WWE Backlash 2018

[KawadaSmile]

It's on the WWE twitter feed as well. Hope it's nothing serious.

[NintendoLogic]

The only source I've seen for Alexa's injury is WWE, so it could be a work. But Nia does have a history of injuring people, so I wouldn't count on it. Stupid clumsy oaf can't do anything right.

[El-P]

Alexa also apparently got legit injured during the match. Left shoulder according to Dave Meltzer (check that source, I got it from Reddit).

 

How many times has Nia thrown someone to land badly on their shoulder already ?

 

The reviews of this show are so damn awful that I almost want to get back on my post GRR decision, as a pro-wrestling masochist. I said almost.

[KawadaSmile]

Stupid clumsy oaf can't do anything right.

Yikes.

[Mad Dog]

 

 

Alexa also apparently got legit injured during the match. Left shoulder according to Dave Meltzer (check that source, I got it from Reddit).

How many times has Nia thrown someone to land badly on their shoulder already ?

 

The reviews of this show are so damn awful that I almost want to get back on my post GRR decision, as a pro-wrestling masochist. I said almost.

3 times.

[El-P]

1 time is an accident. 2 times is a coincidence. 3 times...

[TheDuke]

This show was too long and too boring. I am surprised Miz Rollins was the best match, as at the time I was watching it I didn't think it was that good, other then Miz's little heel things he does. I liked Miz's promo on the post show as well. Reigns Joe was really disappointing because of how boring it was. I no longer think Reigns is that great on his own, he really depends on the opponent I feel, since both Joe and Lesnar matches the last few weeks were not that good. Of course, Cass seemed awful and really brought down Daniel Bryan. Watching NXT, I feel scared for Gargano, Ciampa, Strong, etc being called up to the main roster as I imagine they will be misused. Face Braun Stroman and goofy JTTS Rusev is really going to kill off their popularity soon too, and there is not much left to be excited about.

[gordi]

As I have written about elsewhere, back when I got married I received a time-travelling robot cat as a wedding present. I asked him what the WWE was going to look like several years down the line.

 

He told me that the roster, in addition to the usual assortment of big, muscular, Vince-type guys (including Brock Lesnar and at least two others whom I would very much enjoy watching), would also include: AJ Styles, Bryan Danielson, Samoa Joe, Prince Devitt, Kevin Steen, El Generico, Tyler Black, "Supernova" Shinsuke Nakamura, and Claudio Castagnoli, with almost all of them getting pushed to the upper mid card or higher... plus Mike Rotundo's, Mr. Perfect's. Carlos Colón's and Cowboy Bob's kids and members of the legendary Anoa'i family among the second-gen stars, and Kana wrestling in America with a huge push and along with Ric Flair's daughter being the centre of a women's division that is taken relatively seriously by the promotion, plus guys like Pac and KENTA in the 205-pound division...

 

Well, of course I got excited.

 

Then he told me that the booking would be so bad that there would be times when, even with that insanely loaded roster, I would read write-ups of shows and breathe a huge sigh of relief that I had opted to skip watching the PPV. In fact, he told me, there would be times when the booking was so bad that I wouldn't even be able to muster the enthusiasm to watch WWE matches for free on "streaming video services."

 

Sadly, I had little trouble believing that.

 

Even more sadly, he turned out to be 100 percent right.

[SomethingSavage]

Just how fucking awful was that opening video package?

 

"What IS a backlash?"

 

"Is it a reaction?"

 

"A consequence?"

 

"... MAYBE."

 

That was literally the intro to their opening. Fucking terrible, lazy, and uninspired. This wasn't exactly Over the Edge 98 or anything even remotely close.

 

But hey. That opening match was okay.

[Alucard]

As far as Joe in WWE and not having any classics, I would say his best match was vs. Reigns from January 1 2018 RAW.

[EricR]

I really liked the Nia/Alexa match, but that scripted promo after really was brutal. No delivery in the world could have saved that. It even rhymed several times! If any actor can make those words come off genuine, then they have a career.

[Robert S]

Just how fucking awful was that opening video package?

 

"What IS a backlash?"

 

"Is it a reaction?"

 

"A consequence?"

 

"... MAYBE."

 

That was literally the intro to their opening. Fucking terrible, lazy, and uninspired. This wasn't exactly Over the Edge 98 or anything even remotely close.

 

But hey. That opening match was okay.

 

At least the title "Backlash" was quite fitting for this show.

[Victator]

[Superstar Sleeze]

It says a lot about how you feel about wrestling if you think Miz or Rollins is obviously better.

I don't know who is obviously better out of these two. I think Rollins could be an all time great babyface but he has these annoying spots. I think Miz could be an all time great heel if he just cut the shit with trying to actually wrestle and just stick to cheating and cheap shots. So what does this say about me? 😋

[Superstar Sleeze]

Carmella seems like a really good character and just a mediocre wrestler.

Bingo!

[Microstatistics]

I actually enjoyed the show. Yes, the booking was dogshit but the match quality was pretty good for the most part.

 

​Ruby Riott vs. Bayley - Fun start. Featured some excellent selling by Bayley.

 

​Seth Rollins vs. Miz - Eh, this was alright, better than expected but I think people are overrating this. Hot finish.

 

​Alexa Bliss vs. Nia Jax - Prefer the WM match but this is still good. Bliss is turning into a really good worker. Very solid control segments on a larger opponent. The tenacious corner guillotine spot was my favorite.

 

​Jeff Hardy vs. Randy Orton - Boring

 

Daniel Bryan vs. Big Cass - Cass might be the worst wrestler on the roster but the wrestler of the millennium can do no wrong. Amazing carryjob by Bryan. He even managed to salvage the finish with those nasty crossface smashes after Cass fucked it up. Very good ***1/2 ish match.

 

Carmella vs. Charlotte - Decent match. Carmella impressed me here. Cool heel work and focused offense. However, the more I watch Charlotte against anyone not named Sasha Banks, the more I think she is actually not very good. I liked the story of Charlotte not taking the match seriously (though she could have done a better job illustrating that) and paying the price but the finish here makes the decision to end the streak at WM even more infuriating.

 

AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura - Stupid finish aside, a very good match. Way more intensity and fire compared to GRR and a much better structure. The chair ricochet spot was brutal and I dug the AJ stooping to Nakamura's level with the lowblow. ***3/4ish, on par with WM

 

Braun Strowman/Bobby Lashley vs. Kevin Owens/Sami Zayn - Ok but a little long

 

Samoa Joe vs. Roman Reigns - Awesome start but I'll admit the resthold portion hurt this badly, though I enjoyed Joe's character work during. I think the people who pointed out that the segment was laid out to make Joe come across as boring and thus have the crowd boo him more relative to Roman might be spot on, which (if true) is just sad. It picked up big time after, even though they lost the crowd, with hard hitting, intense action. Roman was somewhere close to his best after disappointing showings vs. Brock and Joe was great. I know people really hated this but I thought it was a very good match (***1/2) that could have been even better if it wasn't for a poor layout. Booking wise, Roman is dead in the water.

[NintendoLogic]

I'm fascinated by the vitriol this show has inspired. Don't get me wrong, it was a bad show, but people are reacting like it was Heroes of Wrestling. None of the matches were completely atrocious, and two of them were good-to-great. And the booking was just more of the same shit they've been doing the past few years. I guess it's just a case of the audience finally reaching the breaking point.

[sek69]

The agenting on the show seemed to be done to ensure the most frustrating outcome for the fans possible. The bell to bell on the show was fine, other than Nia nearly killing someone again, but nearly every match seemed to be produced in the most ass-backwards way possible. The lone exception would be Miz-Seth, which is probably why everyone loved it way more than expected.

[SomethingSavage]

I almost always hate WWE comedy, but i thought the filler segment at Backlash was inoffensive and totally harmless. I mean, nothing cracked me up even once or anything. But the crowd was loud & sounded hot for every single act, and that never really died off.

 

Elias toying with the audience was great. I hope they eventually flip the switch with this guy and take him up a notch from comedic filler guy to potential breakthrough star.

 

Rusev is still as over as ever, despite their atrocious handling of his momentum. Hopefully this week's SmackDown is the start of something significant for him, but I'm not exactly getting my hopes up.

[Mad Dog]

I'm fascinated by the vitriol this show has inspired. Don't get me wrong, it was a bad show, but people are reacting like it was Heroes of Wrestling. None of the matches were completely atrocious, and two of them were good-to-great. And the booking was just more of the same shit they've been doing the past few years. I guess it's just a case of the audience finally reaching the breaking point.

 

I think it was caused by show burn out. You had this, Greatest Royal Rumble and Mania all in a very short period of time.

[Kadaveri]

I think the backlash is amplified because Roman Reigns main-evented the show above the WWE title match. I don't know why so many internet fans think this is so important, but they do.

 

I liked the story of Charlotte not taking the match seriously (though she could have done a better job illustrating that)

 

Was that really the story of the match? Looked to me like Charlotte wasn't taking it very seriously for real. There was this awkward segment where Carmella had her in a submission and Charlotte was just laying there totally still not even struggling or anything.

[SomethingSavage]

Do people not realize they have the option to, ya know, not watch everything?

 

Not being a dick, but come on. Cherry pick what you want and leave the rest. I could see if this was some episodic TV with intricate stories or something, but it's fucking 2018 WWE. Continuity isn't really a big deal. You can literally miss 8 weeks or more and not miss out at all.

 

I get wanting to see the wrestling. I practically watch what I do for that alone. But burnout seems like an invalid excuse when you could just, ya know, not watch every single thing they do. Nobody's holding anyone at gun point. Nobody's obligated to see every show.

 

It doesn't look like they're scaling back anytime soon. If anything, they're increasing their output. It already reached a point years ago where I couldn't understand how someone could have personal priorities, a job, a social life, and watch all their shows.

 

If it weren't for their YouTube clips, I wouldn't even bother keeping up with the weekly stuff. I do check out some matches from all their PPVs when I can, and I thought the bell to bell wrestling here was solid enough. Far from their best, but nothing offensive or entirely off-putting.

[Robert S]

Meltzer listed the agents of each Backlash match in the latest Observer:

Bayley vs. Riott: Tyson Kidd & Malenko

Rollins vs. Miz: Tyson Kidd

Jax vs. Bliss: Sarah Stock (Sarita)

Hardy vs. Orton: Double A

Bryan vs. Cass: Noble & Malenko

Charlotte vs. Carmella: Johnny Ace

Styles vs. Nakamura: Noble

Braun & Lashley vs. KO & Zayn: Malenko & Rotundo

Reigns vs. Joe: Michael Hayes

[Mad Dog]

So the lesson here is let Tyson agent all the matches.

[Zoo Enthusiast]

Meltzer listed the agents of each Backlash match in the latest Observer:

Bayley vs. Riott: Tyson Kidd & Malenko

Rollins vs. Miz: Tyson Kidd

Jax vs. Bliss: Sarah Stock (Sarita)

Hardy vs. Orton: Double A

Bryan vs. Cass: Noble & Malenko

Charlotte vs. Carmella: Johnny Ace

Styles vs. Nakamura: Noble

Braun & Lashley vs. KO & Zayn: Malenko & Rotundo

Reigns vs. Joe: Michael Hayes

If you don’t want to wait a week for Dave to type these, you can always check out Fightful instead. Sean Ross Sapp seems to be the best source for WWE stuff now and he gets stuff like this and actual scripts.