WWE Backlash 2016 Review & CM Punk/UFC 203

Hi, I’m Justin Watry. You may remember me from such classic columns as March 2012’s “WWE WrestleMania 28: Sheamus Should Defeat Daniel Bryan in Less Than a Minute” and October 2015’s “WWE NXT: Bobby Roode, You’re Next.”

Reader Feedback (UFC 203 preview column included)

Starting in October, I will be doing ‘reader feedback’ only once a month. Going to scale back on all the junk posted from the comment section. If you have a question or comment and want a response, now is the time!

Cactus: Request: If Punk wins, you have to add “I was wrong about Punk’s UFC debut” to your “You may know me as the guy that called etc” opening line to your columns

I have a series called “I Was Wrong” and would have happily done so. Sadly, this was not one of those rare cases. Every favor in the world was called in just to let this ‘dream’ happen, hypocrisy was absolutely rampant from the get go with a ‘part-timer’ collecting a fat paycheck and being bumped into a prime position with zero credibility, and it was crushed with a dose of reality within five seconds. Oh, but don’t worry. Dana White says Punk probably shouldn’t fight in UFC again. Yeah, now he says it…$500,000 later. How nice.

@shaunalshatti what a joke

— Rory MacDonald (@rory_macdonald) September 12, 2016

AG Awesome: So little is known about either mans skill set that it’s really impossible to gauge what could happen. Im just hoping for an exciting fight and/or finish.

Um, “impossible to gauge what could happen” is wrong. I knew, as did most people in the Milwaukee area. Hence my exclusive report last month about his training. He was going to get beat and beat handily. All the public praising from his trainers and hype from the UFC was a joke and transparent as heck to those in the know. Shame on them and the commission for bending every rule possible to allow this. Even his own trainer has now admitted he only helped because he was his friend and would have said no otherwise. Ugh! A bucket list dream crushed by reality five seconds into the fight. Maybe the Golden State Warriors can sign me to play? All I have to do is buddy up with the owner I guess? I wrote this CM Punk/UFC charade for two years, and Saturday was the payoff.

Jim Crockett II: Great article as always Justin W.

Thanks man, appreciate it. As usual, I nailed it. Just a guess – the comment section will be eerily quiet in here today…

Dana White says CM Punk's next fight probably shouldn't be in UFC. His first fight shouldn't have been. No politics? pic.twitter.com/IBXEl0Q7Wy

— Justin Watry (@JustinWatry) September 11, 2016

Billy: Have you ever watched Backlash? The last Backlash was in 2009 where Orton won the title from HHH in a 6 man tag. The year before, HHH won the belt in a fatal four way when Orton was champ in a match where nothing very drastic happened.

HHH also lost the belt to Hogan one year in a match that was randomly thrown together so nothing drastic happened.

You’re just making things up for no reason.

Yeah, Red kinda hijacked my comment section last week and filled it with nothing but nonsense. Didn’t know what he (or she) was talking about at all. Good on you Billy for saving the day.

French311: Pro- I’ll be there LIVE.
Con- I won’t be drunk there because I have to drive.

Hope you had a blast. Nice call on no drinking and driving. Props for that!

jball999: i’ve been reading the past few months and this guy’s columns aren’t half bad. sure, he still comes off as self absorbed and often rambles, but it’s better than other columns on here. and because of the reactions, why would he change?

Aren’t half bad? I will take that as a compliment man! Read some of my past eight years worth of columns on over a dozen websites, plenty of awesome content in there to catch up on.

Small Black Flower That Grew I: Two things.

One, Watry, when are you even going to acknowledge your “Taker is not losing this one” comment on WMXXX.

Two. I remember when TNA had just started and AJ was their guy. Naturally, the WWE marks were all saying “if he was in WWE, he’d be in the lower middle card tops”. Now, we get articles questioning if he could be champion.

I remember when “Sting sucked” or “Goldberg was a Steve Austin rip off”!

1. I wrote an “I Was Wrong” column about that a long time ago and have said repeatedly how incorrect I was on The Streak. Multiple, multiple times since March 2014. Not sure why it is always brought up and is a major talking point from readers – I constantly mention how wrong I am in my columns.

2. Just the typical conspiracy theories and built in excuses for guys from TNA Impact Wrestling or WCW. It is all garbage and only comes from the so called “internet fans.” There is some sort of battle that doesn’t exist or pointless name calling about topics that are irrelevant. The main thing is people just want their favorites to get the most coverage, most recognition, most fame, and make the most money possible. That can’t happen in TNA…or WCW for some. It takes the machine behind WWE and millions of viewers to make that a reality. Same reason all of us have been begging for Bobby Roode, Austin Aries and others to ditch the Impact Zone for years. They deserve better. Not rotting away in obscurity during their prime. Sorry if people take offense to that, but it is the truth. I mean, I’m not even the biggest AJ Styles fan out there (nor have I ever been), but he has knocked it out of the park since debuting at Royal Rumble 2016. Good for him finally being in the big leagues.

WWE Backlash 2016 Review

– Didn’t see the Backlash Kickoff show. NFL Sunday was the KICKOFF I watched.

– Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan out to welcome everybody to the show. Normally, I would say this was a negative. However, I will give it a pass due to this being the first Smackdown LIVE exclusive WWE Network special. Don’t do it next time.

– Awesome opener. Just awesome. Props to the crowd for being all the early energy to Backlash. It REALLY added to the atmosphere and occasion of crowning a Smackdown Women’s Champion. All six wrestler shined here and put over the division as being more than just RAW-lite. Naomi was athletic as usual, and I still enjoy the glow look. Alexa Bliss channeled her inner Suicide Squad and stood out so much fans booed when she was eliminated. Natalya added her heel tactics and experience. Nikki Bella was the star power of the bout, like it or not, she gets great crowd reactions each time. Carmella has excelled since a well timed heel turn and was the perfect final heel to lose because…

…this was Becky Lynch’s moment. The right finish at the right time with the right person. Keep in mind she never won the NXT Womens Title, nor the Divas/Womens Title. I picked Charlotte to retain at both Royal Rumble AND WrestleMania 32, and that was the correct decision. Now? It is Becky Lynch to stand on top of the Smackdown women’s roster. It’s time. Not only does this give her a wonderful opportunity to shine as a part of the rebuilding Women’s division on Tuesday nights, she can become one of the most popular stars in the entire company. Man or woman. I hope this run goes on for awhile. With Nikki Bella already a long title run and apparently being on a semi-part-time schedule, this spotlight is on Becky Lynch and nobody else. Well deserved.

– The Miz had a backstage segment with a kid. Didn’t know the Nickelodeon star but whatever. This was okay…just not the followup I expected from his memorable Talking Smack promo. More of that please!

– Randy Orton attacked backstage. Oh no! Even going into this completely spoiler free, I know that is a bad sign for his bout against Brya Wyatt. Story developing.

– The Usos defeated The Hype Bros. The entire Smackdown Tag Team Titles tournament was thrown for a loop when American Alpha got taken out last week. I am a proponent of the KISS Method, so this all screamed unnecessary. Nobody cares about The Hype Bros, and while I welcome The Usos turning heel, fans were still recovering from the spectacular opening bout to care. Will be interesting to see how the tourney finals end up.

– Funny Heath Slater/Rhyno backstage interview. As fun as this has been, I just wish it didn’t involve a championship. Not an ideal way to get over the credibility of new tag team titles. Save it for the under card and soak up the cheers (and laughs), not what is supposed to be the new legitimate Smackdown tag belts.

– Oh boy, The Miz and Daniel Bryan have another face to face moment right before the IC Title match. Gotta love those reports of them backing away from being on screen together…

– Ha, The Miz misses a right hand to start, and Dolph Ziggler takes him down. Amazing. Ho hum, blah match.The Miz got the victory thanks to Maryse interfering. It was for the best. While Smackdown LIVE is all about “new” right now, I am all for The Miz retaining the IC Title. No reason to go back to Ziggler because that is certainly not “new” either. Whatever is going on between The Miz and Daniel Bryan remains to be seen. They can’t have a match, so something has to eventually happen…perhaps an NXT call up to insert in the feud?

– Disappointed in no Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt. That was a very nice addition to the Backlash card and really felt fresh. The two had been kept separate for the better part of the last three years, so I was looking forward to their battle. Sadly, it will have to wait.

– Bray Wyatt vs. Kane in a No Holds Barred match was a pretty entertaining ‘make good’ to be fair. Fans seemed upset at first by Orton not being cleared to compete. However, that turned to excitement within a few minutes. WWE was stuck in a bad situation here and did their best. The live crowd were VERY receptive to the bout, and both wrestlers held up their end. One RKO later from The Viper and a chokeslam from Kane later…it was over. Notice the crowd in the arena loved every second of this finish without any outcry or whining about Bray losing. Yeah. Remember that.

– Heath Slater and Rhyno beat The Usos to become the Smackdown Tag Team Champions. Ahhh, I’m not going to bash this even though I want to. I have done that enough the past few weeks. This was the outcome I expected once American Alpha were taken out. I knew the live crowd would go bonkers for the moment, so good for all parties involved in making this work. Credit to Slater. Rhyno, and WWE. I’m just not a fan of it instantly putting the tag belts in a bad spot. One man BRAND baby!

– Debuted in the 2016 Royal Rumble main event with an epic arrival, wrestled Chris Jericho at Fast Lane and WrestleMania 32, main evented back to back pay-per-view against Roman Reigns for the WWE Title, defeated John Cena at Money in the Bank, fought with The Club versus John Cena, Big Cass, and Enzo, and just last month (again) defeated John Cena on PPV at Summerslam. Clean as can be in the middle of the ring. Now he finds himself in yet another main event for the WWE World Championship! I know AJ Styles is known to be a genuine good guy and well respected, but there are a lot of people eating crow right now. From Dixie Carter to fellow wrestlers to the typical cynical, negative fans – all of them! Styles would never do it, but he has a lot of humble bragging to do about his WWE run in 2016. For his sake, I hope he gets apologies sent his way every single day from all the doubters and non-believers. You would think these people would eventually learn their lesson, but nope…

– Unfortunately for Dean Ambrose and his dud of a WWE Title reign, this was AJ Styles’ moment. The fans were ready, the momentum was there, and the stage was set. I don’t use the word mistake often in my columns, but it would have been a massive mistake to keep the title on Ambrose for one more night. This was the crowning of a phenomenal one who has been told what he can’t do his entire career. What he WON’T do. Well, he did it all. Not even a year in the big leagues, he climbed the mountain and is THE WWE World Champion. Not IC Champion hanging around the mid-card. Not Universal Champion. Nope, THE man in the biggest wrestling company in the world. A true success story and as noted above, I hope everybody FINALLY ditches the never ending cynicism and negativity surrounding WWE. Deep down, we all love it for one reason or another on and follow the product for moments just like this. Have fun with it folks.

Congrats AJ.

NEXT WEEK: Is Seth Rollins Reckless?

I have been putting this column together for awhile now. We have heard/read on the record comments from multiple wrestling personalities about Seth Rollins and his wrestling style, but what about off the record comments? What do wrestlers say when their name is anonymous and they aren’t trying to be politically correct for the public? Check back next week for the answer.

Self Promotion

Watch Big Brother 18 on CBS. Almost finale night! Getting good.

NFL season is finally here! Colts over Packers is my Super Bowl pick, write that down.

Tons of columns posted last week – find them on my Twitter account! Speaking of…

Follow me on Twitter: @JustinWatry – I am hosting a WWEShop giveaway! Must be following to win.

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