The pre-show featured Ruby Riott gaining victory over Bayley. Lots of weird spots, mostly from Bayley. Not sure if she took a stinger early on which threw her off, but the match looked downright sloppy.
The show-opener featured a 30-minute wrestling clinic which saw Seth Rollins retain the Intercontinental Championship against The Miz. They blew the roof off the Prudential Center. Constant back-and-forth, neither one retaining the upper hand for too long. A wonderful series of submission spots saw everyone come out with bad knees, and two kickouts from Skull Crushing Finales sent the live crowd into a frenzy. The closing moments saw an insane exchange ending with the Curb Stomp.
Universal what now?
Nia Jax retains the WWE Raw Women’s Championship against Alexa Bliss
This turned out to be a 10-minute PSA for WWE’s Be A Star program. Match itself was decent, most of Bliss’ offense came when Jax made an in-ring mistake or missed a move. Bliss then capitalized and hit some decent strikes. In the end, Jax wins and reinforces the “be who you are… be a superstar” anti-bullying statements made at WrestleMania.
Which is cool, but it’s a bit hard to realistically see Bliss continue to contend for the championship as long as Jax has it.
A backstage promo features Samoa Joe talk about how Roman Regins lost his focus and his resolve, which explains the losing streak. Promos like this make me worry Joe is going to lose tonight.
Jeff Hardy retains the United States Championship over Randy Orton
Wow. I didn’t expect a clean win. Decent match, I thought Orton might have won, because it looked like he wasn’t sleepwalking through it. Good for Jeff to get a big win tonight. No after-match attacks or anything. Interesting.
Ladies and Gentlemen… Elias.
This turned out to be one of the best segments of the night. Riling up the crowd to the point of confusion, the live Jersey audience isn’t sure what to cheer or boo for anymore. They decide to leave Elias in heel mode. Smart as he is interrupted by The New Day. An attempt at an orchestra fails, and Elias demands the spotlight…
…Ladies and Gentlemen, Elias.Â
Is interrupted by Aiden English who introduces Rusev Day! Fantastic. Elias brushes it off and attempts once more…
…Ladies and Gentlemen, Elias.Â
Is immediately interrupted by No Way Jose and the Conga Line. Fantastic. At this point Elias has lost his mind. He tries one last time…
…Ladies and Gentlemen…. GLORIOUS!
Elias eats a Glorious-T. Bobby Roode is back and cues up the conga line, dancing his way. Along the line we get Titus Worldwide, Breezango, and I’m shocked Titus didn’t fall and kill everyone. I would have thought the brain trust behind WWE would have made Titus into some sort of tripping moron.
Daniel Bryan defeats Big Cass
Not a long match, but still a good showing for two returning stars. Cass looked alright, nothing new or worthwhile mentioning. WWE has faith in him. Bryan looked spot on awesome, taking some sick bumps and delivering some great match moments.
Disappointed when the crowd chanted “We Want Enzo…”
Carmella retains the WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship over Charlotte Flair
I wasn’t surprised at the result. Much like the Jax/Bliss match, Carmella took over when Charlotte made a mistake or left herself open. To Carmella’s credit, she has some good moves in there and Charlotte sold them all. The end of the match was a bit abrupt, but makes sense to keep Carmella and Charlotte protected.
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. AJ Styles, WWE Championship match, goes to a No Contest
As a reminder, this is billed as a No Disqualification match. Now, I thought this means, no count outs, outside, or inside the ring as well. Turns out, there are 10 counts in the ring too.
The match was great, I think better than WrestleMania. A sick chair spot, and a number of big impact moves brought the crowd to their feet. Nakamura embracing the heel character so well. While the low blows were expected, the conclusion of a double-punt-to-the-nuts was a major disappointment. I think it’s beyond absurd now.
Fine, Nakamura is a crazy whack job now so he punches people in the groin. Wonderful. But you might as well turn on some SFX because the nuts shots are getting ridiculous at this point.
Braun Strowman & Bobby Lashley defeat Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn
The result was never in question. It was more of how it would happen. Owens and Zayn wind up turning on each other, and the giants steamroll over them. Geez.
Roman Reigns wins because he has to win
He beat Samoa Joe. I would have been pleasantly surprised if they let Joe win. It would have been great. But, we go overtime, 11:28pm finish. The promos leading up to this match all focused on how Reigns can’t win big matches and been on a losing streak. So, setting up a feud against Joe gives Reigns the “big win” the announcers said he needed. This was a slow, plodding match. I can’t believe how bad it was. Crowd chants of Rusev Day, CM Punk, This is Boring, This Match Sucks, and the best chant outta New Jersey… “Beat the traffic!” Chants were more entertaining then the match. Hey WWE, I don’t think Roman Reigns is going to work out. The Prudential Center is surrounded by highways after all.
The segment with Elias and the match between Rollins and Miz were the highlights of the night. Styles vs. Nakamura was a runner-up, but the finish killed it for me.
WWE Backlash 2018 gets a 5 out of 10.
