WWE Backlash 2018: Results, Highlights, Analysis, and Grades

WWE Backlash 2018 kicks off a new era of co-branded pay per views for the company. AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura will battle for the WWE Championship in a No Disqualification Match. Plus, Roman Reigns and Samoa Joe renew their rivalry.

For the first time since 2016 outside of Big 4 events, the WWE Universe is being treated to an official co-branded pay per view event. WWE Backlash 2018 features the best of both the Raw and SmackDown brands in the same place. As of late Saturday night, there were eight matches scheduled for the show, plus one more on the Kickoff Show.

The main event, presumably, is the WWE Championship Match. AJ Styles defends the title against challenger Shinsuke Nakamura for the third time in just about a month. Styles was victorious at WrestleMania, but he awakened the dark side of Nakamura’s personality. The rematch at the Greatest Royal Rumble ended in a double count out. This time, it’s a No Disqualification Match. Will Nakamura resort to another low blow to win his first championship? Or will Styles find a way to retain?

In one of two cross-brand matches on the night, Roman Reigns faces longtime rival Samoa Joe. After The Big Dog failed twice to dethrone Universal Champion Brock Lesnar, Joe began a war of words with Reigns. Roman claims he never lost faith in himself. But Joe is sick and tired of Reigns coming up with excuse after excuse for not getting the job done, and vows to put a hurting on him. What ramifications will this match have on Raw and SmackDown Live moving forward?

The other cross-brand match is an Intercontinental Championship Match between champion Seth Rollins and challenger The Miz. Also on the card is a United States Championship Match, where Randy Orton tries to regain the title against new champion Jeff Hardy. Both women’s championships are on the line: Nia Jax defends against Alexa Bliss for Raw, and Charlotte Flair gets her rematch against Carmella for the Blue Team.

Related Story: WWE Backlash 2018 Predictions

Daniel Bryan vs. Big Cass, plus Braun Strowman & Bobby Lashley vs. Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn round out the main card. On the Kickoff Show, Ruby Riott faces Bayley. Follow along with our live review of WWE Backlash 2018 right here, starting with the Kickoff Show at 7 p.m. ET.

Photo Source: WWE.com via Twitter

Daddy’s Home

I really hope this is another swerve type of thing with The Miz, Bo Dallas, and Curtis Axel, but I don’t think so. WWE doesn’t seem to want to do cross-brand stables, which is silly if they get together once a month for pay per views. But even just for a moment, getting the Bo-Liever, the Axe Man, and the A-Lister interacting was entertaining.

Also entertaining? That “Brock Lesnar” was the first name on Bo’s list of “Guys we could be lackeys for.” Brock would use the two of them like lawn darts, rather than henchmen. Which, now that I think about it, sounds amazing, so let’s make this happen, guys.

The Rest of the Kickoff

Ok, quick little rundown of the Kickoff Show:

• Booker T was straight SAVAGE tonight. (GI) Bro, you really want to see Daniel Bryan torn limb from limb? Is this because Coach is already back on Raw doing commentary? Chill out, Book.
• David Otunga as voice of reason on more than one occasion was a nice touch. He legitimately gave rational, logical thoughts regarding Daniel Bryan, and busted out some legal notes for Roman Reigns and the Universal Championship saga. Boom, lawyered.
• Dear lord, we don’t deserve The IIconics. Not one bit. Seeing them just go off on Rosenberg made my flu-addled brain the happiest it’s been since the sniffles and body aches started. A spot-on impression from Peyton sealed the deal, and I want them in the main event stat.

The rest of the Kickoff was your standard fare. Analysis from a guy you don’t want on your wrestling program, a guy who should be doing much more with his Harvard education, and a Hall of Famer who seems one second away from going off on someone for looking at him sideways. And poor Renee has to keep the peace?

Photo Source: WWE.com

Bayley vs. Ruby Riott (w/ Liv Morgan & Sarah Logan)

Result: Ruby Riott defeated Bayley via pinfall

Rating: 2.75 out of 5 stars

Before the match, Bayley invited erstwhile friend Sasha Banks to be in her corner for the match. And Sasha reacted like you would expect: with disbelief and anger. Bayley had the nerve to stand Sasha up on Raw, and now she needs her help? Bayley makes it abundantly clear that, no, she doesn’t need Sasha’s help, but was extending the proverbial olive branch. That’s been retracted, as Bayley says, in not so many words, “stay the hell away from my match.”

That may have been a mistake. It’s not long before Bayley is distracted by Sarah Logan, leading to Riott taking advantage. You can’t say if Sasha would have prevented that, but if the numbers were a bit more even, you’d have to think the odds go down drastic, in the words of Scott Steiner.

Overall, this was a good little match. Not quite as good as Sasha/Ruby, but still pretty good. Riott is doing a great job showing everyone just how good she is, first against Sasha this past Monday, and now against Bayley here.

Trouble is, as good as Ruby is, it’s painfully clear she’s a means to an end for Sasha and Bayley. I feel like down the road, maybe at Extreme Rules, Sasha and Bayley will team up with a third — Ember Moon, perhaps? — to face the Riott Squad, and everything will finally come to a head there.

The finish was wonky, but that seems like standard WWE fare of late. Good match from opening bell until about 95 percent of the way through, then something weird to end it. I feel like the creative team is like me doing school work — grades re due TOMORROW? Oh, man, uh, everyone gets an “A” for participation because I don’t have time to really calculate a grade.

(I don’t really do that, but I usually do grades literally until the deadline.)

Source: WWE.com

Intercontinental Championship Match

Seth Rollins (c) vs. The Miz

Result: Seth Rollins defeated The Miz via pinfall

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

As much as I think Rollins should be a min eventer like yesterday, I actually like the trend of his matches going a bit early. Tonight, with a card that has very little build to it, you need something to get people going early. Who better to pop a crowd with no heat than The Kingslayer? Throw him in against The Miz, and my god, how could you go wrong?

And the fans in Newark definitely were hyped for this one. The Miz got a huge pop as the first man out, but somehow Rollins made them get even louder. Maybe that’s one reason he’s sitting on top of our Raw Power Rankings this week…

https://twitter.com/WWE/status/993283719250173952

The match itself was just about perfectly paced, and both superstars did so much in terms of intangibles. Miz really played up his arrogance and cockiness. Rollins works a crowd as few other babyfaces can. And the knowledge both Rollins and Miz showed about the other was top notch. Both were prepared with counters for many of their opponent’s signature moves.

https://twitter.com/WWEUniverse/status/993284039581646849

With The Miz battling for his favorite championship in all of WWE, you could tell he’d be blinded by the possible glory awaiting him. Putting the cart before the horse like that is a surefire way to ensure you will not become a nine-time Intercontinental Championship. Because while Miz is gloating about how he made the title relevant, Rollins is out there busting out power we don’t usually see from him — pulling out literally all the stops.

I LOVED LOVED LOVED the ring post spot, playing into Rollins’s history of knee injuries. And Miz going for the Figure Four was a perfect follow up — but Miz went for the move on the wrong leg!!! Story time, kids: A Figure Four does damage to the straight leg, not the bent one, since the lock is hyperextending the straight one via pressure from the executor’s legs. That’s also why turning over “reverses the pressure.” It was literally the one thing about the match that I didn’t like, but few other people realize that it’s a “mistake,” so I guess I should let it slide.

After that, though, the match was bonkers. The kickouts after the Skull Crushing Finales — both of them — got me. Rollins continuing to sell the knee to even open the door for two SCF was terrific. Again, pacing was terrific (per Sean Ross Sapp credit goes to Tyson Kidd), and everything built off what came before it. Totally incredible match, my minor quibble aside.

No surprises after the match, which in and of itself is surprising for anyone expecting Jason Jordan or Dolph Ziggler/Drew McIntyre. But a hell of an opener all around, and likely to be the best match of the night.

Source: WWE.com

Raw Women’s Championship Match

Nia Jax (c) vs. Alexa Bliss

Result: Nia Jax defeated Alexa Bliss via pinfall

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

The clash of styles in this match gives the perfect contrast to the lightning hot opener. Jax’s raw power and Bliss’s, uh, double-jointedness opens up a world of opportunity to do crazy spots. You ever see Happy Gilmore, where Happy’s boss bends Shooter’s club with his bare hands? Nia can basically do that to Alexa.

Giving Bliss a little bit of a chance early on is essential, though. We’re long past the point of Nia needing true squash victories to build up her character. And Alexa is a multiple time women’s champion on both Raw and SmackDown Live. She should not be a total pushover.

I really enjoy the constant callbacks to NXT, where Nia lost her first championship challenge to Bayley via guillotine choke. Since then, several years ago, nearly every superstar who’s gone up against Jax has tried the same move. Eventually, it’ll be like Ric Flair constantly going up to the tope rope, just to be thrown off. No one will know why everyone goes for a guillotine on Nia when it never works.

The match took a turn when Bliss dumped Nia off the tope rope to the outside. I get the whole “Bliss can’t get Nia back in the ring” thing they were going for. But it came across as “Nia is fat, so poor little Alexa can’t pick her up.” Not a good look, and it really took the wind out of the sails in the momentum of the match, and the crowd. It was very quiet — somewhat expected after Rollins and Miz delivered as well as they did.

In the end, it’s the right call for Nia to retain. And hopefully, after Nia’s post-match promo, that puts the final nail in the coffin of this body-shaming, bullying feud. Let everyone move on to something else.

Best Promo in the Business Does it Again

Samoa Joe is untouchable on the microphone, change my mind. His eventual WWE Championship reign is going to be the best thing the company books in the past 5-10 years, easily.

Source: WWE.com

United States Championship Match

Jeff Hardy (c) vs. Randy Orton

Result: Jeff Hardy defeated Randy Orton via pinfall

Rating: 1.75 out of 5 stars

For the record, I like Jeff Hardy. Also for the record, I do not like Randy Orton. I always try to be as objective as I can when I look at these matches, whether when I was reviewing NXT back in 2016, or Raw since January 2017, or pay per views since September. I’ve given Orton some decent ratings if the work deserved it.

This one did not.

Jeff Hardy as a singles competitor in 2018 is a weird thing, in my opinion. He’s great, and could probably have a decent little run with some short, 5-8 minute matches. But as a champion, he’s got to work a little longer, and he’s an old 40. All his “Team Extreme” stuff — that he’s been doing for nearly 20 years now — has taken its toll on his body. He’s slower than he used to be. He can still bust out aerial offense, but it’s not as crisp as it used to be.

And I hate to bring it up, but he’s spent a large part of his career dealing with substance abuse issues. That stuff ages you, too. So even though Orton is only two and a half years younger than Hardy, he might as well be 10 years his junior.

https://twitter.com/WWEUniverse/status/993296732543897600

Neither superstar was on the same page as his opponent, which contributed to some sloppiness. The Whisper in the Wind looked a hell of a lot cleaner than nine days ago at GRR, but Hardy almost concussed Orton because they weren’t positioned right. The WWE Universe contingent in Newark checked out pretty early, too, serenading the arena with “RUSEV DAY” chants. (Speaking of, why isn’t he on this show? Ah, too many people to ask that about, let’s move on.)

The less said about this, the better. Let Orton move on to something else (like a vacation), and Hardy can feud with Rusev, Jinder Mahal, The Miz, Shelton Benjamin, and anyone else that’s not Randy Orton.

Photo Source: WWE.com via Twitter

New Day Rocks The Rock with Elias on Rusev Day? No Way, Jose!

In the world of getting heel heat, not much does the job better than putting down Bruce Springsteen in New Jersey. I’m a New Yorker, and the word I use most frequently to describe Springsteen is “overrated,” and my NJ brethren want my blood for it. I almost didn’t make it out of college alive.

But Elias knows what he’s doing, and kudos to the crowd for getting back into this segment. They were dead more much of the previous two matches, so Elias getting them back on track is a major bonus. You know how I said Seth Rollins works the crowd better than almost any babyface on the roster right now? Elias is getting to that point as a heel. Boo/yay chants just for standing up and threatening to leave the ring? Amazing.

Now, I was about to write down how furious I was that a musical act that was NOT Aiden English interrupted Elias. Sure, Big E got himself a bass drum, and Kofi crashed the cymbals, but come one. Then English coughed his way in, and all was right with the world.

I really thought an impromptu six man tag was incoming, with Elias begrudgingly teaming up with Rusev and English to face New Day. But then No Way Jose came down — with Titus Worldwide and the Fashion Police — and it became clearly apparent that this was just a goof. I mean, it’s not like there were other superstars deserving of a match on the card — any tag team championship match? — so good for WWE putting all their comedy acts and Bobby Roode in one segment.

It was a long way to go for Roode to just get revenge for a pair of losses the past two weeks of Raw. But hey, it was entertaining, and that’s something.

Source: WWE.com

Daniel Bryan vs. Big Cass

Result: Daniel Bryan defeated Big Cass via submission

Rating: 2.25 out of 5 stars

This one is billed as Height versus Heart. Size versus Skill. Talent versus, uh, Height and Size. I get it, because that’s clearly the best way to hype this one. Cass is potentially a huge deal down the road, but he isn’t there yet, not by a long shot. Sure, he lost a ton of time and momentum when he injured his knee, but you can’t skip the work to get from point A to point B. We’re on the first step of Cass’s journey.

Bryan, on the other hand, is a former world champion trying to get re-acclimated to regular competition. You’d think that gives him a clear advantage with much more experience, especially against larger opponents. But maybe it just gives Cass more tape to study, because early on it looked like he had an answer for everything.

One thing I learned in this match: I haven’t gotten to the point where I feel comfortable watching Bryan take any moves anywhere near the head. The inside-out lariats Cass delivered made me cringe every time. I know he wouldn’t be in the ring if it wasn’t safe, but man, those looked terrifying.

Quick ending here, with both guys still easing back into things. Bryan earns a submission victory with the Yes Lock, which is an interesting call. You don’t usually think of a seven footer crying uncle, but it happened. Gotta look at Cass’s attitude as his downfall, since he was overly cocky throughout. The post match assault solidifies Cass’s poor attitude, and also opens the door for this feud to continue through at least Extreme Rules, and my crystal ball sees a Submission Match on the docket.

Source: WWE.com

SmackDown Women’s Championship Match

Carmella (c) vs. Charlotte Flair

Result: Carmella defeated Charlotte Flair via pinfall

Rating: 2.75 out of 5 stars

As the guy who does the Raw review every week, I don’t get to write about Carmella a whole lot. In fact, this is her first singles match on a pay per view since, let me check my notes, the Carter administration. So I may not have had the chance to talk about the Princess of Staten Island since she was still on NXT, which is nuts.

And one thing I completely forgot about regarding Carmella: she’s by far the loudest superstar on either brand. Whether it’s her past as a cheerleader, or just a side effect of being from Staten Island, but girl’s got some pipes. It’s, honestly, kind of annoying: My wife was sitting on the couch next to me, reading a book and occasionally glancing at the TV, and she looked up during this match and said, “I don’t even like Charlotte, but I want her to kick the [expletive deleted] out of Carmella right now.”

The competition of woooooos and struts wasn’t unexpected, even if the match didn’t necessarily need it. In general, it was an okay match, but it seemed to follow the pattern of “predictable finish that we arrive at oddly.” I really thought the match was going to end with the Code of Silence (which I’m still upset isn’t called the Scissors or something related to hairdressing, but whatever). The move kind of came out of nowhere, and that would have legitimized Carmella as champion immediately.

Instead, the finish, while not bad, was just weird. Basically, Carmella won via fluke, so it does her no real favors even though technically it’s a clean victory. Throw in Charlotte being the one to beat Asuka, and her not winning any matches since then, and the whole Blue Team booking looks really strange.

Source: WWE.com

WWE Championship Match (No Disqualification)

AJ Styles (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

Result: Double count out, AJ Styles retains WWE Championship

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

You know why Roman Reigns isn’t getting the reactions WWE wants him to get? Because of nonsense like this. There is no legitimate reason — barring something crazy post-match, which I don’t anticipate — for Reigns/Joe, good as it may be, to main event Backlash. None whatsoever. This here is a damn WWE Championship Match. It’s still allegedly one of the most important championships in the company, Jinder Mahal reign aside.

But, no, let’s put a match between two long-time rivals who can’t even interact before or after the match in the last slot, and move this one up the card. This is where “Roman is entitled” comes into play, and now Styles and Nakamura get the short end of the stick.

Anyway, reading that the Vegas Golden Knights won tonight and are heading to the Western Conference Finals helped bring me back down from a crazier rant. And, maybe it’s just me, but Styles and Nakamura may have gone into, uh, “to heck with you” mode about the card placement. Because this was, while still not great like you would expect, the best of Styles/Nak in WWE thus far. It started waaaaay too slow, and didn’t exploit the no DQ stip at all for the vast majority. But compared to previous matches, perhaps with tempered expectations, this one was king.

But when they did make use of the no DQ aspect, it was pretty good. In an Eddie Edwards-approved spot, Styles threw a chair at Nakamura mid-Kinshasa. It was not a great idea, because of this thing called physics. After Styles busted himself open, things picked up more, but what a dumb spot.

Once the acton traveled below the belt, everyone got what they came for. And a match that started really slow but got really great finished with a whimper. So in hindsight, maybe it’s a good idea that this wasn’t the main event. I’d say the finish neuters the feud, but it may be a little too on the nose.

Source: WWE.com

Braun Strowman & Bobby Lashley vs. Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn

Result: Braun Strowman & Bobby Lashley defeated Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn via pinfall

Rating: 1.5 out of 5 stars

I spent the first five minutes or so of this match slowly coming to the realization that the show was going over time. Incredible. On a show with only eight matches on the main card, with really only the IC Title match getting substantial time (to this point), and half the roster left off the show, we still couldn’t fit the whole thing into three hours. Holy crap, how is that possible?

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For the next part of the match, as I lamented the lack of the Usos, The Bar, and Drew McIntyre from the event, I realized that this match was yet another excuse to accomplish two outcomes:

1. Braun Strowman runs guys over like a freight train
2. Remind everyone that Bobby Lashley is insanely athletic.

That’s literally it. I did enjoy Sami Zayn’s attempt to teach Kevin Owens a valuable lesson: in the words of Kenny Rogers, you’ve got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em, know when to walk away, know when to run. Sadly, Owens didn’t seem to catch on, and it looks like the best friends/better enemies are again on a path to being the latter.

The match finished with Lashley pinning the wrong man, but who cares. This match wasn’t meant to be anything important, so I guess even the official took a snooze. Either that, or he cared less than most.

The big anticipated finish to this was a Lashley heel turn, but instead, nothing. Just more undeserved punishment to both Owens and Zayn. And Braun Strowman has finally gotten closer to “WWE Top Babyface” status, since he spent half the post-match beating up the bad guys for no reason. Yay?

Source: WWE.com

Roman Reigns vs. Samoa Joe

Result: Roman Reigns defeated Samoa Joe via pinfall

Rating: 1.5 out of 5 stars

Joe jumping Roman before the bell gave me hope that this would be short. Like, maybe a bait and switch, where there was no actual main event. Joe could just MDK Reigns for three or four minutes, pose, leave, and Roman would be carted off. After some time off TV at a local medical facility, he could come back a changed man, but in the meantime we could get Samoa Joe, Champion of Everything.

After getting put through one table and thrown over two more, Reigns entered the ring and the bell sounded, so the match did officially get under way. Of course, the crowd was fully behind Samoa Joe, despite his legitimately being a heel character. Joe was fully in charge, too, but the fact that the entire overrun of the show was one big rest hold killed any and all momentum the opening beatdown built up.

Seriously, the last time I saw match that was this dull, it was a house show. Summer 2003, Nassau Coliseum. Rhyno vs. Tajiri. You may have heard about it: it’s the one where Vince McMahon came out from the back, ripped into both superstars, and ended the match without explanation. It was the weirdest thing to see live. To get flashbacks to that during a pay per view main event, it’s beyond comprehension.

So can you really blame people for leaving “early”? Or for chanting “Beat the traffic”? No one cared when Reigns started his “babyface fire” comeback. No one cared when Reigns almost reversed a Coquina Clutch into a pin. Heck, no one cared when Reigns almost passed out in another Coquina Clutch.

This. Must. Stop. I know that I’ve been a supporter of Reigns, but I’ve been hard on him, too. Others have been a lot more anti-Roman than me. But how can you justify putting this guy in another main event after this debacle? Unless this is some kind of master plan to get the crowd so far against him that it truly defines his character, this is just unacceptable production.

Next: Backlash: Two Shows In One

Did anyone care that Reigns won? Does it even matter? Whatever the case, WWE Backlash 2018 mercifully ended with Reigns victorious over Samoa Joe. After an amazingly great opener, the show went downhill fast. What did you think of WWE Backlash 2018?