Here are my final thoughts on Raw and SmackDown’s WrestleMania Backlash 2021!
Sheamus (c) vs. Ricochet (WWE United States Championship)
Reactions: HEY, IT’S RICOCHET! Seeing him pop up on PPV (in a title match, no less) was a nice change of pace. This was a solid piece of work. Sheamus got to look like the destroyer he’s always been, while Ricochet got to break out some of his best high-flying maneuvers. Watching Sheamus brutalize his smaller foe by tearing at his mouth was pretty painful to watch, plus Ricochet’s springboard offense made this a bit better than expected. This was decent, but it could have been even better with some more time added onto it. Watching Ricochet succumb to a running knee felt a bit flat in my eyes (Ricochet can sure sell the hell out of a Brogue Kick!). But the post-match shenanigans alludes to this going down again, so at least there’s that. Ricochet lost some points for me with that dab, though…
Rating: 2 & a Half out of 5 Stars
Rhea Ripley (c) vs. Asuka vs. Charlotte Flair (Triple Threat Match for the WWE Raw Women’s Championship)
Reactions: Ay, shout out to Charlotte Flair for going full Cruella de Vil with the new gear she threw on for this match. Round of applause on that one. As far as Triple Threat Matches usually go, this one was par for the course. All three women didn’t really do anything all that different from what I usually see from matches of this sort. The action was thankfully crisp and lacked any noticeable botches, but none of it was all that inspiring or pushed me to care all that much until the final few minutes.
I perked up once all three women went to war trying to land their respective finishers near the end, though. This was good, but a lack of innovative exchanges and the ho-hum offense littered throughout it kept it from ascending to a higher level of quality. Based on the ending, we’re clearly getting a one-on-one title match between Rhea Ripley and Charlotte in the near future. I loved their WrestleMania 36 encounter, so count me in for that one.
Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars
The Dirty Dawgs (Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode) (c) vs. Rey Mysterio & Dominik Mysterio (WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship)
Reactions: I’m not one for Handicap Matches. They tend to follow a trite formula where the hero gets demolished for an extended amount of time, then that individual makes a shocking comeback at some point to gain the advantage. And usually, everything moves at a slow pace and isn’t all that much fun to watch. But you know what? With Rey Mysterio, Dolph Ziggler, and Robert Roode in tow for the first half of this match, we got ourselves one of the best Handicap Matches of all time (which isn’t saying much considering what we’ve gotten before).
Rey’s scrappy comebacks and The Dirty Dawgs’ cool tandem offense made this one way more watchable than it had any right to be. The drama got built up perfectly and led right into a hot tag sequence that added a whole lot to the second half of this matchup. The near falls for this one actually had me on the edge of my seat, too! This one got a lot of time to fully develop into something worthwhile and it was strengthened by the pre-match events that put the Mysterios’ chances of winning in jeopardy. This was pretty good and we got a title change to boot. So yeah, this was much better than expected.
Rating: 3 & a Half out of 5 Stars
Damian Priest vs. The Miz (with John Morrison) (Lumberjack Match)
Reactions: Fam…WWE really went full cornball mode by doing a cross-promotion with Batista’s new Netflix series by featuring shambling zombies as the Lumberjacks! Good lord, this was cringy. Watching The Miz and John Morrison have to play up their fear for all those paid actors on the outside was so lame bruh. WWE really couldn’t throw actual “living” members of the roster from Raw into this one? We just had to ham it up and throw the walking dead into this whole affair, huh? Sigh…this was prime WrestleCrap. Can we please get Damian Priest away from The Miz & Morrison now? Please and thanks.
Rating: 1 out of 5 Stars
Bianca Belair (c) vs. Bayley (WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship)
Reactions:
Rating: out of 5 Stars
Roman Reigns (c) (with Paul Heyman and The Usos) vs. Cesaro (WWE Universal Championship)
Reactions:
Rating: out of 5 Stars
Bobby Lashley (c) (with MVP) vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Braun Strowman (Triple Threat Match for the WWE Championship)
Reactions:
Rating: out of 5 Stars
Match of the Night
Final Verdict
Final Score: out of 5 Stars
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