Rock's return, Hell in a Cell lift-up show

The Rock is back and doesn't seem happy with Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes – with a simple hand gesture signaling his feelings.

The massive return concluded and produced a mostly entertaining Bad Blood pay-per-view from State Farm Arena in Atlanta on Saturday.

It delivered an excellent Hell in a Cell match, three returns, and some creative bumps in the middle of the card – including a booking decision that was apparently rejected by the audience – as four of the five matches involved some form of outside interference.

However, it ended with a stellar flourish that set The Bloodline's story on the path to Survivor Series and WarGames.

Here are five takeaways from Bad Blood:

Angry boss

Most of Solo Sikoa and Jacob Fatu's match against Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns feels inconsequential because everything was set up for the returns and moments at the end.

A few things to note would be that Reigns got a stronger babyface reaction than Rhodes after both had WrestleMania-like performances with live music.

The payoff of the hot move to Reigns felt a bit lackluster and Fatu was booked as a monster. It took Rhodes hitting him with a callback top rope splash through the announce table to finally keep him down. Rhodes greeted Reigns and told him, “Thank you so much.”

The rest of the new bloodline came to the ring with Sikoa in trouble. Sikoa grabbed Reigns and yelled at him: “You lied to me! You told me it was my turn next!” as another figure wearing a mask appeared outside the ring between Toma Tonga and Tonga Loa.

It was a returning Jimmy Uso who was eliminated by the new bloodline in the storyline. He opened the door for Reigns to catch Sikoa off guard and spear him to victory. The hug between Uso and Roman caused a big bang.

Shortly after giving Rhodes a nod of approval, Uso had to convince Reigns to return to the ring to help the “American Nightmare,” who was being beaten up by the Bloodline. Reigns captured the WWE Undisputed Championship and slowly handed it back to Rhodes.

For the first time since April, it was The Rock's music hit. He stood alone as the bloodline retreated to the stands. He didn't say a word. We got a raised eyebrow, his fingers in the air doing 1-2-3, and a slit in the throat.

It feels like he's either citing Reigns, Rhodes and Uso as targets or alluding to Rhodes being pinned at WrestleMania and Reigns being pinned there by Rhodes 1-2-3. According to the final boss, he could be the rightful next player to face Rhodes and not Reigns.

Steal the show

CM Punk and Drew McIntyre gave their trilogy a worthy conclusion with an excellent, bloody and hard-hitting Hell in Cell match that will be one of the best.

There was the only wild scene where McIntyre outsmarted Punk from the apron in a confined space through a table on the outside. Both men were bloodied in various places, Punk from gunshots from a wrench and McIntyre from a punch from a toolbox.

Many weapons were used, and most of them had a specific purpose. Punk damaged McIntyre's back by dropping him onto an upside down table with his legs torn off. However, the wrenches kept appearing.

McIntyre hesitated to use one in the middle of the game and missed a claymore. He later used a wrench to break the Anaconda Vice. Punk ended up ready to smash a pleading McIntyre with a wrench, but the Scottish warrior countered with a low blow.

Here again came McIntyre's hubris and his desire to humiliate Punk – which is what cost him in this entire feud. Instead of thumbtacks, McIntyre dropped friendship bracelet beads onto his opponent's head.

He would miss the claymore attempt, sending his already injured lower back crashing into the ring steps in the center of the squared circle. Punk took advantage, putting a chain around his knee for the third time in the match and pinning McIntyre to finally end this feud.

Punk collapsed on the way to the back to express the brutality of it all while being attended to by medical personnel. Is heavyweight world champion Günther next?

Torn away

Atlanta audiences were ready for Rhea Ripley's full revenge on Liv Morgan and Dominik Mysterio. They moved toward the crescendo, with Ripley beating Mysterio like a pinata while he hung from the shark cage by his bound ankle.

At that moment, Raquel Rodriguez returned after a months-long absence with a storyline injury inflicted by Ripley to attack Mami, making the match a DQ and securing the Women's World Championship from Morgan – her former tag team partner.

The crowd booed the finish and there was no clean winner and not Rodriguez as was probably intended. That could change in the future, but the decision backfired on WWE for one night as we'll likely have to endure this story for months before it really pays off.

Everything that led to the questionable goal was good. Mysterio – who had a fun low-rider cameo with Morgan – played on his panic of growing up in a cage and his fear of heights. Morgan went straight for Ripley's knee, the injury that was at the center of the story leading up to the game.

Morgan attempted a Three Amigos Suplex, but Ripley countered the third. Ripley went to the top rope and did her own homage to Eddie Guerrero and Jey Uso before a Frog Splash, but Mysterio somehow managed to open the cage door and Morgan kicked out.

Morgan and Ripley fought to the ground as the challenger performed a Riptide in front of Mysterio. Mysterio fell over the edge and tried to check on Morgan. After Ripley brought Morgan back into the ring, he pulled out a kendo stick from under the ring to defeat Mysterio. It set the questionable finish in motion.

WWE probably wants to keep the title on Morgan, but she needs some muscle to make it believable.

It was part of a mediocre evening for Doomsday-related games. Damian Priest and Finn Balor delivered a match that would probably have been better suited to Raw. There was nothing wrong with that, but nothing special either.

Priest controlled the game early and often with plenty of heavy offense. Predictably, things changed when JD McDonagh, Carlito and Mysterio from “The Judgment Day” got involved. It gave Balor the opportunity for a coup de grace, but Priest threw the ball out. Finally, Balor tried another top rope move and Priest caught him, so a South of Heaven won.

Queen still reigns

The final script remained the same after Bayley and Jax stepped out of their comfort zone. This was especially true for Jax, who dealt numerous counterattacks – including a hurricanrana reversal. There was a funny spot where Jax was on the floor outside the ring and Bayley couldn't pull her back.

Bayley had won the match with a Rose Plant, but the referee was out after Jax accidentally fell on her. Tiffany Stratton stormed out with her Money in the Bank briefcase and knocked Bayley down. Just as Stratton was about to officially cash in, Jax did an Undertaker-esque sit-up and argued with her friend in the corner about almost getting cheated on.

Bayley took advantage and performed a rollup on Jax. She kicked out and Bayley tried to go back to the top rope. Stattron threw the briefcase at her to distract her. Jax jumped up and performed an Avalanche Samoan Drop. He then pulled Bayley over to hit an Annihilator to retain the WWE Women's Championship.

Jax, the Queen of the Ring, is being referred to as a queen a lot lately. Could a returning Charlotte Flair be next?

Bonuses added

WWE set up a VIP area in one of the suites, where hosts Bianca Beliar, Jade Cargill and Naomi threw a party for WWE stars, legends and artist Metro Boomin, which they shortened to double the size. I'd much rather watch a sixth match, although I thought it would be a cool way to take the time to introduce a dozen or so WWE Hall of Famers at ringside.

It appears that WWE has laid the groundwork for a possible match between Gunther and Goldberg as the World Heavyweight Champion came out and started hurling insults at the Hall of Famer and former Atlanta Falcon, who was sitting ringside with his family. Goldberg got hot and jumped off the barricade after Gunther told his son Gage that he hoped his father was a better father than a wrestler.

This comes after Triple H announced that the Men's and Women's World Champions will compete each year at Crown Jewel in matches that will have a final outcome to determine the winner of the newly unveiled Crown Jewel Champion belts determine. This smells like WWE is creating more new awards to give out at shows in Saudi Arabia – like the Greatest Royal Rumble belt and Best in the World Cup – to give them a prestigious feel. Booking for this should be interesting to say the least.

Biggest Winner: CM Punk

Biggest loser: Finn Balor

Best Match: CM Punk vs. Drew McIntyre

Degree: B+