Watry’s WWE Backlash 2018 Review

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Backstory

This is my WWE Backlash 2018 review. I watched the pay-per-view SPOILER FREE Monday afternoon after working all weekend, including 12 hours on Friday/Saturday, Sunday night, and then Monday morning at 4am. Let’s go!

WWE Backlash 2018

– Did not see the Kickoff Show. As usual, I’ll use it as background music at some point later in the week.

– Good choice to open up with The Miz vs. Seth Rollins for the IC Title. It is strange in that there is not much of a story, but it also coincides with the co-branded theme moving forward. I like the decision and think it will be a cool fun fact in history. No surprise over Rollins retaining. Raw needed its mid-card championship, he IS Monday Night Rollins after all. The Miz rightfully has bigger and better things to do on Smackdown LIVE. Nobody will remember this loss in a week. Just used to tie up his WrestleMania 34 loss and move on. Bonus points for NO Miztourage. No Dallas and Mr. Imperfect…ugh…

– Nia Jax over Alexa Bliss to remain RAW Womens Champion. I was rooting for Alexa but knew better. Jax probably should have won in short order. I thought the same as WM. To really put over this entire “good triumphs over evil” thing this was about. it worked with Mickie James and Laycool years back and would have here as well. Heels act bad, face comes in and demolishes them in seconds, crowd cheers. Boom, that easy. Nasty looking Samoan Drop at the end. Hope Bliss is alright.

– Jeff Hardy beats Randy Orton clean to keep his United States Championship. Another easy prediction but one that made sense. Mr. RKO was never really going to be a long-term US Champ. He was only there to add it to his resume, get a cushy Mania spot and then find something else to do. Now here we are. Jeff Hardy has HUGE potential on the blue brand and deserves this victory. A lot of the entire situation brings me back to 2008 and 2009. That is not a complaint either.

– Daniel Bryan over Big Cass. A little difficult to know which way this would go. However, common sense over ruled any kind of wacky conspiracy theories. Bryan should defeat Cass ten times over and not look back. I was not a big fan of the post-match attack because it implies more story is to be told. Please no. Cass lost. He tapped out. Bryan can freely battle The Miz next or even tease a WWE Championship shot. Something except wrestling Big Cass again.

– Carmella pinned Charlotte, and it was kinda, sorta clean. Heck, it was clean for all intents and purposes. Yes, Charlotte had the injured knee. Yes, Charlotte dominated. Yes, the entire crowd knew who the better woman was (woo!). Still, one, two, three. Carmella is still the Smackdown LIVE Womens Champion. I figured as such, which is why I picked her. Not going to lie though. I was rooting for Alexa, and I was rooting for Charlotte. Not how I pick things though. Logic over fantasy booking.

– Elias!!! Big NO to the New Day garbage. All three of these guys are smart. They have to know the act is beyond stale. Can anybody argue that right now? I was one of the first to be on the ball here and will claim yet another “I was right” proclamation. The trio stinks and has for a long time now. Oh, then Rusev Day came out to add to the mess. Perfect. Ultimately, the segment was saved by a glorious conga line. No Way Jose is a silly, comedic guy on Raw, so him coming out with Titus Worldwide and Fashion Police was funny. I enjoy them. Not The New Day trying WAY too hard to get a laugh. Ultimately filler but was okay.

– AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura in a NoDQ(.com) match was NOT the classic I expected. Perhaps I should stop holding out hope for these two? I was suckered in by the WrestleMania hype throughout all of 2017 and still believe a match of the year candidate is coming. It’s not. I am officially throwing in the towel on these guys delivering a match for the ages in WWE. Kinda sucks. Good bout here but two complaints. First is the low blow gimmick. AJ Styles STILL is not wearing a cup??? REALLY? After the second low blow, you’d think he would wear a metal cup or just have a on steel pants every night. Something! It has become a joke he is still falling victim to the freakin’ low blow. Good grief. Secondly, another BS finish? Doing it at Greatest Royal Rumble worked. It set up the Backlash rematch and was more of an appetizer then a full meal anyways. Another cheap ending? Whatever. AJ retained though, so I’m going to cheat and chalk it up as yet another correct prediction by yours truly.

– Braun Strowman and Bobby Lashley defeated Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. Again. I am not going to lie; I totally forgot this bout was even on the card. We just saw this on Raw and despite all the wild predictions, I knew the result would be the same here six days later. Owens is happy because he is on Raw again (story I exclusively wrote about on another website), but I bet he would be even happier if he was away from Sami Zayn as the court jesters of WWE and on top of the card like he was in 2016. They are slotted as lower-mid card comedy wrestlers in 2018. That is pretty bad. Can these two just separate and go their own way? Like for a long time! A long, long time. Has to be more to the story.

– Roman Reigns vs. Samoa Joe is the main event. Glad we had a stellar report on the WWE Championship match headlining. Always love the “guessing equals reporting” stories. Impeccable spot on accuracy. Very reputable sources too. This one was interesting in that both needed a big victory and both were poised to be at the top of their respective brand for the summer. It came down to which story won out. In the end, WWE went with Reigns gaining a little bit of redemption over his long-time nemesis Joe. Truthfully, I would have went in the opposite direction. Have Reigns ‘find himself’ or whatever after another loss, while the Samoan Submission Machine makes a statement before heading to the main event scene. That is what I would have done. Nothing wrong with Reigns winning though. No arguments. Writing this before Raw or Smackdown Live, it remains to be seen what happens next.

SUMMARY: Over three hours, yikes. After WrestleMania 34 and Greatest Royal Rumble Ever, I had my doubts on Backlash. WWE did not hit a home run but certainly smashed a line drive to center. A stand up double, maaaaaaybe a triple if I am being generous. Luckily, we can all catch our breath now until June’s Money In The Bank event in Chicago with an NXT Takeover as well. Should be fun.

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