WWE Backlash Review 09/11/2016

Hello Misfits! Tonight we witnessed Smackdown’s first exclusive PPV and the first Backlash of the new era. I ended up being 4-1-2 with my predictions. I went into the PPV with average expectations and it ended up being better than I could have expected. It’s the beauty of going into a show without high expectations, it gives you the ability to watch the show not expecting but and then being easier to impress. First off, this review is going to be shorter than my usual ones, because I’ll literally just be stating my opinion of each match. Secondly, I didn’t watch the kick off, so I didn’t see Apollo Crews vs. Baron Corbin, whatever. Now on to my quick review.

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WWE Backlash comes to us from the Richmond Coliseum in Richmond, VA.

– The show opened with a 9/11 memorial video package.

– Shane McMahon & Daniel Bryan came out to introduce everyone to Smackdown’s first exclusive PPV and hype up the crowd for tonights card.

Smackdown Women’s Championship
Becky Lynch def. Alexa Bliss, Naomi, Natalya, Nikki Bella & Carmella
in 14:40 via submission
All I wanted from this match, besides of a champion being crowned of course, was that the women were given enough time to all shine and show that the Smackdown Women’s division was a force to be reckoned with. I mean when you compared the two divisions of each show immediately after the draft, it almost felt like Raw got most of the former NXT heavy hitters of the New Era like Charlotte, Sasha Banks, Paige and Nia Jax. Also, just a few weeks back Raw ended up getting Bayley as well. Smackdown had Becky Lynch, Alex Bliss and Carmella and women who have already been main roster mainstays for years now such as Natalya, Naomi, and returning last month at Summerslam, Nikki Bella. The Smackdown women’s division were given time to shine and thats exactly what they did. This match had its flaws like other women breaking up pinfalls up even though it was under elimination rules and I’m not a huge fan of the everyone pretending to be dead outside the ring when two people are going at it inside the ring formula that wrestling uses when they’re dealing with multi-star matches. Other than that, these women all got a moment to shine. If you read my predictions, you would have read that I though Alexa Bliss hasn’t made much of an impact since being on Smackdown but at Backlash, dressed similar to Harley Quinn, she dominated and made sure she was noticed. Naomi and Natalya showcased their experience and ability to out perform everyone else. Nikki Bella showed that she came back and as dominant as she was when she had to take time off for surgery. Carmella continues to be a thorn in Nikki’s side and was billed as the most dominant heel in this match. The right woman won in the end with Becky Lynch, leading this division in the New Era of Smackdown. Everyone looked strong in this match and it put everyone on notice that the Women’s Division on Smackdown shouldn’t be taken lightly. BECKY BALBOA BABY!! STRAIGHT FIYAAAAA!!!
Rating – ***1/2

– Miz has a backstage skit with some punk kid from a Nickelodeon show,

– Randy Orton is laid out by a brutal assault from Bray Wyatt, where it looked as if Bray Wyatt was trying to mess up Orton’s leg.

Second Chance Semi-Finals for the Tag Team Title Tournament
The Usos def. The Hype Bros
in 10:11 via pinfall
A quick recap for those living under a rock or who don’t watch Smackdown Live. The finals were set to be American Alpha vs. Slater & Rhyno. The Uso’s turned heel attacking American Alpha after losing to them in a short semi finals match on Smackdown. The assault was so brutal that Chad Gable got injured which meant they were unfit to compete in the finals of the tag team tournament. Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan agreed on giving the two semi final teams that lost, a second chance to get into the finals by facing each other. The match was good but nothing too memorable. I do remember times, where MoJo Rawley actually kind of impressed me with his intensity and in ring presence. The biggest thing that stood out to me about this match was the change in characteristics of the Uso’s. They didnt go through a tweener stage and they fully embraced the fans hate. The hate they’ve been receiving ever since they started helping Roman when he was up against the club. Honestly, from my personal opinion, they babyface run was getting stale. The Usos’, dare I say, were getting boring. None of they neon colours, samoan war chants or high flying moves were going to rejuvenate their career. If anything this change in attitude, attire and aggressive in ring style made them feel fresh again and I LOVED IT. I loved their nonchalant attitude and their aggressive in ring style. I loved the black and white attire over the 80s colours. I love that they didnt win their match with flying splashes but a mean looking tequila sunrise submission hold. They’re not longer stale, but now they are even better than before and they’re interesting to top it off.
Rating – **1/4

– We got a promo from Slater and Rhyno, with Slater complaining about his stomach because of his wife’s imitation crab dip. Poop jokes…for the sake of poop jokes. I bet Vince was of the floor laughing.

Intercontinental Champion
The Miz w/ Maryse (C) def. Dolph Ziggler
in 18:22 via pinfall
This match ended up being better than I expected. Now before The Miz made his entrance, they showed him backstage arguing with Daniel Bryan, claiming he wanted to renegotiate his contract because he believed he deserved more than what he’s getting and that tonight he was going to show Bryan what Bryan can’t do anymore. The beginning of the match started off with a mat wrestling take down which many thought was very similar to the CM Punk fight. Literally, Miz rushed in, ate a double leg, ground and pound and Ziggler got a rear naked choke…it was like sped up version of what actually happened in Punk’s UFC debut. I don’t know if this was WWE’s way of taking shots at CM Punk or just a coincidence. Other than that the match was better than I expected. These two are friends in real-life, wrestled a ton of times against each other and it shows. They have great chemistry. I love that throughout the match The Miz was using Daniel Bryans moves and mocking Bryan. Miz kept working the heat which isn’t hard because its easy to hate The Miz. He is the champion no one wants, he gets to be in movies, he has a hot wife, he’s not the most entertaining in ring worker and now he’s mocking the biggest underdog of life, Daniel Bryan. Ziggler was excellent throughout the match as the never say die face, which led to some great back and forth down the stretch and very strong near falls. Maryse got involved, which I expected and it allowed Miz to pick up the win. This match was good and both guys delivered. I don’t know where they’re going with this Miz/Bryan angle and I sure don’t know where there going next with Ziggler. Hopefully, these two have one more match against each other, maybe. Although, if they both move on from this feud, I’d be happy with that too. Nonetheless, this was a solid match for the IC strap with a finish that makes you hate the Miz more.
Rating – ***

Bray Wyatt def. Randy Orton
by Forfeit
Bray Wyatt is out. Randy Orton can’t compete due to not being medically cleared. In reality, Orton wasnt cleared because of the minor concussion he suffered from the TKO finish with Lesnar at Summerslam, which they expected he’d be fine from at this point but he wasn’t. The story came out earlier in the day online and I was quite disappointed since this was one the matches I was looking forward too. Storyline-wise it was Wyatt’s backstage attack from earlier which prevented Orton from particpating. Wyatt had the ref count to ten so that he could win via forfeit. 
Rating – N/A

No DQ Match
Kane def. Bray Wyatt
in 10:55 via pinfall
I had a feeling that they were going to have Wyatt still face somebody since they needed to fill the time for the show. I immediately guessed Kane, since they have slowly been bringing him back on TV the past couple of weeks. Also, the Smackdown roster is pretty small, therefore unless someone new was debuting or returning (I was hoping for Luke Harper), I knew that “its gotta be Kane”. The announced that the match was going to be No Holds Barred, which I was happy about because it made the fact that Kane was his opponent bearable. Imagine it was just Wyatt vs. Kane is your basic one-on-one match. BORING. However, with no rules or restrictions, these two could get a little extreme, which could save the segment. These two brawled for a bit. Wyatt mocked Orton by doing his pose before hitting a running senton that put Kane through the announcer’s table. Kane held his own during this match but its unfortunate that it’s not 1999-2010. As much as I respect Kane and love the character, he doesn’t to win and his character has basically ran its course to be rooted for the billionth time. Wyatt was preparing to finish Kane, when Orton limped his way out to the ring to distract Wyatt. As Wyatt set his focus back on Kane, Orton snuck into the ring and laid Wyatt out with a RKO outta nowhere. Orton limped his way to the back while Kane picked up the victory.
Bray should have beaten Kane and Orton should have laid him out after the victory with a RKO. Wyatt needs to be taken seriously as a threat going against anyone. Wyatt’s supposed to be the new face of fear and yet he’s always losing. Imagine this was Undertaker in Wyatt’s position, I am sure more of you would agree this was just poor booking. I don’t know what big plans they have for Kane, but once again a loss for Kane, doesnt hurt Kane at this point of his career. The match was better than I thought it would be (recurring theme of the night) and it would have been a nice  for Wyatt, the new predator to beat the big red monster through brutality. I know we’ll most likely be getting Orton/Wyatt at No Mercy now, but as big of a Orton fan as I am, Wyatt needs to win this feud to elevate him to the next level.
Rating – **

-AJ Styles walks back some indie geeks backstage and says that they know his story. He then says that they are destined to failure, butt they can at least say that they met Styles in person the night he won the WWE Title.

Smackdown Tag Team Championship Finals
Heath Slater & Rhyno def. The Usos
in 10:02 via pinfall
The cool heel Uso’s came back out to face the super over random team of Slater and Rhyno. This match was good, and I think there were times I even wasn’t sure who was going to win even though I came into this match so confident that Slater and Rhyno were going to win. The Usos’ continued to not be flashy and being more brutal on the beatdown on Slater when they were in charge. I love that they were avoiding moves that might get the fans to cheer them to establish their heel characters. Slater and Rhyno got the victory after a brawl, where Rhyno ended up goring the legal Uso and Slater pinned them. The “Free Agent” Slater storyline has been awesome but its also been going on since July and it was time Slater got signed to a show. I don’t know if this did anything in enhancing Slater’s value on the roster for the future but he’ll sure be remembered for this storyline like he is for the storyline where he got beat up by Raw legends leading to the 1000th episode. I don’t see Slater and Rhyno having a lengthy reign but they’ll always be remembered as the first ever Smackdown tag team champions. I would love for the Uso’s to beat them for the straps. Which would lead to the Usos’ and American Alpha feuding over the titles. I would either have Rhyno and Slater feud with each other or try to climb their way back to the top of the mountain as team filled with funny training skits and what not. We’ll see what happens. 
Ratings – ***1/2

WWE World Championship
AJ Styles def. Dean Ambrose (C)
in 25:01 via pinfall
In the most anticipated match of the evening, Dean Ambrose lost the WWE Championship to AJ Styles. Let that sink in…just 8 months into his WWE tenure, AJ Styles is the WWE Champion. The same AJ Styles that spent most of his career in TNA, and the rest of his career wrestling around the world in little gyms to the Tokyo Dome in Japan. The same AJ Styles who is a former NWA, TNA and IWGP Champion. AJ Styles made his debut at the Royal Rumble, he wrestled Chris Jericho at Wrestlemania, defeated John Cena at Summerslam and won his first WWE Championship on Smackdowns first exclusive PPV of the New Era. The match was great, and better the second time I watched it. I think the first time I watched it, I was on the edge of my seat and too tense to actually focus on the actual match, so the second time around I actually noticed how good both guys worked together. I don’t remember the last time I’ve watched a bad AJ Styles match. Both guys got all their respected big moves in and the entire match felt like it could go either way. It was after a ref bump, a low blow and a Styles Clash that Styles picked up the victory to win his first ever WWE brass ring and his first ever WWE Championship.The finish works on a few levels, Styles was so cocky but Ambrose overcame everything he was doing, so he cheats to win because he’s a heel and took the opportunity given to him. Also, the cheap finish perfectly sets for the rematch since Ambrose was screwed. Ambrose worked better than he has on Smackdown in recent history. It almost looked like he tried to be involved with putting on a good match. This makes Styles beating John Cena seem to be even more legit because the very next month he won the WWE Title. Both guys delivered and we can only wait to see what happens next. When does Cena return? When will the rematch take place? Where does Dean go from here if he can’t retain his title? Only time can tell. If you’re a fan of both or either guy, I recommend everyone to check out this match because it was a complete roller coaster ride of emotions.
Rating – ****

Final Thoughts
They used the same set they used for Smackdown, which was the only thing I found crappy. I mean, use this set for PPV’s and the set you were using before for Smackdown for Smackdown then. Let them just be different. However, the hatred towards the stage was easily forgotten and easy to overcome when the rest of the show was so enjoyable. Every match was better than I expected and the entire show was way above my low expectations. It makes me anticipate the next episode of Smackdown Live, and the next Smackdown PPV since this one was so enjoyable. Smackdown seems to have given the fans exactly what they wanted in who walked out with championship gold, and its kind of mind blowing. Raw is good but Smackdown week by week seems to be finding their groove. Styles winning the WWE Championship is one of those moments that will go down in the history books and I’lll never forget. The same goes for Becky Lynch finally capturing a Women’s Title. This show was like the final brick being laid down to finish the construction of the New Era of Smackdown. I would have never thought last year in September that AJ Styles, Kevin Owens and Shinsuke Nakamura would be holding the World Titles of their respective brands under the WWE umbrella. This PPV wasnt the PPV of the year or anything, it had its flaws. The Kane and Wyatt match had poor booking and shouldn’t have happened anyway, but Orton wasn’t cleared to work. The Styles/Ambrose, Miz/Ziggler and the Women’s Six Pack matches, exceeded my expectations. The Women proved that they are to be taken just as serious if not more serious than the Raw Women’s Division. Once again, this may have not been the best PPV of 2016, but it was REALLY GOOD. It’s totally worth a watch, and just like Smackdown Live is on every Tuesday, its easy to watch. Smackdown’s first exclusive PPV was a success.
Final Rating – 7.5/10