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Backlash (2023)

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Backlash
Promotional poster featuring Cody Rhodes and Brock Lesnar
PromotionWWE
Brand(s)Raw
SmackDown
DateMay 6, 2023
CitySan Juan, Puerto Rico
VenueColiseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot
Attendance17,944[1]
WWE Network event chronology
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WrestleMania 39 		Next →
Night of Champions
Backlash chronology
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2022 		Next →
—

The 2023 Backlash is the ongoing 18th Backlash professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It is being held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. The event takes place on Saturday, May 6, 2023, at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot in San Juan, Puerto Rico. This is the first WWE event held in Puerto Rico since New Year's Revolution in January 2005, and the second Backlash event held outside the continental United States since the 2004 event. After the previous two years were titled "WrestleMania Backlash", the 2023 event reverted to its original name while still maintaining its post-WrestleMania concept, with the 2023 event based around the backlash from WrestleMania 39.

Puerto Rico native and Grammy Award winning rapper Bad Bunny is featured at the event. He was originally promoted to be the host of Backlash, but it was later announced that Bad Bunny would compete in a San Juan Street Fight against Damian Priest, who is also of Puerto Rican descent. Bad Bunny did, however, host the Backlash press conference that was held on Friday, May 5 at 12 p.m. Eastern Time.

Production

Background

The event is set to be held at Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Backlash is a recurring professional wrestling event that was established by WWE in 1999.[2] It was held annually from 1999 to 2009, but was then discontinued until it was reinstated in 2016 and has been held every year since, except in 2019. The original concept of the event was based around the backlash from WWE's flagship event, WrestleMania. The events between 2016 and 2020 did not carry this theme; however, the 2021 event returned to this original concept and the event series was in turn rebranded as "WrestleMania Backlash". With the announcement of the 2023 event, the event reverted to its original name of Backlash while still maintaining its post-WrestleMania theme.[3]

Announced on March 8, 2023, the 18th Backlash will feature the backlash from WrestleMania 39. It is scheduled to take place on Saturday, May 6, 2023, at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot in San Juan, Puerto Rico, marking the first WWE event to be held in Puerto Rico since New Year's Revolution in January 2005, which was also at the same venue, and the second event overall to be held in the territory. The event will feature wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brand divisions, and it will air on pay-per-view (PPV) worldwide and will be available to livestream on Peacock in the United States and the WWE Network in most international markets.[4] It will also be the first Backlash to livestream on Binge in Australia after the Australian version of the WWE Network merged under Foxtel's streaming service Binge in January.[5] It was also announced that the May 5 episode of Friday Night SmackDown would air live from the same venue. Tickets for both events went on sale on March 21.[6]

It was initially announced that Grammy Award winning Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny would serve as the host of Backlash. He had previously performed his song, "Booker T", at the 2021 Royal Rumble, wrestled in a couple of matches, and also won the now-defunct WWE 24/7 Championship.[4] However, it was later revealed that Bad Bunny would instead wrestle in a featured match at the event.[7] Bad Bunny also hosted the Backlash press conference that was held on Friday, May 5 at 12 p.m. Eastern Time.[8]

Storylines

The event will include matches that result from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portray heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that build tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results are predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands,[9][10] while storylines are produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.[11]

On Night 1 of WrestleMania 39, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn defeated The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) to win the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship.[12] On the following episode of SmackDown, Kevin Owens was attacked backstage by Solo Sikoa, and later that night, Jey defeated Sami Zayn after interference from Sikoa. Afterwards, Jey and Sikoa attacked Zayn further until Matt Riddle made the save[13]—Riddle was injured by Sikoa back in December (kayfabe)[14] and had returned on that week's Raw.[15] The following week, Owens and Zayn's promo was interrupted by The Usos and Sikoa. Afterwards, a brawl broke out and Riddle got involved with the trio of Owens, Zayn, and Riddle standing tall.[16] On April 17, a six-man tag team match pitting The Bloodline (The Usos and Sikoa) against Riddle, Zayn, and Owens was scheduled for Backlash.[17]

In the main event of Night 2 of WrestleMania 39, Roman Reigns defeated Cody Rhodes to retain the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship after interference from Paul Heyman and Solo Sikoa.[18] On the following Raw, Rhodes challenged Reigns to a rematch, but Reigns declined. Rhodes then challenged Reigns and Sikoa to a tag team match, which Reigns accepted on two conditions: Rhodes' partner was someone who competed at WrestleMania 39, and that person could not challenge Reigns for his titles as long as Reigns was champion. Brock Lesnar answered, with the latter stipulation not applying to him due to the stipulation of his match with Reigns at the 2022 SummerSlam. However, the match never occurred due to Lesnar viciously assaulting Rhodes before the match could begin.[15] It was later reported that Lesnar was mad due to his position on the WrestleMania card, as his match had opened Night 2 instead of being in a main event slot. Rhodes addressed the attack on the following Raw and challenged Lesnar to a match at Backlash.[19] The following week, Rhodes appeared ready to fight despite not being medically cleared to compete. To keep Rhodes from fighting Lesnar that night, WWE official Adam Pearce made the match for Backlash official.[20]

In mid-March, Legado Del Fantasma (Santos Escobar, Cruz Del Toro, Joaquin Wilde, and Zelina Vega) began helping Rey Mysterio in his feud with The Judgment Day (Finn Bálor, Damian Priest, Dominik Mysterio, and Rhea Ripley).[21] This partnership eventually resulted in Rey reforming the Latino World Order (LWO) with Legado del Fantasma.[22] On the April 14 episode of SmackDown, during a match between Escobar and Priest, Ripley tried to interfere only to be stopped by Vega.[16] On the next episode, Vega asked WWE official Adam Pearce for a match against Ripley for the SmackDown Women's Championship at Backlash. She made this request not only because of the ongoing feud between their respective stables, but also because Vega is the only female roster member of Puerto Rican descent and she wanted to represent that at Backlash due to the event being held in Puerto Rico. The match was later confirmed.[23]

At WrestleMania SmackDown on March 31, Bobby Lashley won the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal by last eliminating Bronson Reed.[22] The two then entered a feud that led to a match on the April 10 episode of Raw, which ended in a double countout.[19] The following week, Lashley faced United States Champion Austin Theory in a non-title match, which ended in a no contest after Reed interfered.[20] On April 21, it was announced that Theory would defend his title against Lashley and Reed in a triple threat match at Backlash.[23]

On April 21, it was announced that Seth "Freakin" Rollins would be facing Omos at Backlash, despite the two never having any conflict to have a match.[23] Three days later on Raw, Omos' manager MVP explained that he was the one who arranged the match, opining that because Rollins was one of the greatest wrestlers in WWE history, a win over Rollins would be huge for Omos' career. Rollins stated that he was not afraid of Omos and would give him the greatest match of his career.[24]

On the April 10 episode of Raw, Iyo Sky won a triple threat match to become the number one contender for Bianca Belair's Raw Women's Championship.[19] On April 24, the match was confirmed for Backlash.[25]

During Rey Mysterio's match against his son Dominik at WrestleMania 39, Dominik's Judgment Day stablemate Damian Priest attempted to interfere while Bad Bunny, who was a guest commentator and was previously friends with Priest, prevented Dominik from cheating to win.[12] On the following Raw, Priest attacked Bad Bunny, who was seated at front row, and slammed him through an announce table.[15] On the April 24 episode, Bad Bunny returned and announced that although he was originally to be the host of Backlash, he would instead be facing Priest in a San Juan Street Fight at the event.[24]

Event

Other on-screen personnel
Role: Name:
English commentators Michael Cole
Corey Graves
Spanish commentators Marcelo Rodriguez
Jerry Soto
Ring announcers Samantha Irvin (Raw)
Mike Rome (SmackDown)
Referees Jason Ayers
Jessika Carr
Pre-show panel Jackie Redmond
Peter Rosenberg
Matt Camp

Preliminary matches

Main event

Results

No.Matches*StipulationsTimes[1]
1Bianca Belair (c) defeated Iyo Sky by pinfallSingles match for the WWE Raw Women's Championship[26]18:00
2Seth "Freakin" Rollins defeated Omos (with MVP) by pinfallSingles match[27]10:30
3Austin Theory (c) defeated Bobby Lashley and Bronson Reed by pinfallTriple threat match for the WWE United States Championship[28]6:51
4Rhea Ripley (c) vs. Zelina VegaSingles match for the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship[29]—
5Matt Riddle, Kevin Owens, and Sami Zayn vs. The Bloodline (Solo Sikoa, Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso)Six-man tag team match[30]—
6Bad Bunny vs. Damian PriestSan Juan Street Fight[31]—
7Cody Rhodes vs. Brock LesnarSingles match[32]—
(c) – the champion(s) heading into the match
*Card subject to change

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Powell, Jason (May 6, 2023). "WWE Backlash results: Powell's live review of Brock Lesnar vs. Cody Rhodes, Bad Bunny vs. Damian Priest in a Street Fight, Rhea Ripley vs. Zelina Vega for the Smackdown Women's Title, Bianca Belair vs. Iyo Sky for the Raw Women's Title, Austin Theory vs. Bobby Lashley vs. Bronson Reed in a Triple Threat for the U.S. Title". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved May 6, 2023.
  2. ^ "WWE Backlash". The History of WWE. Archived from the original on February 6, 2010. Retrieved August 23, 2009.
  3. ^ Lambert, Jeremy (April 11, 2021). "WWE Announces WrestleMania Backlash For May". Fightful. Archived from the original on April 12, 2021. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  4. ^ a b Russell, Skylar (March 8, 2023). "WWE Bringing Backlash Premium Live Event To Puerto Rico In May; Bad Bunny To Host". Fightful. Archived from the original on March 8, 2023. Retrieved March 8, 2023.
  5. ^ Sim, Josh (September 28, 2022). "WWE Network lands on exclusively Foxtel's Binge streaming service in Australia". SportsPro. Archived from the original on November 3, 2022. Retrieved September 29, 2022.
  6. ^ Russell, Skylar (March 16, 2023). "WWE SmackDown On May 5 Set To Take Place In San Juan, Puerto Rico". Fightful. Archived from the original on March 16, 2023. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
  7. ^ Raimondi, Marc (April 25, 2023). "Bad Bunny to face Damian Priest in Street Fight at WWE Backlash". ESPN. Retrieved April 27, 2023.
  8. ^ Harris, Jeffrey (April 29, 2023). "Various News: Bad Bunny Hosting WWE Backlash Press Conference, Last Night's SmackDown in Three Minutes, This Week's Impact Wrestling Video Highlights". 411Mania. Retrieved May 2, 2023.
  9. ^ Grabianowski, Ed (January 13, 2006). "How Pro Wrestling Works". HowStuffWorks. Discovery Communications. Archived from the original on November 29, 2013. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
  10. ^ "Live & Televised Entertainment". WWE. Archived from the original on February 18, 2009. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
  11. ^ Steinberg, Brian (May 25, 2016). "WWE's 'Smackdown' Will Move To Live Broadcast On USA (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Archived from the original on May 26, 2016. Retrieved May 25, 2016.
  12. ^ a b Powell, Jason (April 1, 2023). "WrestleMania 39 results: Powell's live review of night one with Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso vs. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Titles, Charlotte Flair vs. Rhea Ripley for the Smackdown Women's Title, Austin Theory vs. John Cena for the U.S. Title, Rey Mysterio vs. Dominik Mysterio, Seth Rollins vs. Logan Paul". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Archived from the original on April 2, 2023. Retrieved April 1, 2023.
  13. ^ Powell, Jason (April 7, 2023). "4/7 WWE Friday Night Smackdown results: Powell's review of Sami Zayn vs. Jey Uso, Rey Mysterio and Santos Escobar vs. Dominik Mysterio and Damian Priest, Imperium vs. Sheamus, Ridge Holland, and Butch, Rhea Ripley and Triple H appearances". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Archived from the original on April 8, 2023. Retrieved April 8, 2023.
  14. ^ Powell, Jason (December 5, 2022). "12/5 WWE Raw results: Powell's live review of Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso vs. Matt Riddle and Kevin Owens for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Titles, Becky Lynch vs. Nikki Cross vs. Alexa Bliss in a Triple Threat qualifier, Asuka vs. Bayley vs. Rhea Ripley in a Triple Threat qualifier, JBL hosts a poker tournament". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Archived from the original on February 2, 2023. Retrieved April 18, 2023.
  15. ^ a b c Powell, Jason (April 3, 2023). "4/3 WWE Raw results: Powell's live review of the Raw after WrestleMania 39". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Archived from the original on April 4, 2023. Retrieved April 4, 2023.
  16. ^ a b Powell, Jason (April 14, 2023). "4/14 WWE Friday Night Smackdown results: Powell's review Shinsuke Nakamura's return, Santos Escobar vs. Damian Priest, LA Knight vs. Xavier Woods, Raquel Rodriguez and Liv Morgan celebrate their WWE Women's Tag Team Title win". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Archived from the original on April 17, 2023. Retrieved April 18, 2023.
  17. ^ Tessier, Colin (April 17, 2023). "Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, And Matt Riddle To Face The Bloodline In Six-Man Tag At WWE Backlash". Fightful. Archived from the original on April 18, 2023. Retrieved April 17, 2023.
  18. ^ Powell, Jason (April 2, 2023). "WrestleMania 39 results: Powell's live review of night two with Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship, Bianca Belair vs. Asuka for the Raw Women's Title, Gunther vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Sheamus for the Intercontinental Title, Edge vs. Finn Balor in Hell in a Cell, Brock Lesnar vs. Omos". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Archived from the original on April 9, 2023. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
  19. ^ a b c Powell, Jason (April 10, 2023). "4/10 WWE Raw results: Powell's live review of the fallout from Brock Lesnar attacking Cody Rhodes, Becky Lynch and Trish Stratus vs. Raquel Rodriguez and Liv Morgan for the WWE Women's Tag Team Titles, Solo Sikoa vs. Kevin Owens, Bobby Lashley vs. Bronson Reed, The Usos vs. Alpha Academy". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Archived from the original on April 11, 2023. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
  20. ^ a b Powell, Jason (April 17, 2023). "4/17 WWE Raw results: Powell's live review of Brock Lesnar's first appearance since attacking Cody Rhodes, U.S. Champion Austin Theory vs. Bobby Lashley in a non-title match, Trish Stratus explaining her attack on Becky Lynch, Seth Rollins vs. The Miz". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Archived from the original on April 18, 2023. Retrieved April 18, 2023.
  21. ^ Powell, Jason (March 10, 2023). "3/10 WWE Friday Night Smackdown results: Powell's review of Jey Uso's return and the reaction of Roman Reigns, Drew McIntyre vs. Sheamus vs. LA Knight vs. Karrion Kross vs. Xavier Woods for an Intercontinental Title shot at WrestleMania 39, The Viking Raiders vs. Braun Strowman and Ricochet, Legado Del Fantasma vs. Judgment Day". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Archived from the original on March 14, 2023. Retrieved March 11, 2023. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; March 11, 2023 suggested (help)
  22. ^ a b Barnett, Jake (March 31, 2023). "3/31 WWE Friday Night Smackdown results: Barnett's review of the final Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes confrontation before WrestleMania 39, the Andre the Giant memorial battle royal, Drew McIntyre and Sheamus vs. Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci, Raquel Rodriguez vs. Natalya vs. Shayna Baszler vs. Sonya Deville in a four-way". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Archived from the original on April 1, 2023. Retrieved April 1, 2023.
  23. ^ a b c Barnett, Jake (April 21, 2023). "4/21 WWE Friday Night Smackdown results: Barnett's review of Gunther vs. Xavier Woods for the Intercontinental Title, Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez vs. Sonya Deville and Chelsea Green for the WWE Women's Tag Titles, The Viking Raiders vs. Braun Strowman and Ricochet, Matt Riddle vs. Solo Sikoa in a No DQ match". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Archived from the original on April 22, 2023. Retrieved April 21, 2023.
  24. ^ a b Powell, Jason (April 24, 2023). "4/24 WWE Raw results: Powell's live review of Triple H's big announcement, Bad Bunny's return to WWE, Rey Mysterio vs. Damian Priest, the ongoing build to WWE Backlash". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Archived from the original on April 25, 2023. Retrieved April 24, 2023.
  25. ^ Lambert, Jeremy (April 24, 2023). "Bianca Belair To Defend WWE Raw Women's Title Against Iyo Sky At WWE Backlash". Fightful. Archived from the original on April 24, 2023. Retrieved April 24, 2023.
  26. ^ WWE.com Staff (April 24, 2023). "Raw Women's Champion Bianca Belair def. IYO SKY". WWE. Retrieved April 24, 2023.
  27. ^ Miller, Gregory (April 21, 2023). "Seth "Freakin" Rollins defeated Omos". WWE. Retrieved April 21, 2023.
  28. ^ WWE.com Staff (April 21, 2023). "United States Champion Austin Theory vs. Bobby Lashley vs. Bronson Reed". WWE. Retrieved April 21, 2023.
  29. ^ WWE.com Staff (April 21, 2023). "SmackDown Women's Champion Rhea Ripley vs. Zelina Vega". WWE. Retrieved April 21, 2023.
  30. ^ WWE.com Staff (April 17, 2023). "Matt Riddle and Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn vs. The Bloodline". WWE. Retrieved April 17, 2023.
  31. ^ WWE.com Staff (April 24, 2023). "Bad Bunny vs. Damian Priest (San Juan Street Fight)". WWE. Retrieved April 25, 2023.
  32. ^ Miller, Gregory (April 17, 2023). "Cody Rhodes vs. Brock Lesnar". WWE. Retrieved April 17, 2023.
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