man's life is worth much more than that! This was in very poor taste if you ask me. Rest in peace Brian, a true pioneer to modern day pro wrestling. Your personality was unmatched, as was your ability to draw people in with your tongue. A true great taken far too soon.

Matches 1 & 2

Like the 'mention' of Pillman's passing, this first match was sloppy and poorly thought out. As a match it wasn't THAT bad, but it would have taken a hell of a lot in order to remove the poor taste from my mouth, as a result of the shoddy 'tribute' to Mr Pillman. This entire show started on the backfoot as a result, but I will try and review it more fairly going forward. Rocky Maivia picked up the win for the Nation, following a Rock Bottom onto Hawk. Minus 5 Stars for the lack of tact shown to Pillman before this one!

Typical mini action as Max Mini & Nova defeated Tarantula and Mosaic. Pre-match, we were informed that this was in place of the scheduled Dude Love/ Brian Pillman match and that they hoped it would "entertain us" No. Just no. It didn't entertain me, Vince. Not in the slightest….

Match 3

Headbangers/Godwinns for the titles. Mosh catching his own spit, was the most entertaining part of this whole match! A very stop start contest, with far too much stalling and one too many mistakes in-between. Even the finish seemed clunky as Phineas of The Godwinns, reversed a dive into a powerbomb as Henry O. Godwinn held Thrasher back. New tag champs as The Godwinns take it, and, can I just skip to the main-event now? Like seriously.

Match 4

Owen Hart faced Faarooq in the finals of the Intercontinental title tournament, with Austin watching from ringside. Austin attacked Faarooq with the belt before tossing it into the ring. Owen Hart was the new champion! Another boring match if I'm being honest with nothing of note happening until the very end.

Match 5

D.O.A defeated Los Boricuas in 6 man tag action. I'm playing fast and loose with the word 'action' if I'm being honest.

Match 6

The action picked up slightly as The Hart Foundation (Owen & Bret) beat Vader and The Patriot in a flag match. Not a 5 star classic by any means, but head and shoulders above some of the dross served up thus far.

Main-event

Now we're talking. The first cell match, the debut of Kane, and possibly the best PPV main-event I have seen since I've started doing these reviews! The intrigue surrounding this gimmick must have been something pretty cool to behold live, and the first cell match still stands the test of time as one of the very best to this day! The Undertaker's "younger brother" Kane ripped the cell door off in an iconic moment, burying the deadman with a tombstone before leaving. Shawn covered Taker for the very slow and dramatic 1…2…3. A wise man once said, its very hard to truly enjoy something, if you are analysing or trying to be critical. Well, for over 30 minutes, these two men allowed me to just sit back and enjoy this for what it was. A masterpiece. HBK has to take a lot of credit for 'selling the cell', genuinely seeming petrified at the prospect of being locked inside. Couple all of that with fantastic drama, some iconic calls including "There's probably some idiot at home saying, yeah he knows how to fall!" (J.R) as well as "That's gotta be, that's gotta be…that's gotta be Kane" (Vince McMahon) and we witnessed something truly special. As a final note, Jim Cornette takes credit for the creation of the cell, attributing the idea to the "old memphis cage but with a roof". An absolute banger that saved the PPV and in some people's eyes, was the true beginning of the 'attitude era'.

Summary

Upon reflection, I may have been too harsh in regards to how this show handled the announcement of the passing of Brian Pillman. While it certainly wasn't a fitting tribute on the night, and seemed disrespectful to merely give it a passing mention, it happened extremely close to the PPV giving The WWF very little time to react. In all fairness, The WWF would dedicate the next episode of Raw to Mr Pillman, giving them a chance to honour him properly.

While I don't expect them to cancel the entire PPV, it just seemed in poor taste the way they shoehorned it in. As for the PPV, the Hell in a Cell between Taker and Shawn was legendary in its own right, as was the debut of Kane (In my opinion, the best debut of any wrestling character TO THIS DAY) As bad as the rest of the card was, it seems illogical for any ppv with a match as good as the first Hell in a Cell on it, to be anything below average. Yes this was the personification of a one match show, but what a match it was! Final score (3 Stars)