Backlash RATE BACKLASH 2017

[C.M. Shaddix]

That is one hell of a push...

I wonder what the Backlash numbers were like in India?

Probably big over there, first Indian champ in WWE since Khali right?

 

[Grievous 3D]

Probably big over there, first Indian champ in WWE since Khali right?

I'm not sure...I (Thankfully) missed "the Khali Era"

 

[The Gipper]

This is definitely gonna lead to a generic foreign heel world title reign until Cena returns and breaks the record at SummerSlam as the all conquering American hero…I am calling it right now.

 

[¡Tranquilo!]

Probably big over there, first Indian champ in WWE since Khali right?

First WWE champion, Khali was World heavyweight champion.

 

[Randy Borton]

I'm so happy. The Champ is HEREEEEEE

 

[alexb]

For what is usually considered a secondary, kind of B level type PPV, Backlash actually turned out to be a very enjoyable and entertaining show, earning (as far as I'm concerned) a 7/10...Notes/thoughts:

- I bet you a dime Vince is sitting backstage, watcing the thunderous pop, reaction and love the crowd gave to Nakamura wondering "why can't Roman get this reaction?" Why????:sad2:

All joking aside, great job and, well, welcome to SD Mr. Nakamura :nakamura4:

- Tag Team Championship match was by far the most entertaining one of the evening and even though Breezango didn't win (as expected), I am really happy for both these guys. Between the Fashion Files and matches like last night, it's nice to see both Fandango and especiallyTyler Breeze being involved in good storylines and matches so good for them. Hopefully the Fashion Files will continue ( I see no reason not to) and I'm sure somewhere down the road they'll get another opportunity, where they actually do win the belts and have a run with them...

- When Becky Lynch came out sporting that new haircut, I was willing to bet it was a tell for a possible heel turn but this 6-Woman tag turned out to be quite uneventful, leaving me with a...meh reaction when it was over...

- Zayn winning clean actually had me scratching my head considering how high WWE is on Baron Corbin. Figured his push would continue and it's not like a loss here would have hurt Sami but whatever...

- Luker Harper vs. Eric Rowan: :idk::facepalm2:ooh:....who cares??? (and that ain't our fault)....

- Same shit, different show for KO. I mean, I did predict the countout win (though figured it would be the other way around, with KO being the one walking out and be counted out) but considering how great this match was (perhaps MOTN), the finish I feel left us a sour taste. Well, then again, it served it's purpose being AJ was protected so I guess it's all good...

- Perhaps a major shock :blackshock: for some, but to me Jinder winning was like reading an open book. As soon as this story started and he got the initial push, you just knew this was going to be the end game and whether it's marketing or just giving a "new face" a chance, I ain't got no problem with it. For one, anything is better that Randy Boring Orton and, hey, it's something different, something interesting and something that certainly has us talking, whether it's the longevity of this reign or his next opponent(s) down the road.

I'm already hearing the predictions/rumors of :supercena: returning to face Jinder (perhaps Summerslam) and though I'm sure WWE will be quite tempted (especially Vince), I am going to go on a limb here and say...ain't happening. Though I can understand the point and sense behind it, I feel it would actually be a waste for....John Cena himself. Now, WWE didn't really make it much of deal (as a matter of fact, it was barely mentioned) when Cena won the title back at the Rumble and tied Ric Flair's 16th Championship victory but surpassing that record and going on to be the very first 17th time champion is one big fucking deal that I just can't see WWE wasting in this situation. To be honest, I haven't put too much thought into it and how I'd book it but Idk, this just doesn't feel the right way...unless...

...now that I think about it, they actually go with this and Cena does come back and win the title at Summerslam, only to drop it eventually to AJ Styles at, say Survivor Series and then have Nakamura win the Royal Rumble, thus giving us perhaps the biggest money match there is from Smackdown's side at Wrestlemania: AJ Styles versus Nakamura for the WWE Championship. If THIS can be the plan then, by all means, DO IT !!!

 

[Solid Snake]

 

[Gman003]

I scored it an 8/10.
First wwe I've watched in over a month but it delivered. Each match was good. I skipped the women's match only because I had caught the end of that one live so I knew the outcome. And I made it all the way to the intros of randy and jinder, and then had the outcome spoiled by Google. All I did was Google what is the maharaja...and I started to read a headline that said maharaja, and proceeded to say the outcome. So, I didn't bother watching. Not that I wasn't interested, just once I knew who won, I had better things to do with my time lol

 

[InSaNe]

- When Becky Lynch came out sporting that new haircut, I was willing to bet it was a tell for a possible heel turn but this 6-Woman tag turned out to be quite uneventful, leaving me with a...meh reaction when it was over...

I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed. I almost thought they were going to go in a new direction with Becky Lynch. She looks like a punk rockstar or something. Lovin' the look. She already looks hot, but that haircut? Looks damn good on her. Moar, plz.

And Jinder winning the championship? Awesome. However, the highlight of the match for me was this...



Someone, please GIF that shit! :emoji_grin:

And everyone's excited with the whole "You can't hinder the jinder" or "You can't hinder jinder." They're playing into the whole "Jinder" trademark a little too much.

I'm already hearing the predictions/rumors of :supercena: returning to face Jinder (perhaps Summerslam) and though I'm sure WWE will be quite tempted (especially Vince), I am going to go on a limb here and say...ain't happening. Though I can understand the point and sense behind it, I feel it would actually be a waste for....John Cena himself. Now, WWE didn't really make it much of deal (as a matter of fact, it was barely mentioned) when Cena won the title back at the Rumble and tied Ric Flair's 16th Championship victory but surpassing that record and going on to be the very first 17th time champion is one big fucking deal that I just can't see WWE wasting in this situation. To be honest, I haven't put too much thought into it and how I'd book it but Idk, this just doesn't feel the right way...unless...

...now that I think about it, they actually go with this and Cena does come back and win the title at Summerslam, only to drop it eventually to AJ Styles at, say Survivor Series and then have Nakamura win the Royal Rumble, thus giving us perhaps the biggest money match there is from Smackdown's side at Wrestlemania: AJ Styles versus Nakamura for the WWE Championship. If THIS can be the plan then, by all means, DO IT !!!

None of that is happening. Well, except that Cena IS returning, but the whole point of Jinder winning the championship is to attract the indian market (and in the grand scheme of things - descendants of the race and/or neighboring countries, and this also has a political component to it, as well - since Trump just made a visit to a neighboring country recently). They can't travel to that region to "give" Jinder the championship (for meaning), because of the war(s) going on there. Also, Randy Orton becoming champion again while John Cena attains his mounumental championship win. I feel like the fact that Randy Orton and John Cena winning 15/16/17 Championship wins is going to be saved for a huge event like Wrestlemania. Cena won the championship last time to boost ratings, and to align with an appearance at other non-WWE shows. It's going to be as big as the Undertaker streak.

 

[InSaNe]

Whoops, accidental double post. Please delete, mod(s).

 

[Snowman1]

Welp, made my vote in the poll. Won't ruin the fun for ya, but will remind you of Lucha Underground. Coming back next Wednesday on El Rey Network

 

[Mustafar Reginald]

I however, will ruin the fun for you (nobody post after RaSnowman or else this won't work). Anyway, to give it away early so anyone who doesn't want to here a contrary negative opinion can just scroll down way past this thesis because I did not like this show. I liked about four things from it. After Payback got the highest score of any PPV I reviewed on here, Backlash will receive the lowest. Well, probably not cause WrestleMania 29 happened, and Night of Champions from that year was dreadful too. Also should note I watched this Sunday and didn't take any notes, some my memory on a few matches are noticeable foggy.

Backlash Review

The Debut of Kneekamura
For me, the biggest surprise of the night was the position of Shinsuke's match. There was also the lingering doubt about Orton retaining in the main event, and aside from that match I got pretty much all the results right, aside from Zayn/Corbin and technically the six women's tag since I didn't care enough to even think about who would win there, but them debuting Shinsuke in the curtain jerker? Unthinkable. Now granted, if anyone besides AJ Styles was going to get the crowd riled up and set a good tone for the rest of the night, it was probably Shinsuke. The dude's way over so I just naturally assumed that his debut, in order to give an extra air of importance, would place in the upper echelon of the card. Not main event but certainly above who cares Harper/Rowan.

That aside, the match itself was . . . dull. Like, it accomplished what it needed to I guess but I was bored for long stretches of this bout. I understand that they were aiming to get across Shinsuke's as a resilient bad-ass but did we really need for Dolph to dominate for long stretches of the matches with slow offense. And most of the time Shinsuke did mount offense he just did knee strikes. There were some great moments, I loved the sequence leading to the Zig Zag, the super-kick to the back of the head, and the finish sequence was great but otherwise, this was a pretty un-engaging affair from me.

Match Rating: 5/10

I Don't Even Care That Breeze Wasn't Disqualified When He Clearly Should've Been
This match, probably should've annoyed me. I can tend to be a bit of curmudgeon and wacky antics like this should be right up my wheel-barrel to hate but nope, this was the first thing on the show that I liked. Granted, I immediately disregarded them as potential threats to the tag team championships and the rolling away from Uso A gag lasted a bit too long but the rest, this worked for me. Particularly the janitor/mop part, they got some pretty good spots from that mop. Since I actually liked this, I'm trying to think of what to talk about but it pretty much speaks for itself. It was more Looney Tunes than a Championship bout, but as a one-off show case for two funny and capable workers, it worked. Thumbs up for the Fashion PoPo Breezango.

Match Rating: 7/10

What Does Sami Zayn's Tights Say, I Caught "to Resist Despair" But That's About All, At Least That I Remember. Makes me think of Danganronpa. That's Probably Unintentional, Danganronpa Just Said "Despair" a Lot, or "Zetsubou" In The Original Japanese. I Don't Think Sami's a Weeb But I Never Looked Into So Maybe. Either Way, I Was More Invested In Sami's Tights Than The Match Itself, Interpret That However You Want

This felt like a Smackdown Live match rather than a PPV bout. Most of this PPV did.

Match Rating: 5/10

Better Call Becky With The Good Hair
Becky's weird 80's Lesbian Mad Max hair style was the second thing I liked about this PPV. It never ceased to amuse me, I don't know what made Becky to decide to sport weird hair for all her PPV matches, but I hope it never stops. As for the match, well I said earlier I didn't even care to think about who would win, and despite being a fan of everyone involved, even James Ellsworth, this didn't change my opinion. I don't even remember the match, when Natayla said on Smackdown she won for team, I didn't have any recollection of it. I had to look it up on Wikipedia, the most trust worthy source, that Natalya did in fact win for her team, and by making Lynch tap out! This match is the quintessential forgettable 6-tag match you book on the go-home show because you can't think of anything else to build to the PPV bouts, not the PPV bout itself. The women, the wrestlers, deserve better than this, how dare you. Maybe this wouldn't have felt like such an episode of Smackdown Live to me if you put the Championship on the line.

Also, just on a complete tangential note, Tamina should not be a part of The Welcoming Committee. She's been there just as long as Charlotte has, she shouldn't be in charge of introducing someone to a brand that she herself is unfamiliar with. "Hey, I just moved in the house next door from another state, let me show you around the neighborhood". The stupidity of The Welcoming Committee's name can not be understated, I'm glad it's a one-off thing too, because you continue to welcome someone.

Match Rating: 3/10

Third Thing I Liked
To be honest though, even this disappointed a little. Part of this is because I have probably unreasonable expectations for AJ Styles but the added pressure from the rest of the show mostly disappointing only heighten my desire from him and Owens to kill it. They didn't have the match of the year candidate I was hoping for but they easily had match of the night. I loved the story with AJ's bad leg, and I even loved the finish. It was such a unique way to get a count-out result, and personally that salvaged it from being a disappointing finish. I recall being captivated from the Pumphandle Neckbreaker onward. Once again, AJ Styles steals the show.

Match Rating: 8/10

Who Cares Harper/Rowan
I want to postface that title by stating that I actually really like Luke Harper. I consider him to be the best big man wrestler in the WWE today even. He's really talented but I just don't care about this feud with Rowan, and I really hope he develops a personality following this encounter. But despite the fact that I didn't care going in, I actually thought this was fine. I wouldn't say I liked it or anything, but I expected worse.

Match Rating: 5/10

The WWE Champion Has Only Won 17.66% Out of 450+ Matches
Just for reference, Vince McMahon has a higher winning percentage than Jinder Mahal (46.77% if you're interested, and yes, that is baffling), meaning that, Jinder has the worst record of any WWE Champion if I'm not mistaken. Granted, he works way more matches than Vince, but that is something that just looks awful. Can't even win 20% of his matches yet he's the top guy of the company. But, I'll be honest, that doesn't really bother me. That's not why I'm not pleased with Jinder's Championship win. I'm bothered for two reasons, one of which is semi-connected to his record.

That being that WWE didn't properly play up that angle of the feud. Look, if you want to turn someone from a jobber to WWE Champion in about a month's time, fine. But you can't suddenly turn someone from a jobber to a main event status without seriously commenting on the recent change in ability. Of course, the reason is the Singh Siblings. Jinder's pretty much only won any match, that I recall anyway, because those two interfered. This is a fine foundation but that's unfortunately all it is. Now, maybe it's because I just watch the youtube clips so feel free to correct me but as far as I can tell, Orton's addressed it once stating that "From where I'm from, you have to win to become Champion" and the sparingly bring up on commentary that a month ago Jinder would be nowhere near the belt or something, and that Smackdown Live really is the Land of Opportunity. Generally speaking, when it's mentioned on commentary, it's framed as a New York Minute by Don Henley type of thing and a way to develop Smackdown Live's favorite slogan. Commentators are there, in WWE, to express the story of the feud/match to the audience. They're specifically feed lines so the message Vince or whoever wants is conveyed to the audience. So, when they chose to gloss over Jinder's meteoric rise to prominence, it's clear that they want you to ignore that too. To throw out any semblance of proper storyline in lieu of just promoting Smackdown Live's moniker. And I get why they do this. If you're pushing him because you want to ignite the Indian market, you don't want to constantly bombard them with information that prior to this, Jinder was nothing but a joke. So instead, they have Jinder regurgitate Muhammad Hassan lines because Jingoism is one of the easiest methods of getting heel heat, just ask Slaughter. And look, it works. Even though Jinder's earlier promo in the night was one of the only times I actually thought a wrestler deserved the "What" chants because dear lord the script and delivery, but especially the script, was abysmal. But whatever, it seems to work, I'm not knocking the practice. I just wish they incorporate that along with his rise. Have Jinder be that character, further emphasize the Singhers role in his music success, all while the commentary and others hammer in the point that he's only a winner because of outside interference. Make the distinction between Jinder using two guys to win from when say Edge did it. Because the nuance of a former loser heel and an established winning heel using is an important distinction that can make different compelling angles. This can even be used to gradual develop Jinder as a winning on his own. As his run with the Singhs progresses, they start becoming less and less integral to his victory. By the time he wins the belt, he still needs them quite a bit but eventually they'll just come in towards the finish, then have a scenario where he's forced to defend without them. Have them banned from ringside and during that match, you can establish just how much he's grown in a natural way. I don't think he'd have to win clean necessarily but you can solidify him as a top heel there even if he still has to cheat to win because he can stand on his own. My point being, you can craft an engaging narrative using his history as a jobber but WWE isn't interested in logical story-telling and would rather skip to the top spot. And yes, he's generating heat and reactions but I'd argue they'd be even bigger if you increased focus on his record prior to it. And then, this would feel like a natural progression. Instead, it feels like WWE made a business decision. We all know Jinder won because of the Indian market, and we all know that's what WWE cares about since the commentators bring up his non-Canadian origins all the time.

The second problem for me is that Jinder just hasn't worked for me. I thought his initial promo after winning or whatever was great. But since then, he's promos have been a generic bore often delivered poorly, and his matches have been average at best. I don't necessarily blame this on him, well not the promos anyway. His physique is great and I like his finisher, and there are plenty who are digging him but I just can't see it. Like for example, this match I'm suppose to be talking about? Well, why do you think I'm only talking about Jinder winning the WWE Championship? Because that's literally the only thing worth talking about, outside of that awesome backdrop on the table with the equally awesome Orton face (fourth thing I liked) because my god, was the match a bore. The opening minutes and the closing minutes were fine but the entire middle of the match almost put me to sleep. I was tired already so I thought maybe it wasn't really their fault but after Backlash I watched two matches from the recent Takeover because what is sleep and I felt wide awake during both Dunne/Bates and Asuka/NonAsuka's. So yeah, I'm not giving the match the benefit of the doubt here. Ultimately it was a really boring match capped off with a Championship change that felt like nothing more than a cheap business tactic with minimum effort put into it. If you can get more out of Jinder, and trust me I enjoy saying don't Hinder Jinder a lot but that's not enough for me, then that's great. But for me, it's a low-point.

Match Rating: 3/10

PPV Rating: 5.1/10

Rankings

PPV's
I. Payback ~ 6.4/10
II. WrestleMania 33 ~ 6.1/10
III. Backlash ~ 5.1/10

Matches
I. WWE Title, John Cena vs. AJ Styles (c): Royal Rumble ~ 10/10
II. WWE Title, Bray Wyatt vs. AJ Styles vs. The Miz vs. Dean Ambrose vs. Baron Corbin vs. John Cena (c), Elimination Chamber: Elimination Chamber ~ 9/10
III. Raw Tag Team Titles, Sheamus & Cesaro vs. The Hardy Boyz (c): Payback ~ 8/10
IV. CW Title, Austin Aries vs. Neville (c): Payback ~ 8/10
V. Raw Women's Title, Alexa Bliss vs. Bayley (c): Payback ~ 8/10
VI. Raw Women's Title, Charlotte Flair vs. Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax vs. Bayley (c): WrestleMania 33 ~ 8/10
VII. Universal Title, Brock Lesnar vs. Goldberg (c): WrestleMania 33 ~ 8/10
VIII. AJ Styles vs. Shane McMahon: WrestleMania 33 ~ 8/10
IX. CW Title, Jack Gallagher vs. Neville (c): Fastlane ~ 8/10
X. US Title, AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens (c): Backlash ~ 8/10​

Okay, there were a few more PPV's that I scored lower than Backlash on here, 2013's Royal Rumble, Survivor Series, & TLC all did worse. Still, not what I consider a good score but honestly, higher than what I'd score it just off the top of my head (a 4 if you're curious). Like I've said before, my rating system isn't weighted at all, one really bad five minute squash has the same weight as twenty minute classic. And if you're wondering, "Hey, if you saw Dunne v. Bates at Takeover, why the fuck is it not in you're top ten matches?". Well, to answer that rhetorical question, I'm planning on watching the event in full early June and doing a review then. Will be fun to be able to praise matches after this debacle, and from what I hear, that event will break my highest score record. Looking forward to it.

 

[Prince Bálor]

Backlash was good. 7/10

- Tye Dillinger vs Aiden English was decent. ★★
The crowd's into Tye which is great, and this was a nice kickoff match and it's also nice to see Tye get his third straight victory. On a different note, I love the new version of the Tye Breaker.

- Shinsuke Nakamura vs Dolph Ziggler was good. ★★★
They went a bit longer than I expected, I felt this should've been around 10 minutes where they would showcase Nakamura, but oh well. It was a good match, nonetheless.

- The Usos vs Breezango was solid. ★★½
Amusing match, I enjoyed both the comedy in the early portion as well as the second half of the match. The Usos retaining was not surprising at all.

- Sami Zayn vs Baron Corbin was good. ★★★
Good back and forth match and color me surprised, Sami won here. I thought they were going with Corbin, but Sami pulling an upset is cool, he needed this win.

- Natalya, Carmella & Tamina vs Becky, Charlotte & Naomi was decent. ★★
It was fine for what it was, I wasn't really invested in it, tbh.

- Kevin Owens vs AJ Styles was very good and MOTN. ★★★¾
It was easily the best thing on the show. It was smartly worked since this isn't a one-off feud and that's why they didn't go all out in this match. Also, the finish worked well and sets up another match between KO and Styles.

- Luke Harper vs Erick Rowan was OK. ★¾
It was OK, but skippable. Glad that Harper won, though. That dude should get pushed.

- Jinder Mahal vs Randy Orton was a rock solid ME. ★★¾
Man, I didn't think they'd go through with Jinder winning, but they did and they surprised me, I must say. I thought he had a slight chance of winning and turns out it was enough for it to come true. I have no problem with the title change, it's new and fresh and simply put, it's different. And trying something different is good sometimes. Plus, Orton wasn't really an interesting champion anyway even though I like him, and if this leads to Rusev vs Jinder for the title, then great.