On May 6th the WWE Universe will see its first real taste of the post-Wrestlemania 34 world. Yes, we had the Greatest Royal Rumble on April 27th, but that was more of a one-off event. Backlash will see feuds settled so that the WWE can officially move into new stories and angles. This will also mark the first PPV in which WWE returns to the shared event format. For the past year, the fans have had two PPV’s per month, each catering specifically to Raw or SmackDown with only the big four (Wrestlemania, Summer Slam, Survivor Series, and Royal Rumble) bringing the two brands together. It was a good experiment and a valiant effort to get as many superstars on the card as possible, but it also gave the fanbase a little show fatigue. It’s hard to expect the fans to watch four weekly shows and two major PPV’s in a month.
At this event, we’ll see three rematches for titles from Wrestlemania and four total title matches. In the WWE “rules” recently usurped champions have the chance to get their titles back, and we’ll see three former champions try and reclaim their prizes from their Wrestlemania and post Wrestlemania losses. There are also some new feuds budding and an old feud being reborn. There’s a lot to see in the fallout of Wrestlemania 34 and here’s where you can see it, and what you must see.
WWE Backlash 2018 Details:
Date: Sunday, May, 6th
Time: 8:00 P.M. EST (5:00 P.M. PST)
TV Channel: WWE Network
Location: The Prudential Center, Newark, NJ
Matches:
Seth Rollins (c) vs. The Miz for the Intercontinental Championship
Roman Reigns vs. Samoa Joe
Nia Jax (c) vs. Alexa Bliss for the Raw Women’s Championship
Braun Stroman & Bobby Lashley vs. Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn
Daniel Bryan vs. Big Cass
Carmella (c) vs. Charlotte Flair for the SmackDown Live Women’s Championship
AJ Styles (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura for the WWE Championship
Predictions & Must-See Matches
Roman Reigns vs. Samoa Joe
Samoa Joe is back on the main roster and made a significant statement at the Greatest Royal Rumble. The fatal four-way ladder match was the best match of the night, and Joe was no small part of that, using the ladder as a blunt object of destruction in convincing fashion. Roman Reigns is coming off of a Greatest Royal Rumble that was a little strange, to say the least. Reigns took on Brock Lesnar in a steel cage match, and the finish left a lot of people wondering… was that on purpose? Reigns did his signature spear to Lesnar and broke through the side of the cage. Even though the announcers continued to remind us over and over that whoever had both feet touch the ground first while trying to escape the cage was the winner, and Reigns rolled over and had his feet touch first, Lesnar was still declared the winner for “touching the ground first.” If this wasn’t an accident, then the story was handled very haphazardly. The plus side is it added fuel to the fire that is Samoa Joe’s Promos. Joe and Reigns have had issues in the past, and Joe has been cutting amazing promos at the expense of Reigns continuous struggles against Lesnar. Backlash will be a perfect place to let that simmer over, mainly because after the event both men will be on separate shows again. This will most likely give them the green light to put everything into this match. Love him or hate him Reigns puts on good matches, and Samoa Joe is always solid. Look for these two to put on a real slobber knocker.
Carmella vs. Charlotte Flair
On the SmackDown Live after Wrestlemania, Carmella took advantage of Charlotte Flair being attacked by the recently promoted duo, The Iconics and cashed in her Money in the Bank briefcase. With the help of the beating put on by Billie Kay and Peyton Royce, The Princess of Staten Island successfully cashed in the first ever Women’s Money in the Bank Briefcase to get her first SmackDown Live Women’s Championship. Charlotte was not happy. Now she has her rematch. This will be a big moment for Carmella. She has limited singles action under her belt, and she will be facing off against arguably the most talented Woman working right now. Carmella has had good moments in her matches and is a hard worker, so if she steps up this could be a great match. Look for The Iconics to come out and ruin things for Charlotte before it’s over.
AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
Will this finally be the dream match that WWE has long promised us for these two? Their Wrestlemania match was good. Their Greatest Royal Rumble match was really good. Could their Backlash match be great? It seemed that the heel vs. face angle at the Greatest Royal Rumble worked far better for the two superstars then their original face vs. face angle used at Wrestlemania. It gave Nakamura the ability to make his already brutal style even more so and caused the anger that Styles fought with believable and justifiable. I mean wouldn’t you want to kick the crap out of a guy who seemed to have a homing beacon for your groin and wouldn’t stop punching it… They had their blow-off match at Greatest Royal Rumble, with both men getting disqualified via count out because Styles was more focused on punishing Nakamura then getting him back in the ring, and thanks to champions advantage he held onto his title. Now that we’re back on the main line up of WWE PPVs we could see a more technical fight, and quite possibly a title change hands.
The PPV after Wrestlemania is usually somewhat of a throwaway event, but that’s the exact reason WWE could end up shocking you. They need people to keep watching and if we all start to think that Backlash is one to skip then WWE will have to kick up the excitement for this particular event. We’ll find out what they have planned on May 6th.