WWE’s 25 Greatest Pay-Per-Views of All Time
By Tim Sherry
credit: wwe.com
11. Backlash – 2007
Coming off a good, but not great, Wrestlemania 23, all 3 brands, RAW, Smackdown, and ECW all came together for Backlash. And for what wasn’t delivered a month earlier at Mania, the combatants on this night in Atlanta, Georgia made up for in a big way. Every match on the main card was for a title, 3 being world titles, and because of that, the whole night just seemed to have that big fight feel. Was this the flashiest show of all time? No. But what it was, was an exercise on how good wrestling can be when the bookers get out of the way and let the talent do their thing.
Backlash 2007 only featured 6 matches but each match was given time to play out and it paid off as far as the story telling for each feud. Everything had a purpose and there were no time-filler matches. Two of the more underrated programs were on display as tag champions The Hardy Boyz battled the duo of Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch and Chris Benoit defended his United States title against MVP. In both cases it was the story of the veterans retaining their titles but making the young talent look good through two very solid matches. And yes, the Bobby Lashley versus the McMahons and Umaga was a little over the top, but honestly, it was still a lot of fun.
Like many of the other shows that made this list, the two main events were outstanding. Batista got his rematch for the World Heavyweight Championship that he lost at WM23 to The Undertaker as the two followed up that war with a Last Man Standing match at Backlash that was even better. And the main event pitted 4 legends against each other as John Cena defended the WWE Championship against Shawn Michaels, Randy Orton, and Edge in what would turn out to be one of the best Fatal 4-Ways of all time and set up a violent feud between Michaels and Orton. All in all, Backlash 2007 was just a really, really good show and narrowly the best pay-per-view of that entire year.