Friday, March 29, 2024
EditorialWWE Backlash 2016 Predictions: Top Stars of the Event

WWE Backlash 2016 Predictions: Top Stars of the Event

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Following the normal “superstars missing” post is of course the flipside of things: which stars are not only scheduled to be on the show, but are probably going to walk away with the most notoriety to them? This could be due to match quality, wins and losses, or even just WWE commentators yammering on and on about what they did in comparison to some of the other people on the card.

Not everyone can be a winner, and as such, not everyone can share equal amounts of the spotlight, but if I had to guess which wrestlers will stand out as the biggest players of Backlash 2016, these are my choices:

Dean Ambrose

If it weren’t for the two other championships being crowned, I would be saying AJ Styles has this one in the bag. However, I can’t imagine WWE would have all three titles on the SmackDown brand change hands at Backlash only to have nothing of importance take place at No Mercy, so until I’m convinced that they will be overloading this card with title changes, The Lunatic Fringe has the edge.

Granted, that doesn’t mean he is guaranteed to win the match. I would hate to see it happen, but there’s a possibility this ends in a disqualification or a count out so AJ Styles can technically be granted a rematch and win the belt at No Mercy. However, when it’s all said and done, I think Ambrose is still going to be walking out with the championship around his waist, so he’ll by default be the bigger star—particularly if he finds a way to actually win the match, in whatever scenario that goes down.

SmackDown Women’s Championship Six-Pack Challenge

Out of the six women competing for the SmackDown Women’s Championship, three of them can be ruled out almost immediately. This is far too much responsibility to trust Carmella with right now, as she’s just too new and still has much learning to do. The same can be applied to Alexa Bliss, as they haven’t really focused too much on her to give her the momentum to carry the championship going forward. Then again, Naomi is in a similar boat. While she has experience to her name, some new gear doesn’t make up for a history of being passed over. I’ve been fooled too many times in the past into thinking she was going to win a belt and she never did, so why believe it now?

Here’s where it gets tricky, though. Natalya is clearly the top heel in this division, but her act is somewhat bland. She has the prestige of being a great women’s wrestler behind her, so that would help legitimize the belt somewhat, although I have to imagine most people would just be bored with her title reign, waiting for someone to dethrone her. Nikki Bella is a very solid choice, but she has a feud with Carmella and that could be more than good enough to be a secondary program with the division on SmackDown. Then again, maybe that’s going to be the title feud going forward? But should WWE trust Nikki with that responsibility so soon after coming back from her serious injury?

If I had to pick, I would have to give this spot to Becky Lynch. She’s either on par or above Nikki Bella in terms of popularity right now and she’s never had a run with any of the titles, so it’s about time that changes. Becky was drafted above all others to be the focal point of the division and I think that will manifest with her title victory here.

SmackDown Tag Team Championship Tournament Finals

I’m flipflopping repeatedly on who I think will end up winning this, but one thing is for sure: it isn’t going to be The Hype Bros.

Heath Slater and Rhyno coming out with the victory makes a lot of sense, as it would secure Slater’s contract status and the audience would pop for it. However, I think the bigger story is going to be told with The Usos, who will take down The Hype Bros and stand just as much of a chance—if not more—to walk away with the titles as well.

Since they’ve just turned heel, there’s a lot of momentum to be capitalized on with making them the champions. Not only are they the most reliable act right now as far as the tag team division’s storylines on SmackDown goes, but their popularity and tenure makes them easy choices to put belts on. They’ve had titles before and didn’t fail at doing them justice, so they’re much safer than Slater and Rhyno.

I’m still rather split as far as not wanting to make it a guarantee, as there’s a very strong possibility the spotlight goes to Slater above everyone else in regards to the finals, but at this very moment at the very least, my gut is telling me The Usos are going to take this one and be the top of the food chain for the division for a while.

Bray Wyatt / Randy Orton

When it comes to Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton, I have very little—if any—faith in this feud being anything worth a damn, for a multitude of reasons. Just to get a few out of the way, I think their styles won’t work well together and I think the reasoning behind the feud is extremely weak, but the biggest reason of all is because I can’t really care about two guys that aren’t amounting to much lately.

Bray Wyatt has developed a reputation for being a jobber to the stars, and it’s true. That’s exactly what’s going to happen here. Randy Orton was humiliated by Brock Lesnar and WWE will do what WWE always does by having him be victorious here or at the very least, look as though he should have won by all accounts before being cheated out of a win so as to stretch this feud into No Mercy.

The bottom line is that the focal point will be giving a boost to Randy Orton to try to help undo the damage done to his character for his performance at SummerSlam, which was an unnecessary direction in the first place. Next time, simply don’t paint yourself into a corner.

The Miz

Dolph Ziggler seems to have a lot more energy since the brand split, which is great for fans of him like myself. He challenged for the world title at SummerSlam and he’s fighting for the Intercontinental Championship here, which is more than has happened in a long while with him.

That being said, The Miz is on fire. This is a guy who took the ball with Talking Smack and ran with it, giving more credence to that show than anything before it and anything to follow since, so far. Whether he realized that he was a big fish in a small pond and had a confidence boost or he realized that he needed to step up his game to make up for some of the less charismatic people on SmackDown, whatever sparked this, it’s gold.

I’ve been a fan of The Miz ever since his run in ECW and it’s great to see the renewed vigor he has, so while I’m also a big Ziggler fan, I’m rooting for the current champion to somehow sneak a victory in so he can continue to gloat. While I’d be up for a handful of people having a run with the belt down the line, I’d also be perfectly okay with The Miz going so far as to upset The Honky Tonk Man’s record. Yes, I mean that 100%, and I have to bet my chips on The Miz being the bigger star in their match at Backlash.

Who do you think will end up stealing the show the most in a kayfabe or storyline sense? Should this list be flipped with the other competitors winning instead? Drop your thoughts in the comments below!

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