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WWE WrestleMania Backlash is shaping up to be a very solid card, but what likely would have been the most intriguing match of the night will no longer be taking place.
WWE Smackdown Tag Team Champions The Usos were all set to take on RAW titleholders RK-Bro in what could have been an excellent battle. All that was left to make it official was the contract signing this week.
For a while, it appeared The Worldwide Leader in Sports Entertainment was on the road to marrying all of its crowns together and perhaps even disassembling the barriers between brands. That was good news for traditional fans, who supported the one-title concept.
Roman Reigns took the first step at WrestleMania 38 when he defeated WWE Champion Brock Lesnar to essentially merge the top two singles titles into the Undisputed Universal Championship.
So it only seemed logical that Roman's cousins, The Usos, would follow the lead of The Tribal Chief and go after the RAW titles. And for a while there, it seemed as if that's what we were going to get. Two great teams with everything on the line at the next premium live event.
That was before this week's episode of WWE Smackdown threw a monkey wrench into the original plans
After attacking RK-Bro and refusing to sign the contracts for the match, The Usos' council Paul Heyman told Adam Pearce that he wanted the bout to be a six-man encounter. Drew McIntyre will team up with RK-Bro to face the full might of The Bloodline.
This essentially kills the unification match. At least, that's how it appears for now.
Pearce could add later that the winning team will take the gold, no matter who gets pinned. But that's just a hokey way around this whole muddled mess.
Or the match could be switched back, with Reigns and McIntyre having a singles bout instead for the Universal championship, thus leaving the two teams to return to their original plans.
Either way, this was a confusing and complicated step in the process of getting all of these performers involved just two weeks before the show. There are likely to be a few more twists and turns along the way. That's just how WWE seems to book its shows these days, with a lot of last minute changes and fickle re-writes.
This match should have remained as The Usos vs. RK-Bro, and the two teams should have gone at it for all the gold. Why management made the decision to mess with the original concept and deny the fans this match-up is beyond comprehension.
The match of the night was there, and they couldn't leave well enough alone. As it stands, we will get a watered-down version of what could have been.
Why do you think WWE changed the match at WrestleMania Backlash? Will the unification stipulation still somehow be worked into the six-man match at the premium event? Please share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.
