Hello everyone, it's been a while since I posted on my blog. I've had some personal issues that had prevented me from posting anything. Although I thoroughly enjoyed NXT Takeover: In your House and Double or Nothing shows, I couldn't post my reviews of them. And before I was ready to post my reviews, a lot of days had already gone by. So I apologize for the delay.
It's Backlash time which means it's time for the self proclaimed "Greatest wrestling match ever".
I'm gonna dive right in!
Match #1: Apollo Crews (c) vs Andrade for the United States Championship
This was the match on the Kick-off show. We have Zelina and Angel Garza hovering at ringside when Kevin Owens joins the commentary.
Andrade took control of the match initially with Apollo slowly gaining dominance later on. There was a spot where Apollo hits an overhead belly-to-belly suplex on Andrade into the turnbuckle. I found that quite impressive. The match ends when Owens stuns Garza as he tried to distract the referee leading upto Apollo pinning Andrade and retaining the title.
It was a decent bout, although shorter than I expected. But we've seen a lot of Apollo vs Andrade lately. So, I hope this is the last one and both of them move on to other challengers.
The show then opens with a powerful video package talking about the "Greatest Wrestling Match ever".
Match #2: Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross vs The Iconics vs Bayley and Sasha Banks (c) for the Women's Tag Team Championship
Nikki Cross, Bayley and Billie Kay start off this bout. We see several pinfall attempts and a couple of stand-offs between the two teams. It had a good pace throughout but I felt like there was a bit of sloppiness occasionally with the way the women delivered some of their moves. On the other hand, I also liked some spots in the match. Alexa hitting the Lou Thesz press followed by punches, to almost everyone else was interesting to watch, for me. In the end, Sasha rolls up Bliss and picks up the victory for her team.
The fake "crowd" chanted "This is awesome" for the match and I don't really know if this match was awesome. It was watchable and occasionally, even entertaining. But, awesome isn't a word I would use to describe this. Just my opinion.
Match #3: Jeff Hardy vs Sheamus
Now, this rivalry has had people talking, be it the slightly controversial use of Jeff Hardy's real life issues into the story or the re-orchestrated segment of Hardy taking a urine test. (For those of you who still don't know, Shawn Michaels took a kayfabe urine test in 2006 which ended the same way this one did on Smackdown!)
I just want to say that, all this shame fans throw at WWE for using Hardy's real life problems into the storyline is not really necessary. I'm sure WWE did it with Jeff Hardy's approval. If the person involved doesn't really care much about his personal problems being used as a story, I don't think we all have any business worrying about it.
Now, to the match. Both of them were a bit aggressive in the early going but it soon turned into a dominating performance by Sheamus. He was punishing Hardy while also trash talking once with the commentators. It was a very physical match-up. Jeff manages to hit the Twist of Fate and Swanton Bomb but Sheamus manages to cause a rope break. It is soon followed by a couple of Brogue kicks which leads to Sheamus picking up the victory.
Corey Graves talks about how Jeff Hardy has "let everyone down again". Overall, I feel like this rivalry has had a good story and this match has just accentuated it further. I'm interested to see how things develop from here on.
Match #4: Asuka (c) vs Nia Jax for the RAW Women's Championship
This is the match I was least excited about. Probably because I'm not a fan of Nia Jax. I find her bland, boring and not to mention, dangerous in ring.
So, Asuka locks the Octopus hold on the Botch Queen early on but soon Nia overpowers her. There was a good spot where Nia counters a submission move into a jackhammer (or should we call it, "Jaxhammer"?). Both of them end up brawling outside the ring leading to a double count out.
Although I am really happy Asuka is holding the title right now, her rivalries haven't managed to excite me. Nia Jax doesn't really get me to care about the feud. Nor am I interested in seeing Asuka vs Charlotte Flair for the 11009999th time. Let's hope something happens that injects a new energy into the RAW Women's title picture.
Match #5: Braun Strowman (c) vs The Miz and John Morrison in a handicap match for the Universal Championship
I wasn't too excited for this match as well. The build for this match was cheesy, in my opinion. Although I understand where the story was coming from, it still didn't get me invested into the match anyway. But I'm a huge fan of The Miz and Morrison. So, I expected them to somehow make this one watchable.
And I wasn't wrong!
The Miz and Morrsion evade Braun early. They worked together and kept the Monster under their control. Their tag team chemistry was pretty good and it was visible in this match. The Miz hits an assisted Skull Crushing Finale on Strowman and Morrison went for the cover, only for The Miz to pull him out of it (because, whoever gets the pinfall gets the title!). The match ended with Strowman managing to fight them both and get the pinfall over Morrison.
There wasn't anything special in this match to comment about. Braun's title reign has been lacklustre till now. Otis being the Money in the Bank winner does nothing to help spice it up, at least for me. I wish WWE does something about it. Although the fanboy in me wants the title to go to Nakamura, I don't think it would help in any way.
Match #6: Drew McIntyre (c) vs Bobby Lashley for the WWE Championship
I was looking forward to this. This was the Lashley I had wanted ever since he made his return. MVP being his manager had managed to pique my interest a bit more.
Lashley locks the Full Nelson hold (*cough* Masterlock *cough*) on Drew before the match even begins. Once it gets officially started, we see Lashley dominating. He was explosive, as always and kept reigning over McIntyre for a good portion of the bout. We then see Drew slowly stepping up his game. He kicks out at 1 following a couple of powerful maneuvers from Bobby Lashley. It only enrages the challenger. They alternate several submission moves on each other and we see some thrilling counters. Lana comes out and acts as a distraction leading upto Drew picking up the victory.
MVP's presence was a plus point for this match. He was being a decent manager. Lashley and Drew, both of them have impressive in-ring acumen, which was also visible in this match. I would say this was the second best match of the night.
Drew has had a good title reign compared to Strowman and I hope he continues to impress.
Match #7: Street Profits vs Viking Raiders for the RAW Tag Team Championship
Well, this match didn't even happen. We see them fighting backstage. They brawl with each other. Golf Clubs, Shields, Axes and Bowling balls were brought into the fray. Ivar bowls a ball onto Montez Ford's groin. Their brawl spills to the outside where they're confronted by some biker Ninjas led by Akira Tozawa. Street Profits and Viking Raiders unite against them and dub themselves as "Viking Profits". There were some comedy stuff which didn't make me laugh, honestly speaking. But I wasn't bored either. Ivar summoning his turkey leg like Thor summoning Mjolnir was the only part which made me crack up a bit.
They brawl again and end up inside a garbage truck of sorts. Thus, the match doesn't happen.
WWE has turned this rivalry into a comedy skit completely. I don't know if it is a bad idea, but I really haven't got much interested into this until now. It just hasn't got me invested.
Match #8: Edge vs Randy Orton in the "Greatest Wrestling Match Ever"
Alright, I went into this one with a lot of negative thoughts. I mean, "Greatest Wrestling match ever"? How is that even possible? When we've had Ric Flair vs Steamboat, Ric Flair vs Sting, Savage vs Steamboat, Bret vs Owen, Shawn vs Bret, Shawn vs Taker, The Rock vs Austin, Omega vs Okada and so on...how could Edge and Orton even dream of matching upto their level, let alone go above it?
So, I went into this one knowing full well I would be disappointed.
But WWE did try. I have to give it to the company. Howard Finkel's announcement, Crowd noises, Amplified Audio, Camera angles, Charles Robinson with the Old school referee attire...WWE did what they could and left the rest to the performers! And those two pulled out a magic!
Edge was fired up early on while Orton was calculative. The former made some mistakes early on and The Viper taunted him for that. We soon find Randy Orton busted open as the wheels begin to turn. Edge works on Orton's shoulder. The latter regains control and works on Edge's neck. He slowly methodically dissected Edge and one can notice that Edge took a lot of big bumps in this match compared to his bout at Wrestlemania. We see a lot of epic counters and the performers pay tribute to several other legends by performing their moves. We see the 3 amigos, Olympic Slam, Rock Bottom, Killswitch and Pedigree. There were several near falls. Edge kicks out of RKOs and Orton kicks out of Spears. We then see Orton going low and then catching Edge with the Punt kick for the victory.
Now, there were a lot of things I liked about this match. Neither men felt like they had aged. I could see the vintage Edge and Randy Orton wrestling each other. It was as if the men were still in their prime. Samoa Joe and Tom Philips were solid on commentary. The way Edge and Orton incorporated their real life injuries into this was interesting, as Orton focused on Edge's neck while the latter focused on the former's shoulder. The match had a methodical pace to it, slowly building up steam to lead to the ending. It was a fantastic piece of Storytelling.
I don't know if this was the "Greatest Wrestling Match ever" but it certainly is one of the best matches of both of these men's career. So, we've witnessed two AWESOME matches in a span of 2 days.
Conclusion
Apart from Edge-Orton and Drew-Lashley, the other matches weren't really that great. Overall, this was a barely watchable PPV which will only be remembered in history for Edge-Orton match.
I enjoyed Money in the Bank more than I enjoyed this one. Let's hope WWE comes out with something better in the future.
I hope you all had a better time watching this show than I did.
