WrestleMania Backlash 2021 Review

Sunday, May 16th, 2021
Yuengling Center
Tampa, Florida

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Batista narrates the intro here tonight, which is of course to promote a movie. I will say though, his voice does work well with these video packages. 

Triple Threat Match For The Raw Women's Championship

Charlotte Flair vs. Asuka vs. Rhea Ripley

Charlotte is wearing Cruella de Vil themed gear tonight, which is definitely a different look for her. This is my first time listening to Adnan Virk as the Raw announcer. I am a big fan of the GM Shuffle podcast that he co-hosts, so I may be a little bit easier on him. After a standoff, Rhea and Asuka team up on Charlotte and then go at it with one another. Charlotte hits Asuka with a suplex on the outside and then goes into confront Ripley. Ripley ends up dropkicking Charlotte out of the ring and then hits a kick on Asuka. Charlotte recovers and swipes her ankles as she was walking out of the ring. Ripley looks a little hesitant to me here. Charlotte is in annoying trash talk mode tonight and then hits a big kick to the face of Asuka. Asuka is able to lock in the arm bar on Charlotte, but Charlotte gets to the ropes. However, that shouldn't break the hold since there are no disqualifications. Ripley gets her little spot and gets a nearfall that is broken up by Asuka. Asuka makes her run and hits a series of German suplexes and a Hip Attack. Asuka hits a missile dropkick on Ripley and then a knee to the head. Charlotte knocks her off the apron and then stalls for way too long before "hitting" her moonsault to the floor. It's a phenomenal looking move, but no one ever wants to catch her on it. We get the obligatory tower of doom spot, which then turns into just a double superplex on Charlotte. We get frantic three way action and then Charlotte hits a double Natural Selection for a nearfall on both women at the same time. Both opponenents avoid her next moonsault attempt, but she lands on her feet. They knock her out of the ring and then Ripley and Asuka have some back and forth. Charlotte is back in and hits a big boot on Ripley and Asuka goes for the Asuka Lock on Charlotte. She escapes, but eats a superkick. Asuka hits a roundhouse kick on Ripley and then ducks a boot from Charlotte. Charlotte gets one on her anyways and Ripley hits Riptide for the victory on Asuka. This was pretty good, but felt a little off in the early going. 

Match Rating: ***

We see Lashley entering the arena earlier and then cut to a Miz and Morrison clip. They then show the Dirty Dawgs attacking Dominik Mysterio and they act as if he may not be wrestling tonight. 

SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match

Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode vs. Rey Mysterio (& Dominik Mysterio)

This is also my first time listening to Pat McAfee as the announcer. Mysterio is in serious mode here and he goes aggressive after both men. Just in case you didn't know it was 2-on-1, Michael Cole and McAfee have driven it home about 30 times. After his opening flurry, the advantage is too much as you would expect and the champs use multiple tags to take it to Mysterio. Mysterio tries to make a comeback, but Ziggler knocks him off the top rope and into the tree of woe. The champs are now working on the knee of Mysterio. Roode tosses Rey out of the ring on his stomach and Ziggler is there waiting for a superkick, which was a pretty sweet double team. Ziggler must be above the leg slap memo though. It's time for the Mysterio comeback, as he's able to buy himself some time by throwing Dolph into the ring post. Out comes Dominik holding the injured ribs. Rey finally sees him and wants him to not wrestle hurt. Roode distracts Rey and Ziggler hits the Zig Zag for a nearfall. Roode then hits Rey with a gutbuster and gets another 2 count. They battle up on the top rope and Rey hits a bulldog, leaving both men down. Dominik is finally in and unleashes on Roode. It doesn't last long, with Roode able to hit a big spinebuster. Dominik is able to hita superkick on Dolph and then tags in his father. He too has a short-lived comeback after Roode hits him with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Rey escapes a powerbomb and hits a 619 and then slides and hits a sunset flip powerbomb on Ziggler outside. Dominik hits a frog splash and we have new champions. This was a little bit more story based than I would have liked, but I enjoyed Ziggler and Roode as a team here. Rey is still one of the best there is and I hope they continue to put more focus on the tag team division.

Match Rating: ***1/2

John Morrison walks into the lumberjack locker room and there are a bunch of "zombies" in there. We then get a close up of Jimmy Uso's back as he walks into Roman Reigns' locker room. Jey is there and Jimmy goes off on him for carrying around Roman's bags. Roman walks in and off goes Jimmy. Back to Morrison informing Miz about the zombies. 

Lumberjack Match

Miz vs. Damian Priest

Out come the zombies and they corner Miz and Morrison. They even scare off the announcers. They get Miz into the ring and we have ourselves a match. This is some D movie quality stuff here. The camerawork here is making this almost unwatchable, with them constantly panning to the zombies. Miz is able to get the Figure Four on in the middle of the ring. Priest gets out and then both men go out of the ring and start brawling with the zombies. Back in the ring, Priest hits the Falcon Arrow for a 2 count. Out comes Morrison and he hits a cartwheel kick on Priest. Morrison then uses parkour to take out some zombies until two them drag him over the barricade. Priest then hits his finisher and gets the victory. He escapes the ring and the zombies feed on Miz. I love the Miz and like Priest, but this was just unwatchable. It had nothing to do with the performers, as this was just a terrible premise for a match. 

Match Rating: 0 stars

We get more Uso drama, which I continue to not be as high on as the entire internet.

SmackDown Women's Championship Match

Bayley vs. Bianca Belair

Both ladies start off showing off their skills and it seems as if they are both on here. After being dominated in the early going, Bayley grabs the earring of Bianca and buys herself an opening. Bayley hits a back suplex that Cole tries to convince us might be enough for the victory. Bayley heads up to the top rope, but Bianca knocks her down. Bayley is able to snap her neck on the rope but Belair then suplexes Bayley back in the ring. They roll out of the ring and Bayley suplexes her stomach first onto the top of the steel steps. She follows that up with a suplex to the floor. Bianca makes her fiery comeback and tosses Bayley around the ring. Bianca hits a spinebuster and gets the close call. Bayley is able to hit a top rope elbow, but it's not enough. Bayley is able to slam Bianca's face into the ring post, but misses with a suicide dive. Bianca drives Bayley into the apron and gets another nearfall. Bayley gets a backslide pin attempt and hangs onto the ropes, but Bianca still kicks out. Bayley hits a Bayley To Belly, but Bianca kicks out. Bayley grabs her hair again, but Bianca rolls her up with it and gets the awkward looking victory. That sure didn't look like a 3 count there. This was the opposite of the opening match, with the beginning being stronger than the finish. I had really high hopes for this one and I feel like they are capable of a stronger match. What we got was still good though. 

Match Rating: ***

MVP is backstage discussing Braun Strowman's lack of intelligence. 

Triple Threat Match For The WWE Championship

Drew McIntyre vs. Braun Strowman vs. Bobby Lashley

Not that I think they will be similar, but was it really necessary to have two triple threat matches on a six match card? We get some brawling as you would expect. Strowman does a rare aerial maneuver to take out both opponents and then gets a 2 count after a chokeslam on Lashley. McIntyre then comes off the top rope with a crossbody. Lashley then gets to show off his strength by throwing both men around. This is the best version of Lashley. Strowman destroys Lashley with the steel steps, but then McIntyre hits the Claymore Kick on Strowman and that sends him over the guardrail. Lashley and McIntyre move up to the ramp and Lashley hits a suplex. McIntyre then sends Lashley through the LED board by the stage with pyro to accompany it. Strowman then comes and attacks McIntyre and throws him down the ramp. Strowman mauls McIntyre with a running start and sends him into the ring. Strowman hits a running senton and almost gets the victory. This is one of the more spirited performances I can remember from Strowman. McIntyre then hits the Michinoku Driver on Strowman and he almost picks up the win, as Lashley is still out of the picture here. McIntyre hits an overhead suplex that looks like an almost scary landing for Braun. McIntyre goes for the Claymore Kick, but Braun catches him and powerbombs him through the table. This is significantly better than I was expecting. Back in the ring and McIntyre hits the Claymore Kick. In comes Lashley and he throws McIntyre out of the ring and hits the Spear on Strowman for the victory. God, WWE loves that finish, don't they? Ending aside, that was a really hard fought match from three large men. 

Match Rating: ***3/4

Universal Championship Match

Cesaro vs. Roman Reigns

I couldn't be happier for Cesaro here, but I really wish it was in front of a live crowd. Cesaro hits the springboard uppercut for the first notable move of the match. I know I am in the minority, but this Roman Reigns character just doesn't connect with me that much. After being dominated by Reigns, Cesaro counters the Superman punch with a pop up uppercut. Cesaro hits a leaping corkscrew over the top rope on Reigns and then hits a running uppercut into the barricade. Cesaro hits a top rope crossbody and gets a 2 count. Reigns hits a stiff looking boot to the face while holding the injured arm of Cesaro and then hits a running kick that drives Cesaro into the ring post. They are doing a nice job of giving Cesaro his small moments of hope while selling the arm injury and making Reigns look strong. Cesaro loses it and attacks Reigns in the corner. He then hits the superplex for a 2 count. I felt like Roman could have kicked out a little closer to 3 there. Cesaro goes for the springboard uppercut again, but this time Reigns hits him with a Superman punch. That was fantastic. Reigns locks in the Guillotine, but Cesaro powers out and then puts in the Sharpshooter. Cesaro turns it around and puts him in the Crossface. Reigns powers out and hits a sit down powerbomb for a 2 count. After some battling from Cesaro, Reigns locks in the Guillotine and retains his championship. That was a hard fought main event and a really strong showing from Cesaro. After the match, Jey Uso comes out and superkicks Cesaro. He continues the attack and then out comes Seth Rollins. He smiles at Reigns and then he takes his turn at attacking Cesaro. Is there not one person who can help Cesaro? He slams his arm into the ring post and then hits the Stomp to the floor. Even as someone who doesn't watch the weekly programming, it's pretty clear which show has the better storytelling on it. 

Match Rating: ***1/2

If you are able to just pretend the zombie thing didn't happen, this was a very enjoyable show. A couple of the matches had the potential to be a little bit better, but everything felt pretty important for a non-major show. This one was an easy thumbs up.

Overall Rating: 78%