Well, another backlash pay per view is in the books, and oh dear, what a mess it was. Boasting only a few standout moments, this event was not what it should have been. While not the worst pay per view in recent memory, Backlash 2018 was far from perfect. From screwy finishes, to bizarre filler segments that ultimately went nowhere, along with way too many rest holds during matches, it was a rather difficult show to get through.

Seth Rollins Def. The Miz, IC Title Match

   Let’s start off with what was obviously the best match of the night, Seth Rollins vs The Miz for the intercontinental championship. Throughout this match, I can’t help but notice how prestigious the intercontinental championship has become in recent years, compared to other titles in the promotion.

   Most of that is due to The Miz, as demonstrated in this potential match of the year candidate. Much like at Wrestlemania 34, and the Greatest Royal Rumble, Rollins and Miz once again are involved in the match of the night at Backlash. This was a great back & forth fight between the two rivals.

   Miz, being the crafty heel he is, capitalized on Rollins’ bad knee throughout the match, eventually locking it in the figure four leg lock. Rollins also put in an amazing performance as well. He reversed the figure four, plagued Miz with multiple high-flying attacks, and most notably kicked out of two brutal skull-crushing finales by Miz. The match ended with an entertaining series of roll-ups, which resulted in Rollins hitting Miz with the best finisher in WWE today. 4.5/5

Nia Jax Def. Alexa Bliss, RAW Women’s Title Match

   And so, the show begins to sink. Now to be fair, living up to the bar previously set by Rollins and Miz can’t be easy, but wow did this match fail. While not the worst match on the card, Jax vs Bliss simply underwhelmed compared to their encounter at Wrestlemania. While that match itself wasn’t much to write home on, it had momentum due to Nia Jax’ “anti-bully” storyline with then Champion Alexa Bliss.

   While the storyline itself was very much a glorified PR moment, it worked because Jax had something to prove, in winning the title. This time around, neither Nia or Alexa came out looking any stronger. The match itself went roughly ten minutes, mostly filled with Nia selling for Alexa to gain sympathy. The crowd wasn’t that invested, and it all ended with an incredibly forced anti-bullying promo from Nia Jax.

   Don’t get me wrong, WWE’s fight against bullying, while hypocritical, is a good cause. But please, don’t tarnish a decent feud with it. 2/5

Jeff Hardy Def. Randy Orton, US Title Match

   After the B.A. Star ad that was the Raw women’s title match, we were treated to a much better contest between old favorites Jeff Hardy and Randy Orton. While not a fast-paced fight, it did what it needed to and was much better than Hardy’s title defense against Jinder “the death of my joy” Mahal.

   It may not hold a candle to their encounter at the 2008 Royal Rumble, but it was still a decent brawl that ended when Hardy hit the swanton bomb from the top rope. Despite Orton looking quite uninterested throughout the bout, the two still put on a fine little match.  And considering the nonsense that went down afterward, I’ll take it. 3.5/5

Elias is interrupted by EVERYONE

   So it’s come to this, the lowest point of the show. Now let me start this off by saying, I like mostly everyone in this segment. I believe these people are talented and deserved better than what happened here.

   Essentially, Elias came out and ran down Bruce Springsteen along with the New Jersey crowd like the amazing heel that he is. He was about to sing another one of his infamous town-trashing songs, only to be interrupted by the greatest WWE merch salesmen since John Cena, The New Day. As they tried to join him with drums, symbols, and a trombone, Elias dismissed them and tried to sing once more. This time, Rusev and Aiden English came out and did practically nothing productive, which is a shame.

   At this point, I assumed it was going to be a 6-man tag match, which would’ve made sense. Unfortunately, I was wrong as No Way Jose (Adam Rose 2.0) came to the ring along with Titus O’Neil, as the commentators continued to run Titus’ infamous trip into the ground. The madness came to a peak when Bobby Roode came to the ring and planted poor Elias with a glorious DDT, and then mooned Rusev.

   This is about as bad of a filler segment as you’d imagine. It went on way too long, and didn’t do much for Rusev, Elias, or anyone. What more can I say, it was rubbish. 1/5

Daniel Bryan Def. Big Cass

   Initially, I thought this match would be about as standard as it gets. Bryan fights hard, Big Cass dominates him, cheats to win. Surprisingly, this match didn’t pander to Vince Mcmahon’s fetish for big, muscly men. It went roughly over five minutes, and was a standard David and Goliath fight. If anything, this match resembled that of Bret Hart’s bout with Kevin Nash at Survivor Series 1995.

    Bryan did his best to sell Cass’ offense and carry him through a half-way decent match. It was a typical case of skill beating power as the seven-footer quickly submitted to the yes-lock. Of course, Big Cass jumped Bryan post-match, leaving the former ROH star in a heap in the ring. It wasn’t a great match, but it was at least passable. 3/5

Carmella Def. Charlotte Flair, Smackdown Women’s Title Match

   Another title match, and oh dear, it’s a bad one! Now it’s rare that Charlotte Flair ever is involved in the worst match of the night, but here we are. The rematch between Charlotte and Carmella didn’t have much hype going into it, other than Carmella’s historic cashing in of the first Women’s Money in The Bank contract, (which was won by James Ellsworth never forget).

   The match itself was a bland boring mess, not helped by multiple rest holds or the dead silent crowd. I understand that Carmella’s whole gimmick is being an obnoxious brat, but did she really have to slap Charlotte and scream all throughout the entire match? I thought we were beyond the era of cringe-worthy cat-fighting, bikini contesting, super-modeling female wrestling.

   The match ended abruptly when Carmella tweeked the knee of the former champion for a quick roll-up. While I don’t believe Charlotte should have taken the title, the way in which Carmella won didn’t make herself, or Charlotte look any stronger. In fact, they both looked worse.

   The whole fight was dull, the idea of the woman who beat Asuka’s streak losing that easily was ludicrous, and the less said about her post-show interview, the better. 1.5/5

AJ Styles & Shinsuke Nakamura ended in a double count out…Again!

   Yet again, a dream match of epic proportions is ruined by a double count out, a double count out that doesn’t really make sense. Now keep in mind that the match between Styles & Nakamura was a No DQ match. This means weapons are legal, and there are no count outs. Key words being “no count outs.” Yet somehow, this fight ended with both competitors on the floor grabbing their crotches in pain.

   However, despite the controversial finish, this match was in fact the best of the three bouts the two have had in the WWE. The action was faster, the stakes were higher, and the use of a chair made this match at the very least, watchable. The double count out means this feud will be stretched out possibly to Summer-Slam.

   This match’s sin can be forgiven if their blow off match is anything like their legendary battle at Wrestle-Kingdom 10.  Seriously though, why doesn’t Aj Styles wear a cup at this point? 3.3/5

Braun Strowman & Bobby Lashley Def Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn

   I’ve already seen this match on Raw.  The only thing they did different was they removing Jinder Mahal and Roman Reigns, and starting yet another unnecessary feud between Owens and Zayn. What more is there to say about this match. It’s a glorified TV match. WWE didn’t add any depth to this match, so why should I? 2/5

Roman Reigns Def. Samoa Joe

Yet again, Roman “Boo” Reigns main events a pay per view over the title match. Call me a stubborn critic. But traditionally, the world championship match ALWAYS closes a pay per view event. For the past two years, Roman Reigns has defied that rule at Wrestlemania 33 and 34. Now non-title main events have their place in pro- wrestling (see Wrestlemania 28), but not in the case of Roman Reigns and Samoa Joe.

   Sure, a controversial ending to Styles vs Nakamura has attracted a great deal of heat from fans, but the fact of the matter is good or bad, that match was much more memorable than the snore-fest of Joe vs Reigns.

   The match started strong with an out-of-control brawl, but slowly descended into over 10 minutes of rest holds, and head locks. Things got so bad that people began chanting “this is boring,” and some fans even left the arena. Vince, you know you’ve done something wrong when people are walking out on a Samoa Joe match.

   What happened from there was just as predictable as you’d expect. Roman comes back from a beating. Spear, superman punch, spear, 1..2..3. In short, it was a Hulk Hogan style match through and through. While this formula may have worked for the Hulkser, it doesn’t do anything for Roman.

   Considering everything else that happened at Backlash, I guess this could’ve been worse. But considering what the two have done in the ring in the past, it’s a major letdown. 2/5

Samuel Claude
Reporter