4 Ups And 8 Downs From WWE Backlash 2018

3. An Effective Waste Of Time

elias bobby roode
WWE.com

Normally, goofy in-ring segments during a PPV would automatically warrant a “down,” but the sheer craziness of this one, combined with a relevant wrestling storyline, merited a positive note.

Elias was looking to dedicate his latest song to Bruce Springsteen when New Day showed up to jam with him. Elias offered them an autograph, but the trio wanted to walk with him. When that failed, Rusev and Aiden English showed up – with English showing off his vocals. Elias tried again, but No Way Jose congaed his way out, with Titus Worldwide and Breezango dancing along.

This sent Elias into a fit, as he desperately wanted to finish his song. But then, Bobby Roode’s music hit, and he popped up in the ring and delivered a Glorious DDT to get revenge on Elias for his attack on Raw.

Sure, it was a waste of PPV time and goofy and somewhat stupid, but it was so over-the-top silly that it actually worked. That doesn’t mean we should be subjected to something like it every week, but on a show where a ton of wrestlers were just sitting in the back, getting a bunch involved in something campy wasn’t that bad.

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Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.