WWE Backlash 2017: Matches & Predictions

WWE Backlash 2017 will possibly feature the strangest main event SD Live has ever presented.

Randy Orton managed to beat back Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania 33 and walk away with the WWE Championship. Orton and Bray continued to feud all the way up until their (horrible) House of Horrors matchup. Bray got the win thanks to the assistance of the new #1 contender for the WWE Championship – Jinder Mahal! At Backlash 2017, Jinder Mahal will face his biggest challenge yet as he takes on Randy Orton. Besides that major title matchup, “The Face of America” Kevin Owens will defend his US Championship against “The Face That Runs the Place” AJ Styles. And then there’s the main roster in-ring debut of Shinsuke Nakamura as he goes head to head with Dolph Ziggler.

We’re here to break down all those matches and more within our latest WWE PPV/special event predictions piece.

Tye Dillinger vs. Aiden English

Predictions & Winner: “The Perfect 10!” NXT regular Tye Dillinger finally got the call up from that developmental territory to the bigger lights of the main roster. And his regular victim has been former Vaudevillains member Aiden English. We like Aiden – we enjoyed his solo signing run and we’re glad it’s back now. But let’s keep it all the way real here – Aiden is going to be staring up at the lights once again as Tye Dillinger maintains his unbeaten streak on SD Live.

Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, and Naomi vs. The Welcoming Committee (Natalya, Tamina, and Carmella) (with James Ellsworth) (6-Woman Tag Team Match)

Predictions & Winners: So Charlotte’s a goodie two shoes now? Strange…anyways, Natalya, Tamina and Carmella are having no parts of Raw’s former Women’s Division queen trying to do the same thing on SD Live. At first, Charlotte and Naomi were the ones beefing with each other. But that title match of theirs got disrupted by three of the biggest female haters on the Blue Brand. Charlotte and Naomi have decided to group together, plus they’ve gotten even more assistance in the form of Becky Lynch. Now all six of these ladies are heading into a 6-Woman Tag Team Match war. We can see the babyface squad being the ones who come out victorious here. This victory will segue right into the three victors fighting it out in a Triple Threat Match for the SD Live Women’s Championship in the future.

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Dolph Ziggler

Predictions & Winner: We’re still on Cloud 9 due to the fact that Shinsuke Nakamura is all over TV as a main roster member for SD Live. His 1st night as a member of the Blue Brand was nothing but an entrance, yet it was one of the most beautiful moments we’ve ever laid eyes on. It’s pretty clear that the WWE is saving his 1st official in-ring debut on the main roster for PPV. And of course that PPV happens to be Backlash 2017. His chosen foe? Dolph Ziggler, who’s currently floundering as a heel that no one cares about anymore. But we understand his purpose as Nakamura’s opponent – Ziggler’s in-ring skills have never faltered, so it makes sense for him to be the one to have a great match with Nakamura. So yeah, this match will probably be one of the best matches on the show. And of course, it will end with Nakamura shoving his knee right through Ziggler’s face for the win. There’s no way Nakamura’s losing his 1st official match on PPV.

Kevin Owens (c) vs. AJ Styles (WWE United States Championship)

Predictions & Winner: Kevin Owens shaved his beard, adopted the colors of the Good Ol’ USA and reclaimed the US Championship from the former best friend who beat him for it. We like this slight gimmick change up and we’re even more interested in how much more of a savage he’ll become as a member of SD Live. AJ Styles may not be in the hunt for the WWE Championship at the moment, but he’s still in contention for an important championship. He’s vying for the US Championship, which means we’re set to witness another amazing match from these two current greats. Owens and Styles have fought plenty of times before and every time they did, no one was left disappointed. We’re sure that trend will continue here, even more so now that a title is up for grabs. Owens just got the title back around his shoulder, so we just can’t see him losing it so quickly. Expect a screwy finish to occur here, which will give Styles a reason to ask for a deserved rematch. Owens will leave with his US Championship, but he’ll do it through the sneakiest and least honorable of methods.

Sami Zayn vs. Baron Corbin

Predictions & Winner: SD Live is the perfect brand for Superstars who might not have flourished on Raw. The Blue Brand has proven that it can take talent such as The Miz, Dolph Ziggler, Bray Wyatt etc. and give them more of the spotlight they deserve. Sami Zayn’s a guy who had a few memorable moments here and there while on Raw, but he never truly got above the lower to upper mid-card rankings. Now that he’s on SD Live, we think Sami’s going to go even higher on the card. His 1st roadblock comes in the from of Baron Corbin, a giant of a man who’s been enjoying a nice push as of late. Both these guys deserve a big win on PPV right now, but we think Baron Corbin’s the one who’s still getting more attention these days. Sami will pull out another hard-hitting contest against a worthy opponent here, but Corbin will eventually trounce him and move onto some sort of title match in the future. We totally think he’ll make a more viable (and believable) opponent for Randy Orton’s WWE Championship.

Luke Harper vs. Erick Rowan

Predictions & Winner: The Wyatt Family is no more. To make matters even harder to fathom, Erick Rowan actually pulled off a win against his former stablemate. Luke Harper has way more upside than Rowan, so it makes a whole hell of a lot more sense for him to win. Sooooooooooo, yeah…LUKE HARPER FTW HERE! Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah…

The Usos (Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso) (c) vs. Breezango (Tyler Breeze and Fandango) (WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship)

Predictions & Winners: YESSSSSSSSSS! Breezango’s finally getting a tag team title shot! We’ve been huge fans of Tyler Breeze ever since his fashionista days on NXT. And we still do our best Fandango finger dance from time to time. It’s still pretty shocking to us that they’ve been set up as the next challengers for The Usos’ SD Live Tag Team Championship. Jimmy and Jey have been immensely entertaining as the twin badasses who blurt out the wildest promos and dish out the most vicious beatdowns. So we’re very much looking forward to watching both of these teams put on a good to great bout. It seems like Breezango is really just going to be your usual “challengers of the month” team that The Usos will knock down. The Usos will win here and move on to their next batch of monthly rivals.

Randy Orton (c) vs. Jinder Mahal (with Samir Singh and Sunil Singh) (WWE Championship)

Predictions & Winner: Jinder Mahal. “Don’t Hinder the Jinder.” A former job guy turned #1 contender for the WWE Championship. It’s pretty obvious as to why this is happening – Backlash 2017 is considered one of the least important PPV’s, so WWE is more willing to take a risk with setting up its match card. Plus, WWE’s looking to expand its reach within India and Jinder’s one the international Superstars who can make that goal easier to fulfill. So now Randy Orton will be the man to defend his WWE Championship against one of the most unlikely challengers to the title in years. We’ll be completely honest with you guys, here – Jinder hasn’t shown any signs of deserving his new position within the company. His match quality hasn’t gotten any better and he still doesn’t exude that #1 guy aura that Orton has. This bout won’t knock anyone’s boots off, which is a safe bet. Orton will take the victory here and move on to bigger and better things. At least Jinder will be established as a bigger Superstar thanks to this opportunity. India will finally have a WWE Superstar to really believe in. Sure, it’s someone who took plenty of L’s when he was a member of the Three Man Band. But still, Jinder’s in a much better position these days.