For the first time in two decades, WWE presented the Bad Blood premium live event, kicked off by CM Punk vs. Drew McIntyre inside the unforgiving confines of Hell in a Cell.

That match topped a card that also featured the unlikely duo of undisputed WWE champion Cody Rhodes and sworn enemy Roman Reigns squaring off against The Bloodline's self-proclaimed tribal chief, Solo Sikoa, and Jacob Fatu.

What went down in WWE's return to Atlanta and who emerged victorious from Saturday night's high-stakes battles at State Farm Arena?

Find out with this recap of the PLE from the former site of The Omni, Jim Crockett Promotions' cathedral of professional wrestling.

Match Card

Announced in advance of the latest WWE premium live event were:

• Hell in a Cell: CM Punk vs. Drew McIntyre
• Undisputed WWE champion Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns vs. Jacob Fatu and Solo Sikoa
• Women's World Championship: Rhea Ripley vs. Liv Morgan (c)
• WWE Women's Championship: Bayley vs. Nia Jax (c)
  
• Damian Priest vs. Finn Bálor
  

Hell in a Cell: CM Punk vs. Drew McIntyre

The months-long rivalry between CM Punk and Drew McIntyre culminated Saturday night inside Hell in a Cell, in a match that was as brutal, violent and punishing as promised.

Both men bled and suffered tremendous pain and suffering inside the unforgiving steel confines of WWE's most storied structure.

There were near-falls off of finishers, broken and shattered plunder, callbacks to prior story beats, odes to Bret Hart vs. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin from WrestleMania 13 and an appropriate finish that saw Punk feed McIntyre friendship bracelet beads before delivering a chain-assisted Go To Sleep for the win.

Expectations were high entering this match based on the story that preceded it and the promised brutality from Monday's final promo segment, and both men delivered. This was everything it needed to be.

It was brimming with appropriate violence that made sense without pushing the boundaries for shock's sake and felt like a fight between two guys who genuinely hated each other.

Punk winning was the right call, especially considering it was the feud-ender, and leaves no window for the program to continue. Both men are clear to move on and they should.

How McIntyre retains his year-long momentum remains to be seen, but Punk almost certainly emerged as a potential challenger for Gunther, with seeds for that feud having been planted already.

Result

Punk defeated McIntyre

Grade

A+

Top Moments and Takeaways

• Punk obliterated McIntyre with a toolbox to the face in a callback to Hart and Austin's epic Submission match in 1997.
• Punk bled, but McIntyre gushed. It had been a long time since fans had been exposed to that level of crimson mask in WWE.
• The introduction of beads late, after teasing the black bag typically associated with thumbtacks, was a nice touch and played into the most controversial element of the story.

WWE Women's Championship: Bayley vs. Nia Jax

The saga of Tiffany Stratton, Money in the Bank and whether she intends to cash in hung over the WWE Women's Championship match between Nia Jax and Bayley.

It also heavily factored into the closing moments of the match itself.

Familiar foes broke out new moves and inventive counters to keep the other off-guard. The Irresistible Force utilized her strength and size advantage early, but Bayley answered with the grit and tenacity that have defined her career.

Late in the match, Stratton appeared and capitalized on a ref bump to bash the challenger with her Money in the Bank briefcase. Referee Jessika Carr recovered and grabbed the case, giving the impression that The Center of the Universe was going to cash in on a fallen Jax, earning her the wrath of the Queen of the Ring.

Bayley nearly scored the win with a roll-up, but one last distraction by Stratton allowed Jax to cut her opponent off, deliver a super Samoan Drop and score the win.

Bayley and Jax were in an unenviable position of following Hell in a Cell but they delivered. A few spots were anything but clean or pretty, but they recovered nicely and told the story they needed to.

The tension between Stratton and Jax remains. Bayley will have a legitimate gripe with Naomi, who is supposed to be her friend but was busy partying with Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair instead, leaving her to go it alone against the heels. That should be a key story direction coming out of the show.

Result

Jax defeated Bayley to retain

Grade

B

Top Moments and Takeaways

• "This has been a Mets-style thrashing by Nia," Michael Cole said on commentary, to the dismay of Phillies fans.
• Jax broke out a Nia-canrana that was anything but pretty, but it was super-cool and something we do not see out of the champion every day. Her commitment to getting better and living up to this run has made hers one of the best stories of 2024.
• The ref bump on Carr was unintentionally hilarious. 

Damian Priest vs. Finn Bálor

Credibility is nearly nonexistent for The Judgment Day following Damian Priest's victory over Finn Bálor Saturday night in Atlanta.

Even during the heat portion of the match, it never really felt like the inaugural universal champion ever had a chance to beat The Archer of Infamy.

Priest fended him off and rolled until Carlito and JD McDonagh interjected themselves late in the match.

A brief moment of drama saw Bálor appear to have the match won after executing two Coups de Grace to the back of his opponent, only for Priest to shake them off and deliver South of Heaven for the win.

And with that decision, The Judgment Day look incredibly incompetent.

They had a numbers advantage, a hobbled Priest and still couldn't take advantage. They were dispatched relatively easily and the babyface won.

How the group recovers from that booking is a great question and something Triple H and the creative team will have to address quickly if the goal is to keep them a focal point of Raw.

Result

Priest defeated Bálor

Grade

C+

Top Moments and Takeaways

• Priest YEETed Bálor across the announce table at one point.
• This was the coldest match of the night, likely because the crowd had zero belief in the heel.

Triple H's Historic Announcement

WWE chief content officer Triple H not only revealed a historic night at the box office Saturday night for Bad Blood, but he also unveiled the Crown Jewel Championship.

The title will be completed for on November 2 at Crown Jewel in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia as the top two men's and women's champions compete against each other, with the winner hoisting the new diamond-studded belt.

Gunther appeared and wasted little time taunting Goldberg, who sat ringside with his wife and son.

The WWE Hall of Famer hopped the guardrail and would have battled The Ring General had security not stepped in. Instead, Sami Zayn jumped the Austrian in a preview of their main event Monday night on Raw.

Goldberg stood tall to close out the segment.

A lot happened here but it was a good angle that made solid use of Goldberg, featured a major announcement that adds some stakes to Crown Jewel and hyped Monday's world title match.

Grade

A

Top Moments and Takeaways

• "I was Terra Ryzing WCW!" Triple H joked, mocking his early gimmick.
• "I hope you're a better father than you were a professional wrestler," Gunther told Goldberg.
• Frantic and stressed Adam Pearce is the best Adam Pearce. 

Women's World Championship: Rhea Ripley vs. Liv Morgan

The first two-thirds of Liv Morgan's Women's World Championship defense against Rhea Ripley made for a strong match that saw the heel use her opponent's intensity and emotion against her to seize control before Mami fired off a comeback and dominated her late.

Cue the Dominik Mysterio and shark-cage nonsense, as he somehow managed to open the door and drew the attention of the challenger, who proceeded to tee off on him with a kendo stick as he hung upside down from the cage.

Raquel Rodriguez made her return, wiping out Ripley and drawing the disqualification win for The Eradicator. The former women's tag team champions celebrated along with Mysterio to close things out.

The finish was overbooked and unnecessary.

Mysterio easily could have remained in the cage and unable to help Morgan, while Rodriguez interfered on behalf of her friend and tag team partner to draw the disqualification. Ripley moves on to feud with Rodriguez, and Morgan finds another challenger to keep her busy for a few months.

Easy.

Instead, what we got was a drawn-out finish that fell flat and did not generate the reaction one would have hoped for from the return of a former champion.

Ripley vs. Rodriguez will be a quality feud, and it was more than time for this chapter of the rivalry to come to an end, but the execution here left a lot to be desired and dragged down what was otherwise a good match.

Result

Ripley defeated Morgan via disqualification

Grade

C+

Top Moments and Takeaways

• "I hope one day, she meets a guy with big muscles. Maybe even Australian," Corey Graves said in a nice tongue-in-cheek reference to Ripley's husband, Buddy Matthews of All Elite Wrestling.
• Ripley and Morgan have some serious in-ring chemistry, and it would be nice to see them start and end a match without chicanery. Of course, that would negate the reason for them wrestling anyway, but still...

Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns vs. Solo Sikoa and Jacob Fatu

Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns, despite questions about their ability to coexist, fended off the concentrated attack of Jacob Fatu and Solo Siko Saturday night, besting The Bloodline in the main event.

The match took the form of a standard tag team bout for its majority, with the heels working over The American Nightmare before the hot tag to The OTC sparked the comeback.

The babyfaces rolled from there, with Rhodes wiping out Fatu with a splash from the top of the ring post and through the announce table and setting the stage for a Reigns-Sikoa showdown.

Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa made their presence felt, but the returning Jimmy Uso wiped them out at ringside and provided the distraction that allowed Reigns to deliver a Spear for the win.

A post-match beatdown of Rhodes by the heels drew Reigns and Uso back to the squared circle and a tense staredown between the babyfaces appeared to close out the show until The Rock made his return, standing at the top of the aisle and staring down the champion and The OTC.

The show went off the air with some intimidating gestures from The Final Boss.

And with that, the road has been paved to Survivor Series: WarGames.

Rock's return interjects him back into The Bloodline story, and while he gestured at Rhodes and Reigns, it is not out of the question that the three fingers he put up, followed by the throat-slashing sign was directed at Sikoa, who has now lost three high-profile matches as the new Tribal Chief.

Has The People's Champ returned to seize control of The Bloodline in a battle with Reigns and in pursuit of Rhodes' title? It would seem that way. How does it affect Survivor Series, where he almost certainly won't compete?

Then there is the return of Uso, which was somewhat overshadowed but essential to whatever it is WWE has in store for all involved at Rogers Arena in Vancouver on November 30 and into WrestleMania season.

That the company has taken a story that is four years in and still manages to create intrigue and questions is a testament to all involved.

Result

Reigns and Rhodes defeated Sikoa and Fatu

Grade

B+

Top Moments and Takeaways

• Reigns and Rhodes' "can-you-top-this" battle of special entrances before the match was a nice touch in showmanship and spectacle.
• Cole noted that this was the first entrance for a PLE match Reigns has made in four years without a WWE title over his shoulder.
• Continuing his trend of great calls, Cole noted the distrust and family feud between Rhodes and Reigns dated back to Battleground 2013, where Cody teamed with brother Goldust, and had his father, Dusty, at ringside for a match against Reigns and Seth Rollins of The Shield. 

Overall Grade

Bad Blood was a show sold on two matches: The Hell in a Cell showdown between Punk and McIntyre and the tag team match between The Bloodline and the team of Rhodes and Reigns.

For the show to be a success, those two matches needed to deliver above and beyond everything else.

They did.

Punk and McIntyre delivered a classic inside the steel structure, while the returns of Uso and The Rock put an exclamation point on Reigns' first match as a babyface since early 2020.

There were questionable booking decisions involving all aspects of The Judgment Day and The Terror Twins, which dragged things down a bit in the middle of the PLE, but the show as a whole was exactly what it needed to be as the unofficial kickoff to the Road to WrestleMania and all of the twists and turns it will take on the way to Las Vegas next April.

Grade: B+