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From a cinematic brawl between The Viking Raiders and Street Profits to Edge and Randy Orton's main event clash that everyone had been waiting for, WWE Backlash 2020 featured many contrasting moments.
Although WWE Pay-Per-Views have received a lot of positive feedback recently, Backlash was most likely to fail when you look at how the event was structured right from the beginning. The entire show depended upon Edge and Randy Orton's rematch to deliver on unrealistic expectations, and so far, Backlash 2020 has certainly left fans with mixed feelings.
What are your thoughts on this year's Backlash Pay-Per-View? Leave your opinions in the comments section below.
Here are the five biggest news stories from WWE Backlash 2020.
#5: Sheamus picked up an unexpected victory against an exhausted Jeff Hardy
After watching this match, two things popped into my mind immediately. Either Jeff Hardy is fantastic at selling fatigue, or The Charismatic Enigma has reached a point in his career where exhaustion is inevitable.
As Sheamus dominated a personal bout against Hardy, the latter looked completely out of sorts for most of their match.
People expected Hardy to win the match since this fictional storyline has incorporated Jeff Hardy's real-life substance abuse issues on WWE SmackDown. But The Celtic Warrior reigned supreme, and this is good for Sheamus as he can finally move up in the rankings to challenge for a legitimate title.
As for Hardy, it is hard to tell what is next for him. WWE can continue this storyline and hand Jeff a victory to conclude his rivalry against Sheamus. After all, there has to be some redemption on how the company has portrayed his struggles onscreen.
Either that or Hardy could just accept this defeat and move further to search for a redeeming victory against someone else on WWE SmackDown.
#4: The Viking Profits fought a bunch of ninjas in a silly "cinematic" brawl
Before WWE Backlash 2020 got underway, it became apparent that Viking Raiders and Street Profits seemed better as friendly rivals than gritty opponents in WWE.
After all, they have recently been involved in a bunch of silly segments on WWE RAW, and it felt like those segments eventually culminated in the silliest brawl at Backlash.
Yes, it is no secret that fighting a bunch of ninjas and falling into a dumpster is not everybody's cup of tea, and I do believe that not all of their “Anything You Can Do, We Can Do Better” segments have been great.
However, their Backlash brawl was dialed up to the maximum when it comes to fictional entertainment. Akira Tozawa also got a funny spotlight as the leader of a biker gang, and for what its worth, both of the aforementioned tag teams have figured out a way to steal everybody's attention, for better or worse.
Comedy is subjective, but from a personal standpoint, it is intriguing to see how certain WWE fans really love these types of segments, and the other half of the equation simply hates them to death.
So what did you think about this brawl in general?
#3: Lana cost Bobby Lashley a WWE title victory against Drew McIntyre
Bobby Lashley's pairing with MVP on WWE RAW has been the best thing that has happened to The All-Mighty in a long time.
Lashley returned to his destructive persona and put on a grueling bout against the WWE Champion, Drew McIntyre. It seemed like both men were equally matched throughout their clash, and as a WWE fan, it was great to see Lashley and McIntyre collide at the Pay-Per-View.
But Lana's role in this whole feud was being teased since the past few weeks, and she eventually became a huge factor in Lashley's loss at WWE Backlash.
It was Lana's distraction that led to Lashley's loss. But then again, there was a point in the match where Lashley could have won, and that alone leaves further speculation for a rematch down the line.
The way Lashley and MVP walked away from Lana also showed that all might not be well for Lashley and Lana's onscreen relationship, and to be quite honest, Bobby Lashley seems at his best when he distances himself away from melodramatic WWE storylines.
Drew McIntyre also proved himself as one of the strongest WWE Champions in a long time.
#2: Braun Strowman retained his Universal title as WWE teased The Miz & John Morrison's tag-team breakup
The Miz & John Morrison's new music video reveal was rudely interrupted by Braun Strowman, not once but twice. You can check out the full-length version of "Hey! Hey Hey" below, since it might be the best outcome from Miz & Morrison's short WWE feud against Strowman.
As I've pointed out several times before, Miz & Morrison weren't booked to stand a chance against The Monster Among Men. We know that The Fiend may avenge Bray Wyatt's loss against Strowman sooner than later, so this 2-on-1 handicap feud felt like filler content in between.
However, The Dirt Sheet duo made the best out of what they were given with. Although Strowman retained the Universal title, WWE teased a breakup angle between Miz & Morrison. It happened when Miz pulled aside Morrison during a pinfall attempt, as only one of them could become the new WWE Universal Champion.
As a fan, I sincerely hope that The Miz & John Morrison stay together as a tag team. WWE SmackDown's male tag team division has suffered lately, although Miz & Morrison have been the only shining beacon of hope in terms of freshness.
#1: Edge lost against Randy Orton in one of the most hyped WWE matches of all time
Listen, this main event was going to receive criticism right when WWE started hyping Edge and Randy Orton's Backlash bout as "The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever".
What we certainly got was a good match between Edge and Randy Orton. Both men were involved in a lengthy slugfest that got entertaining as time went on. What worked against this bout was the fact that WWE overproduced certain aspects of it. The MSG presentation was certainly appreciable, but any wrestling match feels manufactured when you sell artificial crowd reactions as "amplified audio".
Certain fans felt that the false-finishes became too overwhelming, but at the end of the day, Edge and Orton did their best to encapsulate the meaning of "sports entertainment" in one single main event.
When you snip away WWE's production and unrealistic advertisement, Edge vs. Randy Orton was as entertaining as a classic WWE main event could ever be, but considering Edge's reported injury, as well as the overall ramifications of booking this feud the way WWE did, "The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever" tagline could have done more harm than good on the broader scale of things.
