WWEs first PPV after Wrestlemania was certainly not a disappointment. For the first time in 18 years, WWE held a PPV event in Puerto Rico and it’s fair to say the fans would’ve gone home happy. So without further ado, let’s take a look at the top moments and matches from Backlash.
5 Insane Crowd
The Puerto Rican fans were absolutely electric from minute one. They don’t get to see a lot of live wrestling and they certainly made the most of it, producing one of WWEs hottest sustained crowds for a long time. They obviously peaked during the Bad Bunny and Damian Priest match, where they were at fever pitch towards the end, but every match leading up to that got big reactions, especially Bianca Belair v Iyo Sky and of course a great reception for home town hero Zelina Vega. They did quieten down a little bit after the Bad Bunny match, but then that was inevitable.
4 Women’s Championships Stay Where They Are
Both Smackdown (Rhea Ripley) and Raw (Bianca Belair) Women’s Champions retained their belts at Backlash. Rhea had a fairly easy outing against Zelina Vega, although the crowd were super hot for Vega, she hasn’t been presented as a threat for some time. Ripley is the complete package and is coming across like a big star, she played the heel well in the match. Whereas on the Raw side, Bianca Belair retained her title in a very competitive match against Iyo Sky. As the first match of the night, the crowd were on fire and really added to the match as they favoured the heel Iyo. Regardless, the two women wrestled a fine match.
3 Bad Bunny Electrifies Puerto Rico
It was definitely a good night for Bad Bunny at Backlash. For a non wrestler, he did a very good job with his offence and selling and really put on a great match with Damian Priest, Priest also played his role really well. It was helped by the understandably molten crowd, but the two really put on a show for everyone. The match was overbooked with a lot of run ins at the end, but some monster pops for Carlito and Savio Vega really put over the excitement of the match. It may not be to some people’s tastes, but it was a highly entertaining match.
2 Cody Continues The Story
Cody Rhodes will be moving on to the next chapter of his story after he defeated Brock Lesnar in the main event of the show. The crowd were a bit exhausted by this point but the two kept them going with a solid main event and delivered a decent match. Brock ended up getting busted open towards the end, hard way and was bleeding a lot which added to the drama. Suplex City, some big moves and near falls, and everything you’d expect from a Brock/Cody match. Cody ended up getting the lucky escape win by cradling Lesnar as he was trapped in the Kimura Lock.
1 Great PPV All Around
Backlash really delivered from start to finish. It wasn’t the greatest show ever, but there wasn’t really a bad match in there. The crowd certainly helped the overall show as they were hot throughout but the matches were all solid. Seth got pretty much the best match he could out of Omos. The US Title Triple Threat was short but sweet and the right person one as Austin Theory retained. The 6 Man Tag suffered a little bit as it had to follow the super hot Bad Bunny/Damian Priest match, but it still furthered the storyline of Bloodline dissension. Overall though, it was a great show.
Raw Women’s Championship Match –
Bianca Belair def. Iyo Sky 3.5*
Seth Rollins def. Omos 3*
Triple Threat Match for the US Title – Austin Theory def. Bobby Lashley and Bronson Reed 2.75*
Smackdown Women’s Championship Match – Rhea Ripley def. Zelina Vega 2.5*
Puerto Rico Street Fight – Bad Bunny def. Damian Priest 4.25*
The Usos & Solo Sikoa def. Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens & Matt Riddle 3*
Cody Rhodes def. Brock Lesnar 3.25*
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Author: Alex Bakothanasis
Photo Credit: WWE
One Stop Wrestling 