Monday 19 September 2016

WWE Backlash 2016 Review

WWE Backlash, Smackdown's first exclusive Pay-Per-View for over 9 and a half years, took place on Sunday 11th September at the Richmond Coliseum in Richmond, Virignia. We get to see new Championships for the Women's and Tag Team divisions, so who will they be? Let's take a look.

The match on the Kick Off Show was Baron Corbin taking on Apollo Crews. There were some close calls with Crews hitting an Olympic slam and Corbinf hitting Deep 6. In the end, Corbin hits End of Days to get the win. A decent match between the two.
Winner: Baron Corbin (0 for 1)

After Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan introduce the show, we get Alexa Bliss, Becky Lynch, Carmella, Naomi, Natalya and Nikki Bella in a Six-Pack elimination match for the Smackdown Women's Championship. Nikki almost gets the first elimination after hitting Carmella with an Alabama slam. Naomi eliminates Alexa after hitting a top rope neckbreaker/superplex combo with help from Natalya. Natalya then eliminates Naomi by getting her to submit to the sharpshooter. Nikki eliminates Natalya with a TKO but she is immediately eliminated thanks to a roll up by Carmella. In the end, Becky gets Carmella to submit to the dis-arm-her to become the inaugural Smackdown Women's Champion. I really enjoyed this match but I thought the eliminations were a bit too close together.
Winner: Becky Lynch (1 for 2)

Next was the second chance match in Tag Team Championship Tournament with The Usos taking on The Hype Bros. The Usos focus their attack on Zack Ryder and, despite a fightback by Mojo Rawley, Jimmy Uso gets Ryder to submit with a single leg Boston crab with a arm grapevine. This was quite a decent match and The Usos will face Heath Slater and Rhyno in the final.
Winners: The Usos (2 for 3)

We now got the Intercontinental Championship with Dolph Zigger challenging Hollywood Miz. Miz attacks the left leg and, despite Ziggler hitting a fameasser and applying a sleeper, Maryse sprays him in the face followed by Miz hitting a skull crushing finale to get the win. This was a good match and I liked the ending. Quite a few times now Maryse has helped Miz win a match without him knowing. I wonder if WWE would use that in a storyline.
Winner: The Miz (3 for 4)

 The next match was supposed to be Bray Wyatt against Randy Orton. However, Bray attacked Randy earlier in the night meaning that he is unable to continue and Bray wins by forfeit. Bray instead is forced into a no holds barred match against a returning Kane. Wyatt uses a steel chair to attack Kane and later on, hits a running senton driving Kane through the Spanish announce table. However, it was all in vain as Randy Orton runs down to hit a RKO on Wyatt. Kane then hits him with a chokeslam to get the win. I enjoyed this match but Bray loses againloses again. Can anyone remember the last time Bray won a match on Pay-Per-View.
Winner: Kane (N/A)

The penultimate match is The Usos taking on Heath Slater and Rhyno for the Smackdown Tag Team ChampionshipThe Usos focus their attacks on Slater after they suplex him into the ringpost. Slater do eventually tag in Rhyno but he's back in the match soon after. The end comes when Jimmy Uso hits Slater with a superkick. However, while the referee is dealing with Jey Uso, Rhyno hits Jimmy with a gioreand Slater pins him to get the win. This was an enjoyable match and well done to Heath Slater and Rhyno on becoming the inaugural Smackdown Tag Team Champions.
Winners: Heath Slater and Rhyno (3 for 6)

The main event is AJ Styles challenging Dean Ambrose for the WWE World Championship. Styles trash talks during the match and gets the early advantage after getting out of a sunset flip and immediately hitting a flying forearm. The match goes back and forth between the two with Ambrose hitting a sit out facebuster and Styles suplexing Ambrose into the turnbuckle. In the end, Styles knocks Ambrose  into the referee and Styles takes advantage to hit the Styles clash to get the win and become the new WWE World Champion. This was a really good match and Styles is on fire right now so it makes sense for him to be the Champion right now.
Winner: (4 for 7)

I thought that Backlash was a good show with some enjoyable matches and I'm looking forward to seeing how the new Champions  do on the show.

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