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Things didn’t end up in favor for Cesaro at the end of Wrestlemania Backlash, as he got attacked by Roman Reigns, Jey Uso, and then Seth Rollins. The night also featured zombies eating The Miz and John Morrison during the lumberjack match. You can find the full results for the WWE PPV below.
Wrestlemania Backlash took place at the Yuengling Center in Tampa, Florida, inside the Thunderdome, as there was no live audiences for this event. We should expect to see things get back to normal around Summerslam–although a new rumor suggests there could be a live audience at Money in the Bank in July.
There were plenty of matches from both the Raw and Smackdown brands for this PPV. Aside from the aforementioned Raw Women’s Championship bout, one match was a triple threat featuring Bobby Lashley defending his WWE Championship against Drew McIntyre and Braun Strowman. Additionally, Rey and Dominik Mysterio had a chance to become the first-ever father/son tag team champions, as long as they could defeat the team of Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode. Check out the match card below.
WWE Wrestlemania Backlash Match Card:
Bobby Lashley (c) vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Braun Strowman (WWE Championship)Bianca Belair (c) vs. Bayley (Smackdown Women’s Championship)Rhea Ripley (c) vs. Asuka vs. Charlotte Flair (Triple Threat Match for the Raw Women’s Championship)Roman Reigns vs. Cesaro (Universal Championship)Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode (c) vs. Rey Mysterio & Dominik Mysterio (Smackdown Tag Team Championship)Damian Priest vs. The Miz (Lumberjack Match)
As mentioned, in order to watch the main card of the show, you’ll need to have a Peacock Premium ($5 a month) or Premium Plus ($10 a month) account in the US or a WWE Network account if you live outside the US. In addition to live streaming WWE events, Peacock offers a wide-array of original programming, along with TV shows and movies you love. There is also a whole section devoted to WWE, which showcases past episodes of Raw, Smackdown, NXT, along with old PPVs and episodes of WCW Nitro.
While you wait for the show to begin, check out the Wrestle Buddies Wrestlemania Backlash predictions episode below. What’s Wrestle Buddies? Well, it’s GameSpot’s professional wrestling podcast hosted by Mat Elfring and Chris E. Hayner as they discuss WWE, AEW, Impact, ROH, and more and occasionally, get very silly about it.
Kickoff Show
The preshow begins at 3 PM PT / 6 PM ET. Once the show begins, you can find all the notes from the Kickoff Show below.
It doesn’t seem like there will be a match on the Kickoff Show, considering there are only six matches in total for the PPV.
Sheamus has issued an open challenge, but not for the United States Championship.
Sheamus vs. Ricochet
Sheamus wins by pin.
Solid Kickoff Show match between the two wrestlers. It’s helping cement Sheamus as a credible champion, and you love to hate him as he talks on the mic. This is also giving Ricochet a nice feud, as Ricochet attacked Sheamus after the match–and decided to wear Sheamus’s fancy–yet not so fancy–hat and jacket, which apparently means a lot to the Celtic Warrior.
Also, Ricochet dabbed while wearing Sheamus’s stuff, which made me laugh way too much. I’m pretty sure dabbing isn’t cool anymore–at least that’s what my 12-year-old niece tells me–so I’m all about people dabbing constantly now. I dabbed while writing this at least four times.
Rhea Ripley (c) vs. Asuka vs. Charlotte Flair
(Triple Threat Match for the Raw Women’s Championship)
Rhea Ripley wins by pin on Asuka.
This was a match that probably kept you on the edge of your seat. It was a nonstop bout traveling 200 mph. It was a great return PPV for Charlotte, but WWE made the right decision keeping the title on Ripley. It solidifies her as a champion, beating two of WWE’s best superstars, and it also will further Charlotte’s storyline of her being bitter for not being on the Mania card. No one came out of this looking weak. It built everyone up.
Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode (c) vs. Rey Mysterio & Dominik Mysterio
(Smackdown Tag Team Championship)
Dominick Mysterio was hurt before the match, after Ziggler and Roode turned over a light sofa on him, so Rey is going out alone. He fought for a good while on his own, constantly moments away from losing the match. Eventually, a hurt Dominick Mysterio came down to the ring.
Dominick Mysterio pins Bobby Roode.
The match itself was fine, but it hinged a lot on Rey being the workhorse for the majority of the bout. Regardless, it’s a really cool moment to see the first father/son tag team championship team in WWE. That’s a very memorable moment.
Damian Priest vs. The Miz
(Lumberjack Match)
Damian Priest wins by pin.
The lumberjacks are all zombies–mainly because WWE is heavily promoting Netflix’s Army of the Dead. It was weird. The zombies didn’t try to go into the ring until after the match was over, so at least they abided by the lumberjack rules. During the match, John Morrison was eaten by zombies. After the match, The Miz was eaten by zombies. I assume they’re both dead.
Bianca Belair (c) vs. Bayley
(Smackdown Women’s Championship)
Bianca Belair wins by pin.
Still thrown through a loop at what happened with all the zombies in the match prior. While this match didn’t live up to what Belair and Sasha Banks did at Wrestlemania, Belair’s title defense against Bayley was still great. Bayley’s whole gimmick of laughing in her opponent’s face is wildly entertaining and tonally made it feel a lot more different from the mania match. I’d love to see this feud continue at the next PPV.
Bobby Lashley (c) vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Braun Strowman
(WWE Championship)
Bobby Lashley pins Braun Strowman.
This truly was a battle of the big beefy boys, which resulted in mayhem inside and outside the ring. Lashley ended up retaining, which is great, but it would be even better if The Hurt Business was still together so he had more friends to celebrate his accomplishment with. It was a fine match, and went as expected.
Roman Reigns vs. Cesaro (Universal Championship)
Reigns submits Cesaro.
This was a long, grueling match, focussing on in-ring storytelling, by way of Cesaro getting his arm destroyed. It had a very slow start, but it all paid off in the end. Sadly, Cesaro didn’t get the win here–he deserves a title run though–and Reigns remains the “Head of the Table.”
After the match, Jey Uso attacked Cesaro, and then Seth Rollins came to the ring, beating up Cesaro.
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