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WWE Backlash (2023) -- Results & Afterthoughts

Backlash (2023) was the 18th Backlash professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. The event took place on Saturday, May 6, 2023, at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot in San Juan, Puerto Rico. This was the first WWE pay-per-view event held in Puerto Rico since New Year's Revolution in January 2005, and the second Backlash event held outside the continental United States following the 2004 event. After the previous two years were titled "WrestleMania Backlash", the 2023 event reverted to its original name while still maintaining its post-WrestleMania concept, with the 2023 event based around the backlash from WrestleMania 39.

Puerto Rico native and Grammy Award winning rapper Bad Bunny was featured at the event. He was originally promoted to be the host of Backlash, but it was later announced that Bad Bunny would compete in a San Juan Street Fight against Damian Priest, also of Puerto Rican descent, a match that Bad Bunny won. The match also saw appearances by Puerto Rican wrestlers, Carlito, who made his first WWE appearance since the February 1, 2021, episode of Raw, and Savio Vega, who made his first WWE appearance since the 2020 Survivor Series. This match and the event's final match were promoted as a double main event.

Seven matches were contested at the event, including Bad Bunny's aforementioned Street Fight. In the event's final match, which was the other main event, Cody Rhodes defeated Brock Lesnar. In other prominent matches, The Bloodline (Jey Uso, Jimmy Uso, and Solo Sikoa) defeated Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, and Matt Riddle in a six-man tag team match, Rhea Ripley defeated Zelina Vega, who is WWE's only female roster member of Puerto Rican descent, to retain the SmackDown Women's Championship, and in the opening bout, Bianca Belair defeated Iyo Sky to retain the Raw Women's Championship, subsequently becoming the title's longest-reigning champion.

Match Results:

Singles Match for the WWE Raw Women's Championship

Bianca Belair (c) defeated Iyo Sky by pinfall

While I was surprised to see this match kick-off this card, I even more impressed with how well both of these women clicked together to make this a stand-out performance on this show. I saw a lot of people praising Bianca Belair for another successful title defense, but let's not gloss over Iyo Sky's performance in this match. This was her best outing on the main roster to date and should be a clear reminder of what this woman is capable of from fans of her back when she was a staple of that NXT Women's Division. I hope Triple H hasn't forgotten that she could be as vital a piece of that women's division on the main roster as she was on NXT. This match was a shining example of why she needs to distance herself from the Damage CTRL stable and go off on her own. If it weren't for Bayley and Dakota Kai running interference, Iyo would have had this match won.

In all due respect, I understood what they were going for with that finish, but for me personally, I thought that run-in muddied the waters to what was already an excellent match and lowered the bar a few notches. Out of the two women's matches on this card, this was easily the better of the two for the night. There's not even an argument to be made in that regard.

Bianca Belair had an impressive display of strength during this match, elevating Iyo overhead with one arm in a variation of a Military Press. I would have been more impressed if that was done on one of the "normal" (read: average) sized girls on the roster instead of the petite Iyo Sky, but still impressive nonetheless. After this event, Bianca officially hit over 403+ days as RAW Women's Champion, breaking the record of any previous holder to date. My opinion still stands that they need to consider having her drop the title sooner more than later. She's running out of opponents to defend against and I know no one wants Charlotte Flair to swoop in and snatch it away like she does so many other previous title holders whenever she returns from her extended vacations. Iyo Sky would be a great option once they distance her from Damage CTRL.

Singles Match

Seth "Freakin" Rollins defeated Omos (with MVP) by pinfall

A far better match than I was expecting, but given Rollins' track record he can make magic happen with just about anyone on that roster. The finish came after a top rope variation of the Curb Stomp for the win. Sadly, there's not much else to write home about this one.

I don't know where does Omos go from here, not that I care in the least, but if Seth Rollins isn't a shoe-in for that new World Heavyweight Championship then I don't know what these people are thinking. The guy has been having banger after banger for a while now and has these people around the world eating out of his hand. I'm not a fan of his current gimmick but his ring work speaks for itself.

Triple Threat Match for the WWE United States Championship

Austin Theory (c) defeated Bobby Lashley and Bronson Reed by pinfall

I can't speak for anyone else, but I have grown tired of this ongoing feud between Bobby Lashley and Austin Theory. Seeing him constantly allow Theory to steal these wins underneath his nose left and right isn't doing him any favors. Wishful thinking had me hoping that WWE had the foresight to separate them in the Draft but they ended up on the same show anyway so nothing is going to change. I personally had Lashley pegged as the second favorite to win that vacant World Heavyweight Championship behind Rollins. He definitely deserves it after having his WrestleMania match pulled this year. Winning that meaningless and worthless Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal trophy means all of shit.

Theory would retain after Reed took forever and a day trying to hit his moonsault, only for Theory to move out of the way long before Reed even positioned himself properly on the top rope and executed the maneuver. Lashley to lay him out with the Spear as soon as Reed landed with Theory shoving Lashley out of the ring and stealing the pin. Once again, this was a great physical showcase for all three men involved, but I can't say that I want to see this again. Plus I don't see why they are constantly beating Reed left and right when they should be feeding him wins to build him up. And if they don't want to beat Lashley or Theory, stop putting them into matches like this. It's bad and lazy booking all around.

Singles Match for the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship

Rhea Ripley (c) defeated Zelina Vega by pinfall

This was pretty much the women's version of a David and Goliath (read: a big man vs. little man babyface underdog fighting from underneath match) that Rey Mysterio would typically do with a sizable opponent. Zelina didn't have a chance here outside of one "hope" spot in which she got a near-fall on Rhea before "Mami" took control again.

I thought the flip-flop spot was worth a good laugh for everyone who got the inside joke. I remember answering the phone during this match, looking away from the television for a second and by the time I looked back again, Rhea was abruptly hitting her finish for the win. I'm not complaining as the end result was NEVER in doubt here.

The most important and most memorable moment of this match was seeing Zelina getting choked up from the massive crowd response and show of support for her during her entrance and in-ring introductions. Zelina's family were sitting at ringside to show their support too as an added bonus. I thought it was very classy of WWE to turn down the music for Rhea's outtro and gave the floor to Zelina to get a moment to soak in the showering of crowd cheers for her in her native country. If that's not included in their video packages the next time they come back to Puerto Rico for promotional means then these people are nuts.

San Juan Street Fight

Bad Bunny defeated Damian Priest by pinfall

For me personally, I had a lot of issues with Priest allowing Bad Bunny to beat the holy hell out of him and essentially be the one who is fighting from underneath when he has a massive size advantage over Bad Bunny. To Bad Bunny's credit, he's one of the many celebrity guest stars who have taken to wrestling like a fish to water, following the standout performances of Pat McAfee and Logan Paul. The guy is REALLY good at this and it shows, despite him giving Priest a few unprotected shots with the foreign objects and various weapons in this match that he audibly curses aloud upon impact throughout this match.

This match should have been the main event, despite I'm sure that many online fans would have disagreed but the sheer amount of interference and guest stars attached to it firmly justified it in my eyes. We saw Savio Vega show up backstage in an earlier segment in this show, but I didn't expect to see him run down to the ring to lend a hand in fending off the Judgment Day faction. Savio was right there in the trenches leading the LWO. Another surprise guest star appearance was the return of Carlito Caribbean Cool. That dude stays in incredible shape and I could easily see Triple H hand him a brand new contract after the explosive reception to his appearance here.

I thought this match dragged on a little TOO long for my taste, but by the end, I was thoroughly entertained with everything that went down. Plus WWE was smart to send the people home happy with a big win for Bad Bunny here. Losing to Bad Bunny doesn't do any damage to Priest, especially since he's not in the conversation for going for that new World Heavyweight title. Finn Balor is rightfully gunning for that while Priest continues to be the fall guy for the rare occasions when Judgment Day takes an L. That should change though in the coming months as he and Dominik should be looking to pick up some singles or tag team gold while the goings still hot.

Six-man Tag Team Match

The Bloodline (Solo Sikoa, Jey Uso, and Jimmy Uso) defeated Matt Riddle, Kevin Owens, and Sami Zayn by pinfall

I think that we can all agree that the Bloodline storyline has gotten pretty cold since Cody Rhodes' loss on Night 2 of WrestleMania. A lot of people aren't as interested as seeing where this is going as it's obvious that WWE will continue to milk Roman Reigns record-breaking title reign until he hits over 1000 days as the Undisputed Universal Champion. His lack of an appearance and match on this PPV or rather PLE, is proof of that fact. Instead, we get this hodge-podge of a three-on-three tag team match.

I'll be honest. The only thing that interested me about this match was the potential of Solo Sikoa turning on the Usos for their repeated failures as late. Matt Riddle being aligned with Sami and Kevin Owens doesn't do anything for me as he doesn't fit. He just feels like a random warm body that was shoehorned into this match and overall storyline as filler until Randy Orton comes back (whenever that is going to be while he's still coping with spinal/back issues) or WWE Creative comes up with something else for Riddle to do. I'm surprised that Riddle would be booked into a prominent role like this upon returning to the company following some eeriely similar bad press as the WWE Chairman himself, Vince McMahon. It almost feels like WWE is parading him around to show that he's not going anywhere no matter what bad press and dirty laundry is aired out into the open.

The final moments of this match did an excellent job of teasing tension between the Usos and Solo, but ultimately, it didn't cost them the match. The rest of this match prior to that was easily forgettable and that's a shame too when Sami and KO had the honor of sending numerous fans happy at the end of WrestleMania Night One this year with two of the same opponents in this match. This match had no business going after the Priest/Bad Bunny match.

Singles Match

Cody Rhodes defeated Brock Lesnar by pinfall

Seeing this match in the main event spot made me nervous after seeing how WWE hasn't been able to make Cody Rhodes bounce back after losing to Roman Reigns at WrestleMania in what should have been a fairy tale ending, but it wasn't. According to multiple quotes from various minds in and out of WWE, they share the consensus that Cody hasn't faced enough trials and tribulations before earning the WWE Undisputed Universal Championship. When they set up this feud with Brock Lesnar, I was among many thinking that they would be feeding Cody to Brock to get some of Brock's street cred back for he could be in the conversation to challenge Roman Reigns again, despite still having that stipulation in place that he cannot challenge for the title again as long as Roman is champion. I saw Brock coming into this show and giving Cody a ass-beating that would best described as Biblical.

Overall, this wasn't a bad match at all, but much like the 6-Man tag team match before it, it didn't deserve to be the headliner over that Bad Bunny bout, especially with all of that interference and involvement from guest/returning stars to pop that local crowd. That would have been the best match to send that crowd home happy. The abrupt finish to this match didn't do the finish of this show any favors, despite the fact that Cody Rhodes was able to walk away with a victory over the Beast. One would think that Cody's victory would be a bigger deal but it wasn't as Cody immediately rolled out of the ring and staggered to the back to close this show in a very awkward manner.

Sadly, WWE's booking and planning here makes me start to question their decision of having Roman Reigns retain at WrestleMania. It seems like all of that momentum that all of their major players had accumulated throughout the Road to WrestleMania has come screeching to a halt while WWE is just proceeding things at a glacial pace until Roman Reigns hits over 1000 days as the WWE Undisputed Universal Champion. This match could have had a lot more excitement behind it if it were headlined by Cody Rhodes and Brock Lesnar fighting for those two titles instead. If WWE plans on getting a lengthy program/feud out of these two much like the one Cody had last year with Seth Rollins where he gets three straight wins, then I think that is going to come off as filler until Cody is back in the trenches against the Bloodline and Roman Reigns. Fans are going to be disinterested in anything he's doing that's not productively moving him back in line towards another shot against the WWE Undisputed Universal Championship. Otherwise, it's going to be seen as mere filler until him and Roman Reigns cross paths again. I can't fathom that WWE will try to keep this up for another year with Roman making sporadic appearances merely to cut promos and not defend his title(s) every 30 days. People are already souring on the Bloodline storyline as is following WrestleMania and the lack of the WWE Undisputed Universal Champion on television on a weekly basis and the introduction/revival of the World Heavyweight Championship makes it feel like WWE is doing everything in their power merely to stretch Roman's title reign out as far as possible at the cost of every storyline and budding (male) star on that roster in the process.

Closing Thoughts

From top to bottom, Backlash (2023) was a solid show that was highlighted and enriched by a very energetic and enthusiastic live crowd. This crowd was pumped for everything and anything that was presented in front of them tonight. This live crowd went above and beyond to show their appreciation for WWE bringing a PLE/PPV to Puerto Rico for the first time in roughly two decades. Their excitement brought a rare energy to these modern WWE events that we don't see very often anymore from the "old days" when the product (and wrestling as a whole) was white hot and firing off on all cylinders. What was crazier about this show was that this crowd wasn't just amped up for their hometown/native favorites, but almost everyone across the board on this show.

This show made for another stellar in-ring performance for Bad Bunny. Like previously mentioned, he's another celebrity guest star who is taking to professional wrestling like fish to water. He has ample respect to the sport to train and get in ring shape not to embarrass himself nor the company as a whole. It's almost troubling that these celebrities are looking TOO good in some of these appearances to the point where they are almost outshining and pulling the rug out from the full-time talents. Time will tell if these repeated celebrity appearances will become problematic, but for now, they are fun diversion since we can all collectively agree that the days of cringing through horrible in-ring matches with celebrity guest stars are well past us at this point - at least in this company.

As of this posting (5/16/23), WWE has already set the stage for their next premium live event (PLE), Night of Champions, where allegedly every championship will be defended. Currently as it stands, Roman Reigns is the only one getting that night off in a sense since he's only challenging for a title instead of defending the WWE Undisputed Universal Championship when he and Solo Sikoa will challenge for Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens' Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships. The Usos' constant failures have earned the ire of the Tribal Chief, who shoved Jimmy Uso in response. Before tempers flared out of control, Jey Uso proved to be the voice of reason, apologizing for their failures. That could be all well and good for now, but the seeds were already planted in this PLE that saw the Usos almost come to blows with Solo Sikoa. I think WWE are leading us down a potential crossroads where we will see the Usos squaring off against Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa instead of working with them in the near-future. I could see that happening as early as Summerslam if the Usos cost Roman and Solo the tag title match at Night of Champions.

Meanwhile, Brock Lesnar already made his intentions known that this feud with Cody Rhodes was far from over after costing him to advance in the tournament for crowning the new World Heavyweight Champion. They are set for a rematch at Night of Champions. The same goes for Becky Lynch and Trish Stratus who were painfully absent from this show. Bianca Belair was blinded by poison mist from Asuka, who wants to revisit their WrestleMania match at Night of Champions. I hope they remedy that mistake, but I don't have my hopes up on that matter. Last but not least, Rhea Ripley is set defend against Natalya at the event. Nothing against Natalya but I'm begging for her to take a break or to leave WWE altogether. I selfishly wish she was doing what both the former Naomi and Sasha Banks are doing outside of that company right now. I would love to see Nattie throw down with so many women outside of this company and show people exactly how good she is. Her lengthy tenure in WWE has done nothing but make her stale and played out to a lot of fans. She's seen as nothing more as the "good hand" in terms of the women's division and very few people believe that she has a chance at another major title win/reign in this company. I think a lengthy run down in NXT, similar to what Dolph Ziggler did for Bron Breakker this time last year, would do her a lot of good in terms of giving her time to reinvent herself on a different stage if she's so adamant about staying on the road. Nevertheless, at least we know that the ring work in the match between her and Rhea will be phenomenal though.

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