I haven’t had this feeling in a while, but WWE absolutely crushed Backlash! It was an absolute success on all fronts for the E. Let’s start off with the crowd. They were hot from the minute the pay-per-view I mean Premium Live Event went on the air. Let’s get a little recap of the night:
Bianca Belair (c) vs. IYO SKY – Raw Women’s Championship Match
This match asbolutely set the tone for the night for the event. It was hard hitting, with a scary moment as Bianca was doing a one arm military press that didn’t go as planned and dropped IYO on her face. Luckily she was OK, that could have been bad. Damage CTRL made their way ringside to help out IYO but it wasn’t enough and Bianca hits the KOD and retains the Raw Women’s Championship
Backstage we get our first surprise of the night. As Rey Mysterio is talking to Bad Bunny, Savio Vega comes in and presents Bunny with a kendo stick painted with the Puerto Rican flag for his street fight later that night.
Omos vs. Seth Rollins
I will be honest, this was the match I had the least mentally invested into. Rollins entrance was great as the crowd was super into it. I must say that I am impressed with Omos and the way he moves for such a huge guy. He isn’t one of those lumbering giants you get occasionally that can’t do anything. I was pleasantly surprised with this match and with Omos presentation. He is definitely making steps in the business. Rollins has a nice series where he hit a tornado DDT out of the corner and then followed up immediately with a frog splash but Omos was able to power out. Omos hit a monster sized chokeslam on Rollins but he was able to kick out. Rollins hits a stomp off the top rope for the win.
Post match the crowd once again sings Rollins song.
Austin Theory (c) vs. Bobby Lashley vs. Bronson Reed – United States Championship Match
Lashley came out hot from the start and was looking impressive in typical Bobby fashion. Bronson Reed got in some moves, but at times felt out of place in this match, as it seems it is building for more between Theory and Lashley. Theory continues his opportunistic ways as Bronson Reed went for a moonsault and no one was home, Lashley hit him with the spear but was quickly tossed outside by Theory and then Theory gets the cover on Reed… 1, 2, 3 your winner and still United States Champion Austin Theory.
Rhea Ripley (c) vs. Zelina Vegas – SmackDown Women’s Championship
Zelina came out to the ring and you could tell immediately the emotions she had about having a match in Puerto Rico and what it meant to her. I thought this would be a squash match but both women got their stuff in on this one. Zelina got to show off some of what she can do, which is not something she has really gotten to do in WWE. Zelina even broke out the chancla to throw at Rhea from her mom in the audience. Zelina hit a nice Meteora from the ropes but Rhea kicked out. Rhea sets her up and Riptide… 1, 2, 3 and still your SmackDown Women’s Champion.
Post match Zelina was left in the ring to take in the moment from the crowd. It was a great moment for her!
Bad Bunny vs. Damian Priest – San Juan Street Fight
This match should have been the main event in my opinion. They called it the “co” main event but there was another match between this and the actual main. Right out of the gate, before getting to the ring Bunny makes a stop for a shopping cart full of toys to play with, such as chairs kendo sticks and more. Priest was selling the hell of out stuff in this match, that is for sure. He is definitely not credited enough for his selling skills. As with his Mania match, Bunny was impressive. He hit a Falcon Arrow, a flying crossbody to the outside and a sliced bread also. Eventually Judgement Day makes their way to the ring (Balor and Dom). They start to attack Bunny and Rey makes his way down to help but he is also overcome by Judgement Day. Music hits and it is familiar and boom Carlito makes his way to the ring in an LWO shirt. Him and Rey start clearing house and he takes a bite of the apple and spits it in Doms face.
Judgement day retreat and are stopped by Savio at the top of the entrance way. They start laughing, like what is this guy going to do but he calls in backup and the LWO comes out. Savio hits his chop and heel kick and he can still get that leg up there. Back to the in ring action, Bunny has priest in a figure four working on his injured leg. Bunny eventually is unloading on Priest with chair shots and then hits a Bunny Destroyer for the pin.
After the match, the LWO come back down to the ring and celebrate with Bad Bunny.
KO, Zayn and Riddle vs. The Bloodline (Usos & Solo)
This match wasn’t bad by any means as the whole card came off really well but it should have been further up the card as the two co-mains should have been second to last and last. Everyone got their stuff in in this one and you can feel the tension between Jey and Solo. Solo almost hit Jey with the Samoan Spike and you can tell where these weeks have been leading. There is a rift in the Bloodline. Riddle hits Jey with the Bro Derrick but didn’t see the blind tag by Solo who comes in and hits the spike for the pin. Your winners The Bloodline.
After the bout some awkwardness between Jey and Solo that is broken up by Jimmy.
Brock Lesnar vs. Cody Rhodes
This one jets started before the bell hits as Cody attacks Brock right away, getting him outside and smashing him with the steps three times and beats him with the announce desk cover. He tries to get in the ring with a steel chair but the ref takes it away and rings the bell. In the ring it is all Cody to start, he hits two disaster kicks and goes for a third but is caught mid air and into a massive German Suplex. From here on for a bit there is a bit of back and forth favoring the Beast. At one point Cody is being ripped out of the corner by Brock and exposes a turnbuckle. Brock goes face first into the buckle and bust open his forehead. To quote J.R. “He is bleeding like a stuck pig.” Cody hits two cross rhodes but can’t keep the Beast down. F5 but Cody kicks out. Lesnar synches in a Kimura Lock on Cody and as he is about to tap, Cody rolls over and Pins Brock for the 1, 2, 3.
Cody heads out of the ring and Brock is tossed a towel to clean his head with.
Overall WWE Backlash was a resounding success for the E! In fact, they released a press release today:
WWE® DELIVERS RECORD-BREAKING BACKLASH IN PUERTO RICO
STAMFORD, Conn., May 8, 2023 – WWE® (NYSE: WWE) today announced that WWE Backlash®, which emanated from the Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot in San Juan, Puerto Rico, became WWE’s highest-grossing and most-viewed Backlash in company history.
Viewership of Backlash saw a 28 percent increase versus the record set in 2022. The event, which featured Bad Bunny, the most-streamed music artist in the world, marked the largest gate ever for any WWE event held in Puerto Rico and the largest gate in the history of Backlash.
More than 34,800 fans descended on San Juan, Puerto Rico, for back-to-back sellout nights of SmackDown (16,896 attendees) and Backlash (17,944 attendees). It also marked the most social Backlash of all-time, led by over 40 million views of the San Juan Street Fight featuring Bad Bunny vs. Damien Priest. The hashtag #WWEBacklash, accompanied by a custom Bad Bunny emoji, trended No. 1 across the entire evening of sports.
In addition, Backlash broke merchandise and sponsorship records. As the first-ever WWE event under the expanded partnership with Fanatics overseeing the on-site event retail experience, top-selling items included the WWE Backlash and LWO Puerto Rico t-shirts. Sponsorship revenue surpassed any Backlash event in history, breaking last year’s record with a 98 percent year-on-year increase through partnerships with Netflix’s FUBAR, Mike’s Harder Lemonade and Xfinity.
What did you all think of WWE Backlash? Was WWE Backlash a success in your eyes? Let us know down below in the comments or hit us up on our Twitter account by clicking here. As always stay tuned to Culture Splat for more content coming your way and stay tuned for some exciting news you wont want to miss! Dont forget to check out our shop where you can get a Mr. McMahon mug like this:
