The event was notable as it featured the promotion's first-ever Hell in a Cell match, which pitted The Undertaker against Shawn Michaels and saw the debut of Undertaker's storyline brother Kane, who interfered in that match by hitting the "Tombstone Piledriver" on the Undertaker, which allowed Michaels to win and become the number one contender for the WWF Championship against reigning champion Bret Hart at Survivor Series. The show would also mark the last time Vince McMahon was featured as the chief broadcaster of the commentating team for a pay-per-view event and started his career as an on-screen professional wrestler using a gimmick known by the ring name Mr. McMahon, based on his real life persona. According to WWE, the Montreal Screwjob, which took place at Survivor Series 1997, is considered the beginning of the Attitude Era.[3] Thus, Badd Blood: In Your House was the last WWF PPV of the New Generation Era.
This was one of the In Your House events which later became the title of an annual pay-per-view, replacing the method at the time of making new names for all events aside from the "Big Five" (Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, King of the Ring, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series). Unlike the other former In Your House events that became their own PPVs over the following year after In Your House's discontinuation, Bad Blood (stylized with one "d" in "Bad") did not return until June 2003, becoming the annual June PPV; however, it was short-lived as the event was discontinued after the 2004 event, but was later revived in October 2024 on the 27-year anniversary of this first event.
The show's theme song was the first theme song of former WWE star Steve Blackman.
The main feud heading into Badd Blood involved The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels. The rivalry dated back to August at SummerSlam, when Michaels served as special guest referee for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship match between The Undertaker and Bret Hart. Michaels tried to hit Hart with a chair but accidentally struck Undertaker instead, causing Hart to win the match and the title. After a previous match between Undertaker and Michaels to determine a number one contender for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship ended in a double Disqualification at Ground Zero: In Your House, a cage match called a Hell in a Cell match was scheduled for Badd Blood, which would be the first-ever Hell in a Cell match held by the WWF.
Undertaker's former manager, Paul Bearer, had his face burned by a fireball thrown by Undertaker at In Your House 14: Revenge of the 'Taker; Bearer compared the incident to a fire that burned down the funeral home that killed The Undertaker's parents and possibly his younger half-brother for which he blamed The Undertaker but Undertaker denied it. Bearer claimed to have proof in the form of Undertaker's half brother Kane, who was alive after all. Bearer revealed that he had raised Kane after the fire and that Kane now was coming to the WWF to challenge Undertaker.
On the afternoon of the event, Brian Pillman, who was scheduled to face Dude Love on the show, was found dead in his hotel room. The announcement was made to fans during the half-hour "pregame show" prior to the pay-per-view being broadcast.
At the top of the show, as the Nation of Domination were preparing for their match, Vince McMahon mentioned, as had already been announced on the Free For All pre-show, that Brian Pillman died earlier that day (October 5, 1997). Also, this was the last pay-per-view event that McMahon called in his position as the WWF's chief broadcaster, as he left the broadcast team altogether following the events of the next month and started his career as an on-screen professional wrestler using a gimmick known by the ring name Mr. McMahon, based on his real life persona.
The event started with the Nation of Domination taking on The Legion of Doom in what was supposed to be a six-man tag team match. However, Ken Shamrock (who was supposed to be Hawk & Animal's partner) was out due to injury. Faarooq interfered on behalf of his Nation teammates, which enabled Kama Mustafa to kick Hawk in the back of the head and Rocky Maivia to execute the Rock Bottom for the pin.[5]
Due to Pillman's death, his match with Dude Love was canceled and two matches had to be added to the card at the last minute to fill out the time. The first of those was a midget wrestling tag team match pitting Max Mini and Nova against Tarantula and Mosaic; Max Mini and Nova emerged victorious when Mini pinned Tarantula despite a kickout at 2.[5]
The Headbangers then defended their WWF Tag Team Championships against The Godwinns. Late in the match, Phineas caught Mosh attempting the Mosh Pit and powerbombed him for the pin while Uncle Cletus held Thrasher to prevent him from making the save. After the contest was over the new champions assaulted the old champions, only stopping when threatened with losing the belts.
The next match saw the finals of the Intercontinental Championship Tournament, where Owen Hart faced Faarooq for the belt that Stone Cold Steve Austin was forced to vacate due to an injury he suffered at SummerSlam in August. Austin was at ringside for the contest, as he was to present the belt to the winner. Austin also served as guest timekeeper and guest commentator, and factored in the outcome as he hit Faarooq with the belt to knock him out while Commissioner Slaughter, who was also at ringside to prevent any incidents, was distracted. Hart then pinned Faarooq to win the intercontinental title.
WWF ChampionBret Hart and The British Bulldog took on Vader and The Patriot in a tag-team match that followed the eight man tag. Originally scheduled to be a capture-the-flag match, where the object was to go to the opponent's corner and grab their country's flag (Canada's or America's) to win, this was changed to allow for pinfalls and submissions due to all four competitors entering the match with injuries. The change enabled Hart to roll-up The Patriot and pin him for the victory. After the match both members of the American team assaulted their opponents.[5] The match is notable for having two fans interfere by attempting to climb into the ring.
The main event of the evening saw Shawn Michaels face off against The Undertaker in the first ever Hell in a Cell match, with the winner to face Hart for the WWF Championship at Survivor Series in November. Michaels was initially accompanied to the ring by Triple H, Chyna, and Rick Rude, his cohorts in D-Generation X, but after the cage was locked all three of Michaels' allies were forced to leave the ring. Undertaker attacked Michaels early and often, and his opponent was unable to gain offense early in the match. Approximately halfway through the match, a cameraman was (kayfabe) injured, forcing the cell door to unlock. Michaels and Undertaker fought outside of the cell; Michaels was then thrown face-first into the cage, causing him to begin bleeding profusely. The two climbed to the top of the cell and fought, ending with Michaels hanging from the side of the cell while Undertaker stomped on his hands, causing Michaels to fall through the Spanish broadcast table. The two then returned to the inside of the cell, where the door was once again locked. Late in the match, Undertaker hit Michaels with a chair. As Michaels lay unconscious, Undertaker gestured but as he was doing this, all of the lights in the arena went out and organ music began to play. Within seconds, red light filled the arena and Paul Bearer walked to the ring with the debuting Kane. Kane proceeded to rip the door of the cell off its hinges, assault referee Earl Hebner, and enter the ring. He then turned the lights in the arena back on with his soon-to-be trademark gesture of summoning fire from the corners, and executed the Tombstone Piledriver on the Undertaker before exiting the cell. Michaels then crawled over to the Undertaker while referee Earl Hebner, who had also been taken out, slowly crawled back into the ring. Michaels pinned Undertaker for the victory.[5]
In 2015, Kevin Pantoja of 411Mania gave the event a rating of 5.0 [Not So Good], stating, "The show itself was pretty damn boring until the end. Besides the main event, only two matches earn two stars and they barely accomplish that. This may be because of the emotions after one [of] their colleagues passed away, but everyone, outside of the Cell match, seemed to kind of mail it in. Speaking of the Cell, it is the only reason you should go see this and saves this from being a terrible score. It is one of the greatest matches of all time".[7]
Aftermath
For the next several weeks leading up to Survivor Series, D-Generation X and the Hart Foundation engaged in a battle that largely centered around Bret Hart being from Canada. Michaels took opportunities to deface the Canadian flag quite often, including in their match at the event. As for the match itself, the controversial ending lives on in professional wrestling history as the Montreal Screwjob. Hart left the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) afterwards for rival promotion World Championship Wrestling (WCW).
Austin and Owen Hart resumed their feud that had been interrupted after SummerSlam due to his injury. Austin made it a point to interfere in every single one of Hart's title defenses to ensure that Owen would keep the title until Survivor Series, where he planned to take it from him. Austin did exactly that and kept the championship for most of the remainder of the year.
The Patriot disappeared from the WWF after Badd Blood due to injuries, but Vader continued to wrestle and was part of an eight-man tag match at Survivor Series where he was pinned by Davey Boy Smith. He then entered a feud with Goldust, which lasted until the Royal Rumble.
Ken Shamrock returned from his injuries shortly after Badd Blood and set his sights on the WWF World Heavyweight Championship. He got an opportunity at D-Generation X: In Your House when he faced off against Michaels, winning the match via disqualification. He resumed his ongoing feud with the Nation of Domination after that, specifically targeting Rocky Maivia (who by this time was known as The Rock).
The Godwinns lost their tag team championships to the Legion of Doom on the October 13 episode of Raw Is War aired eight days after Badd Blood. Shortly thereafter, the team began to move down the card and was eventually broken up and repackaged. The Headbangers returned to contending for the WWF Tag Team Championships for a brief period before challenging for the NWA World Tag Team Championship when that title began appearing on WWF programming as part of the WWF's NWA invasion angle. Mosh and Thrasher beat The Rock 'n' Roll Express for the titles in February 1998 and lost to Bob Holly and Bart Gunn, a repackaged version of The Midnight Express, the following month.
Kane won his debut match against Mankind at Survivor Series and entered various feuds with other wrestlers, with the goal to eventually bring his brother The Undertaker into the ring with him. For months and months Undertaker staunchly refused to face Kane, not wanting to fight his brother. Undertaker then returned to pay-per-view action at D-Generation X: In Your House by losing to Jeff Jarrett via disqualification, after Kane, who initially appeared to help Jarrett instead chokeslammed him, giving Jarrett the victory by disqualification. Undertaker's feud with Michaels continued until the Royal Rumble next year. He faced Michaels one final time at the Royal Rumble in January 1998, in a casket match for the WWF Championship. Undertaker lost the match after Kane and Paul Bearer, who came to the ring and looked like they were going to help Undertaker, instead assaulted him and locked him in the casket themselves to give Michaels the victory. After the match was over Kane struck the still-locked casket with an axe, then poured gasoline all over it and set it on fire. This was enough for Undertaker to finally agree to wrestle his brother, and the two began feuding with a match at WrestleMania XIV, which Undertaker won after three tombstone piledrivers.
The In Your House branding was retired following February 1999's St. Valentine's Day Massacre: In Your House event, as the company moved to install permanent names for each of its monthly PPVs, but was revived in 2020 as part of the NXT-branded TakeOver series.[8] After six years and after the promotion had been renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in early 2002,[9] Bad Blood (now stylized with a single "d" in "Bad") returned in 2003 as its own PPV event and was made exclusive to wrestlers of the Raw brand,[10] a storyline subdivision called the brand extension in which the promotion divided its roster into two separate brands, Raw and SmackDown!, where wrestlers were exclusively assigned to perform.[11] It would be a short-lived PPV, however, as Bad Blood was discontinued after the 2004 event, which was also Raw-exclusive.[12] Badd Blood: In Your House was notable for introducing the Hell in a Cell match, which was featured as the main event match for each Bad Blood event and would become the basis of the future Hell in a Cell PPV beginning in 2009.[4][10][12]
The tournament to determine the new WWF Intercontinental Champion was held between September 8 and October 5, 1997, with the finals occurring on October 5 at the pay-per-view. The tournament brackets were:
