Badd Blood

  It is not that B.J. Darnell did not know how to spell. He added the extra letter to Badd Blood because he thought it sounded cool and many of the fans seemed to agree with him.  At least Badd Blood had more of a ring to it than Speed, the original alias he took when he started wrestling in California in the early 1990s.

In 1997, Badd Blood made trips to Arizona for Rage In The Cage in Tucson. Rather than coming in on his own, he arrived with a clique of heels and started the "invasion" angle seen in so many other places. In the company of El Condor, Sheik Abdul and Kimara, he started a miniature war with the local heroes such as Section 8, Billy Scream, Lance Ferraro  and The California Kid.

Badd Blood physically did not look so "bad" or intimidating, as he was a tall, thin wrestler with little muscle tone. He did a lot of flying moves and fancy spins as opposed to power maneuvers. Using chairs and such also helped him establish himself as a serious villain.

One of Badd Blood's best matches came at the race track in Tucson, where he faced another rule breaker in a hell versus heel match. Widowmaker William Barker was his opponent and the two engaged in a wild brawl which saw them taking legitimate injuries. Still, they persisted, though Barker had a deep gash in the back of his head from one of the blows with a chair.

"They came to Arizona quite a bit and I think they were doing it for press for themselves," commented  manager Rainbow. "The pay could not ahve been great, but what I think they were doing was using the Arizona run as a means to get more more money and more pull for themsleves back in California. That's okay in its own right. The main reason they were so gung ho to make these long trips from Los Angeles to tucson was not so much to become big Arizona attractions, but for politics back in California. They could tell people how they were working Arizona and could tell promoters they had bookings in Tucson and if the California promoters wanted them to work the California cards, they woudl ahve to pa more. Also, they could have used the promise of gettign other guys booked from California into Tucson, which they  did. It was a smart move."

After Rage In The Cage moved from the dog track to another venue, the trips for Badd Blood and crew became less common. Eventually, the whole clan decided to focus on California action and an occasional stint on the other side of the Mexican border instead.