Backlash 2007 Review

Sunday, April 29th, 2007
Philips Arena
Atlanta, Georgia

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World Tag Team Championship Match
The Hardys vs. Lance Cade & Trevor Murdoch

This is definitely a true test to see how over the Hardys are here, as the challengers have no heat whatsoever. Jeff hits a Whisper In The Wind and then hits a dive off Matt's back and to the floor on both opponents. Cade is able to shift the momentum by yanking Jeff's legs from under him when he's attempting a springboard move from the bottom rope. JR and Lawler are really trying to sell Cade and Murdoch as legit contenders, but they have just been booked as such goofs for so long, that it's hard to take that seriously. They isolate Jeff and work on his back for the heat segment. They do a nice job of cutting off the tag to Matt every time that Jeff finds an opening. The Hardy's are able to outsmart the challengers, with Jeff hitting a Swanton behind the referee's back while he was trying to break up the brawl outside. Matt rolls in and picks up the victory to retain the titles. That was a better opener than I had remembered. I don't think anyone bought the Hardy's losing, but they are so over that it didn't really hurt the match. 

Match Rating: ***

Shane McMahon is backstage hyping up Umaga. Vince then comes in wearing a durag and tells Shane that he will become ECW Champion tonight. Shane likes it at first, but then decides it should be Vince because Lashley shaved his head. 

WWE Women's Championship Match
Melina vs. Mickie James

I think we all know that this should have been the women's match at WrestleMania. We get some standard opening wrestling stuff until Melina fakes to have something in her eye and attacks Mickie. It doesn't last long and Mickie hits a monkey flip. Mickie tries climbing to the top rope, but Melina shoves her off and to the floor. These ladies are delivering the goods here and actually getting some time and the crowd is reacting to it as a result. What a shock. The finish comes when Melina rakes Mickie's eyes and hits an inverted DDT. They really should have gotten another minute or two to get a better finish there. This was a nice little match that showcased both ladies. 

Match Rating: **1/2

Maria is backstage with Edge. She asks Edge how he won his first WWE Championship and Edge recaps his brilliant first title victory. He then asks who told her to ask him that and she points to Mr. Kennedy right behind him. He figures that whoever wins the grueling match tonight will be pretty tired, planting the seed for a possible cash in tonight. 

United States Championship Match
MVP vs. Chris Benoit

These two had a very uneventful match at WrestleMania, so there is room for improvement here. Benoit gets an early Sharpshooter attempt in, but MVP is able to get out of it. MVP comes back and hits a boot to the back of Benoit's head. The crowd gets in a quick "Power Ranger" chant going. Benoit mounts a mini comeback, but MVP is able to drop Benoit's neck on the top rope. He hits another big boot, but goes for a second one and Benoit ducks it to hit 5 German suplexes. He goes up top for the diving headbutt, but MVP gets his knees up. He puts on a half crab, with Benoit selling it pretty hard. He's eventually able to grab the bottom rope. He battles out of a vertical suplex and Benoit rolls him up for the victory. Another completely uneventful match between these two. 

Match Rating: **1/4

Todd Grisham is with John Cena. Randy Orton interrupts and tries talking Cena into working together, which leads to gay jokes. Yes, seriously. Ron Simmons is there to capture the moment. 

Handicap Match For The ECW Championship
Shane McMahon, Vince McMahon & Umaga vs. Bobby Lashley

Lashley comes out swinging and mostly dominates the early portion of the match. The numbers game catches up when Shane pulls down the top rope when he is running the ropes, allowing Umaga to throw Lashley into the steps. They work on his arm and slow the pace way down. Vince has still not been in the match, instead letting Umaga and Shane do all the work. The crowd continues to be behind Lashley more than I had remembered. Lashley makes his comeback and hits a running powerslam on Shane, but Vince finally comes in to break up the pin attempt. Lashley gets him up for the running powerslam, but Umaga stops him. Shane then hits Lashley with the ECW Championship to the face behind the referee's back. Vince begs to be tagged in and goes straight for the pin, but Lashley kicks out. Lashley rolls him up and almost pulls it off, but Shane breaks it up. Umaga tags in and hits a splash from the top rope and Vince tags in again. Once again, Lashley is able to kick out and in comes Umaga again. He hits another top rope splash and in comes Vince again. This time it's enough and Vince is your new ECW Champion. If you needed a reminder, he is trash. This match was pretty bad and the company does what they always do. Whenever something is struggling, they inject the McMahons. No thanks.

Match Rating: 3/4*

Last Man Standing Match For The World Heavyweight Championship
Batista vs. Undertaker

Batista runs right into a big boot to start and Taker is moving a little quicker than usual. The match spills quickly to the outside and Taker hits the guillotine leg drop. Batista is able to reverse Taker into the steel steps and then throws him back in the ring. He goes up top, but takes too much time and Taker meets him there. Taker hits a superplex and we get our first count of the match. Back outside we go and Taker rams the steps into the face of Batista. Taker lies a bloodied Batista on the announce table. He climbs up on the barricade and hits a leg drop through the table. Batista is up at 9 and gets some boos. Back in the ring they go and Batista hits 3 spinebusters after a spear. After Taker beats the count, Taker counters out of a Batista Bomb attempt and hits him with a chokeslam. Taker hits some right hands while standing on the second rope, but Batista counters that into a Batista Bomb. Batista hits Taker with a chair and goes for another Batista Bomb. Taker counters that into a back body drop onto the chair. Taker hits a Tombstone, but Batista beats the count again. They make their way up to the entrance stage. Taker gets Batista up on his shoulder, but then Batista escapes and hits Taker with a spear that sends them off the stage and through a production box on the side. This knocks over towers and sets off pyro in typical WWE fashion. This leads to a double 10 count and a non-finish, which the crowd naturally hates. This was a good match, but it seemed to be missing something that their WrestleMania match had. 

Match Rating: ***1/2

We then get a weird cut to Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler. I wonder what they cut out? The AT&T mobile vote thinks that John Cena is going to retain the title tonight. 

Fatal 4-Way For The WWE Championship
Shawn Michaels vs. Edge vs. Randy Orton vs. John Cena

The crowd is very much into this match before they even get going. The first big spot of the match is Michaels hitting a top rope moonsault to the floor on all three competitors. He throws Edge back into the ring and they hit a double clothesline. Orton comes in after Cena and takes advantage of the situation. Cena launches himself, but Orton moves out of the way and Cena hits the ring post. Rated RKO reunites and takes out Cena and goes to work on Michaels. They put Michaels in a double half crab, which puts question as to who would be the champion if he taps. Michaels tries to go for the bottom rope, but I'm not sure what that would do in this type of match. Before we can find out the answer to both of those questions, Cena comes in and hits a double blockbuster. This leads to him hitting a 5 Knuckle Shuffle on Edge. Michaels and Orton then grab Cena out of the ring. We get some chair shots outside of the ring. That leads us to Cena putting on the STFU on Edge in the ring. Edge grabs the bottom rope and Cena breaks the hold, even though he doesn't have to. Cena then puts the STFU on Orton, but this time Michaels breaks it up and rolls him up for a 2 count. Michaels hits the flying forearm on Cena and dumps Edge and Orton out of the ring. Michaels hits a top rope elbow drop on Cena and wants to tune up the band. Edge and Orton interrupt that and it leads to Cena going for a super FU and Orton and Edge turning that into a tower of doom spot. We get a chaotic spot with Cena going for a FU, Michaels going for Sweet Chin Music, but Orton hits a RKO on Michaels. More chaos ensues and it leads to Edge spearing Orton and Cena hitting a FU on Ege. Michaels hits Sweet Chin Music on Cena and he falls on Orton and picks up the victory in an extremely entertaining match. Minus the logic flaw with the rope break, this was fantastic stuff. 

Match Rating: ****1/4

This was a good show, but not quite as strong as I remember it being. The McMahon match was significantly worse than I remember it and the US Championship match disappointed. The Hardys put in a strong showing and the SmackDown main event was solid. This is a thumbs up, just not the overwhelming one I remember it being.

Overall Rating: 76%