4 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE Backlash 2025 (Results & Review)

3. McAfee Hangs Around

There will be some praise for the sideshow match on the Backlash card, but first we have to get some criticism out of the way.

Yes, Gunther toyed with Pat McAfee throughout the match and never really was in danger of losing, but this ran completely counter to the message that the Ring General delivered just five days earlier on Raw. Gunther said he was going to maul McAfee and would need to be pried off the announcer’s limp body.

Instead, the former World Heavyweight Champion spent the majority of the match allowing Pat to take swings (and chops) at him and then tormented Michael Cole, all of which allowed McAfee to get back into the match and score a couple hope spots. A match that easily should have been a sub-10-minute sideshow lasted for 14 minutes.

Cole getting involved in the match – first as a ringside cheerleader and later by grabbing Gunther’s foot ala Bobby Heenan and Ultimate Warrior – has to have consequences. There’s no way an announcer coming off the desk like that should be brushed aside, even in storyline. Put him on probation or something silly, but not acknowledging it was wrong would be dumb storytelling by omission.

Finally, McAfee lasting as long as he did in Gunther’s sleeper was ridiculous when you consider how quickly established wrestlers have tapped/passed out in that hold. It’s understandable that WWE wanted to portray McAfee as capable and heroic, but going toe-to-toe in a chop battle with Gunther and then flailing and fighting in a sleeper for a solid minute? Come on.

This should have been a mugging, with Gunther chopping McAfee until his chest was hamburger, Pat landing a lucky blow and jumping on his one opportunity, and then Gunther slamming the door shut, with Cole begging him to end the match until the Ring General finally finished him. A crisp seven minutes would have worked just fine.