10 WWE Backlash Matches That Should Have Happened At WrestleMania
They didn't get it right at WrestleMania, but they definitely did at Backlash.
Everybody knows that Backlash is the pay-per-view of WrestleMania rematches.
Whether it's the former champion getting their revenge, the number one contender having another shot, or just a feud that WWE refuses to let die, you can normally predict the Backlash card a long time before any matches are announced. What you can't predict is how good the event is going to be; that, and when they're going to stick the word WrestleMania in front of it and hope nobody minds...
There have been some laboured Backlashes with obvious endings, designed to let the 'E chug along on its way towards SummerSlam, especially during the first brand split when Raw wouldn't have another PPV until June at the earliest.
The glory days!
In among this endless supply of rematches, like a pearl at the bottom of the ocean, lie a number of incredible matches that have no right being on such a comparatively small show. Legends have returned, brand new champions have been crowned, and future stars have shined on this stage. Even more frustratingly, a number of WrestleMania rematches have been so much better than what WWE gave us at the Show of Shows.
These matches really should have taken place a month earlier, but sometimes WWE won't let you have nice things...
10. Jinder Mahal Vs. Randy Orton - 2017
What a place to start this list...
2017 was the year Goldberg squashed Kevin Owens, Brock Lesnar disappeared from TV with the Universal Championship, and WWE put on a whopping 16 pay-per-views in 12 months. With an absent champion on one brand, you'd think the message in the writers room would be "Let's build up the other belt and make it the top prize." Whoever said belt would've been fired by Vince McMahon, then work would have started.
To cut a long story short, the year started with Randy Orton in the Wyatt Family. The Viper won the Royal Rumble match and Bray Wyatt won the WWE Championship inside the Elimination Chamber; that family knows how to win gimmick matches. A burning Wyatt compound later and the two were face-to-face at WrestleMania 33.
Instead of a grudge match that was six months in the making, fans got the most basic match ever, save for the images of bugs that were projected on the ring. A lot of wrestlers have been blessed with spooky powers, but being able to conjure pictures of insects has to be the worst of the lot.
A month later and Backlash rolled into Chicago. Orton had seen off Wyatt in the House of Horrors at Payback (please don't ask) and now his challenger was... Jinder Mahal.
Whatever you think of this ploy to win over a new market at the expense of a credible development, it made the previous three months pointless. The Modern Day Maharaja had been doing nothing leading into the match, with the Wyatt spooktacular making fans change the channel too. Let's not pretend Orton-Mahal was much better than Orton-Wyatt, but it would've meant so much more to crown a brand new champion at WrestleMania instead of throwing the strap back on the Apex Predator.