Hiya!

It always happens after each Wrestlemania. After the WWE delivers their biggest show of the year, they then turn around and start firing people and making us all remember how terrible they can be. This year is no different with numerous WWE Superstars either getting their pink slip or just leaving the company for one reason or another. This always puts a damper on their next pay-per-view show, Backlash.

So now it’s up to the remaining WWE Superstars to show the fans we should stick around and not boycott them. Did they do it? Well, the only real way is to watch the show and check out what went down during Backlash.

The first match of the night saw Seth Rollins take on the returning Bron Breakker, who had Paul Heyman in his corner. Lots of really good action here, specifically with Bron Breakker as he got to show his physicality and Seth Rollins did a good job of making Breakker look good. Some of the better spots had Bron catching Seth’s double axehandle from the top rope to dump him to the outside, Rolling countering a spear attempt with a superkick, Breakker blocking a curb stomp attempt by Rollins and then turning it into a military press gutbuster, a fairly nice recovery from a botched cruxifix attempt from Seth with Bron transitioning into a beautiful standing moonsault and Seth Rollins hitting a superplex but, when he went for his patented falcon arrow follow up, Bron Breakker no sold the superplex and hit a falcon arrow of his own!

The finish came when Breakker attempted a frankensteiner but Rollins landed awkwardly on his feet. Rollins then hit a Pedigree to Breakker and then hit his Curb Stomp finisher. Before he could go for the cover, Paul Heyman climbed on the ring apron, distracting the referee. Instead of attacking Heyman, Seth went to the outside and grabbed a chair from under the ring because he knew Bron Breakker’s co-horts in the Vision, Austin Theory and Logan Paul, would try to attack him at this point. Seth was right and managed to fend them off. Rollins rolls back in the ring but Breakker recovered enough to hit a spear for a 2-count. Bron went for another spear but Seth countered it into a Pedigree! Rollins then set up for a top rope Curb Stomp but Breakker countered that with a spear. Breakker then hit another spear for good measure to get the 3-count and the win.

This was a really good match as it managed to showcase how good Bron Breakker is and this is the best way to position him as a future main eventer. Seth Rollins also made him look good with his selling and he got some good licks in himself. My only real issue here is how Bron Breakker needed Logan Paul and Austin Theory to run in. I think having Paul Heyman distract the official was enough. In fact, having the rest of the Vision try to interfere made Bron look slightly weak. That’s a minor quibble as the overall match was excellent.

The next match of the night had Trick Williams, the current holder of the 2nd most prestigious title in Smackdown, the United States Championship, in a rematch against Sami Zayn, who he won the belt from. Some of the highlights from this match saw Zayn pick up the steel steps but Lil Yachty, Trick Williams’ hype man or something, blocked Sami from using it against Williams, Trick hitting a gorgeous neckbreaker after Zayn turned his focus to Lil Yachty, Sami blocking an attempted avalanche bookend from Trick and connect with a sunset flip powerbomb and Zayn feigning an injured knee to try to rollup Williams for the sneaky win.

The finish of the match was odd. For some reason, Lil Yachty went on the apron to jaw with the referee. This allowed Sami to grab Lil Yachty kendo stick and brain Trick with it but he only managed to get a 2-count. Sami Zayn started stomping on Trick Williams relentlessly. The official then went to check on Trick after the beatdown while Sami set himself up in the corner for a Helluva Kick. This allowed Lil Yachty to sneak up from behind and strike Zayn with the kendo stick. Williams then hit his Trick Kick for a 2-count. Zayn tossed Williams to the outside but, instead of focusing on his opponent, he attacked Lil Yacthy instead. This allowed Trick to recover enough and strike Sami. Williams then tried to hit a bookend to Zayn on the steel steps but Zayn countered with a DDT to the steel steps instead! Sami tossed Trick into the ring but decided to take out Lil Yachty with a Helluva Kick instead of attacking Williams. Zayn then attempted a Helluva Kick to Williams but Trick dodged the kick and hit his Trick Shot knee strike finisher to get the pinfall victory and retain his United States Championship.

This match took its sweet time to get good. Before we got to the finish, this just looked like a match you would get on Smackdown. Once we got to the shenanigans, things did get very interesting. I do like how Lil Yachty never really got involved until Sami Zayn started attacking him. This does double duty as this makes Sami Zayn’s heel transformation more complete while also allowed Lil Yachty the justification to attack Zayn. I do wish the action before the finish was better, though, and I really want an explanation why Lil Yachty distracted the official at that point. It seems very dumb.

Taking up the middle spot of Backlash is Danhausen and a mystery partner taking on the team of The Miz and Kit Wilson. There’s has been a lot of speculation regarding who Danhausen’s partner was going to be. Some predicted it would be a WWE Legend or some big name in the current WWE Superstar roster. Technically speaking, it was a WWE Legend… sort of. In kayfabe, Danhausen cloned himself to get a miniature version of himself. A Minihausen, if you will. In reality, it was El Torito donning Danhausen cosplay. Still, in the WWE Universe, instant cloning is possible!

There’s technically not much to say about the match itself other than the closing moments. You do get the standard stuff with El Torito Minihausen Getting some offense in with acrobatic attacks like flying headscissors and springboard dives against The Miz and Kit Wilson. There was also that spot where Minihausen stood on Danhausen’s shoulders to hit a big splash to The Miz and Wilson. Eventually, the heels started to beat down on Minihausen before Danhausen gets the hot tag to clean house.

The closing moments is where they embraced the silliness of it all. Kit Wilson threw Minihausen into the cloning machine and this was a big mistake. That’s because this created an army of Minihausens to come out! They chase Kit back into the ring and the original Minihausen hits an airplane spin on Wilson before slamming him down with a wasteland slam! Original Minihausen tries to throw a curse on Wilson but Kit reflects is back with a mirror! The Miz sneaks up behind Original Minihausen and hits his Skull Crushing Finale finisher but Danhausen breaks up the followup pin. Danhausen hits a lou thesz press on The Miz and he send Kit Wilson to the outside with a clothesline. Danhausen chases The Miz outside but The Miz kicks Danhausen into the announcer’s desk. The Miz gets a fire extinguisher and tries to blast Danhausen with it but it backfires and the spray hits him instead. Danhausen tosses a dazed Miz into the ring. Original Minihausen climbs the turnbuckles and hits Wilson with a crossbody while Danhausen connects with a pump kick to The Miz to get the pinfall victory for his team.

I totally get hardcore/serious fans not liking this match. It’s silly and dumb. However, I’m of the opinion that professional wrestling should have room for silly and dumb. This match totally fits the bill. It was entertaining precisely because it was silly and dumb! I also like the Calvin and Hobbes styled imagination of Danhausen simply refurbishing the crate he used to debut in Elimination Chamber by just slapping the words “cloning machine” to make it work. My only real issue is the WWE spoiled the idea of an army of Minihausens as Danhausen already came out with that at Wrestlemania. They double dipped too soon in this regard.

The penultimate match of Backlash had IYO SKY take on Asuka (without Kairi Sane). These two had an uphill battle as the WWE Universe is still reeling from the fact the WWE fired Kairi Sane before she could finish her story arc with Asuka. So, the fans were definitely going to be more interested in trying to hijack this match to voice their displeasure. Thankfully, the two did just that. Lots of highlights here, including SKY doing her backflips before taking out Asuka’s legs, Asuka countering IYO’s springboard moonsault attempt by taking out her legs and then slamming SKY’s head into the steel post, SKY taking Asuka down with a wheelbarrow spin and then hitting a double footstomp, Asuka transitioning from a german suplex bridge pin and lock in an Asuka Lock and Asuka reversing IYO SKY’s attempted top rope hurracarana into a sunset flip pin.

The finish came when the match spilled to the outside. The two battled on top of the announcer’s table and Asuka tried to spray her poison mist into SKY’s eyes but IYO got one of the folders to shield herself from it! SKY then takes out Asuka’s leg and slams her into the table. SKY then hit a springboard moonsault to Asuka to the outside. IYO went for her Over the Moonsault finisher but Asuka rolled out of the way and locked in an armbar submission. Asuka then transitions into her Asuka Lock finisher but SKY rolls up into a pin to break the hold. The Empress of Tomorrow hits a german suplex and tries to follow it up with a kick but SKY ducks and hits a german of her own. IYO then hits her Bullet Train signature attack. She then follows that up with her Over The Moonsault finisher to get the pinfall victory. Afterwards, Asuka acknowledges IYO SKY’s victory and they hug it out, their rivalry finally finished.

This was a great match and it’s a testament to their in-ring chemistry and skill that they actually got the crowd to forget all about Kairi Sane not being here. Unfortunately, I didn’t. I just couldn’t help but think how much better this could have been if Kairi Sane was mixed in the chaos. Still, if you didn’t know about the Kairi Sane controversy, you wouldn’t have any complaints with the action and how it ended.

The final match of the night saw Roman Reigns defend the biggest prize on the RAW brand, the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, against Jacob Fatu. Before I get to the review, I don’t like how the WWE set off this feud. Having Jacob Fatu come out and say he hates Reigns because he didn’t bring him into the Bloodline feels cheap and didn’t make sense because, at that time, Roman Reigns already had an enforcer in Solo Sikoa. As such, I’m not incredibly invested in the match. Still, there were indeed a lot of fun moments. A lot of it had to deal with Jacob Fatu not selling some of Roman Reigns’ offense, making him look like a monster and Reigns the underdog. Weirdly enough, this does mean there aren’t a lot of highlights as most of what made the match good was making Fatu looked unstoppable.

The finish came after Reigns hit a spear to Fatu but the Samoan Werewolf kicked out. Fatu rallied and reversed a superman punch with a pop-up samoan drop. He then hit his Mighty Moonsault finisher but, because of too much momentum, he wasn’t able to pin Reigns quickly enough, enabling Reigns to kick out in the nick of time. Fatu assaults Roman with strikes and tries to hit a swanton but the OTC got his knees up to block it. There’s the “yay-boo” punches between the two with Fatu getting the upper hand. Fatu hits a big hip attack to Reigns in the corner and locks in his Tongan Death Grip. Reigns struggles to get out of the hold and, in the process, shoves Fatu into the official.

Reigns then hits a superman punch but it does fell Fatu. Fatu then hits a superkick and then tries another pop-up samoan drop but Roman transitions that into a superman punch. He follows it up with a spear but he only gets a 2 count! Fatu then locks in the Tongan Death Grip again and Reigns once again tries to fight out of the hold. This time, he grabs and removes the turnbuckle pad while doing so. Before the official can put it back, Roman slams Fatu’s head into the exposed steel. Reigns then hits a spear to finally get the pinfall victory to retain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and remain the top dog of RAW. However, the loss upsets Jacob Fatu as he assaults Reigns and the official after the match. Other officials come out but Fatu takes some of them out, including RAW General Manager Adam Pearce. Backlash closes out with Reigns lying in a heap and Fatu lifting the WWE World Heavyweight Championship belt over his head.

Although there weren’t any real memorable spots, this match was still good just because they really did a good job of making Jacob Fatu the WWE’s next big unstoppable force. It’s also interesting to see how they push Jacob Fatu in the future after this match as he did prove he is championship material. Overall, this was a really good match.

I’m actually surprised at how good this year’s Backlash was. While it still doesn’t excuse the WWE for firing a lot of their talent, including Kairi Sane, I can’t pretend this was a bad show. In a way, they did try to show the firings were justified as Backlash felt like they were trying to promote new guys like Bron Breakker, Trick Williams and Jacob Fatu. Still, poor form with all the firings, WWE! Poor form!

Byee!

What did you think of this year’s Backlash? Did it make up for all of the firings the WWE did after Wrestlemania? Let me know in the comments section below!