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What's the story?
WWE continues to push forward and focus on their first show after the Greatest Royal Rumble later this month.
On Monday Night Raw, the company announced two matches for the Backlash pay-per-view - The Miz versus Seth Rollins for the Intercontinental Championship and Samoa Joe versus Roman Reigns.
In case you didn't know...
Backlash was expected to be the first pay-per-view after WrestleMania 34, but WWE formally announced their plans to broadcast the Greatest Royal Rumble event on the WWE Network, making the traditional post-Mania show the second show after WrestleMania.
The heart of the matter
Both matches stem from the events of WrestleMania where the former Shield members took center stage.
Rollins defeated Finn Bálor and The Miz to become the Intercontinental Champion for the first time - joining fellow Shield alumni Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns in the Grand Slam Champion club.
The next night on Raw, Rollins was offered a challenge by Bálor for a championship match, but the challenge was interrupted by The Miz who described his grief in his daughter and wife watching him lose the title at WrestleMania.
After some witty banter from Seth Rollins and a challenge to fight on Raw, The Miz informed Rollins that he would invoke his rematch clause at Backlash.
On the other side of things, Reigns wasn't successful at WrestleMania despite kicking out of five F-5s and was called out by a returning Samoa Joe for his failure to capture the Universal Championship at the big show like he said he would.
After rubbing salt in the wound, Joe revealed that he would be the one to face Reigns after he loses his rematch at the Greatest Royal Rumble.
What's next?
Backlash will take place on Sunday May 6 and will emanate from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
The last time WWE held a pay-per-view at the venue was for Extreme Rules 2016 - one of the best shows of the year.
Author's take
There are a lot of mixed opinions surfacing from WrestleMania 34, but WWE has a lot of good shows lined up.
Hopefully, they're as good as they look on paper.
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