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WWE presented a solid pay-per-view at WrestleMania Backlash. We only saw one title change hands as Rey and Dominik Mysterio defeated The Dirty Dawgs to win the SmackDown Tag Team Championships. In the process, the Mysterios made history by becoming the first father-son duo to win tag team titles in WWE.
Rhea Ripley and Bianca Belair defended their respective Women’s Championships at WrestleMania Backlash. They did well to add more credibility to the claims about them being the future of the women’s division. Barring a couple of ridiculous segments, the show was nearly perfect. While there were no bad matches per se, the creative dropped the ball halfway through the show after making a risky decision.
In this article, we will take a look at WWE Superstars who flopped at WrestleMania Backlash and those who didn’t.
#1 Impressed at WrestleMania Backlash: Roman Reigns
The main event of WrestleMania Backlash saw Roman Reigns successfully defend his Universal Championship against Cesaro. It was an action-packed bout with the promotion’s most coveted prize on the line. Contrary to his usual practice, Reigns refused to use external help in order to defend his title this time. He eventually won the match all on his own after a dominant performance which proved why he is hailed as the face of the company.
Both superstars worked well in carrying the narration throughout this match. Reigns looked overconfident in the beginning, but his body language changed as the title match progressed at WrestleMania Backlash. He also took a lot of punishment during the match that helped in adding more credibility to his championship defense.
A couple of spots stood out during the Universal Championship match at WrestleMania Backlash. His Superman Punch on the counter took Cesaro out of action for some time. It also made that move look much more devastating than it usually appears. The best part about Reigns' victory is still the fact that he did it all by himself.
It was surprising to see Roman Reigns stop Jey Uso from accompanying him to the ringside. After his clean victory over Daniel Bryan on SmackDown, The Tribal Chief was confident about comfortably taking care of his next challenger. Even though his win didn't come with ease, Reigns' successful title defense added a lot to his credibility as a dominant Universal Champion.
#1 Flopped at WrestleMania Backlash: The Miz
At WrestleMania Backlash, The Miz faced Damian Priest in a singles Match. The two superstars engaged in an extended feud on WWE RAW in the weeks leading up to the pay-per-view. This storyline was seemingly put to rest after Priest defeated The Miz in the Lumberjack match. Most importantly, this match also featured zombies, and we will discuss those details towards the end of the article.
For now, let’s move our focus to The Miz and Priest. We have seen them face each other on RAW multiple times, and their in-ring encounter at WrestleMania Backlash was hardly different. As has always been the case in this storyline, The A-Lister got arrogant, and then he was beaten by Priest. It was an extremely underwhelming encounter and certainly the weakest match of the night.
The Miz is an entertaining superstar, and he makes the most of whatever is given to him. The blame really lies with the creative, who often undermine his qualities with overtly exaggerated angles. Hopefully, that will change after WrestleMania Backlash. The only positive outcome of this match would be its impact on Priest’s push on WWE RAW, and hopefully, he will be involved in interesting storylines going forward.
#2 Impressed at WrestleMania Backlash: Cesaro
At WrestleMania Backlash, WWE Superstar Cesaro got his first-ever chance to challenge for the world title. Fans have always supported his push and truly wanted the creative to invest in his momentum while building up to his title match against Roman Reigns. It would be fair to say that he delivered beyond expectations when the opportunity presented itself at the recently concluded pay-per-view.
Reigns refused to see Cesaro as a 'deserving' challenger for most of the feud. The Swiss Cyborg deserves a lot of credit for hitting back with a memorable performance that forced the Universal Champion to change his opinion. Cesaro was determined not to give up and fought resiliently during his title match at WrestleMania Backlash.
He also took many risks inside the squared circle that eventually helped him gain the upper hand. Cesaro came close to beating Reigns on multiple occasions, but the champion managed to fight back. Unfortunately, he fell victim to Reigns' brutal submission maneuver and passed out at WrestleMania Backlash. After the match, both Jey Uso and Seth Rollins attacked Cesaro and subjected him to a brutal beatdown.
This match did more than enough to convincingly establish Cesaro as a big threat in the world title picture. WWE should refrain from pushing him back into the midcard. During his recent run as a babyface, he has done well and has proved that he can deliver commendable feuds with some of the biggest heels on SmackDown after WrestleMania Backlash.
#2 Flopped at WrestleMania Backlash: John Morrison (vs. the zombies)
WrestleMania Backlash featured zombies, and it was the single worst thing that has happened to them since they became a mainstream subject in entertainment. John Morrison first discovered them in the locker room. They replaced the WWE Superstars during the Lumberjack match and walked around the smoke-filled ringside like White Walkers but with regular clothes from the WWE Shop.
To give you some context, these zombies were sent by Batista, who wanted to promote his movie ‘Army of the Dead’. Even he didn’t know that they would end up being a part of the match at WrestleMania Backlash. Morrison’s attempts to fight the zombies were pretty hilarious and equally sad at the same time. To say that he deserves to be booked in better segments would be an understatement.
The best part was watching the reasonable zombies patiently waiting for the superstars to leave the ring in order to attack them. The match was between The Miz and Priest, but it must have been the creators of the uber-successful series 'The Walking Dead' who endured the actual pain during WrestleMania Backlash. Morison could have done so much more to help The Miz in this match. Instead, he was busy being booked like the first guy who dies in horror movies.
Following the match, the zombies entered the ring and ‘devoured’ The Miz and Morrison. The segment was quite bizarre and left the viewers with several questions.
Could this be a way to keep them off television after WrestleMania Backlash? Will they move on to better storylines on WWE RAW after the pay-per-view? And most importantly, are The Miz and Morrison going to make a diss track on zombies as well? Stay tuned to find out.
#3 Impressed at WrestleMania Backlash: Drew McIntyre
One of the best matches at WrestleMania Backlash featured three talented superstars from RAW battling it out for the WWE Championship. In the end, Bobby Lashley successfully defended his title against Drew McIntyre and Braun Strowman in a triple-threat match. However, it was McIntyre who came across as the best performer throughout this title bout.
He was brilliant with his story-telling inside the ring, from delivering brutal blows to making subtle adjustments to the match. He strategically avoided making mistakes that had allowed Lashley and Strowman to dominate him in the past. At one point in this WrestleMania Backlash match, McIntyre drove Lashley through the LED screens near the entrance.
He then turned his attention towards Strowman, and both superstars went right after each other’s throats. McIntyre then managed to deliver a perfectly executed Claymore that caused The Monster Amon Men to hit the mat with a ring-shattering thud. Unfortunately, he couldn’t capitalize on the same as Lashley entered the ring from behind and threw McIntyre to the ringside. He then pinned Strowman for the win at WrestleMania Backlash.
McIntyre’s chemistry with Strowman was brilliant, and they can undoubtedly deliver an entertaining feud on WWE RAW. Despite losing at WrestleMania Backlash, both these superstars proved that they would continue to pose a big threat to Lashley’s title reign. More than anything, it showed us that McIntyre doesn’t get nearly enough credit for the amount of work he does to make title feuds entertaining on WWE RAW.
