Tags
AJ Styles, Alexa Bliss, Backlash 2018, Bayley, Big Cass, Billie Kay, Bobby Lashley, Braun Strowman, Carmella, Cesaro, Charlotte Flair, Daniel Bryan, Jeff Hardy, Jinder Mahal, Kevin Owens, Nia Jax, Peyton Royce, Randy Orton, Raw, Roman Reigns, Ruby Riot, Sami Zayn, Samoa Joe, Seth Rollins, Shinsuke Nakamura, Smackdown, Smackdown Live, The Miz, Triple H, Vince McMahon, WWE, WWE Backlash, WWE Backlash 2018, WWE Championship, WWE Greatest Royal Rumble, WWE Intercontinental Championship, WWE Network, WWE Raw Women's Championship, WWE Smackdown Live Women's Championship, WWE United States Championship
Things are changing in the WWE and we got a preview of it with The Greatest Royal Rumble where both brands will no longer have a solo pay per view. I can’t say that I am entirely disappointed in the WWE’s decision to do this because some PPV’s were rather lackluster at times, but what does this mean for everyone else heading into tonight’s WWE Backlash? What it means is that superstars from both rosters will be fighting to get a spot on a PPV whereas before it would be easier to do with the WWE needing to fill the slots on the specific cards. Is this the best thing? Maybe not, but it will tell you is that the end of the roster split could be over which means guys will be buried. This could also spell the end of the Universal Championship, but that remains to be seen. The WWE heads into the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ with a pretty stacked card thanks to this new change. The obvious stand out match in my opinion tonight will be the No Disqualification match between WWE Champion AJ Styles and the new and improved Shinsuke Nakamura. Is this finally the day that Shinsuke will reign supreme making his turn to the dark side the right choice after all or will the WWE just not take a chance on the man. It’s frustrating because they put a title around the waste of Jinder Mahal and that turned out to be a major flop. The WWE needs to make up it’s mind and give guys that deserve a shot at the top the chance like Cesaro or Nakamura. Vince is just burying his baby a little more and Triple H is looking like the genius with NXT.
The other match that has me intrigued because it may just turn out to be a match of the night contender is the one between Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins who puts the title on the line against The Miz. Even though we can kind of guess where the WWE is going to go with this match, it’s almost a no brainer that these two men are going to entertain you in the ring with the story they will tell. I am not entirely sure what the connection or the reasoning behind Daniel Bryan and Big Cass is, but I think I am like the rest of you in saying I am just happy to see Daniel Bryan wrestling in a WWE ring again. Now, if we could only convince CM Punk to come back, we would have more dream matches to come. I am also happy to see Big Cass make a comeback and I think it says something about where Vince’s head is at considering all the possible options he could have given Daniel Bryan. Instead, he chose to insert the big guy in there after missing almost a year which means everyone else has to wait. I think the only person that people want to see win the most tonight is Samoa Joe who gets his shot at the “Big Dog” Roman Reigns. He didn’t get over at WrestleMania or the Greatest Royal Rumble so let’s put him against the one man that the people actually want to succeed in the returning Samoa Joe. This is the thought process that goes on in this company and you can definitely see what frustrates the fans time and time again. It seemed that Carmella was over when she cashed in her Money In The Bank contract for the Smackdown Women’s title, but I am not so sure she walks out with it tonight. Then again, Peyton Royce and Billie Kay could prove to be thorns in her side tonight.
The match between Raw Women’s Champion Nia Jax and her challenger Alexa Bliss is a match that we actually care about because we respect the two of them. Alexa was one of the best champions in recent history because they didn’t constantly play hot potatoes with the strap, but how serious is the company with Nia Jax as champ? I think that Nia deserves her run as Champion to showcase how much of a dominant force that she is. The tag team match that features Bobby Lashley and Braun Strowman taking on Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn could be a match that sets something up like a feud between Lashley and Strowman or this is giving Strowman something to do. I don’t really understand the idea behind their pairing, but I am hoping for a match. I don’t think it’ll happen tonight, but look for it in the future. I think that Randy Orton vs Jeff Hardy could be a decent match, but file this under I’m not expecting much out of it. The final match to talk about is the pre-show match that sees Ruby Riot taking on Bayley which will breathe new life into the Raw Women’s roster. I’d love to see Ruby take the win to set up an actual feud between the two, but we’ll see. As I said before, the combining of the two for every PPV gives the WWE a shot at giving you the best possible PPV every month instead of two PPV’s where one might be a home run versus the other. I’ll be tuning in and I suggest that you do as well. Check out my predictions below:
Ruby Riot Over Bayley
Nia Jax over Alexa
Carmella Over Charlotte
Shinsuke Nakamura Over AJ Styles
Jeff Hardy over Randy Orton
Bobby Lashley and Braun Strowman over Owens and Zayn
Seth Rollins over The Miz
Samoa Joe over Roman Reigns
Daniel Bryan over Big Cass