Cheap Seats: WWE Bad Blood 2024 Predictions

This week has been insanely busy for me. I walked away from my job this week to accept an offer as a supervisor in a home for troubled youth who have been taken out of their home due to abuse, walking away from a job that I allowed me to pick and choose my own hours, while also giving me the freedom to skewer the lines of policy because I was that good at my job. It’s nerve racking, but at the same time I’m going from feeling like someone who takes advantage of people to truly being able to help people and making a difference in their life.

What amazes me is all the red tape to get certified for a job by the Department of Family Services. I spent 18 years in a government job and there is more screening for this job than what there was for a government job. But I’m at the tail end of it now, so finally getting a chance to sit down and collect my thoughts and try to put out something for reading purposes.

At least baseball isn’t a distraction now. My Cardinals missed the playoffs, and my other team, Baltimore, got swept out of the playoffs, so my weekly watch-list is reduced drastically until the NBA kicks off in a few weeks.

Before I get into the purpose of this opinion piece, however, I do have something I want to say.

WE are part of the problem. By WE I don’t mean readers or the IWC, by WE I mean opinion piece writers.

“I hate tribalism in wrestling” – writes an opinion piece to create more tribalism.

It’s both sides. The WWE fan wants to blindly follow WWE while trolling anything AEW, despite the fact they don’t watch the product. The AEW fan never wants to hear any kind of criticism, while passing judgment on a WWE product they no longer watch.

I’ll say it; I haven’t watched AEW in over a year. I’m ill equipped to try to critique the product or “fix” the product. I’m not who that show is geared towards. At the same time, I’m a WWE guy, but is it all butterflies and roses? No. There’s always room for improvement and constructive criticism. So let me challenge you.

If you are an AEW “guy”, you know your product has issues. Write something that addresses those issues and what can be done to BE BETTER. Take ownership. If you’re a WWE focused writer, again, take ownership. I’ll start. I enjoyed Raw, but as I was watching Raw, halfway through the show (guessing here) and we had seen TWO matches. That’s absurd. I understand WWE is more entertainment based, that’s why I’m more moved by it than I am the AEW product, but two matches in 90 minutes is unacceptable.

Quit grabbing the low hanging fruit. Tribalism is created by US, because rather than being productive and staying in your lane, there’s more engagement, more interaction, when a piece is written that blindly defends a product or blindly trolls a product. Get your engagement based on being interesting, well thought out, and articulate. Get your engagement by creating discussion rather than creating a battle of words in the comments

Leave the low hanging fruit and earn the engagement. Sometimes you’ll hit, sometimes you’ll miss.

Climbs off of high horse

Now that I’ve said that, I’ll go with another low hanging fruit simply because this week has been hectic and I want to get something out this week. So here’s my picks/thoughts on this weekend’s Bad Blood PLE.

Bad Blood is special to me. My first live wrestling event was October 5th of 1997. Sixteen year old me loaded up in my first car, a 1994 Buick Skylark, drove to Kiel Center in downtown St. Louis. Armed with my newly bought HBK t-shirt and a fake ID, I had a great night of wrestling and beer, with the pay off being Shawn Michaels winning the first ever Hell in a Cell match, and seeing the debut of the Big Red Machine, Kane. It was one of the most memorable nights of my life. So I’m overly excited to see the return of Hell in a Cell, at the event that started it all.

But without further adieu, let’s pick these. I’ll pick these in the rumored order for the card.

Drew McIntyre vs CM Punk

This feud has been excellent. In the end I don’t feel the winner really matters a whole lot, the true winner has been the fans. Drew walks away from this feud doing the best work of his career, and CM Punk cements himself even more as a legend of our time. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a Drew guy. The work he’s doing right now, if I had to name my one “must-see guy” it would be Drew. Even with that, CM Punk will and should win this. This feud is coming to a close, and after he’s done with Sami, I truly believe that CM Punk is putting over Gunther. That makes more sense and does more for Gunter if Punk walks out of this match as the winner.

Nia Jax © vs Bayley

First things first, I don’t see Tiffany Stratton cashing in yet. I believe Stratton is going to be a huge star, but I don’t feel like the timing is right for her to cash in just yet. I want to see her ready to have a real run as a legitimate champion and I don’t think the build is there quite yet.

Given that, I can see this really going either way. If I were booking it, here’s what I’m doing; Tiffy Time, feigned cash-in again to help Nia win, leading to Naomi coming to aid Bailey, but it goes horribly wrong and Naomi causes Bayley to lose, leading to a rift between them and an eventual full heel turn of Naomi and a one on one match. Naomi just hasn’t impressed me since she came back. Her matches have been lackluster, her character work has been run of the mill. I believe she needs something to try to spark her.

My picked finish though is the typical Tiffany helps Nia win to retain, but did she really help or was it a failed cash-in masked as aid? Have to keep that tension.

Damien Priest vs Finn Balor

Priest is, no matter your opinions on him, being built as one of the top guys of the company. Priest wins this match in what I think is the most obvious winner on this card. Finn only wins if this feud continues, and I think it doesn’t. My sneaking suspicion is Judgment Day is the next feud for the Wyatt Sicks.

Liv Morgan © vs Rhea Ripley

Rhea is officially the face of the women’s division. The way she’s booked, the way the crowd pops for her; that belt’s coming back to Rhea, but I don’t want to see it happen yet. I really feel like Liv has found herself in this current run. Say what you want about the state of the current Judgment Day, but Liv and Dominick are the two stars of that group. I think to pull the belt off of Liv just yet isn’t the route to take. Give her that heel win over Rhea, really push the whole “Rhea’s last two losses came at the hands of Liv” and build it toward a rematch for the belt that Rhea finally wins. In the interim, Dom somehow gets out of the cage, costs Rhea the match, and then give us a small detour where we get Rhea vs Dom before she comes back to Liv.

Will we get that match? Who knows, but either way, I’m picking Liv.

Jacob Fatu and Solo Sikoa vs Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns

Let me start this by saying I think the winner depends on the card placement. If this match opens I’m going with a straightforward win at the hands of Rhodes and Roman (which I hope doesn’t happen). If this is the main event I’m going against the tide.

Bloodline are the monster heels on Smackdown, but are in desperate need of a win. Solo is coming off of two straight loses to Cody, can he really take another loss and keep his momentum? It makes no sense. Jacob Fatu is the monster who needs to be protected more than anyone right now. Either way, if this is the main event I’m picking Bloodline to win.

Here’s my booking if I wrote the show. The Tongans get involved. Orton comes to the aid of Cody and Jimmy returns to aid Roman, fighting them off. Just when it looks like the Bloodline are going to taste defeat, Hikuleo debuts and is the difference maker in the Bloodline win. Then I would parlay that into Survivor Series where we see the five members of the Bloodline against Roman, Jimmy, Cody, Orton, and KO, where KO finally turns.

What are your picks for the card?

This weeks playlist:
Panic Hysteric – The Black Dahlia Murder
Made in Aus – To The Grave
Untruth – Ov Sulfur
Epic – Fight No More
Down – 311
Jane Says – Jane’s Addiction
Space Oddity – David Bowie
Toothless – Escula Grind
Hatred – Paleface Swiss
Timeless – The Weeknd w/ Playboy Carti
Blister in the Sun – Violent Femmes
Shout – Tears for Fears

Watched this week:
Office Space
See No Evil
Slaughter High
The Tank
All Fun and Games
Imaginary
All My Friends are Dead
Up in Smoke

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