WWE Backlash: 10 showstopping, favorite matches from the show’s history
By Kaleb Carter
Winner-Take-All match Shelton Benjamin (Intercontinental champ) vs. Rob Van Dam (Mr. Money in the Bank) – 2006 Backlash
When few wrestlers on the planet were more over among the crowd than Rob Van Dam, Shelton Benjamin was still over partially due to the presence of his TV “Mom,” Thea Vidale, who said in 2014 of her experience that “I genuinely hated that place,” after facing persistent sexual harassment.
In this match, you see Benjamin put in a sunset flip, powerbomb from the apron to the floor, Benjamin leaping to the top rope for an explosive superplex, some near-miss top rope leaps, and RVD tossing the MITB briefcase to Benjamin, who gets booted in the noggin before the 5-star frog splash finish. The fans ate it all up for good reason.
Hardcore Title match Raven vs. Rhyno – Backlash 2001
Just an absolute cluster of nonsense all the way around, this mess of a match between Rhyno and Raven is dumb in a great way immediately. Raven brings a stop sign, a kitchen sink, and other nonsense to the ring right from the get-go.
Rhyno, looking like a Mid-American Conference defensive tackle minus about 15 pounds of chunk around the love handles, just viciously assaults Raven throughout. The number of times Raven smashed Rhyno over the head with road/parking signs has to have caused some persistent ringing in Rhyno’s ears. Rhyno going face-first into a shopping cart on an attempted Gore, only to turn around and hit it for the win is near perfect.
In one of the more enjoyable Hardcore matches, I can recall ever watching in an era when that particular match was contested all the time, this match is brutal in all the right ways.