Backlash 2016: Kicking off the 2 PPVs a month era

[goc]

So Backlash is tonight, the first SD only PPV of the new brand split era. Card is:

 

AJ Styles vs. Dean Ambrose

Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt

Alexa Bliss vs. Becky Lynch vs. Carmella vs. Naomi vs. Natalya vs. Nikki Bella

Winner of Usos/Hype Bros vs. Heath Slater & Rhyno

Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler

Usos vs. Hype Bros

 

Although WWE has not put out any official statement about it, there are a lot of reports floating around that Orton is not going to compete tonight so the Orton/Wyatt match won't take place. The card was light BEFORE that but now it's really looking bad.

 

Apparently Orton is backstage at the arena but the word is that he still hasn't been medically cleared following the Lesnar match. And considering that there has been ZERO talk about this before now it makes me think he got a concussion from those elbows and WWE made sure that didn't get out because it makes them look like absolute shit that they had Lesnar throw shoot elbows onto a guy who was told NOT to defend himself and wound up with a concussion all because they wanted to run some stupid "worked shoot" angle and because they want blood but are afraid to have anyone blade.

[El-P]

2 PPVs a month ? And this is one ?

 

*jaw drops*

 

And yeah, that whole Orton taking straight elbows deal is beyond ridiculous. Use a fucking blade already. But I guess cutting yourself slightly with a clean blade is dangerous but getting a concussion from legit elbows in a fake match is a-okay. WELLNESS.

[WingedEagle]

I'm very excited for a long AJ Styles PPV match. Hopefully he begins an extended reign with the title tonight but I could easily see them delaying that. Double Usos action also looks promising. After that? Its going to be a long show.

[FMKK]

This looks thin for a house show let alone a PPV. These single brand shows should really be 2 hours.

 

I think the way to go is for the Usos to cheat Heath and Rhyno out of the championships to put heat on this heel turn. I kinda assume Styles and Ambrose will have a non-finish to keep the feud going because there's absolutely nothing else on top for Smackdown. No Cena and no Orton is a disaster for them. They need to call guys up from NXT or something.

 

The Observer Twitter account is now reporting that Orton is out.

[DMJ]

Here's hoping they put the title on Styles tonight. Seems like the only positive that could come out of this event.

 

Also, would love them to tease an appearance by whoever the next NXT call-up is (I'm thinking its Joe).

 

 

I'm not sure what kind of angle they'll run between Orton and Wyatt, but I'm not hopeful about it. The fact that they are even running this feud, when I believe they did it last fall or at least attempted to (http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2574073-randy-orton-vs-bray-wyatt-feud-would-take-wwes-fall-season-by-storm), just shows how piss-poor they booked the return of Orton, literally not thinking beyond "Gets killed by Lesnar at SummerSlam."

 

The loss Orton suffered from Lesnar was not going to easy to bounce back from, but to go into a bone-chillingly cold feud with Bray Wyatt, one of the most irrelevant characters in WWE programming in 2016, was bound to lead to fan disinterest.

 

 

Miz/Ziggler Round 89,403 should be lame. This is what Miz gets for delivering a buzz-worthy promo on Daniel Bryan and being one of the company's top 2-3 true heat-getting heels (I'd put Rusev and Styles on that list too as Styles, to his credit, works hard to get heat even when he's getting cheered and Rusev does the same even when he's getting booked to look vulnerable and sympathetic). The Miz would've been a great, natural challenger for Ambrose at SummerSlam or even for this show (Styles could've wrestled in some sort of Number One Contender's match against Kane maybe?), but alas, Creative sees lemon, sugar, and water, and doesn't know what to do with it.

 

 

American Alphas not being on the card makes sense storyline-wise or whatever, but one has to remember, you have a live crowd to please. Not putting your best tag team on the show (maybe they're on the pre-show?) is not going to make the people paying $50+ a ticket happy when you're already running a bit of a skeleton crew without Cena (and now Orton too).

[Coffey]

Shows like this, which have a weak looking card on paper, sometimes genuinely surprise me. So in that regard, I'm sort of excited for the show because I have expectations that, at the very least, will be met. And, in all probability, if we get any decent match or entertaining skit, will probably be exceeded.

 

Also, I have no idea what is going to happen, so maybe I could be pleasantly surprised at an outcome or two. I don't have anything else going on tonight anyway. I can't sit through NFL football games anymore. I don't play fantasy football & the commercial breaks suck my will to live.

[goc]

My only interest in this card is to see how good of a match AJ Styles can manage to drag out of Dean Ambrose who has been pretty awful since Mania.

[NintendoLogic]

It shouldn't be too hard to fill the time. Just have Wyatt come out and ramble on about nothing for a few minutes and make the other matches a few minutes longer.

[FMKK]

It shouldn't be too hard to fill the time. Just have Wyatt come out and ramble on about nothing for a few minutes and make the other matches a few minutes longer.

 

That's assuming they're not stupid enough to actually schedule this for 3 hours. Even with all the matches being on, that's a lot of time to fill for this card.

[Codysseus]

Pretty excited for Styles in the main event and for the Women's Title match. I feel like Becky needs to win if they want to establish the title.

Also, I like her.

[Grimmas]

I really hope GM Daniel Bryan calls his good friend Brian Kendrick to come on the show and fill time with a match.

[El-P]

Wait, the women's multi-body match is a *title match* ? They're having another woman's title on SD ?

 

*facepalm*

 

Hey, this stuff is on free TV here. DVR.

[Grimmas]

Wait, the women's multi-body match is a *title match* ? They're having another woman's title on SD ?

 

*facepalm*

 

Hey, this stuff is on free TV here. DVR.

They split the rosters. Each show has a women's division, why would each show not have a women's title?

[Matt D]

I (again) wish they differentiated things with women's tag titles on SD and Six man tag titles on Raw (perfect for New Day and killing time), and putting a 10-minute time limit on the IC belt to make it a TV title except for on PPVs (Miz would be great for that). Just anything but needless repetition.

 

If they knew this would be a potential issue weeks ago, they should have let Ziggler into the match and done a round robin tournament with Styles, Ziggler, Ambrose tonight.

 

I'm just full of unsolicited backseat ideas.

[El-P]

 

Wait, the women's multi-body match is a *title match* ? They're having another woman's title on SD ?

 

*facepalm*

 

Hey, this stuff is on free TV here. DVR.

They split the rosters. Each show has a women's division, why would each show not have a women's title?

 

Because it makes each title look less important, and the women are the last who need that after the infamous "diva revolution".

[El-P]

I (again) wish they differentiated things with women's tag titles on SD and Six man tag titles on Raw (perfect for New Day and killing time), and putting a 10-minute time limit on the IC belt to make it a TV title except for on PPVs (Miz would be great for that). Just anything but needless repetition.

 

Yeah, but that would require some kind of thinking, you know. So, just double the titles and that'll do.

[Coffey]

I'm with Codysseus. I'm pulling for Becky in the Women's Title match solely because I like her.

[Grimmas]

 

 

Wait, the women's multi-body match is a *title match* ? They're having another woman's title on SD ?

 

*facepalm*

 

Hey, this stuff is on free TV here. DVR.

They split the rosters. Each show has a women's division, why would each show not have a women's title?

 

Because it makes each title look less important, and the women are the last who need that after the infamous "diva revolution".

 

Of course it's stupid, but you acted surprised. They did the same shit last time, they already created a second World (universal) title for Raw. It's what they do

[hammerva]

Not sure you can find a bigger burial of a guy than Lawler telling people that he beat Ziggler about 10 minutes before he suffered a heart attack. And then nobody picks Ziggler to beat the Miz

[Johnny Sorrow]

Slater and Rhyno are fucking awesome.

[Grimmas]

Slater and Rhyno are fucking awesome.

I agree with Johnny, so it must be true!

[Johnny Sorrow]

Alexa's Harley Quinn look is HAWT.

[C.S.]

Just got home to the middle of a Corbin-Crews match no one asked for. Did I miss anything else from the pre-show?

[El-P]

Of course it's stupid, but you acted surprised. They did the same shit last time, they already created a second World (universal) title for Raw. It's what they do

 

For the men, yeah, I knew they would anyway, but the women... Well, but like you say, why am I even surprised ?

 

So, new champ : Nikki Bella ?

 

I just hope Naomi will get another kick ass funky outfit like she does.

[hammerva]

I am behind on the pre-show but it looks like they still promoting Orton vs Wyatt tonight even though everyone has said it was off