WWE Backlash 2017 is set for this Sunday, May 21st at the Allstate Arena in Chicago, Illinois.
This is the first SmackDown special to follow not only after WrestleMania but the Superstar Shake-Up as well, so it has major implications on how the rest of 2017 will play out for the blue brand.
One little tweak to the stories being told could have very long lasting effects on the coming months and may even dictate what happens to next year's WrestleMania if the shockwaves stretch that far.
Normally at this point, just a few days before a pay-per-view, we have a pretty good indication of what may happen at the event, but even though this card appears to be set in stone, there are still some questions the WWE Universe should have on their collective minds.
#1 Is Charlotte Flair a heel or a babyface?
For the better part of her career in WWE, Charlotte Flair has been a heel, playing the character of a conceited title-driven and downright nasty woman.
In her time on the main roster, she’s held the Raw Women’s Championship four times, and the moment she was drafted over to SmackDown, it felt that she would be holding that brand’s title as well.
Somewhere down the line, this seems like an inevitability, so since the bulk of her time as champion has been while she was a heel, it feels natural that she would continue that trend.
However, the current storyline puts her in a different light where she’s teaming with Becky Lynch and Naomi in order to fight a common enemy in The Welcoming Committee.
What is strange about this is that the entire feud has revolved around Charlotte making enemies, yet Becky and Naomi are somehow fighting on her side even though they have absolutely no reason to do so.
Charlotte never approached them for help, nor did Naomi and Becky get targeted by Natalya, Tamina and Carmella in order to force a unification to fight a common threat. Instead, Becky and Naomi simply inserted themselves into the conflict and told Charlotte that the three of them needed to bond, but has that really happened?
She still refers to herself as “the queen” and carries herself exactly as she did before. She’s gotten into arguments with her teammates about how they get in each other’s way and tries to show that nothing is her fault.
This stinks of a misdirect where Charlotte has not actually had a change of heart whatsoever, and she’ll either turn on her teammates during or after the match.
Either Charlotte is just as much of a heel as she’s always been and she’s simply using Naomi and Becky for backup protection, or WWE’s creative team and the performers themselves are doing a poor job illustrating that she is now supposed to be a fan favourite.
#2 How serious is WWE in pushing Jinder Mahal?
It speaks volumes when the biggest topic regarding your WWE Championship match is how nobody can believe you actually are the one who earned the title shot.
Ever since winning the No. 1 contender’s match, the talking points for Jinder Mahal seem to be how surprising it was that he won and that this came out of the blue with not a soul in the land ever thinking he could be a legitimate main event challenger.
Is that all just downplaying the situation so we are in store for a bigger shock when he wins the title, or is this merely a situation where WWE has no plans on pushing Mahal and wants to make that clear to the audience so we aren’t surprised when he fades back into obscurity after Backlash?
There has been some effort put into making him seem like a much more competent wrestler over the past few weeks—particularly in comparison to the past few years where he was nothing but enhancement talent. But there’s a distinct difference between how he’s being booked and how others are treated.
In comparison, there’s no question someone like AJ Styles is a bigger deal than Mahal. The same applies to Kevin Owens and even Baron Corbin, who is just wrestling Sami Zayn in a filler match.
Speculation has been rife, ranging from WWE only pushing Mahal to drive up interest in Indian markets to the possibility that he may actually be receiving a legitimately big upgrade in his career due to his persistence in improving his physique and proving his loyalty.
How much WWE is truly invested in Jinder Mahal will play a big factor into how he’s booked for the biggest match of his career, so we’ll have to wait and see if this is a one-shot deal or if he has staying power.
#3 What is going on with Rusev?
We have not seen Rusev on SmackDown since he was traded over in the Superstar Shake-Up and the longer this goes on, the more suspicious it gets.
At first, it seemed like a stall tactic just to get to the point where he was cleared to return to action from his injuries, but now it seems like there may be issues on a creative side as well.
So far, all that has happened is Rusev threatening that he wouldn’t show up until Shane McMahon granted him a WWE Championship match at Money in the Bank. That felt self-explanatory and it seemed as though it would lead up to this declaration being signed off on, where Rusev would start building momentum toward his match.
Then, he popped up a second time to specifically address things once more, only to not make the appearance he was outright said to do. Why would WWE bother having him cut a promo about how he’d speak again on the issue only to pull it from the show?
Did they operate on the principle of shooting first and asking questions later before realising they had no actual plan of what to do with him if he did appear on SmackDown? Was there a plan in place that they pulled because they decided to go in a different direction?
My best guess is that they didn’t realise it would be a mistake to have him officially declared the No. 1 contender until after Backlash, so they jumped the gun and then pulled his appearance, hoping to just wait an extra week.
With Rusev being granted a title opportunity, it would somewhat spoil the match between Randy Orton and Jinder Mahal, as nobody would anticipate Rusev facing Mahal rather than Orton, so in order to keep this event’s match more of a mystery, WWE probably held off on the announcement.
If Rusev doesn’t make an appearance on the May 23rd edition of SmackDown where at that point he should be named the next challenger for Randy Orton’s title, then even more questions will pop up about what the WWE Championship match at Money in the Bank will turn out to be.
#4 Where is Mojo Rawley?
There seems to be a curse with the winners of the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, as all four men who have the won the battle royale have suffered significant drops just a few weeks after WrestleMania.
Cesaro seemed poised to be a huge star but fizzled out quickly. The Big Show’s stock went back to normal soon after his win, and Baron Corbin struggled for months without a serious feud to sink his teeth in.
The same appears to be happening to Mojo Rawley, who hasn’t even been making appearances on SmackDown for the past few weeks, let alone being put in any kind of position to succeed.
Why bother giving the big win to someone you have no plans on actually pushing? If you do want to give him a push, whose bright idea was it to have him spend the next month doing promotional side projects rather than wrestling and winning matches?
He has absolutely no presence advertised for Backlash whatsoever—not even a senseless match on the pre-show.
While Rawley doesn’t have the largest fanbase on the roster, nor the tenure, or the skill, if you ask most people, the sheer fact that he was given such a big WrestleMania moment should dictate that he has at least a few solid weeks of being a noteworthy star.
This could have been the catalyst to put Rawley into the midcard as a legitimate United States Championship contender, but all of that momentum has been draining since he’s been absent from television.
What is WWE’s plan for Rawley and how could the creative team possibly think this is going to benefit him in the long run, rather than having some sort of program to be featured in for the pay-per-view?
It’s too early to call this as a guarantee, but at the moment, it seems like the future for Rawley isn’t quite as bright as it appeared to be just a few weeks back.
What questions do you have on your mind that you hope are answered this Sunday at Backlash? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below!
