Stew’s WrestleMania Backlash 2022 Review

Happy Mother’s Day, everyone!

Wait, this is weird, right? WWE has not historically had live special shows on Mother’s Day, have they? This feels new and strange to me. I didn’t even believe WrestleMania Backlash actually was tonight.

I thought I would not be able to watch this show when I learned that; I was at the in-laws celebrating the holiday earlier, but it ended up being a relatively short visit. My year-old niece goes to bed at 6:00pm apparently, so I was home by 7:30. I get to watch this show!

Will that be a good thing? Tee-Bee-Dee, to be honest. I can’t imagine this will be a top show by year’s end. This one feels extraneous. We have… how many rematches from WrestleMania tonight? At least three? Ronda/Charlotte, Seth/Cody, AJ/Edge… are there any more? I can’t recall. Wait, am I right that Seth and Cody is a match tonight? I’ve been out of the loop.

OH HEY, in the meantime (it’s 7:33, and I still have pre-show to push through), I saw Dr. Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness last night! No spoilers, but I thought it was very good, but not great. It cracks my personal Top 15 of the MCU, but not my Top Ten, which I wrote on a few weeks ago!

Don’t hate me for the Iron Man and Black Panther placement; ALL of those movies are in the 4 star to 5 star range. I am an MCU mark. I regret nothing; I legitimately love and enjoy this franchise. Honestly? The 4 star movies go on at least a bit further from there. Both Ant-Man’s, Age of Ultron, at least.

Have you seen MoM? Any spoiler-free thoughts for everyone?

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7:54pm: Oh hey, Drew McIntyre and Randy Orton are friends now! That makes sense what with how they were *checks notes* breaking each others’ jaws and concussing one another in a brutal feud two years ago.

8:05pm: Oh, Seth and Cody looks to be kicking off the show because WWE typically loves giving great openers. Thanks, WWE!

8:11pm: The “Wrestling Has More Than One Royal Family” line is actually the opening to Cody’s regular entrance theme? It worked for his return at ‘Mania, but as part of his regular song, it feels a bit extra. But I’ll allow it.

8:14pm: Eh, Seth can eat a loss here, but… doesn’t it feel like Seth eats a LOT of losses lately because his character is bulletproof? Meanwhile, if Cody loses, you’re going to have people complaining about 50/50 booking and how WWE has already “buried” Cody’s return. So I guess Cody HAS to win tonight, but… Seth shouldn’t lose just because he CAN.

Oh well. I’m just a Seth fan. Let’s go Rollins!

8:17pm: ALSO! Doesn’t Seth have a one-on-one victory over Roman Reigns this year? On Pay-Per-View? Yes, he does. Why was that so easily brushed under the rug?

8:27pm: Wow, these two are so good together.

8:29pm: Seth Rollins’ all-time success record with the Phoenix Splash drops to, like, 1 hit and 314 misses.

8:32pm: I’m okay if this whole PPV is just this match for 3 hours.

8:34pm: Okay, Cody wins, but with a tights-assisted roll-up, which is pretty great with because it stops Seth from eating another definitive loss AND keeps Cody’s momentum up. I know flash pins are overused in WWE, but sometimes they really belong, and I think this was such a moment. AND it was a fantastic match. I have no negativity!

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8:39pm: How do you follow up that Seth/Cody match? With Omos vs Bobby Lashley, of course! In other news, I might go fill my water up for the next five to ten minutes.

8:43pm: Hey, I wonder how old these blueberries I found in my fridge are…

8:51pm: I’ve eaten several of these blueberries, but I’m not sure I trust them. I’m picking out the rare “best” ones.

And this match is still happening. It’s not terrible, but nothing of note is happening. So I have blueberries.

8:52pm: Oh, there it goes. Omos wins after MVP cheats for him.

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8:59pm: It’s the third straight rematch from WrestleMania: Edge vs AJ Styles! Coming in to this, AJ beat Damien Priest with a roll-up because I guess we can’t even have AJ beat a minion properly. See, that is where the flash pin DIDN’T work! So I do have negativity.

9:06pm: One of the better Asai Moonsaults I’ve ever seen. AJ got a beautiful rotation, and Edge was in perfect position where it looked to have maximum impact on him. Great moment.

9:09pm: Edge is starting to go back to work on the arm/shoulder! Will he win with a hammerlock?! I can only dream.

9:20pm: OH MY GOD, A MASKED MAN! I hope we find out who he is tonight so I don’t have to watch Raw.

Edge wins with a sleeper hold after the attack by the masked man? Sure, why not? Poor AJ, man. I have no idea what Edge gains from this win, but it feels like AJ just loses over and over and over these days.

9:22pm: Ohhhh… it is not a masked MAN at all. Raven-haired Rhea Ripley has joined Edge’s… what is it called? Judgment Day? I think I heard them say that.

Black hair really works for Rhea. Great look. Better look than the silly acting of her and Edge cackling together, anyway.

I wonder if AJ Styles will win a singles match on a Live Special for the rest of the year. Hmm. Or, hell, ANY match.

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9:27pm: IT’S TIME FOR AN “I QUIT” MATCH! I can’t picture any reality where Ronda legitimately says “I quit”. I could see her TAPPING in a match, but… saying those words? I don’t know…

So do we get shenanigans? Or does Ronda just get the win? Let’s find out!

9:37pm: Haha, Charlotte chops Ronda, and apparently Ronda told her she chops like a B. One of the few times having the women use that word at each other actually made me laugh.

9:40pm: Charlotte has leveled up her proficiency in Kendo Stick duel wielding.

But not enough, I guess, because Ronda just takes them from her.

9:42pm: Charlotte should handcuff Ronda to something, then go get Ronda’s child. Put the toddler in the figure eight! That will make Ronda quit, right?

Not enough toddlers in submission holds in wrestling.

9:45pm: I miss several minutes of this match because I told my niece earlier that my wife was 50 ducks wearing a human costume, and we started trying to figure out just now if I overshot that as an estimate based on height and/or weight.

When I start paying attention again, Ronda had Charlotte in a hanging armlock, but Charlotte got out of it. Hmm. That could have been a solid finish.

I mean, it didn’t involve a toddler, but…

9:52pm: Was the armlock through a chair better than the armlock hanging off the ringpost? Debatable. But it’s the finish we got. Also debatable: Could you fit 50 ducks inside Ronda Rousey?!

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9:57pm: It is almost 10pm and match #5 before we got a match that isn’t a redux from WrestleMania. Madcap Moss vs Happy Corbin!

10:11pm: That was a pretty long match to end in a sunset flip. Feels weird; we can’t put Moss over with a more solid win?

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10:19pm: Did anyone think RK-Bro would still be a thing by WrestleMania Backlash when they started teaming? WWE has remained surprisingly committed to this team.

10:21pm: I keep hearing/seeing online talk of WWE having a Roman Reigns Problem with this title reign, but I don’t buy it. I’ve been saying for almost a year now that Roman should keep that belt until WrestleMania 40.

Now, the fact that he has BOTH belts is admittedly a problem. It feels like he’s basically holding one show hostage that way. Unless they are going to get rid of the two individual straps and combine them into one singular championship. Then… why does he need to lose it any time soon? This reign is unlike anything we have seen in WWE in what? ALMOST FORTY YEARS?

And I get that the era of five hours of programming a week and a pay-per-view every month is far different from the Sammartino and Morales and Backlund days. I get that! But why do we need three title changes a year?

Maybe “Hey, the WWE champion has had the belt for 1000 days” will get some more eyes on the product in curiosity. Maybe it won’t! But like I said… it’s something most of us fans have never seen! I kind of dig it.

That’s just me, though.

10:33pm: Nothing takes the heat of the moment of Reigns facing off with McIntyre away like commentary telling us that the DUNKIN DONUTS CENTER is cheering for it. I miss when stadiums and arenas didn’t have sponsored names.

10:49pm: This show has started AND finished strong! Really fun main event so far. High energy level from everyone. Action all over the place.

10:52pm: Haha, Roman even wins in 6 man tag matches where it seems like a protected loss is baked right in. It makes that aforementioned Seth Rollins win seems even stranger.

So that’s what I get. Was this show extraneous? Yeah, sure. But that doesn’t mean it was skippable. The opener and the closer were both tremendous. High quality live event pay per view special mega super monthly show!

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All right, that’s it for my Backlash thoughts! How did you feel about the show tonight? Or Multiverse Of Madness? Or Roman’s title reign? Or how many ducks make one person? Whatever!

And don’t forget to check out SWO Productions where we have new articles every weekday, and the Stew World Order podcast on the 2nd, 12th, and 22nd of every month! Our current episode is on Avengers: Age Of Ultron, and we wonder: just how bad could the worst Avengers movie be?

Until next time… take care!