Emanating from the Benchmark International Arena in Tampa, Florida, WWE brought us Backlash this past Saturday (May 9th). It arrived only three weeks after WrestleMania, and we are already firmly back on the PLE circuit with no signs of slowing down. Clash in Italy will also take place before June, and even though it is not technically a PLE, another edition of Saturday Night’s Main Event will air the week before. But the purpose of these articles has never been to debate how often these events happen. It is to discuss what happened during them, so let’s get to that.
Much like WrestleMania, the first hour of the show in the US aired on ESPN 2 at no extra cost. The first match, used as a teaser to encourage people to buy the full show, saw Seth Rollins taking on Bron Breakker. This match happened as Backlash for Bron’s surprise return and attack at WrestleMania, which cost Seth his match against Gunther. It also tied into their shared history in The Vision and Bron’s betrayal of Seth before kicking him out of the group he created. From the opening bell, Seth understood that his key to victory was to keep Breakker on the back foot. He needed to stop Breakker from getting into gear and prevent his overwhelming power from becoming too much to handle. Even when Breakker survived the early onslaught, Seth held his own thanks to his decades of experience. The Vision tried to interfere, but Seth expected this. When he saw Paul Heyman distracting the referee, he knew what was coming. He grabbed a steel chair and managed to repel Austin Theory and Logan Paul before they could do anything. But he still took his eye off Breakker, which allowed Breakker to finally land a Spear. One Spear was not enough to keep Seth down, but the distraction still cost him. Breakker intercepted a middle‑rope Curb Stomp and hit another Spear to put down his former leader and reestablish himself as a major threat on Monday Nights after months away with an injury.
The other match broadcast as a preview was the only direct WrestleMania rematch. Trick Williams defended the United States Championship against Sami Zayn, who he beat at WrestleMania to win the title. Sami has recently been losing his grip on reality, ignoring fans turning against him and insisting his “ride or die fans” always support him. This was most clearly shown when Sami seemingly killed Gingy the Gingerbread Man, one of Trick’s closest companions. But the night before Backlash, Gingy rose from the dead and revealed their true identity: Lil’ Yachty. It was an identity reveal as shocking as discovering Bruce Wayne is Batman. During the match, Sami embraced a less honourable side. He faked a knee injury to try for a quick roll‑up. He also took advantage of the referee being distracted by Lil’ Yachty to strike Trick with a kendo stick, which was the opposite of what Yachty wanted. Late in the match, Sami hit a brutal DDT on the steel steps. But instead of going for the win, months of frustration took over. He hit Yachty with a Helluva Kick. This delay proved costly. Trick dodged what would have been a fatal Helluva Kick and hit the Trick Shot to defeat Zayn again and retain the US Championship.
Next, The Miz and Kit Wilson teamed up to face Danhausen and… somebody. Danhausen needed to find a friendhausen to be his partner. Inspired by Kit Wilson, he decided to create a Clonehausen. But on the previous SmackDown, we saw that the Cloning Machine was malfunctioning. At Backlash, this led to a malfunction where the Clonehausen that emerged was a Minihausen. Danhausen believed this was enough and entered the ring with his clone. Minihausen started the match against Kit Wilson and quickly proved to be a skilled luchador, much to Danhausen’s delight. After a while, Kit had enough. He ran from the Littlehausen, went up the ramp, and threw him back into the cloning machine, thinking that would end it. But he made a mistake. He accidentally turned the machine back on, unleashing an army of Clonehausens who caused chaos at ringside. This still wasn’t enough. Kit used his hand mirror to reflect a curse back at the OG Minihausen, which let Miz hit a Skull Crushing Finale. Danhausen broke up the near fall. Miz then grabbed a fire extinguisher to finish Danhausen, forgetting he was still cursed. The extinguisher malfunctioned and sprayed Miz and Kit in the face, blinding them. Danhausen hit a Pump Kick to get the Winhausen for himself and Minihausen, before he and all the Clonehausens once again failed to perfectly vanish under the cover of the Darkhausen.
Next was the long‑awaited match between Iyo Sky and Asuka. This match was missing a key figure in the feud, as Kairi Sane had been released weeks earlier. Still, both women had something to prove. They set out to get the best of each other. Their long history meant they were evenly matched, often countering each other’s signature moves. This was shown most clearly when Iyo used Wade Barrett’s notebook to block Asuka’s Blue Mist. After more back‑and‑forth action, with both women countering each other again and again, it was Iyo who won. This seemed to get through to Asuka, who embraced Iyo after the match, proud that her former protégé had come so far. Asuka was emotional, leading to speculation that this might have been her final match in WWE, similar to Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania.
Before the Main Event, John Cena appeared again. He had promised a groundbreaking announcement, and he delivered. He revealed an entirely new event called The John Cena Classic. It was inspired by the Saturday Night’s Main Event surrounding his final match, where NXT talents faced main roster stars. The new event will follow a similar idea, with today’s best facing tomorrow’s best. But the Championship for this event is unique. It will not be decided by a tournament. Instead, everyone who competes will be eligible to be crowned Champion. The winner will be chosen by a fan vote. A superstar could lose their match but still win the Championship if they impress the fans enough. This kind of direct fan endorsement will no doubt help the career of whoever becomes the Champion of the John Cena Classic.
Finally, we saw Roman Reigns’ first defence of the World Heavyweight Championship after winning it from CM Punk at WrestleMania. His challenger was Jacob Fatu, who confronted Roman the night after WrestleMania. He said he needed to win the title to provide for his family. Roman refused at first, but after Jacob attacked him with the Tongan Death Grip, he accepted. The move has a long history in the Samoan Dynasty, going back to Haku, whose partner as The Islanders Tama is Jacob’s father. During the match, Roman was clearly rattled by the Death Grip and did everything he could to avoid it. Surprisingly, Jacob was often in control, and Roman had to keep up. At one point, Jacob locked in the Death Grip so tightly that it looked like Roman passed out. But he barely stayed conscious. The match reached its peak after a near fall from a Spear. Jacob locked in the Death Grip again. Roman struggled and ripped off the turnbuckle pad. He drove Jacob’s head into the exposed steel, forcing him to release the hold. Roman hit a desperate Spear and kept Fatu down just long enough to retain the title. After the match, it was clear Roman had survived rather than won. Fatu got up long before Roman and, frustrated, locked in the Death Grip again. Officials tried to pull him away, but he kept returning, attacking referees and reapplying the hold. Even though Roman is the official winner, the closing shot told a different story. Fatu stood tall with the World Heavyweight Championship while Roman lay on the mat struggling to breathe. Fatu is clearly not done with his pursuit of the Championship.
A major criticism of this year’s WrestleMania was how many matches did not reach ten minutes. Whether TKO cared more about Backlash or not, that issue did not repeat here. The shortest match, Danhausen/Minihausen vs. Miz/Kit Wilson, still went around eleven minutes. Backlash was a good show overall. No match felt too short or disappointing. Even the tag match delivered entertaining comedy wrestling, which is not always well received in WWE. Overall, it was a successful first major show after WrestleMania, and again we do not have long until Clash in Italy arrives at the end of this month and we do this all over again.
