Bad Blood (2003) - Background

Background

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 other being SmackDown!.

The main event at Bad Blood featured World Heavyweight Champion Triple H defending the title against Kevin Nash in a ring surrounded by a steel structure of metal dubbed as the Hell in a Cell match. The buildup to the match began two months prior at Backlash, where Triple H nailed Kevin Nash with the sledgehammer during the Six man Tag team match, enabling Triple H to Pin Nash for the victory. The following month at Judgment Day, Nash defeated Triple H in a standard wrestling match, also called a singles match, via disqualification but didn't win the championship. The following night on an episode of Raw, one of WWE's primary television programs, after Triple H successfully defended the World title against Ric Flair, General Manager Steve Austin, a fictitious match maker and rules enforcer, announced that due to Kevin Nash winning the match at Judgment Day by disqualification, Nash would face Triple H again at Bad Blood for the World Heavyweight title in a Hell in a Cell match to avoid disqualifications. On the May 26, 2003 episode of Raw, the staged rivalry between the two wrestlers intensified when Randy Orton and Triple H, both of whom were members of Evolution, an alliance of wrestlers that also consisted of Ric Flair, attacked Nash. The following week during an episode of Raw, Nash gained redemption over the previous week's attack when he alongside Shawn Michaels and The Hurricane defeated Evolution in a tag team match. After the match, Nash lifted and sat Triple H on his shoulders and then slammed him back-first down to the mat, a maneuver Nash calls the Jacknife powerbomb. On June 9, 2003 during an episode of Raw, Austin announced that Mick Foley, a professional wrestler who had retired three years prior at No Way Out 2000, would officiate the Hell in a Cell match as the guest referee.

One of the featured preliminary matches was Shawn Michaels versus Ric Flair in a singles match. The hype to this match began on May 26, 2003 during an 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, the other General Manager, Eric Bischoff, announced that the Flair versus Michaels match was to take place at Bad Blood instead of on the broadcast of Raw. Later on that episode, Flair and Michaels lost to World Champion Triple H in a Handicap match after Flair cheap shoted Michaels, enabling Triple H to finish him off with the Pedigree. The following Monday on an episode of Raw, Michaels and Flair were in a promotional in-ring segment, where they both discussed who was the better wrestler. Later during the program, Michaels, along with Kevin Nash and The Hurricane defeated Evolution. The feud between Flair and Michaels enhanced on the June 9, 2003 episode of Raw. During the show, Flair and Michaels managed Randy Orton and The Hurricane, respectively; after Orton defeated The Hurricane, Flair and Michaels were scripted to brawl until the program went into a commercial break.

The other featured preliminary match was Goldberg versus Chris Jericho in a singles match. The buildup to the match began on May 12, 2003 during an 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. The following Monday on Raw, it was determined 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. On the May 26, 2003 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 esp. 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.

A non-physical rivalry developed between the General Managers, Austin and Bischoff, who were feuding over who was the better authority. On the June 2, 2003 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.