BRM Reviews WWE Backlash 2017

[Big Red Machine]

WWE Backlash 2017 (5/21/2017)- Chicago, IL

KICK-OFF SHOW:
Yeah… so I only turned this on at about 7:50. I know that I missed the Tye Dillinger vs. Aiden English match, but I have no intention of going back to watch it because absolutely nothing has been done to make me give a sh*t about either one of those guys. What I did tune in in time to see, unfortunately, was Erick Rowan wander onto the screen and act extremely strangely. He is apparently wrestling Luke Harper tonight. Didn’t that feud end months ago when the Wyatts stopped caring about Harper? Or after Bray got moved to Raw when Rowan just stopped appearing on TV?

MAIN SHOW:

DOLPH ZIGGLER vs. SHINSUKE NAKAMURA- 8/10
The purpose of this match was to show what Nakamura could do and they definitely did that here. Nakamura got shined up and was given spots to let his unique personality show through, then Dolph cut him off and worked over Nakamura’s head before Nakamura made his comeback, got his sh*t in, and won. A perfect introduction for those who don’t get the hype around Shinsuke.

FASHION FILES- are they really showing a F*CKING RE-RUN OF A F*CKING COMEDY SKIT ON A PPV?!
No. It’s just part of one. Because that definitely makes it not a waste of time.

WWE SMACKDOWN TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: The Usos(c) vs. Tyler Breeze & Fandango- DUD!
Breeze is in the same janitor’s guise from the skit. And apparently he’s going to wrestle dressed like that. In a title match.
The referee is just letting Breeze hold that mop while standing standing on the apron. Now he’s IN THE RING WITH THE MOP. Still noting from the referee. He just stuck it in Jimmy Uso’s face. Shouldn’t that be a DQ? Fortunately, Jimmy laid Breeze out and then snapped the mop in half. I popped huge, but the idiots in the crowd booed because they didn’t come to see wrestling, they came to see the comedy show… which just makes me wonder why they spend their money on wrestling tickets instead of going to The Second City.
Breeze did more comedy. Then he tagged out. Now he’s back in a dress and an old woman’s wig. He’s stil got a weapon: a cane this time. Still nothing from the referee. JBL pretending to have no idea who this is. Then he said that “the Fabulous Moolah is back from the dead,” which is exactly the sort of classy comment we’ve come to expect out of JBL. If Lance Storm had any hair left on his head I’m sure he’s pulled it out by now, watching one of his students act like a clown in a title match on PPV while the crowd eats it all up.
The sad part is that there were some very good sequences in here and Breeze took a sick bump onto the barricade towards the end, but the fact remains that a title match was turned into a joke (with JBL playing along only making it worse), and the only emotions I felt were anger at the fact that it looked like the clowns were going to win the tag titles and relief when they didn’t. I’m pretty sure that’s not the reaction that WWE was going for.

BARON CORBIN vs. SAMI ZAYN- 7.75/10
An excellent rendition “big mean scary heel vs. underdog babyface” story, with some convincing false finishes and an extremely unexpected happy ending.

PLUG FOR ROCKET LEAGUE- fine. They’re a sponsor of the PPV and WWE took the opportunity to merge the plug with a plug for Woods’ YouTube channel… but can we please not have babyfaces and heels hanging out together?

JINDER MAHAL PROMO- fine. I appreciated that he tried to merge the “found my inner peace” pre-push Jinder and the current heel Jinder together.

BECKY LYNCH, CHARLOTTE FLAIR, & NAOMI vs. NATALYA, TAMINA, & CARMELLA (w/James Ellsworth)- 6.5/10
Ellsworth introduce Carmella via a fun, short heel promo. The match itself started off not feeling like much but got pretty decent by the end.

WWE UNITED STATES TITLE MATCH: Kevin Owens(c) vs. AJ Styles- 8.25/10
An awesome match with a very disappointing finish- and one that looked extremely dangerous at that. Basically what happened was that Owens spent the whole match working over AJ’s leg. AJ had gone to give Owens the Styles Clash on the announcers’ table but Owens tripped him up and his leg fell through the hole where one of the monitors had been removed from and he couldn’t get back to the ring in time to beat the count-out. I had originally written that this was a “bad” finish but the truth is that it’s a good finish done in the wrong place. This is the sort of finish you do on TV to set up a Falls Count Anywhere rematch on the PPV, not the sort of finish you do one the PPV itself.
Owens superkicked the helpless AJ after the match just because.

ERICK ROWAN vs. LUKE HARPER- 6.25/10
What the f*ck? They’re showing clips from Talking Smack and Erick Rowan is talking? Since when can he do that?
They had a fun hoss-fight, but I just couldn’t bring myself to care about who won. Harper wound up picking up the clean win. At this point I don’t understand why they even keep Rowan on the roster. He’s basically the Jolly Green(-Garbed) Giant Jobber.

WWE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Randy Orton(c) vs. Jinder Mahal (w/the Singh Brothers)- 6.25/10
Orton jumped Jinder for no reason and beat him up before the match. Once the referee separated them, Jinder bravely volunteered to fight on, not wanting to give up this once and a lifetime opportunity. Jinder is supposed to be the heel. You might not be surprised to learn that the previously pro-Orton crowd soon became split 50-50.
Randy worked Jinder’s back while Jinder worked Randy’s arm. Randy managed to hit an RKO out of nowhere which Jinder didn’t take well at all. The Singh brothers pulled Jinder out of the ring before Randy could pin him. Randy beat the Singh brothers up a lot instead of going after Jinder after he had disposed of both Singhs. Randy was about to give the Singh’s a double rope-hung DDT but Jinder snuck into the ring behind Randy, hit him with the Khallas and pinned him… a finish which was completely identical to the go-home angle they did on Smackdown. Jinder has yet to win a match cleanly during his push and is claiming the fans are racist when they’re not so he’s clearly a heel… but then why did Randy spend most of this match acting like a heel?

On Talking Smack Renee Young and Peter Rosenberg are having a very odd reaction to all of this: they’re treating this like it’s some sort of big babyface underdog victory and yet they’re talking about how the crowd is “devastated” by it.

Going into this match I think most people had very low expectations. I know I did, figuring that only the US Title match and Dolph vs. Nakamura were going to be worth watching and I was certainly wrong, as Corbin vs. Zayn definitely over-delivered (thanks to Sami’s carry-job) and the women’s tag wound up better than it looked like it was going to be early on, but the two biggest questions going into this show were “will WWE pull the trigger on Jinder” and “will Jinder be able to deliver at a main event level” and the answers to those questions were “yes” and “no” respectively, the absolute worst possible combination. I hate to say it, but it’s pretty clear that Jinder is only in the position he is in because he’s the only Indian on the roster and WWE is looking to open up that market (which makes his kayfabe claims of discrimination quite ironic). On an episode of Between The Sheets Dave Prazak was asked for his opinion as a booker on the push of DDP and how much of it had to do with him being pals with Hall, Nash, and especially Bischoff. Prazak’s response (as best I remember it) was that whatever the reason for the push, Page had worked hard and gotten over before it happened and went on to deliver to the level he was pushed to, so there should be no real reason for anyone to be resentful. Jinder is, unfortunately, the counterpoint to that. There is no nice way to say this, but he just simply doesn’t deserve his spot and is only getting it for extremely transparent reasons, and in a company that has spent so much time trying to shove Roman Reigns down our throats and took so long to push Daniel Bryan (after years of trying to quash him) I can’t see this getting a good reaction. It might help them in India, (assuming that the new Indian fanbase they create doesn’t get on the internet and/or talk with the already smarky by definition because they’d have to be on the internet community of Indian pro wrestling fans who tell them exactly why this has happened) but as the likes of Sami Zayn, American Alpha, Apollo Crews, Luke Harper, and others are left to flounder in favor of Jinder, it could create quite the backlash everywhere else.


STUPID ANNOUNCER QUOTES:
1. Tom Phillips noted that Rowan and Harper were former NXT tag champs together but said that they have “both evolved since then.”
How, exactly? They got new gear? They’re both the same exact characters they were back then, even without Bray bossing them around.

2. JBL, after Jinder won the title- “What does this mean for the WWE?!”
That there is a new champion? Why should this title change be any different?

[KILLdozer]

I told y'all he'd win! Extremely disgusted but I still knew they'd be just crazy to do it.

[cero2k]

well...now Jinder Mahal has something in common with Hogan, Austin, Buddy Rogers, Sammartino, Punk, Rock, Taker, and many other legends.

[Serujuunin]

Harper was actually really good tonight in my opinion. He did a lot of stuff a guy his size just shouldn't be able to do, and on top of that, it looks like he's been working really hard to get in better shape- he looks leaner than he did the last time I saw him.

I might just be a fan of his, where before I straight up didn't pay attention because the Wyatt Family left such a bad taste in my mouth.

Nakamura v Ziggler and Styles v Owens were awesome, which totally made up for the lame matches on the rest of the card for me. I'm glad that Nakamura and Ziggler got a decent amount of time to actually have a good match- I was expecting that they were going to get the Ziggler treatment and get no time at all.

[Big Red Machine]

Harper was actually really good tonight in my opinion. He did a lot of stuff a guy his size just shouldn't be able to do, and on top of that, it looks like he's been working really hard to get in better shape- he looks leaner than he did the last time I saw him.

That might just be the change to the black shirt instead of the white one.

I might just be a fan of his, where before I straight up didn't pay attention because the Wyatt Family left such a bad taste in my mouth.

I guess I just can't get over the fact that they already tried this and they went nowhere with it. I'd be much more excited if this was their first go-around.

Nakamura v Ziggler and Styles v Owens were awesome, which totally made up for the lame matches on the rest of the card for me. I'm glad that Nakamura and Ziggler got a decent amount of time to actually have a good match- I was expecting that they were going to get the Ziggler treatment and get no time at all.

I think they're definitely behind Nakamura. Dolph will go back to being treated like crap once Nakamura is done with him... which is one of those things that just makes me shake my head because they clearly chose Dolph for this spot because they knew he could have a great match with Nakamura, so they obviously know he can be great if given the time, so why don't they ever otherwise given him the time?

[KILLdozer]

Harper was actually really good tonight in my opinion. He did a lot of stuff a guy his size just shouldn't be able to do, and on top of that, it looks like he's been working really hard to get in better shape- he looks leaner than he did the last time I saw him.

That might just be the change to the black shirt instead of the white one.

I might just be a fan of his, where before I straight up didn't pay attention because the Wyatt Family left such a bad taste in my mouth.

I guess I just can't get over the fact that they already tried this and they went nowhere with it. I'd be much more excited if this was their first go-around.

Nakamura v Ziggler and Styles v Owens were awesome, which totally made up for the lame matches on the rest of the card for me. I'm glad that Nakamura and Ziggler got a decent amount of time to actually have a good match- I was expecting that they were going to get the Ziggler treatment and get no time at all.

I think they're definitely behind Nakamura. Dolph will go back to being treated like crap once Nakamura is done with him... which is one of those things that just makes me shake my head because they clearly chose Dolph for this spot because they knew he could have a great match with Nakamura, so they obviously know he can be great if given the time, so why don't they ever otherwise given him the time?

Don't even try to open that Dolph Ziggler discussion. Been there a million times before lol.

[Big Red Machine]

Nakamura v Ziggler and Styles v Owens were awesome, which totally made up for the lame matches on the rest of the card for me. I'm glad that Nakamura and Ziggler got a decent amount of time to actually have a good match- I was expecting that they were going to get the Ziggler treatment and get no time at all.

I think they're definitely behind Nakamura. Dolph will go back to being treated like crap once Nakamura is done with him... which is one of those things that just makes me shake my head because they clearly chose Dolph for this spot because they knew he could have a great match with Nakamura, so they obviously know he can be great if given the time, so why don't they ever otherwise given him the time?

Don't even try to open that Dolph Ziggler discussion. Been there a million times before lol.

It's a new wrinkle, though. Before when they would do this sort of stuff with Dolph they were sticking him with guys they didn't care about at the moment (Crews/Kalisto.arguably Ambrose) or guys who they didn't care if they had great matches or not (Miz). This time they specifically chose Dolph because he would have an awesome match with Nakamura. It makes you wonder why they don't push him more so that he can be used as a sort of gate-keeper to elevate guys to the next level and occasionally as a jobber to the top-level stars type of role where they can stick him in there against AJ or Owens or Randy for a one-month world title program when they just need an excellent title match. It's like they know he has value but just plain don't care until they need him. He's exactly the sort of guy you could use for a title program to hold you over while you build up a guy like Jinder before giving him the mega-push so it doesn't feel out of nowhere.

[KILLdozer]

Jinder Mahal is the new champion! Ah-ahahahaha!

[Serujuunin]

Don't even try to open that Dolph Ziggler discussion. Been there a million times before lol.

It's a new wrinkle, though. Before when they would do this sort of stuff with Dolph they were sticking him with guys they didn't care about at the moment (Crews/Kalisto.arguably Ambrose) or guys who they didn't care if they had great matches or not (Miz). This time they specifically chose Dolph because he would have an awesome match with Nakamura. It makes you wonder why they don't push him more so that he can be used as a sort of gate-keeper to elevate guys to the next level and occasionally as a jobber to the top-level stars type of role where they can stick him in there against AJ or Owens or Randy for a one-month world title program when they just need an excellent title match. It's like they know he has value but just plain don't care until they need him. He's exactly the sort of guy you could use for a title program to hold you over while you build up a guy like Jinder before giving him the mega-push so it doesn't feel out of nowhere.

I completly agree with you, and it makes me sad.

And he's a really nice guy too!

[KILLdozer]

I don't even know what it is anymore. Oh yeah, he just can't talk for anything these days.

[KILLdozer]

Sure he can go like nobody's business, but it's also the in between time that counts. Nobody cares what Chandler Bing has to say.

[XIV]

Not enough has been said about Jinder Mahal becoming the World Champion.
He's gone from mid-card mediocrity to the World Championship in two months. I don't understand it.
Jinder is not a bad worker, but he is not a World Champion.

It's the WWE Championship's 50th Champion... and with Orton being face, it was always going to be a heel who got the 50th slot, and could have used it. "50th and most significant champion", but instead we get Jobber Mahal?

With the rebirth of Drew McIntyre into NXT and no doubt on his way to being the champion there & now Jinder Mahal as Smackdown champion, I fully expect Heath Slater to complete the 3MB ownership of the WWE and go face to face with Brock Lesnar again for the world title and pulling off a massive upset.

I could rant all day... Smackdown has amazing talent AJ Styles, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Luke Harper and so much more, and they place their faith in *sighs* Jinder... Mahal.

I hate this. I hate this so much.

Indian Market better be worth some serious money.

[cero2k]

With the rebirth of Drew McIntyre into NXT and no doubt on his way to being the champion there & now Jinder Mahal as Smackdown champion, I fully expect Heath Slater to complete the 3MB ownership of the WWE and go face to face with Brock Lesnar again for the world title and pulling off a massive upset.

NOW you have my attention, i'm still waiting on my Slater vs Lesnar feud from last year.

Jinder winning is just another WWE shit that i've already lost interest enough to care, it's just another example of the inevitability that goes with being a WWE fan, you know they're gonna do shit decisions for money and there is nothing that can stop them.

[KILLdozer]

With the rebirth of Drew McIntyre into NXT and no doubt on his way to being the champion there & now Jinder Mahal as Smackdown champion, I fully expect Heath Slater to complete the 3MB ownership of the WWE and go face to face with Brock Lesnar again for the world title and pulling off a massive upset.

NOW you have my attention, i'm still waiting on my Slater vs Lesnar feud from last year.

Jinder winning is just another WWE shit that i've already lost interest enough to care, it's just another example of the inevitability that goes with being a WWE fan, you know they're gonna do shit decisions for money and there is nothing that can stop them.

Yep. I personally find it bittersweetly hilarious, but you already know that, but exactly one hundred percent correct. WWE will do whatever they feel I'd best for themselves at the time and no one can compete or make a difference. I personally would have rather had AJ with a haircut as champion. Watch Orton win it back for 14 in no time!

Hm, I just said the first that came to mind, the optimal champion? Idk. Definitely not Owens. The guy legit rubs me the wrong way a lot with his current gimmick.

[Big Red Machine]

Jinder winning is just another WWE shit that i've already lost interest enough to care, it's just another example of the inevitability that goes with being a WWE fan, you know they're gonna do shit decisions for money and there is nothing that can stop them.

It's not even that this is a "sh*t decision for money," though, because it's not like they chose money over art (like, for example, sticking the title on someone like Rock at the expense of telling a great story with someone else). They could have told a fine story with Jinder, too, but they decided to just strap a rocket to his ass and give him completely played-out gimmick that just... I don't see how it accomplishes any of their goals effectively.
The whole concept of a babyface is that people are more predisposed to want to see him/her succeed because he/she displays admirable traits that we either see in ourselves or wish we had while a heel displays negative ones that we despise in others. If the goal with Jinder is to make him some sort of big star/draw in India then making him a heel makes no sense, especially when you consider that, from what little we hear about the Indian market via the coverage of Khali's promotion, the market there seems very... mark-ish. If the whole reason for this push is that they are trying to give Indians someone who they can relate to because he looks and talks like them, why would you have him do anything to create any sort of push-factor that might get in the way of that (like, for example, being a dirty cheater)? One of the key ideas that people try to push with the "looks and talks like me" appeal to personal identity is that this person is therefore more likely to "share my values" than someone who looks and/or talks differently. I doubt most Indians will proudly identity themselves as cheaters. In fact I'll guarantee you that the overwhelming majority of them severely dislike cheaters. So why the hell would you make Jinder a cheater?
Also, if the idea that Indian fans will like and identify with Jinder then that means that they should, in theory be believing Jinder's claims that WWE and/or Americans have been discriminating against Jinder, then doesn't that just sow mistrust and/or resentment against WWE as a company and/or the American performers, including the babyfaces who you are trying to get over? And especially (maybe this one is more dealing with the company as a whole than with the individual wrestlers) in the current political climate, and doubly so when the wife of the guy running the company was appointed to a federal post by Donald Trump (whatever your opinions on Trump are, the fact is that in the formation of people's opinions, perception is reality)?

[Big Red Machine]

For the record, the way I would promote in India if I were in WWE's shoes is this. I would spend however long I have building up Jinder and the Singh Brothers as babyfaces (maybe even make Cruiserweight Tag Team Titles just for the Singh Brothers to win) and on my first tour there I would have them work second and third from the top, and yes, I would probably have Jinder team with some super babyface-ish guys like John Cena and AJ Styles in some of his matches and Jinder would always be the one to get the hot tag and would always win. For the top of the card I would take advantage of what little infrastructure is already there- and the man who seems to all but run that infrastructure- and headline all of the shows with...

Hidden text.

KHALI vs. STROWMAN

Then, the next time you go back you can test out a few towns trying to draw with just Jinder and/or the Singh Brothers on top.

[cero2k]

almost what everyone has thought, the problem with Jinder on top is not Jinder himself, it's more like they needed to build him slowly into a respectable title show/reign

[KILLdozer]

Thinking about it , Jinder Mahal could have had such an underdog , rags to riches, turned it all around in such a big way face story. From bottom of the barrel comedy goofball loser to the highest honor in ages...the 50th World champion.

He could even say he went away, analyzed his flaws and past moves and also bring his physical change into play, talking about some kind of dedication and passion to change who he was on so many levels thing.

[Big Red Machine]

almost what everyone has thought, the problem with Jinder on top is not Jinder himself, it's more like they needed to build him slowly into a respectable title show/reign

Thinking about it , Jinder Mahal could have had such an underdog , rags to riches, turned it all around in such a big way face story. From bottom of the barrel comedy goofball loser to the highest honor in ages...the 50th World champion.

He could even say he went away, analyzed his flaws and past moves and also bring his physical change into play, talking about some kind of dedication and passion to change who he was on so many levels thing.

Exactly.

[Serujuunin]

almost what everyone has thought, the problem with Jinder on top is not Jinder himself, it's more like they needed to build him slowly into a respectable title show/reign

This is exactly what my issue is with Jinder, and to a lesser extent, Corbin also. They're thrusting them into main event matches when neither of them have had the character growth and development that will make me believe in them as main event superstars. All the while they have talent on the roster they're squandering with stupid gimmicks or just having them languish in the mid card doing nothing. I will forever use Ziggler as an example of this because the promos they've given him lately have soured people on his mic talent, even though he's solid in the ring. I'm sure if he had a competent promo, he would be able to deliver it without sounding like Chandler. If I cared to look at the Smackdown roster (I don't), I'm sure I would find loads of other guys that are being grossly misused. I don't have an issue with Jinder, even if I don't like what he does in the ring, I just have an issue with the way he's been built (or not built, in this case).