WWE Backlash will be the first brand-exclusive pay-per-view to hit the screens in several years and will be exclusive to Smackdown Live. September will also see the first Raw exclusive pay-per-view, named Clash Of Champions, which will seemingly replace the annual Night Of Champions.
The brand exclusive pay-per-views means that by the end of 2016, WWE will have had 19 pay-per-views. That is a big amount of pay-per-views, but if done right, it can work well.
As of this writing, three bouts have been announced so far, and a few more expected matches are set to be added soon. One of the matches expected to take place at Backlash is Baron Corbin vs Kalisto.
Baron Corbin revealed at the Summerslam pre-show that he was supposed to have a match with Kalisto at the biggest party of the summer, but due to the doctors “not clearing” Kalisto, he was unable to compete. It is also presumable that the match may have been cut off due to lack of time on the mammoth 6-hour card (2 hour pre-show and 4-hour main show).
Kalisto and Baron Corbin feuded after the band split and were both involved in a triple threat match that had Apollo Crews in the mix as well, with the winner becoming the Number One Contender for the Intercontinental Championship. Apollo Crews was victorious in the match, after which, the next two weeks of Smackdown Live featured Corbin beating up Kalisto backstage. However, they were not featured on this recent episode of Smackdown Live.
Another match that is expected to take place at Backlash is Randy Orton vs Bray Wyatt. It seems logical that this is the direction they will be going in after Bray confronted Orton in this past week’s Smackdown Live. They need to fill in the Backlash card as well, so Orton and Wyatt should be able to have a good, lengthy match.
It will be very interesting to see how WWE will fill a three-hour pay-per-view with a thinner roster than compared to what Raw has. However, given the consistency of Smackdown Live, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a quality pay-per-view.The official card looks like this as of now:Nikki Bella vs Naomi vs Natalya vs Becky Lynch vs Alexa Bliss vs Carmella(Six-pack challenge for the Smackdown Women’s Championship)TBD vs TBD(Tag Team Tournament Final for the Smackdown Tag Team Championship)Dean Ambrose(c) vs AJ Styles(WWE World Heavyweight Championship)
