Rhea Ripley joins Judgement Day!
Ronda Rousey is the new SmackDown Women’s Champion!
And WWE puts on a six man tag main event so good, everybody’s forgotten it didn’t
actually mean anything.
I’m Oli Davis and this is my review of WWE WrestleMania…
Backlash… in about ten minutes.
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[SUPPORT WRESTLETALK]
We might have all made fun of the name when they introduced it at the start of the year,
but now, just five months in, I can firmly say I love Premium Live Events over pay-per-views.
Kickoff shows are now completely miss-able with no actual matches on, meaning the show’s
actual run time was under three hours at just two hours 53 minutes.
It’s an excellent hack for the majority of viewers enjoying these shows more.
First, a three hour show will be far more digestible than a four hour one, keeping the
live crowd hot.
And secondly, with only six matches on this card, it almost halves WWE’s ability to
screw everything up with weird booking.
The PREMIUM LIVE EVENT opened on the battle of the red brand: Monday Night Rollins vs
Cody Night Raw.
For me, this match was even better than their WrestleMania Not Backlash bout, with the story
smartly built around that first encounter’s surprise nature.
Seth couldn’t prepare for Cody at Mania, but this time, he had every move scouted,
which created an excellent back and forth, counter wrestling pace - having far more in
common with a typical AEW match template than the standard ‘babyface gets worked over
for ages’ WWE format.
The final third of the match was pretty much just both guys hitting triangle for the reversal
again and again and again - with two Pedigree teases, a disaster kick caught into a Seth
Buckle Bomb, Seth missing a Phoenix Splash - a high risk move Rollins only busts out
when he’s getting despearate - an amazing Seth superplex, Falcon Arrow sequence, which
was countered into a CrossRhodes and Seth’s leg on the rope for a near fall.
Cody and Seth perfectly told the story of their one-upmanship rivalry with physical
action, which is pro wrestling in its purest form.
The finish was just as interesting.
Despite initially saying how much respect he had for Dusty Rhodes, Seth’s ego got
the better of him, and he went for the Bionic Elbow.
They traded a bunch of finisher attempts, Seth grabbed the tights in a roll up, but
then Cody reversed, with a fistful of tights of his own to win.
Meaning Cody won his second high profile match in WWE by cheating.
Why does everyone always end up booing me?
It was a heel move that played like a smart babyface getting justified revenge, rather
than actually coming across heelish.
And for me, Cody works best as a face who flirts with the heel side anyway.
This was match of the night for me, on a night of very good matches.
Hopefully it means Cody can move onto something else now with this winning momentum… which
could be winning Money in the Bank, as he announced in that Premium Live Event’s trailer
that the briefcase holder could main event WrestleMania.
That’s always been a possibility, but it being explicitly said could reveal WWE’s
longer term plans.
Cody winning the briefcase, and then announcing he’ll cash it in at the main event of WrestleMania
could be why he returned to the company.
It works with him chasing the title his father never won, is the best possible advertisement
for any other AEW star thinking the grass might be greener, and gives the briefcase
winner a direction and significance its lacked for nearly a decade.
What do you think Cody’s long term WWE plans are?
Tell me ‘Long Term WWE Plans’, what are those, in the comments down below.
In the old one for us, one for Vince McMahon card layout, we then got Bobby Lashley vs
Omos.
Sorry, did I say Omos.
I mispronounced it.
I mean.
The Nigerian Giant Omos.
Mostly thanks to Lashley and MVP, this wasn’t terrible, although it went way too long at
nearly ten minutes.
Lashley effectively wrestled himself, Omos took a very little urangai bump, but MVP hit
Bobby with the cane to lead to him losing.
This feud will unfortunately continue.
Speaking of the great counter wrestling in the opener, for me, Edge is one of the best
big match counter wrestlers ever.
And it was him cutting off AJ’s beginning fire with a big boot on his Phenomenal Forearm
springboard that put Edge in control here.
He immediately went to working over AJ’s injured shoulder, which has underpinned this
feud’s build over the last month, and led Styles’ ingeniously selling.
Rather than showing how much pain his body part is in, but then hitting all the moves
anyway - aka the Seth Rollins school of selling, where you go ‘ow, my knee, then hit a running
dive to the outside’ - AJ modified his moves to one-arm variants, smartly working around
his limitation.
The best example was Styles used a powerbomb onto the ropes to get Edge into the Styles
Clash position.
But then Priest appeared by the old fashioned walking down the ramp way, rather than just
appearing in purple light, who was taken out by AJ’s Bullet Club For When It’s Storyline
Appropriate Life Bestie Finn Balor.
AJ went up for a top rope Phenomenal Forearm - again, because his injured arm couldn’t
manage a springboard - but a hooded figure dragged him off, letting Edge choke Styles
out for the win.
The hooded figure then bowed a knee to reveal themselves not as Purple Ciampa as I had fantasy
booked in my own head, but a woman!
Rhea Ripley joined Judgement Day, making it feel like an actual faction, rather than a
two person team, or Sheamus’ bunch of rowdy lads.
Unlike Omos vs Lashley, I’m very much up for this feud continuing.
Rather than just the same two guys fighting over and over again, Edge has created a story
that keeps adding in new players, totally rejuvenating lost members elsewhere on the
roster.
And with Hell in a Cell round the corner, perhaps we’ll get a demonic intergender
six person tag: Edge, Priest and Ripley vs AJ, Finn and Liv Morgan - who has tweeted
out a too sweet Well that’s the end of Sunday Night Raw.
Now it’s time for Sunday Night SmackDown!
In what should have been the main event, given the star power, only title being on the line,
and eventual championship change, Ronda Rousey and Charlotte Flair went on third from the
top of the card.
I can see why.
On paper, a main event makes sense.
But in practice, WWE, and both performers, were at high risk of this match backfiring.
The feud has sucked, it often feels like heel vs heel, and the crowd could’ve easily just
decided to boo Rousey winning the title - not how you want to close the show.
They needed only slightly worry.
The match was a lot of hardcore fun and the title change got the desired pop.
Sure, the announcers table was the most over thing in the entire match, but I given the
story, I class that as a win.
Brutal kendo stick fight, tying into Charlotte’s infamous ‘heel turn’ on Ronda in 2018.
We want tables.
Charlotte lobs a giant TV camera at Ronda.
We want tables.
Charlotte powerbombs Ronda onto the barricade.
We want tables.
Ultimately, Charlotte sinisterly wished Ronda a happy mother’s day, before Rousey reversed
her submission into an arm bar through a chair.
Charlotte quit, and Ronda became the new SmackDown Women’s Champion.
It was later announced Charlotte has a fractured radius, writing her out of the company.
Hopefully meaning Ronda can follow this up with the new most over act in WWE: the table.
In the freshest feud of the Premium Live Event so far, Madcap Moss took on Slightly Miffed
Corbin in the bathroom break spot.
They work fine together, and it was fun seeing Corbin had learned a new move: a senton splash.
Moss got a technical pin to win.
And the main event proved why WrestleMania Backlash is one of the many times a year when
Raw and SmackDown superstars go head to head in direct competition.
Following ten minutes of entrances, the action still had 25 minutes left - another benefit
of not packing the card with matches.
The star power was undeniable here, and the idea of this six man main eventing a B-level
show with the intention of building McIntyre vs Roman for the future is a great idea.
The problem was it always felt like a panicked step down, as they had the unification stipulation
first.
That said, this six man was excellent, mainly telling the story of Reigns refusing to interact
with Drew, building to a fiery hockey fight between them.
But the real story is, unsurprisingly, how over Randy Orton is.
His hot tag got the loudest reaction on the whole show.
I love Drew, but the biggest match WWE can do right now is Roman vs Randy.
The finish was the typically crazy six man fun, with everyone hitting their finishers,
Roman putting Drew through the announcer’s table, and then Spearing Riddle for the win.
A really fun match with the Bloodline standing supreme.
Cool.
But what changed?
As great as this show was, this was a missed opportunity for Drew or Orton to get a win
to set up a much needed serious challenger for Roman.
What did you think of WrestleMania…
Backlash?
Let me know in the comments.
We got a new women’s champion, Cody overcame Seth, and Rhea Ripley joined Edge’s faction.
These are all great story beats, but, really, hardly anything feels like it’s progressed
since WrestleMania.
Backlash was a really, really fun show, with not a bad match on there, but WWE’s main
event scene remains a directionless, empty void.
Backlash is 70%.
Remember to subscribe, as Randy Andy Datson returns to the WrestleTalk News later today!
Watch Adam Blampied’s Backlash review here.