Here are my final thoughts on Raw and SmackDown Live’s WWE Backlash 2020!
Apollo Crews (c) vs. Andrade (with Zelina Vega) (WWE United States Championship)
Reactions: This was a solid piece of work. Apollo Crews is worth caring about again. And when pitted against equally proficient athletes like Andrade, he ends up increasing his prestige as the current US Champion. With even more time added to this affair, this matchup could have turned out even better. In the end, this match produced a fine championship contest that produced some foreshadowing of two major events – the inevitable title match between Crews and Kevin Owens, plus the splintering of Zelina Vega’s Latino superstar faction.
Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars
Bayley and Sasha Banks (c) vs. Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross vs. The IIconics (Billie Kay and Peyton Royce) (Triple Threat Match for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship)
Reactions: All six ladies that participated in this opening matchup worked an amazingly fast pace and managed to make everything look as smooth as possible. It was pretty cool watching one woman from each team compete in the ring simultaneously and get into some fun multi-woman exchanges.
I’m usually not a huge fan of actually watching The IIconics wrestle (I will eternally love their Mean Girls act, though), but they actually looked competent during their time spent in the ring. The other two teams were their usual quality selves, which helped this match flow naturally and not feature a whole lot of visible hiccups. This is one of the few cases in which the Women’s Tag Team titles were featured in the type of spot that made them look like worthwhile titles. This was a pretty good opener.
Rating: 3 & a Half out of 5 Stars
Jeff Hardy vs. Sheamus
Reactions: This heated grudge match was quite the lively one. The brutality level was especially high due to Sheamus’ usual assault. Besides that one awkward top rope moment that saw Jeff Hardy tumble onto Sheamus, the rest of this brawl was better than expected. Sheamus pulled out all the stops in order to grind Jeff Hardy down into nothingness, while Jeff was his usually slippery and risk-taking self.
That Swanton Bomb near fall actually gripped me, plus that Brogue Kick to Jeff on the outside was also worthy of being on this match’s highlight reel. Sheamus coming out on top is an interesting result, which leads me to believe that this feud will carry over into something far more “extreme” at the next PPV. Jeff’s comeback trail has been a joy to watch thus far and this match provided more evidence of that.
Rating: 3 & a Half out of 5 Stars
Asuka (c) vs. Nia Jax (WWE Raw Women’s Championship)
Reactions: Even with the lame countout ending, this women’s title match produced an adequate performance. I’ve been used to watching both these ladies showcase their shockingly great chemistry with each other during their stints in NXT, so I figured this match would at least reach that tier of quality. While not as great as their yellow and black brand themed matchups, this one was still a good watch.
Nia Jax got to look like a badass powerhouse, while Asuka got to put her stiff strikes and smooth submission transitional work on display. All of the action produced here got better and better as it went along. Nia Jax seems to only work great with Ronda Rousey and Asuka at this point. Based on the iffy finish, we can all look forward to these two ladies butting heads once more in a stipulation-based rematch. No DQ, No Countout perhaps?
Rating: 3 & a Half out of 5 Stars
Braun Strowman (c) vs. The Miz and John Morrison (Handicap Match for the WWE Universal Championship)
Reactions: You gotta hand it to Miz & Morrison – their music video work is unmatched. And this whole “Strowman Express” entrance deal is definitely something I can get behind. I didn’t have high hopes for this matchup and it pretty much met my low expectations for it coming in. Handicap matches tend to be a huge waste of time and that was definitely the case here. Morrison was the only one in there who made this look halfway decent, but his inclusion still wasn’t enough to entertain me the whole way through. The Miz’s weak offense and Bruan Strowman’s repetitive act took this whole affair down a few notches. I truly hope Braun gets some actual competition the next time his Universal Championship is on the line.
Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars
Drew McIntyre (c) vs. Bobby Lashley (with MVP) (WWE Championship)
Reactions: I was scared we were gonna get a no-contest during the start of this one, but I’m glad they didn’t go that route. You almost had me there, fellas! This was decent, but it didn’t really click with me all the way for some odd reason. Both brutes went extra hard and got engaged in some intense interactions. But there were a few rough spots interspersed throughout it, plus the Lana interference took away from this match greatly. That Fireman’s Carry spot on the outside made me tense up a bit cause it looked as if Drew McIntyre may have suffered an injury. Thankfully, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Overall, this was solid. But some sloppy work and a lackluster ending did this match no favors.
Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars
The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford) (c) vs. The Viking Raiders (Ivar and Erik) (WWE Raw Tag Team Championship)
Reactions: I haven’t been a fan of both these teams getting embroiled in cornball segments these past few weeks. I enjoy watching The Viking Raiders demolish the competition, not play a set of bowling and get involved in a pole vaulting challenge. This wasn’t your usual in-ring bout – it was another case of WWE relying on the cinematic presentation that’s all the rage this year all across pro wrestling.
It was so strange watching both teams tear into each other, then stop all of a sudden to reminisce over some warm memory and have a friendly chat. Now I’m definitely an Akira Tozawa fan, but I cringed at his inclusion here too. So we’re doing old school Kung-fu flick parodies now, huh? Big yikes. This whole charade went on way too long and none of it was any good. The Street Profits are in their element here, but it’s so depressing to see Ivar and Erik fall into WWE’s gamut of unfunny comedy.
Rating: Ugh…
Edge vs. Randy Orton
Reactions: Maaaaaaaaan…Rest in Power, Howard Finkel. The appearance of that throwback MSG mic and “The Fink’s” voice being used to announce both men at the start was a nice touch. So yeah…this main event was nowhere near the greatest wrestling match ever. It was certainly an improvement over that super disappointing Last Man Standing Match we got at ‘Mania 36 since it was better paced and had none of the annoying waiting around LMS matches are hampered by. The beginning portion wasn’t much to write home about. Plus there were some moments of downtime where a big move was getting set up, which made things eventually slog here and there. And good lord did I hate the overly loud fake crowd noise! It was completely unnecessary.
Anyways, Edge and Randy Orton shined during a few spots that actually woke me up. That mid-match Superplex, plus the crisp Edgecution DDT and impactful Olympic Slam spots were definitely well executed. And watching Edge pull off a super crisp Rock Bottom is something I never thought I’d see in 2020. The middle to ending halves of this match got me back into it big time. Edge and Orton are in-ring technicians that showed years of expertise within this match as they had me on the edge of my seat during their big kick out moments. The ending was a nice callback to Orton’s days as a crazed assassin as he used a Running Boot to eliminate his latest foe. Kudos to both men here for putting on a good match. But WWE really went overboard with the unbelievable tagline for this whole ordeal.
Rating: 3 & a Half out of 5 Stars
Match of the Night
Edge vs. Randy Orton!
Final Verdict
This year’s edition of Backlash ended up being a pretty solid show overall. The first three bouts set up this PPV in the best way possible, but the Universal Championship Handicap match and the Raw Tag Team Championship fiasco killed a lot of its goodwill. The WWE Championship match was decent, but it took a hit due to some iffy looking spots and Lana’s annoying interference.
As for Edge and Orton’s incredibly hyped up rematch, it was certainly worthy of taking the main event spot. But it came nowhere near being the greatest wrestling match ever. It still delivered a fun watch, however. The good easily outweighed the bad here, which makes Backlash 2020 still worth a watch. Just avoid its missteps by all costs cause they’re really tough to sit through.
Final Score: 3 out of 5 Stars
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