10 WWE Backlash 2020 Impulse Reactions
6. Asuka (c) Vs. Nia Jax
Less a match and more a race to a finish in layout, the one thing this idea needed was a comprehensive conclusion. Which of course was the one thing WWE had no intention of delivering.
Thing is, the build up to the double f*cking count-out just wasn't that great. Asuka chopped and chopped and the tree came down but there wasn't a lot of drama about it, quite honestly. Very little sense of peril for the Champion, very little dominance beforehand from the Challenger. If anything, it was yet more evidence of main roster regression when held up against their 2016 NXT TakeOver banger.
The match spilled to the floor with barely eight minutes gone, betraying the sense of exhaustion the announcers worked overtime to sell and the wrestlers were trying but failing to put across. They didn't beat the count, Asuka nailed a parting shot and that was that. Empty arenas don't boo f*ck finishes, but it doesn't mean pay-per-views should deliver them.
Yet more rematch fodder for Extreme Rules on a night that was already feeling bloated with it, this was a huge disappointment for 'The Empress Of Tomorrow's first defence.