Hiya!

I’m not sure but I think the WWE forgot why they created the Backlash pay-per-view in the first place. Correct me if I’m wrong but I thought it was supposed to feature matches directly connected to what happened at the previous month’s Wrestlemania. If I’m correct, how come only 3 out of the 5 matches at Backlash have a direct connection to Wrestlemania 41? Ahh, I guess the WWE forgot.

Anyway, let’s go check out what happened at this year’s Backlash!

The first match of the night was one of the matches which had a connection to Wrestlemania. This was the Fatal-4-Way match for Smackdown‘s United States Championship. This had Jacob Fatu, the current champ, LA Knight, the guy Jacob Fatu beat at Wrestlemania to become the champ, Drew McIntyre, who believes he deserves a title shot after beating Damian Priest at Wrestlemania, and Damian Priest, who got involved due to his feud with Drew McIntyre. See? Connected!

This was going to be a car crash. The only question was if it was going to be a spectacularly great one or a terribly bad one. Thankfully, it was the former! This was paced rather nicely. For the majority of the match, everyone did get involved in some form or another and there weren’t too many “one on one” fights despite there being 4 competitors. Everyone got their time to shine and there were definitely some highlights to talk about. Things like LA Knight hitting a double YEAH! elbow to both LA Knight and Damian Priest, Priest walking the rope Undertaker style to hit McIntyre with a crossbody, that slugfest between McIntyre and Fatu in the middle of the ring and that sequence of finishers which almost led to Priest accidentally pinning LA Knight after he got clocked by McIntyre’s Claymore finisher. However, this match was more of a starmaker for Jacob Fatu as, when he took control, he looked really awesome and someone to be feared.

The finish came after McIntyre hit Knight with his Claymore finisher but, before the official can count to 3, Priest dragged the referee out of the ring. This led to the Scottish Warrior and the former Senor Money in the Bank to brawl outside. Both of them took themselves out after Priest hit his South of Heaven finisher to McIntyre through a stage set up in the stands.

This left Fatu and Knight all alone in the ring. The Megastar managed to take control, bashing Fatu to the ringpost while outside the ring. Knight then set the Samoan Werewolf on the announcer’s table but, before he could hit an elbow drop, Solo Sikoa dragged Fatu to safety. Knight then stalked Solo but was hit by someone in the front row. This was Jeff Cobb and he seems to have aligned himself with Solo Sikoa’s New Bloodline. Cobb then destroys Knight with a crossbody while the Megastar was splayed on the ringpost. Jacob Fatu finally comes to and gives a confused and irritated look at both Solo Sikoa and Jeff Cobb before finally finishing off LA Knight with his double springboard moonsault to retain his United States Championship.

I do have some qualms about the screwjob finish but I also do like the implications as it did look like Jacob Fatu didn’t appreciate the interference. This does add a nice little wrinkle to the story. The match itself was good as there were some really good sequences and everyone managed to do something spectacular one way or another.

The next match of the night had Lyra Valkyria defending her RAW Women’s Intercontinental Championship against Becky Lynch. There is a loose connection between the two as they did win the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships at Wrestlemania. It turns out, though, Becky Lynch attacked Bayley, who was originally Lyra Valkyria’s partner. Also, when they lost the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships at the RAW after Wrestlemania, Becky blamed Lyra for the loss. So, yeah. This is a rather loose connection in my opinion.

Anyway, for a good chunk of the match, Becky Lynch was pretty much in control but, despite this, like with the Fatal-4-Way for the United States Championship, this was more of a showcase for the newcomer, Lyra Valkyria. She pulled off some really impressive moves here, such as a rocking horse, multiple surfboard holds, a beautiful delayed suplex from the 2nd rope as well as a running fisheman’s buster. Becky Lynch did her usual stuff but she was mostly there to sell and try to do some underhanded tactics, like trying to use the ropes for leverage, to get Lyra over with the fans. Hey, it worked on me!

The finish had Lynch hitting the Manhandle Slam on Valkyria but the latter kicked out. A frustrated Lynch then brought in a steel chair but this was just a distraction to remove the turnbuckle pad from one of the ring corners. Valkyria then tried to hit her Nightwing finisher but The Man gets out of it and tries to push Lyra into the exposed turnbuckle. Unfortunately for her, Valkyria stumbles and hits the middle turnbuckle instead. Lynch then hits another Manhandle Slam… but Lyra still manages to kick out!

The official then spots the exposed turnbuckle and goes to fix it. It’s at this time Lyra hits her Nightwing finisher but, as the referee had her attention on the exposed turnbuckle, Becky managed to recover enough to kick out. Becky then pokes Lyra in the eye and starts to go for another Manhandle Slam but switches over to a schoolboy pin instead. Lyra reverses it, however, and gets the pinfall victory to retain her RAW Women’s Intercontinental Championship. A very irate Becky Lynch then attacks Lyra Valkyria after the match.

As I mentioned, despite Becky Lynch being the bigger name, Lyra did come out of here looking like a star. She did some really incredible moves here and Becky Lynch did a good job of being the irate top draw losing in an apparent upset to the newcomer. I can’t be sure but, after the eye poke at the end, it did look like Valkyria was touching her nose and, even after the beatdown, she was still bothered by it. Hopefully, this was not a long lasting injury or anything like that as this match did make me want to see much more of her.

The next match of the night saw Dominik Mysterio defending the RAW Intercontinental Championship against Penta. Okay, this is the last match in Backlash which has some solid connection to Wrestlemania 41 as both Dominik Mysterio and Penta competed in the Fatal-4-Way for the belt then. It would’ve been nice to have seen Bron Breakker, who was the Intercontinental Champion before Mysterio, in the match. Still, this is still linked to that match so it counts as a legitimate Backlash match… barely.

The match was pretty good. I never thought Dominik was an excellent wrestler. He’s much better at being a character than an in-ring performer. With that being said, I do think he pulled his own weight here. He executed some fine looking moves like that suicide dive into a DDT. I have to say I was a little disappointed with Penta’s performance as it looks like he was told by the people backstage to reel back on his antics as they do slow down the pace of his matches. However, his antics are a part of what makes him entertaining in the ring. So, they’re kind of hamstringing Penta if that’s the case.

The finish was, well, a screwjob finish of epic proportions. Eventually, the rest of Judgement Day went to ringside. Carlito tried to distract the referee while JD McDonagh and Finn Balor attempted to attack Penta. Too bad Balor took too long to get a chair and this led to the official spotting them and ordering them to the back. Penta then launched himself over the official and into the Judgement Day members while they were complaining. Balor still tried to interfere and, while the official was dealing with him, El Grande Americano grazed struck Penta with his loaded mask. With Penta down, Dominik took advantage and hit a frog splash to get the pinfall and regain his WWE Intercontinental Championship.

This was a very entertaining match but this felt more like a setup for future storylines rather than to close out any loose ends after Wrestlemania (which is supposed to be the point of the Backlash pay-per-view). This sets up a possible feud between Penta and El Grande Americano. The infighting within the Judgement Day can brew a little longer because of Balor’s insistence of getting a chair. This was fun but the ending was overly booked.

The next match of the night was the former RAW World Heavyweight Champion, GUNTHER, facing off against… Pat McAfee. This has nothing to do with what happened at this year’s Wrestlemania! The only reason is that PatMcAfee defended Michael Cole after GUNTHER attacked him for saying he lost at Wrestlemania. That’s it and that is one of the loosest connections to Wrestlemania I’ve seen!

Okay, there was no way Pat McAfee was going to get in any massive offense because that would look ridiculous. After all, GUNTHER was the former WWE World Heavyweight Champion and having a commentator actually do damage to GUNTER would look dumb. So, they did the smart thing and just had GUNTHER punish McAfee. Oh, the former foolballer would get in a strike or two. His offense would be short lived as The Ring General would just take him down soon after.

However, I will say they booked this match pretty decently because, even though McAfee couldn’t get any major hits in, he could still show his resiliency, which it what happened. Things dragged a little too long until Michael Cole went to ringside to cheer his broadcast colleague on. GUNTHER dragged Cole into the ring and McAfee went for the save. GUNTHER was further distracted by Cole and McAfee went for a rollup for a 2-count. The Ring General then tried to suplex McAfee back in the ring but Cole grabbed GUNTHER’s leg, causing him to trip and McAfee landing on top of him! Even with Cole grabbing on GUNTHER’s leg, he was still able to kick out. McAfee went for a sleeper but GUNTHER powered out and locked on a sleeper of his own, knocking out McAfee. After the match, GUNTHER showed an uncharacteristic display of sportsmanship by acknowledging McAfee’s grit.

This was surprisingly enjoyable. It was booked right with GUNTHER simply dominating McAfee from bell to bell. Adding Michael Cole into the mix to make it seem like McAfee may eke out a win was pretty smart. I even like the ending with The Ring General showing some respect to McAfee after the match. I can’t say this was an exceptional match and they needed to shave off a couple of minutes as it did start to feel rather long. With that in mind, I can definitely say it was fun for what it was.

We now get to the main event of Backlash. This had John Cena defending the top prize of Smackdown, the Undisputed WWE Championship (apparently, according to WWE’s own website, they dropped the “Universal” bit), against Randy Orton.

We get to see more of this new rendition of a heel John Cena looks like and, honestly, he’s doing a good job. Things like stopping his turnbuckle punches because the audience is counting along and having a more smug look on his mug before delivering a Five Knuckle Shuffle goes a long way with me. The action wasn’t exactly spot heavy but it did have its moments. I do like how both Cena and Orton were trying to steal each other’s finishers to varying degrees of success. It’s a shame the big spot, the one where Randy Orton reverses John Cena’s Attitude Adjustment into an RKO wasn’t really obvious and we had to get the commentators to explain it. I appreciate the effort, though.

The finish seemed to go on for forever… in a bad way. Cena went to do Orton’s punt trademark but The Viper dodged it and attempted to hit an RKO. Cena blocked it and shoved Orton into the referee, knocking him out. Cena then took the Undisputed WWE Championship and went to clock Orton with it. However, Orton hit an RKO before Cena could do so but the official couldn’t get to position to count the pinfall. This allowed Cena to recover and kick out. The action spilled to the outside and Orton started removing stuff from the announcer’s table. The referee tried to dissuade The Viper but Cena, once again, came from behind and shoved Orton into the official, this time knocking him into the steel steps!

Cena then went to toss Orton through the announcer’s table but The Viper got out of it and hit an AA of his own to Cena through the table… kinda. The table actually didn’t buckle and I think Cena dislodged one of the end afterwards, which looked pretty silly if you ask me! In a possible adlib, Orton found a table underneath the ring and hit another AA to Cena through that table! Orton then hit an RKO to Cena in the ring but the new referee took his sweet time to get in, allowing Cena to recover enough to kick out again! Cena then tried to smash Orton with the belt but Orton ducked, leading to Cena hitting the referee instead! Another RKO by Cena but, once again, no referee! It’s at this time when the WWE suits ran into the ring and The Viper went mad and did an RKO party to everyone!

Orton then set up for a punt kick but, before he could make contact, R-Truth went between him and Cena! Sick and tired of what’s happening, Orton hit an RKO to R-Truth, taking him the man who grew up watching John Cena… allegedly. Cena managed to recover by this time and hit a low blow to Orton before clocking him with the Undisputed WWE Championship. Cena goes for the cover just as the first referee drags himself back in the ring to count the pinfall. John Cena is still your Undisputed WWE Champion!

The match itself wasn’t anything special in the long run. The closing, however? Sheesh! A lot went on here and, despite it being a screwjob, I enjoyed the spectacle. It was over the top and unnecessary but it’s there to really get the fans behind Orton and despise Cena even more.

Overall, this year’s Backlash was quite good. I can’t say anything special happened. No titles changed hands or anything like that. However, the matches themselves were entertaining and engrossing. It’s nothing to write home about and nothing you have to go out and watch immediately. Even so, I say give it a watch as it was pure entertainment.

Byee!

What did you think of this year’s Backlash pay-per-view? Let me know in the comments section below!