WWE WrestleMania Backlash (May 2021)

Original Airdate: May 16, 2021

 

From Tampa, Florida; Your Hosts are Adnan Virk, Byron Saxton, and Corey Graves (RAW); Michael Cole and Pat McAfee (Smackdown)

 

Opening WWE RAW Women's Title Triple Threat Match: Rhea Ripley v Charlotte Flair v Asuka: First fall wins it. Ripley may wear the collar, but Charlotte is the one dressed like an actual dog tonight. Flair suckers Rhea early, but Asuka backhands her for it, and Ripley schoolgirls for two. That annoys Asuka, leading to a slugfest, and somehow Flair gets the worst of it, despite not even being involved. Asuka hip attacks Ripley in the corner, so Flair pulls her fellow challenger to the outside, delivering a suplex on the floor. She heads in to showdown with the champ, and Rhea eats a suplex too, allowing Flair to put the boots to her in the corner. Flair chokes Asuka down for two, and a seated boot is worth two. Asuka fights back with a cross-armbreaker, but Ripley saves. All three trade off with little direction (including Flair 'hitting' her moonsault on the floor, and a tower of doom superplex spot), and Charlotte hits both with a double Natural Selection for two. Flair tries a flying moonsault on Asuka, but it misses. That triggers a three-way reversal sequence that ends in Ripley hitting Asuka with the Riptide, and Flair can't save in time at 15:23. It was competent, but I wasn't feeling it at all. *

 

WWE Smackdown Tag Team Title Match: Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode v Rey Mysterio and Dominik Mysterio: I completely forgot this title even exists. A quick check shows that it hasn't been defended on a PPV special since last summer, so no wonder. Rey is flying solo, following an attack by the champions on Dominik earlier in the day. Rey sticks and moves early on, and he hooks Roode into a victory roll for two, but gets cut off with a clothesline. Dolph tags in, and the champs go to work. Rey fights off a double team, but he's got no one to tag out to, so I guess this is just going to keep dragging on. Dominik hobbles out (looking more hung over than beaten up) to take his spot on the apron for the hot tag, but he's too slow getting there, and Rey eats a Zig Zag for two. Maybe don't treat catering like it's a fucking frat party next time, kid. So now the champs properly cut the ring in half, but Rey fights off an exploding gutbuster from Roode, and Dominik gets the tag. He comes in hot, but Roode quickly drills him with a rotating spinebuster, and Dolph tags in to deliver a combo. Oh fuck, really? Another heat segment? This whole match feels like one endless heat segment as it is. Dominik reverses a superkick on Ziggler to allow the tag back to dad, but Rey takes out Roode, allowing Dominik a flying frogsplash to win the belts at 17:00. I was really zoned out with this one. Way too long for what it was. ½*

 

Lumberjack Match: Miz v Damian Priest: The lumberjacks are zombies, in a tie-in with the new Army of the Dead movie that Batista is in. Actors playing zombies, but we're pretending that they're actual zombies. And that's all I'm gonna say about that. The zombies keep trying to reach into the ring to pull the guys out, in a nice touch. Both guys end up on the outside to sell the terror of the zombies, and honestly, it isn't even silly. Even if you don't actually think they're undead, it's still creepy. Like, I know clowns are just regular dudes underneath, but if I'm walking down the street at night and there's a guy in full clown gear glaring at me, you'd better believe I'm crossing to the other side. Miz tries a figure four, but the zombies pull both guys to the outside, and they end up brawling with them instead of with each other. Back in, Miz offers a truce, but Priest sees the cheap shot coming, and counters with a falcon arrow for two. That draws John Morrison out, and he somehow evades all the zombies long enough to kick Priest in the head. That allows Miz a two count, so John occupies himself by fighting the zombie army with parkour. While he's busy doing that, Priest makes a comeback, and he kills Miz at 6:55. I dunno, I didn't hate it. Yes, it was extremely silly, but sometimes a little silliness isn't a bad thing. I mean, is this really all that different than when Undertaker and Kane used to shoot lightning bolts at each other, or whatever? As a match it was nothing, but it was certainly more engaging than that boring ass vanilla tag match that proceeded it. DUD

 

WWE Smackdown Women's Title Match: Bianca Belair v Bayley: They trade waistlocks to start, ending in Bayley falling out of the ring. You're drunk, Bayley, go home. Back in, Belair wrestles her down in an armbar, but Bayley escapes. That leads to a criss cross, and Bayley counters a monkeyflip with a cradle for two. Why has no one ever thought of that before? It's the perfect counter! Belair with a cradle of her own for two, and a dropkick leaves Bayley hiding out in the ropes. Belair drags her up for a few corner whips, but Bayley bails before Belair can finish. Alliteration! Belair chases her on the outside, and hits a shoulderblock on the floor before dragging her back in for a moonsault for two. Bayley fights back by punching the champ in the ear, and she manages a corner whip to turn the tide in her favor. Bayley ropechokes her for two, and she works a chinlock. Belair fights to a vertical base, so Bayley side suplexes her for two, but a trip to the top gets her knocked down to the apron. Belair forces her in with a hanging vertical suplex, but Bayley cradles, and a reversal sequence ends in both spilling to the outside, where Bayley drops her across the steps. Bayley adds a vertical suplex on the floor, and she hooks the leg for two on the way back inside. Bayley with a sidewalk slam for two (that one looked weird), and a kneesmash in the corner is worth two. Bianca comes back with a backhand, and a pair of hiptosses lead to a dropkick. None of that was well executed, but whatever. Spinebuster gets the champion two, so Bayley goes upstairs with a flying elbowdrop for two. To the outside, Bayley dives with a tope, but Belair sidesteps her. That allows the champion to drop her across the apron with a double-chickenwing, and she gets two off of it on the way inside. Corner charge misses, allowing Bayley a leveraged backslide for two, and a leveraged rollup is worth two. Love the effortless cheating there. Belair gets fired up, so Bayley goes to the eyes to calm her down, and the Bayley-to-Belly gets two. Bayley grabs the braid to try and leverage her into a facebuster, but Belair counters with a cradle to retain at 16:04. A good, engaging match that felt like it was on the verge of falling apart at points, but they managed to hold it together. ***

 

WWE Title Triple Threat Match: Bobby Lashley v Drew McIntyre v Braun Strowman: First fall wins. Braun tries blitzing both guys at the bell, but teamwork ruins that plan for him, and Braun takes an impressive tandem hanging vertical suplex. That was cool. With that out of the way, Bobby and Drew quickly turn on one another, and it's on! To the outside, Lashley eats post, and Braun dives at both guys from the apron. It was like the end of Free Willy there. Inside, Braun with a chokeslam on the champion for two, so Lashley tries for a full-nelson, but Drew dives in to break the effort up. Drew runs wild for a bit, but then Braun gets hold of the steps, and starts throwing a tantrum. They fight over to the entrance set, where Lashley eats screen, triggering an explosion. Inside, Braun squashes Drew with a senton splash for two, but Drew comes back with a michinoku driver for two. Back to the outside, where Drew tries a Claymore Kick, but Braun catches him with a powerbomb through the announce table. Inside, he goes for the front-powerslam to finish, but Drew counters with the Claymore - only for Lashley to pop back in before the cover can be made! He spears Braun down, and that retains at 14:16. After a strong start, this settled into all the usual clichés. ¾*

 

Main Event: WWE Universal Title Match: Roman Reigns v Cesaro: Cesaro dominates some chain wrestling to start, to the point where the champ is forced to bail. Back in, Roman suckers him into trying again, then just hauls off and slugs him, but Cesaro manages a springboard backelbow to shake him off. Giant swing, but Roman grabs the ropes to block, and he chucks his challenger to the outside to buy time. Back in, Reigns manages to ground him in a chinlock, but the Superman Punch misses, and Cesaro lands the pop-up uppercut. Cesaro with more uppercuts in the corner, and a big boot gets the challenger two. Cesaro works the leg to set up the sharpshooter, but Reigns is quickly in the ropes to force a break, and he bails to regroup. Cesaro is on his ass with a corkscrew suicida, but Roman won't let himself get rolled in, avoiding the pin. Cesaro responds by blasting him with a running uppercut on the floor, and he forces Roman in for a flying bodypress for two. Roman fights him off by going for Cesaro's bad arm, and a Drive-By gets the champ two. Roman stays on the arm, but Cesaro keeps fighting back, tooth and nail. Cesaro with a superplex for two, as the announcers actually work in the phrase 'the boyhood dream is about to come true.' Is Vince watching WrestleMania XII at full volume on another screen in the back, and the announcers thought he was giving them a directive? Not that I blame him, I'd rather be watching another show, too. Cesaro tries the Neutralizer, but Reigns counters to a submission. Cesaro manages a cradle for two, but a springboard lands in the Superman for two. Spear, but Cesaro blocks with an uppercut. He tries a pop-up, but the bad arm prevents him from executing it, and Reigns capitalizes with a guillotine choke. Cesaro muscles into a spinebuster to escape, and he puts the sharpshooter back on, this time shifting it into a crippler crossface to prevent Roman from stretching to the ropes. Roman wrenches the bad arm to escape, and he unloads with mounted punches to knock the challenger silly. Sitout powerbomb gets two, so he tries the guillotine again, but Cesaro powers with another spinebuster. Reigns holds on this time, however, forcing Cesaro to try and fight, but the bad right arm kills that effort, and he passes out at 27:29. This was solid work, but it felt like it had the same problem a lot of high level matches have these days, which is that they're just long for the sake of it. Why stretch a really good fifteen minute match into an 'okay' thirty minute one? **

 

BUExperience: Wait, was there a show here? Because it sure felt like a big waste of time to me.

 

DUD