WWE Backlash results (2024) and commentary from Danny Damage!
Previously On…
As it does every year, the buzz has cooled off a little after WrestleMania, but that doesn’t mean that people aren’t paying attention to some of what’s on offer.
Drew McIntyre has been on fire for a while now and he’s a reason many dare to brave watching Monday night’s “3 hours of Adverts with a Little Wrestling Sprinkled In”. He’s not scheduled to be on tonight’s show, but there’s no need to potentially over-expose Drew if there’s nothing for him to do.
Many are intrigued with the next phase of the Bloodline and whether or not Paul Heyman will have a breakdown in Roman Reigns’ absence and who else will join the faction.
Fans of Liv “Torture Porn” Morgan have been up in arms as their favourite online/pretend girlfriend is being “overlooked” (their words, not mine) by genuinely talented people and she’s not being rewarded the world on the stick (again) just because she makes some of the lad’s underpants tingle.
The majority still seem like they’re happy to back Cody Rhodes for the time being, but I fear that novelty may fade in time. Not because of anything Cody has done directly, but because his story has been finished, people got what they wanted and I can see them moving on to wanting something else soon.
The same goes for Jey Uso. While it may look like he’s super-over, if you took away the dance and the buzzword that fans enjoy, a lot of the crowd would be playing with their phones, grabbing a snack or taking a piss when he’s on-screen/in the ring. If there was ever a case of someone being in WWE because of WHO they know and not WHAT they know, Jey and Drunky Jimmy are prime contenders.
On the other hand, the third Uso, Solo Sikoa has stepped up and impressed all as of late. He’s only speaking when he has to, he’s not saying too much and he’s working around Paul Heyman’s greatness. When he first rocked up to NXT, I took shots at him being a diluted Uso and a slimmer variant of Samoa Joe (to Vince McMahon’s delight), so I’m glad he’s finally proven me wrong and has found his own thing.
Also missing from the card are Roman Reigns, LA Knight, Rhea Ripley and CM Punk. The latter two are results of injury and Roman deserves a break…from sparse appearances, but a break nonetheless.
Lastly, the pre-shows have been 9999x better with CM Punk, Big E and similar hosts compared to the interchangeable talking heads that only want to be on TV reading a teleprompter and not caring what they’re a part of. Peter Rosenberg, Sam Roberts, they don’t draw people into watching more, they push people away and they are terrible. More of the new approach, please.
WWE Backlash Results (2024)
Randy Orton & Kevin Owens vs. Solo Sikoa & Tama Tonga
Winners: Solo Sikoa & Tama Tonga (pinfall)
The crowd went mental for KO and Orton when they entered the arena. They booed the crap out of the Bloodline.
All four of them went to the outside swinging and they needed splitting up by officials before the bell. This caused Nick Aldis to show up to add a no-DQ stipulation.
The tag match turned into a free-for-all where all the weapons and furniture were introduced.
After all the street fight chaos, the faces looked like they had things under control, but Tama Tonga’s brother, Tanga Loa turned up and knocked out Orton.
In the ring, Solo dropped Owens onto a chair and then finished him off with a Samoan Spike.
I honestly can’t remember where they were at when Randy got injured, but the Orton and Owens bromance feels like it’s trying to remake the unfinished Orton and Matt Riddle affair. I’m still not sure how I feel about it, it may have already started to get a little Riddle-level tacky.
Bayley vs. Naomi vs. Tiffany Stratton (WWE Women’s Title)
Winner: Bayley (pinfall)
The crowd got even louder for this one, to the point of distraction/derailment at times. When they got into the lasses, spots and near-falls, it added to it, but they just went off on their own at times and weren’t reacting to anything in the ring. It gave the impression that they were bored and/or uninterested.
That wasn’t the case though, as this triple threat match wasn’t the worst or the hardest to follow. Sure, there were moments where they tried to do too much at once, but it was tame compared to many other triple/quadruple threat matches.
In the end, Bayley and Naomi were rolling around and Naomi tried to get Bayley into her submission. Bayley saw it coming and counter-rolled Naomi up for the three-count.
Tiffany Stratton had a great showing too. She’s still pretty new to the main roster and learning under Bayley isn’t never a bad thing.
Damian Priest vs. Jey Uso (World Heavyweight Title)
Winner: Damien Priest (pinfall)
Even a few minutes of Jey Uso’s entrance dance and Yeet chanting didn’t tire the crowd out, they loved it, as did he. With that said, he pushes it too much and risks over-exposing non-international crowds with his hijinks and will eventually be met with blank stares and total silence. Anyway, that day is not today.
JD McDonagh came down to help Priest, but he was insulted by Priest (“use your big-ass head”) and even by Michael Cole (called him “Klingon Head”), so his reputation is pretty much dead after that.
Finn Balor tried to help too by preventing a Samoan Splash, but Uso booted him in the face and Priest scolded him.
Both guys “hit” loads of kicks but visibly connected slaps to their own legs instead. They did this a lot. And here’s me thinking Uso wanted to put on better matches after the mess with his brother at WrestleMania.
Jey had the match won after finally landing a Splash off the top, but JD McDonagh put Damien’s foot on the rope just in time without the referee spotting him.
As Uso took his eyes off the champ to neutralise JD and Finn on the outside, his final splash attempt was cut short by Priest, who hit his South of Heaven from the ropes and retained his belt.
After the bell, Priest got in his comrade’s faces and shoved them around some more, claiming he didn’t need their help, without realising he only won because of it. The two little Irish lads didn’t seem best pleased.
The Kabuki Warriors vs. Bianca Belair & Jade Cargill (WWE Women’s Tag Team Title)
Winners: Bianca Belair & Jade Cargill (pinfall)
Going into the match, it was obvious that Jade has a magnificent aura and is getting better, but she still hasn’t mastered that bicycle kick. By the end of the match, she had a shit-load of people see some of the other moves she can pull off and the unconnected bicycle kick was the last thing on everyone’s mind.
Whenever Bianca and Jade were on the offensive, they looked like the Female Road Warriors, which would explain the red outfits. They were a powerhouse pair that threw the Kabuki Warriors around when they weren’t being tricked, outsmarted or double-teamed.
There was an awkward moment where Kairi was told by the referee that wasn’t the legal woman, but then the ref told Asuka to tag in, which she did. This eventually led to a spot where both heels had grounded arm-breakers locked in, but Bianca and Jade stood up and powered their opponents down to the mat.
Cargill made the save after the Kabukis hit Belair with their double-team Insane Elbow finish and got the hot tag.
Kairi tried to attack Jade off the top rope, but Cargill caught her, spun her around, tossed her about and ended the spot with a Jaded slam. Bianca then hit Asuka with the Kiss of Death onto Sane and scored the pinfall.
Cody Rhodes vs. AJ Styles (WWE Undisputed Title)
Winner: Cody Rhodes (pinfall)
The main event went just about how everyone expected it. Cody spent two years officially chasing the title, there wasn’t really any chance of him dropping it here, despite the show both he and AJ had put on beforehand.
They started off slow and felt each other out, building to bigger moves and closer near-falls.
The crowd was very loud…again, taking the focus off what was happening in the ring…again, but they made it work when they were reacting to something and not just tickling themselves at being the third participant in the match.
The finish saw Cody hit a Cody Cutter and Cross Rhodes combination to remain the champion.
A nice match, well worth a watch and a refreshing change from three years of the same drawn-out Roman Reigns Hollywood audition wrestling match.
And Another Thing…
In general, it was a fun evening that didn’t overstay its welcome and entertained for the most part.
As expected with Backlash, there was nothing groundbreaking following the massive shifts from WrestleMania, but they’re keeping the shop open and the wheels turning.
All the new champions needed a win to show there was more to them than successfully chasing a belt, which they got. New champions were established in the women’s tag division and the Bloodline got a new member, bringing us closer to the inevitable civil war.
I’m not sure if it wasn’t because they weren’t in America for this one, but there was a noticeable drop in the number of adverts and how aggressively they were smacked in our faces.
After the second match, there was a recap of the first, sponsored by someone. After the third, there was a full-screen commercial for a video game followed by a shoutout to the resident hydration drink while they introduced the next contenders. Finally, before the main event, they advertised the Rivals and Hidden Treasures shows; letting you know that it’s not just WWE and AEW television that you’ll see and hear WWE stars featured.
Hopefully, this is WWE realising they’d gone a bit overboard on previous PLEs when dressing the ring and arena up like a cheap, colourful whore, but it might just be the overseas factor. Either way, thanks. It was a nice break from shameless eye pain.
Something else I will mention now we’ve had a couple of years of roaming PLE locations is that the “international fans” bring both good times and bad. Yes, it’s great that people are excited at the new live events they get to experience, however, every new location presents a checklist of fan chants and behaviours they have to get out of the way EVERY time. Every entrance song that gets sung, every superstar that “deserves it”, we have to let every hometown audience get their shit in before the show can go on. It’s like watching shitty indie wrestlers go for 30 minutes because they have extensive move-sets.
This is okay in a vacuum, but when comments are made like “best crowd ever”, even when they low-key hijack/damage the show, all that’s going to encourage are those fake/forced reactions like people trying to sell their fake/forced YouTube “live”, “real” or “unscripted” videos.
Sorry to be the old misery guts of the group, but this will get old really fast.
– OLDER PPV RESULTS –
- WWE WrestleMania 40 (Night 2)
- WWE WrestleMania 40 (Night 1)
- WWE Elimination Chamber 2024
- WWE Royal Rumble 2024
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