Background in
Houston,
Texas.
Bad Blood was first held as the
18th In Your House pay-per-view (PPV) in October 1997;
In Your House was a series of monthly PPV shows first produced by the then-
World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) in May 1995. 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. After six years, and after the promotion had been renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in early 2002, WWE announced the return of Bad Blood (with the stylization being "Bad" instead of "Badd") as its own PPV event to be held on June 15, 2003, at the
Houston,
Texas, replacing the previously annual
King of the Ring PPV. It was also made exclusive to wrestlers of the
Raw brand, 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.
Storylines 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
main event at Bad Blood featured
World Heavyweight Champion Triple H defending the title against
Kevin Nash in a
Hell in a Cell match. The buildup to the match began at
Backlash, where Triple H nailed Kevin Nash with a
sledgehammer during a
six man tag team match, enabling Triple H to
pin Nash for the victory. At
Judgment Day, Nash defeated Triple H in a
singles match via
disqualification, but didn't win the championship. On the May 19 episode of
Raw, after Triple H successfully defended the World Heavyweight Championship against
Ric Flair,
Co-General Manager Steve Austin announced that due to Nash winning at Judgment Day by disqualification, Nash would face Triple H again at Bad Blood for the World Heavyweight Championship in a Hell in a Cell match. On the May 26 episode of
Raw, the
feud between the two wrestlers intensified when
Randy Orton and Triple H attacked Nash. On the June 2 episode of
Raw, Nash teamed with
Shawn Michaels and
The Hurricane defeated
Evolution in a
tag team match. After the match, Nash delivered a
Jackknife powerbomb to Triple H. On the June 9 episode of
Raw, Austin announced that
Mick Foley 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 the May 26 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, Co-General Manager
Eric Bischoff announced that the Flair versus Michaels match was to take place instead at Bad Blood. Later that night, Flair and Michaels lost to Triple H in a
handicap match after Flair betrayed Michaels, enabling Triple H to finish him off with the Pedigree. On the May 19 episode of
Raw, it was revealed 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 episode of
Raw, Jericho held a 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, especially 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 Co-General Managers, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Eric Bischoff, who were feuding over who was the better authority. On the June 2 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. == Event ==