So apparently there is the Backlash pay per view this Sunday…. but I bet the majority of the WWE audience are unaware of this, in the aftermath of the 5 hour political advert for Saudi Arabia that happened on Friday. Now we are done with that political advert can we just forget it ever happened? Can we PLEASE just MOVE ON? PLEASE?
OK so we did get two positives at least, both in the actual rumble match (no Titus I don’t mean you, sorry). Daniel Bryan entering at number 1, lasting 1 hour and 16 minutes, and being the penultimate man eliminated was a terrific showing that he IS still one of the best, one of the top guys, and still clearly viewed in a good light by the creative team (and even more so now off the back of adulation he has received since his comeback). So that was great to see. The other was Braun Strowman. If it needed to be any clearer to everyone, the images of Braun alongside Vince McMahon (who was gleefully looking on) and the Saudi dignitary handing him the GRR title belt, and then Braun holding it aloft with the giant trophy in the background, it was symbolic that at that precise moment it was pretty much confirmed (to me at least); Braun Strowman is THE GUY, NOT Roman Reigns. 2 other things were particularly symbolic to me; Braun Strowman (en-route to his win) broke the record for most eliminations in a Royal Rumble match, a record previously held by? Roman Reigns! The second thing I picked up on was right at the end of the GGR as Braun had been given the title belt, he looked back to Vince who then said something to him and looked as if he initiated something with his hands, Braun then did his roar and held the title up high. To ME it LOOKED as if Vince was saying to Braun ‘yep, lift the title up, do your roar and the crowd will go wild, have your moment’ and to me also this seemed pretty symbolic, Vince as the literal key-holder in the WWE kingdom was at this point saying to Braun ‘it’s your time now, go do your thing, you’re my guy’. Maybe this is wishful thinking by me, perhaps Roman will remain on top, but SURELY it is written in stone now; Universal Championship, Brock Lesnar vs Braun Strowman, Braun Strowman wins. Surely this is where we are heading now? It’s where we SHOULD be going at least…
I will be doing a Backlash preview later in the week, more so than ever I fell people need to know what is actually happening on this show as I’m sure most people have missed what’s on the card, or even that the show is happening. So look out for that. The first, well 2nd technically, WWE ppv that will be dual-branded so both Raw and Smackdown superstars will be on the card. No longer will we have specific brand ppvs. Which is the right thing although many people will no longer get ppv slots as they would have in the old format. It should mean for better shows and maybe more importantly less content to watch. Which you may think isn’t a good thing, but trust me if you like me watch all WWE programming most weeks that’s A LOT of wrestling to watch. There are only 24 hours in a day after all, and so making time to watch all this WWE stuff isn’t that easy. So right call going forward to have dual-branded ppvs. Backlash Should be a fun show; AJ vs Shinsuke headlining with Roman vs Samoa Joe on too. This will be the, for now at least, last time these two rivals face off as Joe is now on Smackdown following the superstar shake up. Daniel Bryan vs Big Cass, Seth Rollins vs The Miz (also now on Smackdown), Charlotte vs Carmella and Nia Jax vs Alexa Bliss make up the rest of the card with 1 possibly 2 more matches still to be confirmed.
So hopefully this WWE week will be relatively normal in the build to a ppv. Still we are in the annual post-Wrestlemania rut… But with the talent spread across the WWE roster now, and the variety of stories that are only just beginning to be told I cant’t see how the next few weeks and months of WWE wont continue to excite and amaze us all. Hopefully…
Josh.
NobodyisReady.com 