5 Ups & 6 Downs From WWE WrestleMania Backlash 2022
Rousey captures gold, Ripley joins Edge, Bloodline stands tall, does Cody have ring rust?
Fans who watched WrestleMania Backlash are going to probably fall into two distinct camps: Those who felt like most of the matches delivered and WWE put on an entertaining show, and those who believe that a show carrying the “WrestleMania” moniker should have produced a more meaningful, substantive product and not a secondary show that could have been a really hot episode of Raw.
Backlash was a better-than-average wrestling show. It had six matches, three of which were pretty damn good, one that exceeded expectations, and two that just underperformed. But this was not a successor to WrestleMania, nor was it a hugely newsworthy PLE. Yes, we crowned a new SmackDown Women’s Champion, and we saw Edge’s faction grow. But beyond that, what else noteworthy happened?
Only one title was up for grabs Sunday night, and while not every PLE match needs to be a title bout, you need some stakes for fans to mix in with the grudge matches. Five such grudge bouts – three of which were Mania rematches – is a bit excessive.
Really, aside from Ronda Rousey winning the women’s title, was there anything hugely memorable about Sunday night? It was a good diversion for the evening, but it’ll be mostly forgotten in a couple of weeks.
With that said, let’s get to it…