Backlash 2023 Review

Saturday, May 6th, 2023
Coliseo de Puerto Rico Jose Miguel Agrelot
San Juan, Puerto Rico

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Raw Women's Championship Match
Bianca Belair vs. Iyo Sky

As expected, we have a very hot crowd tonight. They do the whole let's trade athletic moves and the crowd will eat it up thing to start. The crowd is overwhelmingly behind Iyo, which is kind of weird. Iyo is able to counter Bianca with a roll through and then hits a big stomp. Michael Cole informs me that both women will be on SmackDown now, which makes sense for the Raw Women's Champion to move. Iyo goes for a headscissors, but Bianca stops her and hits a backbreaker out of it. Bianca does a one-handed press slam, which was pretty impressive until Iyo almost fell really awkwardly on her face. Bianca follows it up with the handspring moonsault for a nearfall. I should probably note that the reason that she used one arm is because it was being worked on by Iyo. Iyo hits a big missile dropkick and the momentum carries Bianca out of the ring. Bianca shoves Iyo off the top rope and goes for a 450 splash, but Iyo gets her knees up. Iyo slaps on the Crossface, but Bianca rolls out and goes for a powerbomb, but Iyo counters into a X Factor for a 2 count. After a series of counters, Bianca is outside the ring again. She tries to drag her out of the ring, but Iyo kicks her away. Bianca tries a handstand, but Iyo counters it and sends her to the floor. Iyo then hits a moonsault to the floor. Unlike Charlotte's, that one actually made contact with Bianca. They battle up on the top rope and it leads to Bianca hitting a super powerbomb, but Iyo kicks out. Yeah, that should have just been the finish. Out comes Bayley and Dakota Kai. Iyo starts grabbing Bianca by the hair, but she hits her with a right forearm. She has her up on her shoulders, but Iyo rolls her up for another 2 count. Bianca gets pulled in the ring and this allows Kai to hit a kick on Bianca. Sky goes up top, but misses with the moonsault. Bianca gets her up and hits the KOD for the victory. This was very much a John Cena in 2006 type of match. They had a good match overall, but there were some flow issues for me that held this back from being more.

Match Rating: ***1/2

Rey Mysterio is back with Bad Bunny and in walks Savio Vega. He hands him a kendo stick with the Puerto Rican flag on it. 

Michael Cole and Corey Graves go over the updated rosters. Who ended up on ECW, though?

Omos vs. Seth Rollins

Omos hits Rollins with his big boot while Rollins is listening to the crowd sing his entrance music. Omos hits a big shoulder tackle with a very nice bump by Rollins. Omos then shoves Rollins over the top rope. Rollins is able to counter and shove Omos into a ring post. Rollins hits a suicide dive with almost no impact. He goes for another one, but this time Omos catches him and drops him on the apron. We're getting lots of boots and lifting in this one. Rollins hits a knee off the springboard and stars to kick out the legs of Omos. He hits a dropkick that gets him down to one knee and follows up with a superkick. Seth sets him up for a Pedigree while he's on his knees, but Omos hits a back body drop. Rollins slams Omos's face into the ring post and hits a tornado DDT. Rollins hits a Frog Splash, but Omos kicks out at 1. Rollins hits a blow to the back of the head from the second rope. He goes for the Stomp, but Omos blocks it with his strength. Omos hits a chokeslam and Rollins kicks out. Rollins is able to hit a Stomp and kicks MVP off the apron. He hits a second stomp and Omos kicks out at 2 this time. Rollins goes up to the top rope and hits a super Stomp and that's enough to finally put Omos away. This was as good as it was going to be. Omos is just so limited that it's nearly impossible for him to do much more than this.

Match Rating: *3/4

Triple Threat Match For The United States Championship
Bobby Lashley vs. Bronson Reed vs. Austin Theory

Lashley hits a clothesline on Reed that forces Theory into a DDT. Lashley hits a delayed vertical suplex on Theory, but misses a clothesline and gets tripped up and squashed by Reed. Reed and Theory work together for about 6 seconds when Reed runs Theory over. Lashley bounces back and knocks Reed down and hits a slam on Theory. Lashley hits a Spear on Theory, but gets dragged out by Reed. Reed hits a superkick and then hits a Vader Bomb from the outside of the ropes to Lashley on the floor. I can say that I have never seen that before. Reed rolls Lashley back in the ring and climbs the ropes. Theory shakes the rope to knock him down. Lashley slaps on the Hurt Lock. Theory uses the ropes to turn it into a pin. Lashley releases the hold and gets splashed by Reed on the top rope, but Theory is able to break up the pin. Theory hits a Blockbuster and then gets Reed up on his back for a moment, but Reed hits a powerslam on him. Reed goes for a moonsault, but Theory moves out of the way. Lashley hits the Spear on Reed and Theory dumps Lashley out of the ring. Theory pins Reed before Lashley can get back in to retain his title. This was good action, but way too short to achieve what it could have been.

Match Rating: **1/2

SmackDown Women's Championship Match
Rhea Ripley vs. Zelina Vega

We get a little bit of a cat and mouse start until Ripley catches Vega and hits a powerbomb. I should note that Zelina is getting the hometown treatment here and is crazy over with the crowd. Zelina gets the usual shoulder in the post in on Rhea and the hits a series of clotheslines, but can't knock her down. Ripley counters the last one with a headbutt, but when she goes for Rip Tide, Zelina turns it into a DDT. She hits a 619 and then goes to the second rope. She shimmies her shoulders and then hits a Meteora for a 2 count. Ripley then kind of hits Rip Tide out of nowhere and that's all. Zelina deserved this moment, but the match itself was more of a middle of an episode type of SmackDown match.

Match Rating: *1/2

San Juan Street Fight
Damian Priest vs. Bad Bunny

The reaction for Bad Bunny is pretty insane. Priest messes with Bunny a little bit, but Bunny is able to sneak in a Michinoku Driver in for a 2 count. Priest goes back to messing around with Bunny, insulting him in front of his fans. Priest hits South Of Heaven and picks him up before the ref counts 3. Priest then goes and grabs an ax handle, but then decides to just throw it out of the ring. Bunny is out of the ring and chucks a chair at the face of Priest. Bunny grabs a kendo stick and starts whacking him with it, but Priest shoves him away. Bunny comes back with a tornado DDT and clotheslines him out of the ring. Bunny then hits a crossbody off the top rope. He hits him with some garbage can lids and then hits a Broken Arrow for a 2. Priest decides to head to the back, but Bunny chases after him. He baited him into it and Bunny eats a trash can to the face as a result. They start brawling in the crowd and get on top of some crates in the production area. Priest hits a Broken Arrow off them and through a table. Priest picks him up and carries him on his shoulder back to the ring. Priest misses with a kick and hits the ring post. Bunny comes in and hits him with a kendo stick and then works on his knee. Bunny then hits his knee with a chair and wants to go for more. Priest is able to sucker him in and kicks him in the face. Priest goes for a chair shot, but Bunny hits a low blow. Out comes Judgment Day and they attack Bunny. Out comes Rey Mysterio to try and make the save. He gets attacked and then out comes Carlito to a monster pop. He hits a Backstabber on Fin Balor and takes a bite out of his apple. In comes Dominik, but it ends with him getting hit by a 619. Carlito then spits the apple in his face and Judgment Day heads to the back. Now Savio Vega is out and he then calls out the LWO. Vega hits a big kick on Balor and then takes care of Dominik. I would have preferred that Kwang came out instead. Back in the ring, Priest goes for a kick, but his leg gives out. Bunny then slaps on the Figure Four. Priest teases tapping, but is able to get out. He misses with a charge in the corner and hits his face in a chair. Bunny then hits Sliced Bread #2 for a 2 count. He attacks Priest with a chair multiple times and then hits a Canadian Destroyer for the victory. The match was pretty good and the crowd was incredible. Rey, Savio, Carlito and the LWO come out to celebrate. 

Match Rating: ***

Usos & Solo Sikoa vs. Matt Riddle, Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn

The first notable spot is Solo tagging himself into the match and there being a little bit of tension between the team. They do then isolate Zayn in their corner, but this one is off to a slow start. Jey grabs Owens off the apron and slams him into the steps. Sami is able to hit a tornado DDT and tags in Riddle. Riddle has a really nice hot tag segment that ends with him hitting a springboard reverse corkscrew somersault (maybe?) on all 3. when he goes back in the ring, he eats a superkick from Jimmy. Jimmy goes up top and Riddle meets him there for a suplex. Owens is climbing his way back up the steps and hits a Swanton. The Usos try a blind tag, but Owens is ahead of them and moves out of the way for the superkick and they hit each other. Owens hits a Pop Up Powerbomb for a nearfall. Owens goes for a Swanton, but the knees are up. We now have a battle between KO and Jey and it ends with a big clothesline from Owens. Zayn and Jimmy are tagged in and Sami hits the Blue Thunder Bomb. Sami climbs up top, but Jimmy hits him with some kicks to the head. Sami goes off the top and gets hit by a double superkick, but kicks out. I'm not sure why that you wouldn't have them break that one up. I think a double superkick seems like a pretty reasonable way to lose. Jey goes off on Sami and verbally berates him. He's starting to set something up and Solo tags himself in. Jey then decides to tag himself back in and we have some more tension. Sami charges with a Helluva Kick, but Jey ducks and he hits Solo. Sami hits the exploder into the corner and a Helluva Kick, but the pin is broken up. The match breaks down adn we get the spot where everyone hits big moves. Solo almost hits Jey with a Samoan Spike and then thinks about still doing it after he realizes who it is. Riddle comes back in and hits Bro Derek, but Solo is the legal man. He comes in from behind and hits the Samoan Spike on Riddle for the victory. This one took a little bit to get going, but it ended up being a nice match. 

Match Rating: ***1/2

Cody Rhodes vs. Brock Lesnar

Cody attacks Brock with a suicide dive before Lesnar gets into the ring. Cody hits him with some steel steps and this is all before the bell rings. They are in the ring and the match is underway. Cody hits a couple of Disaster Kicks, but Lesnar catches him for a suplex on the third attempt. Now it's time for Suplex City. As Lesnar keeps hitting suplexes, Cody rips off a turnbuckle. After getting destroyed some more, Cody trips up Lesnar into the exposed steel and Lesnar is bleeding. Cody hits a Cody Cutter and a Disaster Kick. He hits another Cody Cutter after smearing Brock's blood on his stomach. Cody hits Cross Rhodes, picks him up and hits another one, but Brock kicks out. Cody goes for another Cross Rhodes, but Brock picks him up and hits the F5. Cody now kicks out. Brock puts in the Kimura, but Cody is able to turn it into a pin attempt and steals the victory. This was pretty good, but didn't ever really get to that main event gear.

Match Rating: ***

This was a good show overall, with a lot of the credit going to the crowd. They were incredible with the turd known as New Year's Revolution and this time WWE gave them something better to cheer about. This was very much a B show card, but the action was mostly good, even if there weren't a lot of storyline advancements. 

Overall Rating: 73%