Rain Of Blood (2019)

The logo for Rain Of Blood (2019)

 SmackDown

**Rain Of Blood (2019)** was a professional wrestling pay per view produced by War Hawks Entertainment Inc. for their Raw, SmackDown, and LWL brands. It was the second event in the WHEI Rain Of Blood Chronology and was the first and only LWL exclusive pay per view of season 4. It was also the second pay per view of season 4 over all. Finally, due to the impending reboot, it was the final LWL pay per view for the foreseeable future. Therefore the show was tri-branded to unify the Raw and LWL Championships. As well as determine which brand will control the WHEI Women's Tag Team Championship and WHEI Cruiserweight Championship in Season 5.

It took place Saturday, August 10, 2019 from Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, FL.

In the main event Xerios defeated Randy Orton '13 to unify the LWL World Heavyweight and WHEI Universal Championships.

Also at the event every other Raw and LWL championship was unified. As well as the fates of the WHEI Women's Tag Team and Cruiserweight Championships were determined for Season 5

## Background

The card consisted of matches that resulted from scripted storylines that play out on WHEI's Raw, SmackDown, and LWL brands. Storylines played out on the War Hawks' weekly shows on Twitch *Monday Night Raw, LWL: Lethal Wrestling Legends* and *Friday Night SmackDown Live*. Wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters as they built tension that lead to a match or series of matches heading into the event.

Despite not sharing a similar name to its Raw and SmackDown counterparts, Rain Of Blood is meant to serve as LWL's WrestleMania revenge pay per view. With the show featuring rematches from the show. Provided one or more of the parties involved aren't drafted to one of the other shows in the draft.

Due to burn out, the decision was made to reboot WHEI and abandon all brands except Raw and SmackDown. As a result, this show will be the final show for the LWL brand, and will serve to unify all LWL and Raw Championships. as Sherania will be taking over the Raw brand in season 5. It will also feature a match between Raw and SmackDown female superstars to determine which brand will control the Women's Tag Team Championship heading into Season 5. To ensure that everything works the way the plan it to, Ironman stated that all Championship Unification matches will be No Disqualifications, and No Count Outs. There *must* be a winner.

The primary feud heading into the event was between Xerios and Randy Orton '13 with the two feuding over both the LWL World Heavyweight Championship and WHEI Universal Championship. At WrestleMania, Xerios lost the championship to Baron Corbin, while Orton beat Kevin Ownes at Payback to win the Universal Championship. However Corbin was drafted to NXT in the 2019 draft and Xerios had a pre-existing arrangement with LWL General Manager Stephanie Hudson-Lytle stating that should he lose at WrestleMania, he would get a rematch at Rain Of Blood against either the new champion, or the winner of a tournament should they be drafted. Steph honored this agreement and stated he would get his rematch at the event and would face the winner of a tournament. Due to the impeding reboot and retirement of LWL, the tournament was dropped and he was awarded the title due to brand loyalty. Setting up the title unification match at the pay per view.

Another feud heading into the event was between R-Truth '12 and Edge with the two feuding over the LWL Zodiac Championship and WHEI Intercontinental Championship. At WrestleMania, Truth defeated Bo Dallas to win the championship, while Edge retained his title at both WrestleMania and Payback. However in the previous game there was only one model for R-Truth and the current model was drafted to Raw. To rectify this, General Manager Stephanie drafted the 2012 version and awarded him the championship. The following episode of LWL featured a #1 Contenders Match to decide who would challenge Truth at Rain Of Blood. The tournament was dropped in favor of the unification match due to the reboot.

Another feud heading into the event was between Breezango (Tyler Breeze & Fandango) and #DIY with the two teams feuding over the LWL World Tag Team Championship and WHEI Raw Tag Team Championship. As the championship was not defended at WrestleMania Breezango were allowed to keep the title. They were also quickly drafted to LWL during the 2019 draft ensuring they would not lose it. This set up a title unification match at the pay per view between the two teams.

Another feud heading into the event was between Stephanie Hudson-Lytle and Nikki Bella with the two feuding over the LWL Leading Lady Championship and WHEI Raw Women's Championship. At WrestleMania, Ember Moon defeated Zelina Vega in the co main event to retain the championship. However, the previous night during the draft she was drafted to Raw, Steph subsequently said she would address the situation on the next episode of LWL. The match was later made into a title unification match due to the reboot.

Another feud heading into the event was between Marty Scurll and Killian Dane with the two feuding over the LWL Global Internet Championship and WHEI European Championship. The championship was not defended at WrestleMania, therefore ensuring Goldberg would carry it with him into season 4. However he had yet to be drafted so his future on the brand was uncertain. He still promised to defend the title at Rain Of Blood however. He was drafted to NXT, which was retired due to the reboot and the title was won by Scurll. This set up a title unification match between the two at the pay per view.

Another rivalry heading into the event was between Sting and Mojo Rawley. On the April 10, 2019 episode of LWL, during Sting's match with Batista, Rawley came out and interfered not once, but twice. Costing Sting the match. An infuriated Sting interfered in Rawley's match the next week. This led to a brawl between the two which lead to Steph making a match between the two for the pay per view. The match was later pushed to a special match to the pay per view to make room for a match for the Cruiserweight Championship which they are also keeping following the reboot.

Another feud heading into the event revolved around the WHEI Cruiserweight Championship. Initially, the decision was made to retire the title along with 205 Live and the other two titles on the brand. After polling people and getting their opinion however, the decision was reversed and the title remained active. A 6 Man Over The Top Rope Battle Royal was set up to determine which brand would gain control of it after the reboot. The participants were announced as Champion "Gentleman" Jack Gallagher, Finn Balor, and Rey Mysterio to represent Raw. While Heath, Ricochet, and Tyler Bate were chosen to represent SmackDown.

The final feud heading into the pay per view was between Absolution (Paige & Mandy Rose), The Empire Of The Rising Sun (Asuka & Kairi Sane), The Boss & Hug Connection (Sasha Banks & Bayley), and The Chaotic Kittens (Amber & Kat). With the four teams feuding over the WHEI Women's Tag Team Championship. The champions, The Chaotic Kittens (Kat and Amber) had yet to be created in 2K19 so they decided they'll wait until the reboot to bring them in. Meanwhile for this final pay per view they would have a 4 team match to determine new champions and which brand gets control of them for the reboot. This was turned into a regular match for the title when Ironman just created them with their previous year's incarnation as a template.

## Event

### Preliminary Matches

The pay per view opened with Sting taking on Mojo Rawley. After a brief and dominating performance, Sting picked up the win following a Scorpion Death Drop.

Next was a Fatal 4 Way Match for the WHEI Women's Tag Team Championship with champions The Chaotic Kittens (Amber & Kat) representing SmackDown defending against Absolution (Paige & Sonya Deville) and The Empire Of The Rising Sun (Asuka & Kairi Sane) representing Raw and The Boss & Hug Connection (Sasha Banks & Bayley) representing SmackDown. After a VERY brief match, Asuka made Amber tap to a modified STF to pick up the win for her team and the titles.

Then was a championship unification match for both the LWL Zodiac Championship and the WHEI Intercontinental Championship between Zodiac Champion R-Truth '12 and Intercontinental Champion Edge. After a great back and forth competitive match, Truth hit the Truth & Consequences to win the match, unify the titles, be recognized as the final LWL Zodiac Champion, and the NEW WHEI Intercontinental Champion.

After that was the 6 Man Over The Top Rope Battle Royal for the WHEI Cruiserweight Championship with "Gentleman" Jack Gallagher from Raw defending against Finn Balor, Rey Mysterio, both also from Raw, Heath, Ricochet, and Tyler Bate all from SmackDown. The match eventually came down to Heath and Ricochet with Heath dumping his fellow SmackDown superstar over the top rope to win the match and the championship.

Following that was a championship unification match for both the LWL Global Internet Championship and the WHEI European Championship between Global Internet Champion Marty Scurll and European Champion Killian Dane. After a great competitive match, Dain picked up the win following a distraction by his Sanity teammate Alexander Wolfe which allowed him to hit the Electric Chair Driver to win the match, unify the titles, and be recognized as the final LWL Global Internet Champion.

Up next was a championship unification match for both the LWL World Tag Team Championship and the WHEI Raw Tag Team Championship between LWL World Tag Team Champions Breezango (Tyler Breeze & Fandango) and Raw Tag Team Champions #DIY (Johnny Gargano & Tomasso Ciampa). After a brutal match, Fandango hit the Diving Legdrop on Gargano to win the match, unify the titles, have Breezango be recognized as the final LWL World Tag Team Champions, and the new Raw Tag Team Champions.

The penultimate match was a championship unification match for both the LWL Leading Lady Championship and the WHEI Raw Women's Championship between Leading Lady Champion and LWL/Raw General Manager Stephanie Hudson-Lytle and Raw Women's Champion Nikki Bella. After a decent match where Steph dominated most of it, she hit a Tombstone Piledriver to win the match, unify the titles, be recognized as the final Leading Lady Champion, and new Raw Women's Champion. This is made heartwarming as she gets to exit her brand's final show as its champion.

### Main Event

The main event was a championship unification match for both the LWL World Heavyweight Championship and the WHEI Universal Championship between LWL World Heavyweight Champion Xerios and Universal Champion Randy Orton '13. After a nice and decently stretched out match, Xerios hit a Tombstone Piledriver on Orton to win the match, be recognized as the final LWL World Heavyweight Champion, and the new Universal Champion.