WWE Backlash (May 2023)

Original Airdate: May 6, 2023

From San Juan, Puerto Rico; Your Hosts are Michael Cole and Corey Graves

Opening WWE RAW Women's Title Match: Bianca Belair v Iyo Sky: They feel each other out early, with Belair dominating. Belair tries a bodyslam, but Sku snaps her arm across the top rope to block, and she puts the champion in a straightjacket. Sky works the arm, until Belair pulls out a victory cradle for two, leading to a slugfest. Belair manages a backbreaker to buy some time, and she manages a suplex, then a press-slam. A handspring moonsault gets the champion two, but the flying 450 splash hits knees, and Sky gets her in a crippler crossface. Belair powers to a vertical base, but a powerbomb gets countered with a facebuster for two. They spill to the outside, where Sky dives with a flying moonsault press on the floor. She tries a rana off the top on the way back in, but Belair counters with a powerbomb for two. That draws Bayley and Dakota Kai out, and the distraction allows Sky to recover, but Belair quickly fights her off. KOD, but Sky counters to a sunset cradle for a close two. Flying moonsault, but Belair dodges, and the KOD retains at 17:59. Very watchable, and the crowd dug it. **

Seth Rollins v Omos: Omos attacks from behind while Seth is soaking in the cheers of the crowd, and he adds a big shoulderblock as the match gets officially underway. Omos clotheslines him out of the ring, but a trip into the post out there gets reversed, and Seth dives with a tope. It doesn’t knock Omos down, so Rollins tries a second one, but gets caught with a chokeslam onto the apron. Inside, Omos continues knocking him around, but Seth manages to springboard with a flying high knee. He starts kicking at the leg of the giant, and a dropkick to the knee takes Omos down to one knee. Seth delivers a superkick from there, but Omos counters a pedigree with a backdrop. Omos tries an avalanche from there, but Rollins dodges, and bashes his face into the post. Seth with a tornado DDT to set up a flying frogsplash for one, and a dive off the middle looks to set up the curbstomp, but Omos blocks. That allows Omos a chokeslam for two, but an attempt at a slam gets countered with a sleeper. That wears Omos down for the curbstomp, and Rollins delivers a second one to make sure it sticks… for two. Seth goes nuclear with a flying curbstomp, and that’s enough at 10:33. A good psychological battle here, with Rollins having to think on his feet, and slay the literal giant. This felt very much like a Bret Hart performance here, Seth got a good match out of Omos. **

WWE United States Title Triple Threat Match: Austin Theory v Bobby Lashley v Bronson Reed: Lashley dominates the field as the match starts, but can’t put things away, and Reed starts using his size. Reed goes up for a dive on Lashley, but Austin knocks him off the ropes. That allows Austin to go after Lashley himself, but Bobby counters to a full-nelson. Austin kicks off the ropes into a cradle for two, as Reed dives with a flying splash on Lashley for another two. Lashley powers up, and looks to put Reed away, but Theory shoves Bobby out of the ring before he can cover, and steals his pin on Reed at 6:50. This was well paced, but I wasn’t really feeling it. ¾* 

WWE Smackdown Women's Title Match: Rhea Ripley v Zelina Vega: Sadly, Savio Vega is not in Zelina’s corner. Vega is super emotional here, literally in tears during the ring introductions. Vega sticks and moves early on, and places mind games by throwing a flip flop at the champion’s head. Vega tries a dive, but gets caught in a powerbomb for two, and Ripley is firmly in control now. She works her challenger over, but Vega finds a dive off the middle for two. Vega starts crying again in the middle of her comeback, so Ripley kicks her in the head, and the Riptide finishes at 7:10. Good for her. There’s no crying in baseball! ½*

San Juan Street Fight: Damian Priest v Bad Bunny: Posturing to start, and Bunny stuns him with a scoop sitout brainbuster for one. Priest is shocked, and shocked = mad, so Bunny grabs a kendo stick. He tees off, but Priest blocks, and hammers him into the corner. Priest with a bodyslam, and he works the arm, kind of toying with Bunny. Bunny manages a chincrusher to buy time for a ten-punch count, but Priest fights him off after just two. Bunny hooks a sunset cradle for two before Priest conclusively fights him off, and Priest corner splashes him. A sitout chokeslam ends in Priest pulling Bad up at two, and he grabs a kendo, but Bunny hits him with a chair before he can use it. That allows Bunny a tornado DDT, and a clothesline sends Priest over the top. Bunny dives after him with a flying bodypress on the floor, and he unloads some shots with a trashcan lid. He gets the kendo to tee off with a bit, and a corner backelbow connects. Bunny adds a falcon arrow for two, but Priest gets hold of the kendo, and returns fire. They brawl into the crowd next, and end up on a piece of the AV equipment, ending in Priest putting Bunny through a table with a falcon arrow. Back to the ring, where Bunny gets the kendo, and swipes at Priest’s leg to buy some time. Bunny works the part, leaving Priest hobbled. That allows Bunny to grab a chair to finish him off, but Priest is begging off. Bunny falls for it and gets knocked on his ass, but manages to go low when Priest grabs the chair. That draws Finn Balor and Dominik Mysterio out, but Rey Mysterio runs out to make the save. He gets beat down as well, so Carlito comes in to back his boys up, and cleans house, as the crowd goes wild. The heels back off, retreating, but Savio Vega and the LWO cut them off in the aisle to finish the job. Meanwhile, the actual principals have recovered, and Priest tries a kick, but his bad leg gives out when he puts weight on it. That allows Bunny a figure four, but Priest fights free. Chokeslam, but Bunny counters with a cradle for two. Priest tries a charge, but hits a chair in the corner, and Bunny delivers sliced bread for two. Bunny beats on him with a chair like it’s Rumble ‘99, and a Canadian destroyer finishes at 25:03. The heat for this was off the charts, Bunny worked like a true pro, and it was entertaining. ** 

Six-Man Tag Team Match: Jimmy Uso, Jey Uso, and Solo Sikoa v Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, and Matt Riddle: Solo is only thirty? In, like, regular years? Sami and Jey start, and there’s lots of posturing. The babyfaces get control on Jimmy for a while, but Sami gets into trouble, and the Bloodline work him over. Riddle gets the hot tag and runs wild. Over to Owens to do the same, but Zayn gets into trouble again. Here’s a thought: maybe stop tagging him? Brawl breaks out, and Roseanne Barr the door. Matt looks to put away Jey, but Jey isn’t legal, allowing legal Solo a sneak attack for the pin at 21:47. I found this to be really dull, and way too long on top of it. ½*

Main Event: Brock Lesnar v Cody Rhodes: Rhodes hits him with a tope before Brock can climb into the ring to kickstart the match. and Cody follows to beat on him with the steps out there. Cody adds abuse with a chair to send Brock inside to officially start the match, and Rhodes stays on him with more sticking a moving. A pair of springboard roundhouse kicks connect, but a third one gets caught in a German suplex. Cody tries another springboard, but Brock catches him in a fallaway slam, and takes the kid to suplex city. A charge in the corner misses, sending Brock into an exposed buckle, and he’s busted open. That allows Rhodes a cutter, and a springboard roundhouse kick finds the mark. Rhodes hammers on the cut ahead of a pair of Cross Rhodes for two, and boy, Brock is really juicing here. Cody looks for another Cross, but Lesnar counters with an F5 for two. Bloody Brock looks for a kimura, but Cody manages to shift into a cradle for the pin at 9:42 (10:52 total). Well, that finish sure felt out of nowhere. It wasn’t a bad finish really, just felt a little abrupt. This didn't really work for me as a main event. *

BUExperience: The hot crowd really bolstered this one. Not a great card, but a hot one.

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