Wrestle Review: The Backlash Submitted by Andy Sullivan on 05/15/2021 at 11:47 AM
#RIP New Jack
As I predicted, Cody Rhodes announced Anthony Agogo as his Double Or Nothing opponent. I am underwhelmed. Maybe the match will be better than I expect. Maybe Cody is trying to make this guy a big star by making an announcement and making Anthony look good at the pay-per-view. We'll see. The jury is still out for me.
Miro defeated Darby Allin to win the TNT championship Wednesday night. I'm surprised, actually. For awhile, all signs were pointing to AEW treating Miro like WWE treated him as Rusev ie a joke or afterthought. I mean, the dude was in a feud with Best Friends and Orange Cassidy over an arcade game! Obviously he will be defending the title at Double Or Nothing. My guess is Lance Archer will be the challenger. Or maybe I just want them to push Lance Archer in the title picture.
Reports re that Zelina Vega is back in WWE. I texted that to a friend and he replied "smh". To be fair, he takes a dump on most things WWE does. He once said he doesn't hate WWE, just the decisions made". Okay then.
Before I get to my Backlash quick hits, there's one more thing that struck me. Jimmy Uso saying to Roman Reigns that "you may be part of the family but you ain't all of it" leaves several options as to what comes next. Most likely, we see Jimmy vs Jey at some point. Jimmy beats Jey to get a crack at Roman and then, maybe a rehash of the Jey/Roman feud with Jimmy in Jey's spot. Now to Backlash!
Damien Priest vs Miz in a lumberjack match will likely kick off the show. I think Miz gets his win back from WrestleMania.
For the first time that I'm aware, a father-son team will go after tag team championships as Rey and Dominic Mysterio will attempt to wrest the gold from Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode. I think it'd be a good story to give Rey his(probably) last championship in WWE and Dominic his first. I don't believe that will happen, though. Roode and Ziggler win.
I knew the night after WrestleMania that Asuke/Rhea/Charlotte would be the next title match. And lo and behold, WWE has put their golden child back in the championship race. And I wouldn't be surprised if she won it. I'd be more surprised if she didn't.
Bianca Belair must defeat Beyley. It's Bianca's first title defense. It would be foolish to have her lose it just a month after winning it. Bianca retains.
Roman Reigns will retain against Cesaro. The fact that this is Cesaro's first shot at a World Championship is crazy. But he's not winning this. The match will be good, of course. Will we get a glimpse into who is next for Roman? My guess is another loss or two for Cesaro until they elevate someone. Maybe another few months of Reigns beating Cesaro.
The main event will see Lashley defend the WWE Championship in a triple threat against former champion Drew McIntyre and former Universal Champion Braun Stroman. I don's think we're done with Bobby Lashley as champion. At least I hope not. I see Lashley defending the championship at SummerSlam, meaning he retains in this match.
There you have it: my Backlash predictions and a few other key pieces from the week. If you're watching, enjoy the show. Enjoy the upcoming week of wrestling!
