BRM Reviews WWE Backlash 2023 (great!)

[Big Red Machine]

WWE Backlash 2023 (5/6/2023)- San Juan, PR


WWE RAW WOMEN’S TITLE MATCH: Bianca Belair(c) vs. Iyo Sky- 8/10
Retaining her title tonight would make Bianca the longest-reigning women’s champion “of the modern era.”
The crowd is REALLY behind Iyo. To a shocking degree. To their credit, these two just went with it, with Iyo wrestling cleanly. Bianca did, too, of course, because there is actual consistency to her character. She doesn’t start breaking rules just because her opponent is the one the fans are rooting for.
The story of the match was that Iyo surprised Bianca by working over her shoulder rather than going right for her usual high-flying offense. Damage CTRL did eventually come out to interfere, but Iyo never saw the interference until Bayley got caught pulling on Bianca’s braid to try to keep her in place for an Over The Moonsault, and this distracted Io just long enough for Bianca to be able to recover enough to avoid the move. Bianca then hit the KOD and got the win. A great finish to move forward Io’s split away from Damage CTRL.

In back-to-back sentences, Michael Cole said “sports entertainment” instead of “pro-wrestling,” and then referred to it as a “sport.”

REY MYSTERIO JR. & BAD BUNNY HAVE A MEETING BACKSTAGE WHERE SAVIO VEGA SHOWED UP- fine
This was all in Spanish, which I don’t speak… and that was completely fine, because between their tones and their body language, they conveyed everything they needed to: These men are friends, and Rey will help Bad Bunny fight if necessary.
Savio Vega showed up and got a huge pop. He presented Bad Bunny with a Kendo stick with a Puerto Rican flag design on it. If I were Bad Bunny, I’d keep that on my wall at home, and send a member of my entourage out to get me a different Kendo stick to use in tonight’s match.

SETH ROLLINS vs. OMOS (w/MVP)- 6.75/10
Graves referred to Rollins’ efforts to hit the stomp as “trying to stomp a brontosaurus.” They did some basic (but still very good) big vs. small stuff. I really loved Omos blocking the first stomp attempt by just not keeping himself up. The finish was a stomp form the top rope to a hunched-over Omos, but it didn’t look good because Rollins foot was nowhere near Omos’ head when it “hit the mat” (that part didn’t look very good, either), so it just looked like a regular kick.

WWE UNITED STATES TITLE MATCH: Austin Theory(c) vs. Bobby Lashley vs. Bronson Reed- 6.75/10
This was the usual three-way stuff. Theory stole a pin from Lashley to retain. This was very short, considering who was involved.

WWE SMACKDOWN WOMEN’S TITLE MATCH: Rhea Ripley(c) vs. Zelina Vega- 4.5/10
They’re pushing Zelina hard as the hometown babyface. She was overwhelmed by the reaction, which is really nice, but it doesn’t give me confidence in her abilities as an athlete. This wouldn’t be an issue for me if she was more established, but she is such an undercard wrestler that it makes me feel like it will just get in the way.
Early on I the match Zelina got a shot from her mother and threw it at Rhea. Michael Cole made a big deal about it being something in Latino culture, but that doesn’t matter. If you throw a foreign object at your opponent and it hits them, that’s a disqualification. That, combined with the early cat-and-mouse stuff made Zelina feel like a heel, to the point where I popped when Rhea caught her with the powerbomb to cut her off.
The crowd was really hot for this, but it was short, and at no point did Zelina feel like she had a real chance at winning, other than maybe after countering the Riptide into a DDT.

I don’t care if you’ve got wrestlers doing the plugs. It’s still a f*cking add, and I am paying for ad-free Peacock experience. F*ck you, WWE, and f*ck you Peacock for allowing them to do this sh*t.

SAN JUAN STREET FIGHT: Bad Bunny vs. Damian Priest- 8.75/10
The went absolutely nuts for Bad Bunny. They were all singing along to his song. It was really cool.
This was just plain awesome. I really appreciated that they protected Priest by showing him being able to win in the beginning and the match only continued because of his arrogance. Bad Bunny looked tough as hell and very brave, but not in a way that took away from Priest. I also liked that this wasn’t just plunder and the occasional big bump. They had a real story in there with Bad Bunny working over Priest’s knee.
And the overbooking. This was an example of overbooking that WORKED. They came up with such a great list of people to deal with Dominik and Balor when those two came out. I was shocked at the pop Carlito got. You’d have thought he was his father from the size of that pop.


MATT RIDDLE, KEVIN OWENS, & SAMI ZAYN vs. THE BLOODLINE (Solo Sikoa & the Usos)- 8.5/10
This was the kind of awesomeness we’ve come to expect from Owens & Zayn vs. Bloodline. There were some great little moments with Jey and Zayn, but other than that, the babyfaces were mostly just there to provide bodies for the Bloodline to be in action against. The real story was Solo’s interaction with his brothers. Essentially, he didn’t trust them to get the job done, and would occasionally just tag himself in, which bothered his brothers. At one point Jey got tired of it and immediately tagged himself back in, and much harder than necessary.
Another big moment saw a tease of Solo giving Jey the Samoan Spike. First he teased it while Jey wasn’t looking but it was broken up by Matt Riddle. Then Solo grabbed Jey and could have Samoan Spiked him but he didn’t take the swing… but he didn’t let go of his hold on Jey, either. This pissed Jey off something fierce, as he shouted “YOU’D HIT ME?! I’M YOUR BROTHER!”
The finish saw Riddle manage to hit Jey with Bro Derek… but Solo had made a blind tag, and hit Riddle with the Samoan Spike for the pin, ultimately proving Solo right that his brothers couldn’t get it done on their own.

BROCK LESNAR vs. CODY RHODES- 7/10
Cody jumping the bell on Brock was fine. Beating him up with weapons for a while on the outside was not. Cody controlled for a bit until Brock took over and did nothing but German Suplexes, like this was 2015. Cody accidentally sent Brock into an exposed turnbuckle to make Brock bleed and take over. Cody hit his big stuff but Brock kicked out of it. Brock hit an F-5 but Cody kicked out. Brock then got a Kimura but Cody turned it over into a pin while still in the hold. This did not feel like Cody getting a big win over Brock. This felt like Cody escaping with his life, despite the fact that Brock was the one bleeding all over the place.


Despite some disappointments, this was an awesome show from WWE. Part of that was because the stuff that went long was great and the stuff that disappointed stayed short, but the real strength of this show was the crowd, which was absolutely on fire all night long, and especially when a Puerto Rican was in the ring. If I’m WWE, I’m looking at taking a PPV to San Juan at least once every two years, and maybe trying to headline a PPV in Tijuana or Mexico City with Rey, or Dublin with Sheamus, after the successes they have had recently building international shows around a hometown babyface or two (Drew in Cardiff, Zayn in Montreal, and now Bad Bunny and Zelina here).