WWE Backlash (June 2020)

 

Original Airdate: June 14, 2020

From Orlando, Florida; Your Hosts are Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton, and Samoa Joe (RAW); Michael Cole and Corey Graves (Smackdown)

Opening WWE Women's Tag Team Title Triple Threat Match: Bayley and Sasha Banks v The IIconics v Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross: Hey, the IIconics! I've missed them. First fall wins this, and we get Bayley, Billie Kay, and Nikki to start. Cross runs wild on both, but quickly gets ganged up on, and then Bayley beats up Billie. Sasha tags in, but an attempt at a rollup on Nikki backfires when she tags out to Alexa in the process, and everyone comes in for a standoff until the referee can restore order. Dust settles on Sasha, Peyton Royce, and Alexa, and Royce tries a quick schoolgirl on Banks, but it only gets her two. They work a pinfall reversal sequence between them, and they Peyton works one with Alexa. That leads to another standoff between all six women, and this time it breaks down into a brawl. Well, duh, the referee didn't even TRY to restore order there. Peyton hits Nikki with a spinkick for two, as Bayley shrieks like a banshee. She's worse than Sensational Sherri with Jimmy Hart's megaphone, damn. Not to be outdone, Billie starts shrieking as well, so Bayley cradles her for two. Nikki comes in and takes both out, but she's battered, so no covers. Tag to Alexa, and she's comes in hot. I never realized that Banks and Bliss basically have the same body. Dog pile sequence on the outside triggers a 'this is awesome' chant from the trainees in the 'crowd.' Well, at least this pandemic has finally given Vince total control over his product. Alexa with Twisted Bliss on Peyton, but then Sasha runs in and cradles Bliss for the pin at 8:49. This was a mess. It wasn't unwatchable, or actively bad, it was just all over the place. ½*

Jeff Hardy v Sheamus: Sheamus takes him down right away, painting the mat with Jeff's makeup, but Hardy wins the scrap, and ends up holding a side-headlock. Sheamus powers into the corner to escape, and he brutalizes Hardy there for a bit, including tearing at his shirt. Bro, it's 2020. That behavior isn't at all acceptable anymore. Sheamus with a clothesline, but Jeff blocks a charge with a backdrop to the apron, and a dropkick sends Sheamus to the outside. Hardy follows with a dive off of the steps out there, but Sheamus blocks a suplex on the way back in, and pounds him in the corner again. Sheamus drops him across the top turnbuckle, and some kind of weird scrapbuster variation sets up a 2^nd rope kneedrop for two. Not sure what that move was, but it looked like a botch. Sheamus with a two-alarm no-release scrapbuster across the knee for two (I guess that's what he was going for earlier), and a high knee gets two. Sheamus takes it to the mat with a chinlock, but Jeff uses a side suplex to escape, and he starts throwing rights. Sheamus with a clothesline to cut him off, and he dives with a flying version, but Hardy dodges, and dives with the Whisper in the Wind for two. Jeff starts making a comeback, and a seated dropkick gets him two. Splash gets two, but Sheamus counters the Twist of Fate with a schoolboy for two. Jeff returns fire with a leg-feed corkscrew kick, so Sheamus tries the Brogue Kick, but Hardy dodges. Jeff goes up for the Swanton Bomb, but Sheamus dives into the ropes to knock him off, and the White Noise gets him two. Texas cloverleaf is (poorly) applied, but Jeff makes the ropes, so Sheamus puts the boots to him. He unloads with forearms across the chest next, but Jeff fights him off in the corner, and hits the Twist. That allows Hardy to go up for the Swanton, but Sheamus has a foot in the ropes at two! He bails to the outside to buy time, so Jeff tries following with the railrunner, but the social distancing dividers mess up his timing, and Sheamus Brogue Kicks him out of the air. Inside, another Brogue finishes the job at 16:47. Not really sure why this needed seventeen minutes, but it was watchable. **

WWE RAW Women's Title Match: Asuka v Nia Jax: Asuka keeps her at bay with quick strikes, but an attempt at a sleeper doesn't work, nor does one at a fujiwara armbar. Jax tries to corner her, but Asuka fights her off with turnbuckle smashes, and manages a submission hold in the form of an octopus. Nia powers out and barrels into the champion with a clothesline, so Asuka goes after the arm, but Jax powers her into a bodyblock to cut that off. Jax with an avalanche and a biel, followed by a bodyslam for two. Spinebuster gets two, so Nia takes it to the mat with a cobra clutch, but Asuka slugs free, and grabs a guillotine. Jax powers out with a jackhammer for two, but she wastes time trash talking, and Asuka comes back with a series of strikes. Shining wizard gets the champion two, and a 2^nd rope dropkick leads to a running hip attack for two. Asuka unloads more strikes, but Nia catches the leg, and counters her into a sitout powerbomb for two. Avalanche, but Asuka dodges this time, and she heads upstairs. Nia follows, but that backfires when Asuka pulls her over the top, and they both spill to the outside. Asuka slaps on a cross-armbreaker on the floor, but Nia powers her into the barricade to break. She tries to carry the champion back in, but Asuka peppers her with strikes, and we have a double countout at 8:26. Weak finish to an already uninteresting match. ¾*

WWE Universal Title Handicap Match: Braun Strowman v Miz and John Morrison: Miz takes a cheap shot to give Morrison an opening, but Braun quickly fights him off anyway. John manages to tag back out before getting killed, however, so Miz stalls on the outside. That allows Morrison to try and sneak back in with a cheap shot, but Braun sees it coming this time. The challengers regroup with some double teaming, but Braun shrugs them off again. They keep repeating that formula a few more times, until they manage to sucker the champ to the outside, and then hit him with dives before he can cut them off again. Inside, Miz roundhouse kicks him for two, and he grounds the big man in a chinlock. Braun powers out, so Morrison tags in, and clips the knee before the champion can regroup. The challengers team up with a tandem DDT for two, and Miz works the Yes Kicks, but Braun shrugs off the big final one, and sends him flying with a biel. Avalanche, but Miz dodges, and Morrison is able to capitalize with a springboard

roundhouse kick. Back to Miz with a flying axehandle, and a combo spikes Braun into the mat, but Miz's temporary selfishness costs them the pin. That allows Strowman to recover, and Morrison takes the running powerslam at 7:19. *

WWE Title Match: Drew McIntyre v Bobby Lashley: MVP gets in Drew's face before the bell, allowing Lashley to grab the champ in a full-nelson, and he locks it on until a trio of officials are able to pull him off, but the damage is done. Drew is in bad shape as the match officially starts, unable to even take off his entrance gear, and Lashley capitalizes by pounding him in the corner. Suplex-slam gets two, so Bobby bootchokes him in the corner, and hits a clothesline for one. Lashley works a chinlock, but Drew powers to a vertical base, and uses a bridging northern lights suplex for two. Lashley quickly cuts him off with a neckbreaker, however, and more bootchoking results. Front-powerslam, but Drew escapes, and clotheslines him over the top. The champ follows to railroad Lashley into the barricade a few times, but MVP distracts him, and Bobby delivers a sloppy death valley driver on the floor. That was a total botch, and looked really bad. He rams Drew into the post next (which I think is what he was going for to begin with), and he tries a charge, but Drew counters with a belly-to-belly suplex into the barricade! Drew adds a vertical suplex on the floor before taking it back inside, winning a slugfest on the way. Drew with a clothesline and a big boot, followed by a flying clothesline. Fireman's carry, but Lashley escapes, so Drew gives him a rotating spinebuster into a somersault cradle for two. Reversal sequence ends in Lashley hitting a spinebuster of his own for two, and he chucks the champ into the post to set up a flapjack for two on the rebound. Full-nelson looks to finish, but Drew blocks him from getting it properly applied, so Lashley turnbuckle smashes him. Ten-punch count, but Drew fights him off with the inverted whiplash for two. I'll never quit being impressed by the amount of raw power needed to make that spot work. Drew with a flying tomahawk chop, but Lashley catches him in a crippler crossface on the way down. Drew powers to a vertical base and into a tombstone, but Lashley manages to counter to an anklelock before the champ can complete the move! Drew escapes, and grabs a kimura lock, but Lashley is in the ropes to save himself. Drew responds by taking him upstairs for a vertical superplex, and it's Claymore Kick time, but Bobby blocks with a spear for two. That draws Lana out, and the distraction allows Drew to hit the Claymore at 13:17. This turned into a pretty good power match by the end, but then they went and booked a terrible finish to ruin it. Still, solid action, and didn't overstay its welcome. ** ½

Main Event: Randy Orton v Edge: This one is pre-taped, and was billed as the 'greatest wrestling match ever' during the buildup. They also use a recording of the late Howard Finkel for the ring introductions, complete with the old school MSG dropdown microphone. And even the referee is dressed like an 80s WWF referee, which is weird to see these days, but welcome. Feeling out process to start, and they're even going with old school camera angles for this, which is again welcome. They spill to the outside, where Edge gets control, and he gets Orton down in an armbar on the way back inside. Edge dominates him on the mat for a bit, until Orton manages to wrestle to a vertical base, and gets into the ropes to force a break of a headlock. Randy with a cross corner whip, but Edge blocks the collision, and uses a headscissors to sends Orton to the outside. He follows with a flying clothesline into the apron, and Orton is busted open! I get that they're going for an epic here, but it's been really slow thus far (even if technically well worked), so hopefully that means things are picking up. Inside, Edge pounds on a dazed Orton, and rolls a Russian legsweep into a crippler crossface. Orton makes the ropes to save himself, so Edge tries a cobra clutch, but Randy is in the ropes again. Edge decides to pound on him again instead (complete with over the top reactions from the 'crowd'), but Randy fights him off with the inverted headlock backbreaker, and Edge wisely rolls to the outside to regroup. Orton follows, sending Edge crashing into various ringside objects, and he slams him onto the announce table. Into the ring, all that gets a two count, so Orton drills him with a Garvin stomp, and works a chinlock from there. Randy with a rolling vertical suplex, but Edge reverses the third alarm, and rolls his way into three alarms of his own. That leads to both guys trading chops up to a vertical base, with Edge getting the better of it, but Orton knocking him to the outside with a standing dropkick. Randy follows to ram him into the post out there, and he drags Edge to the top rope for a vertical superplex on the way back in. Cover, count, two. I mean, is anyone really buying a superplex as a near fall in 2020, though? Criss cross ends in a double knockout when both guys go for a bodypress, and Edge recovers first to get to the top rope, but Orton drills him with uppercuts before he can dive. He tries an elevated DDT, but Edge counters with the Impaler for two, and this thing is just dragging. They're just taking forever between moves here, and everything just feels really forced. Edge with an enzuigiri, as they go into overdrive with crowd shots to try and make this seem more exciting than it is. Edge with a kneesmash for two, and a flying bodypress is worth two, complete with more over the top reactions from the 'crowd.' Charge in the corner, but Randy counters with a schoolboy for two, so Edge goes to a crippler crossface, as I try to figure out of the Network has an option to watch this at 1.5x speed, like PS4 does for DVDs. Sadly, it does not. Orton escapes with an Olympic slam for two, and there's so much time between moves here that we rewatch the entire sequence of stuff leading up to the slam, and they still haven't gotten to the next sequence when the replay is over. Orton tries a dropkick, but Edge catches him in a sitout powerbomb for two, and we get a full sequence replay of THAT as well. Seriously guys, I know it's a slow match, but not every single move needs a replay. Edge tries a charge, but Orton backdrops him over the top, and he delivers the rope-hung DDT to bring him back in. RKO, but Edge blocks, and a reversal sequence ends in the Edge-o-Matic for two. I'm not kidding, I think Vince might secretly love the pandemic because a normal crowd would be shitting all over this match by now. Spear, but Orton dodges. RKO, but Edge dodges, and he drives Randy into the mat with the Unprettier for two. Charge, but Randy is ready with a hotshot, and he delivers a butterfly facebuster for two. Edge's selling faces are really weird and off-putting. Edge fights back with a uranage for two, and he tries for a sharpshooter, but Orton blocks. Clothesline, but Edge counters to a backslide for two, so Orton drills him with an uppercut to put him down. He tries going after him on the apron, but Edge comes back with a series of quick cradles for some two counts, only to get caught in the RKO for two! And then Randy just stands around instead of destroying the guy that's barely moving. He finally decides (like, two full minutes later) to go for the punt, but Edge counters with a spear. A second spear gets two, so Edge tries a springboard bodypress, but lands in another RKO for two. I know I've said this before, but this thing just feels incredibly forced. Another RKO, but Edge blocks again, so Orton just blasts him with the punt, and that's finally enough at 44:46. Okay. It's one thing to bill something like Shawn Michaels/Mr. Perfect one of the greatest ever in advance since you think they can deliver. Or something like Michaels/Undertaker at WrestleMania XXVI based on prior performances. But to promise that two guys coming off of maybe the worst match in WrestleMania history (with one of them long retired no less) will clear that bar is pretty ridiculous. And I get that it's a marketing thing, but at least don't insult our intelligence with your bullshit. I'd call this one 'pretty okay,' mostly hindered by the expectations and epic length. A shorter, faster paced version of this at WrestleMania would have been quite welcome though, and this is definitely proof positive that Edge can still go. But it's not even in the conversation for 'greatest ever' - or even 'great,' really. ** ¼

BUExperience: There’s nothing here worth spending time on even individually, let alone as an entire show.

DUD