WWE Backlash took place at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on Sunday 6th May. It's been a busy month with Wrestlemania taking place followed by The Greatest Royal Rumble the week before. It's been a mixed bag so will Backlash be an improvement? Let's take a look.
The match on the Kick Off Show was Bayley taking on Ruby Riott. Riott hits a brutal right hand, giving her the advantage. Riott's friends, Sarah Logan and Liv Morgan, help Riott out with keeping Bayley down. Bayely hits a springboard crossbody to start her comeback. Bayley comes close with an elbow drop. However, a distraction by Liv Morgan gives Riott to hit the Riott Kick and get the win. This was a pretty good match between the two.
Winner: Ruby Riott (1 for 1)
The first match of the show was Hollywood Miz challenging Seth Rollins for the Intercontinental Championship. Miz sends Rollins crashing onto the floor to get the advantage. Rollins stops the momentum with a X-Factor. Miz goes on to hit 2 Skull Crushing Finales but it's not enough. In the end, Rollins manages to hit the Blackout to get the win. This match was really good and a great way to start the show.
Winner: Seth Rollins (2 for 2)
The next match is for the RAW Women's Championship as Alexa Bliss challenging Nia Jax for the RAW Women's Championship. Bliss goes after Nia at the beginning but Nia starts to use her strength to dominate the match. Even though Alexa gets some offense in, Nia gets the win after hitting a Samoan Drop. This match was decent but it felt like they copied bits of it from their Wrestlemania match.
Winner: Nia Jax (3 for 3)
Our third Championship match is Randy Orton challenging Jeff Hardy for the United States Championship. Hardy goes for the Twist of Fate early on but Orton stops it and goes on to get the advantage after drop kicking him off the apron. The match goes back and forth before Orton goes for the RKO. However, Hardy gets out of it and hits a Twist of Fate followed by a Swanton Bomb to get the win. I thought the match was pretty good.
Winner: Jeff Hardy (3 for 4)
Next is a concert by Elias but he gets interrupted by The New Day then Aiden English and Rusev and then No Way Jose with Titus Worldwide and Breezango. Holy shit. Elias gets interrupted for a 4th time when Bobby Roode appears out of thin air and hits Elias with a Glorious DDT. I felt that the segment was far too long and pointless.
Anyway, back to the wrestling. The next match is Daniel Bryan taking on Big Cass. Bryan uses his speed to go right after Cass. However, Cass hits a spine buster and then keeps Bryan down with punches and slaps. Bryan avoids a big boot and manages to get Cass to submit to Yes Lock to get the win. Afterwards, Cass beats up Bryan. I can't believe I'm saying this for a Daniel Bryan match but it wasn't very good. Big Cass just did moves that were very basic and the ending seem to come out of nowhere.
Winner: Daniel Bryan (4 for 5)
Our next Championship match is Charlotte Flair challenging Carmella for the Smackdown Women's Championship. After Charlotte is dominant at the beginning, Carmella manages to hit a brutal kick to the head then slows the match down with a chinlock. Charlotte gets back into it with multiple Flair chops. However, in the end, Carmella takes advantage of Charlotte injuring her knee while attempting a moonsault to kick the knee then fold her in half to get the win. Like the last one, this match wasn't great. Plus it seemed weird that Carmella won clean.
Winner: Carmella (5 for 6)
Next is a no disqualification match between Shinsuke Nakamura and AJ Styles for the WWE Championship. They spend the first portion of the match throwing each other into the barrier and the steel steps. The match goes back and forth before Nakamura remembers that it's a no disqualification match and sends Styles onto a chair with a reverse exploder suplex. Later on, Nakamura gives Styles his usual low blow but Styles returns the favour. In the end, Styles and Nakamura kick each other in the balls and the match ends in a no contest. This match was pretty shit and the definitely the worst of the three they have had so far. As for the ending, that was fucking abysmal.
Winner: No Contest ( 5 for 7)
The penultimate match is Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens taking on Braun Strowman and Bobby Lashley. Owens and Zayn manage to wear down Lashley but Strowman gets tagged in and completely destroys Owens and Zayn. In the end, Owens and Zayn turn on each other and Lashley pins Owens after hitting a vertical suplex...? Since when has that been a finishing move? Anyway, Strowman and Lashley, who are the faces by the way, beat up on Owens and Zayn some more. The match was well...meh.
Winners: Bobby Lashley and Braun Strowman (6 for 8)
The main event is Roman Reigns versus Samoa Joe...? Oh, for fuck's sake. Anyway, Joe attacks Reigns before the bell, which ends with him sending Reigns all over the announce tables. When the referee manages to get them in the ring and ring the bell, Joe continues to be dominant. Eventually, Reigns manages to recover. Joe goes for a muscle buster but Reigns stops it and hits a Spear to get the win. The match was quite good but it shouldn't have been the main event.
Winner: Roman Reigns (7 for 9)
I thought that Backlash started well then it came very close to being called up as evidence against WWE for Crimes Against Wrestling. Holy shit, some of the matches seemed weird and some of the endings are complete atrocities. Money in the Bank is next and, with the expection of the ladder matches, I'm seriously worried about the event.
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