From The WWE Rumor Mill: AJ Styles vs Shinsuke Nakamura set to be the main event for Backlash

What’s the story?

According to a recent report from WrestleVotes on Twitter, the forthcoming WWE Championship match between AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura is currently expected to be the main event of tomorrow night’s co-branded Backlash pay-per-view.

In case you didn’t know…

At The Greatest Royal Rumble event in Saudi Arabia, ‘The King of Strong Style’ Shinsuke Nakamura failed to capture the WWE Championship once again, after he and AJ Styles fought each other to a back-and-forth match which ended in a double count-out, resulting in Styles retaining the WWE Championship.

Shortly afterward, Smackdown Live Commissioner Shane McMahon announced another rematch between Styles and Nakamura for this year’s Backlash PPV, which is set to be a co-branded event featuring stars from both Raw and Smackdown Live.

The heart of the matter

As noted, this year’s Backlash card currently features some absolutely top class singles matches featuring superstars from both Monday Night Raw and Smackdown Live and also, a World Title rematch between AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura, who are apparently set to close out the pay-per-view tomorrow night at the Prudential Center.

Shinsuke Nakamura vs AJ Styles is penciled in for the main event tomorrow night at Backlash. Samoa Joe v Roman Reigns was considered but plans that were originally discussed for that match were dropped therefore no sense in closing with it. I’m unsure of what those plans were.

— WrestleVotes (@WrestleVotes) May 5, 2018

As per WrestleVotes on Twitter, AJ Styles vs Shinsuke Nakamura is currently the favorite for tomorrow’s Backlash main event, ahead of a showdown between Samoa Joe and Roman Reigns, which was seemingly considered to be the main event of the evening, but after a lot of discussions, those plans were evidently changed after.

What’s next?

We’re now less than 24 hours away from the 2018 Backlash PPV which is set to take place at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey and as of right now, the match card features five championship matches and three singles matches, along with a tag team match as well.

Below is the updated card for this year’s Backlash PPV:

Bayley vs. Ruby Riott (with Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan)

AJ Styles (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura- No Disqualification match for the WWE Championship

Seth Rollins (c) vs. The Miz- WWE Intercontinental Championship

Jeff Hardy (c) vs. Randy Orton- WWE United States Championship

Nia Jax (c) vs. Alexa Bliss- WWE Raw Women's Championship

Carmella (c) vs. Charlotte Flair- WWE SmackDown Women's Championship

Roman Reigns vs. Samoa Joe

Daniel Bryan vs. Big Cass

Braun Strowman and Bobby Lashley vs. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn

Author’s Take

In my opinion, Styles vs Nakamura is definitely the right call for the main event of a PPV like Backlash and personally, I hope to see both men steal the show on this occasion after two disappointing matches at WM 34 and The GRR.