Seth Rollins (C) def. The Miz – Intercontinental Championship
Seth Rollins has been on freaking fire this year, and this match only continued his long-standing streak of quality performances on both PPV and TV. This match just had a great energy to it from start to finish. There was a fever pitch and the two men just kept hitting their moves with consistency. They were having a completely fine match with their basic back and forth, but the match took on a new dimension with the introduction of the psychology with Seth’s knee. Rollins did a masterful job of selling it throughout the match, especially making sure to limp right before The Miz hit his finishers, showing some continuity.
What I also believed did wonders for the match is the way Seth paced himself and hit his moves. He allowed himself time in between each move and made them as impactful as they possibly could be, and it was glorious. The Miz was the perfect foil for Seth in the match here, making sure to always target the knee and quickly pounce on the chance the moment he saw Seth’s knee buckle. While I could have done without Seth kicking out of two finishers a la John Cena/Roman Reigns, this was an excellent opener, and it’s hard for me to say anyone has had a better 2018 campaign on the men’s roster than Seth Rollins so far. ****1/4
Nia Jax (C) def. Alexa Bliss – RAW Women’s Championship
The only thing this match accomplished is prove why this match shouldn’t have gone longer than 45 seconds. These two just have absolutely no chemistry. We just had a lot of screaming, a lot of struggling and spot-calling. The most accurate depiction of this match I can give is the scene of Alexa trying to drag Nia’s corpse from the outside back into the ring. It was just a struggle to get through and finish. Alexa and Nia as mutually exclusive workers are good in their own right, but certain styles don’t correspond with each other. Nia is slow and big. Alexa doesn’t have a believable offensive repertoire. Combine the two and you have someone with a non-believable offense dominating someone double her size. It just makes no sense.
But did you guys check that post-match motivational dialogue by Nia? My goodness was that the definition of cringe. Be a star. Be yourself. Don’t bully. Yeah, right. The reason why Nia was getting booed in that cringefest wasn’t that her message was wrong. It was because what she was saying was clearly WWE-manufactured lip service. And they’re using Nia Jax of all people, who was used to bully and make fun of others before her face turn, to do it. Kayfabe, right? I guess you gotta draw the line somewhere. Overall, from the match to the promo to this entire feud, we can all throw it in the trash. Nia said to be a star, but this match ain’t gettin many. *
Jeff Hardy (C) def. Randy Orton – United States Championship
I mean, this was definitely a match that happened right? They were two wrestlers and they had a match. That’s what I have to say about it. It’s a shame, too. But there was something that pissed me off about this match, but it was from Randy Orton. It actually shames me to say this as an Orton stan, but looking at his body language, he’s just not into it and hasn’t been for some time. The best way I can describe Orton since, I guess you could say, 2014, is that he’s the best and most complete wrestler ever born to not be good at wrestling matches. What am I talking about? There was a portion in this match where Orton hit a simple power slam, took about 3-4 seconds to himself and then made a half-assed cover as if it had any chance of being a 3 count. Randy has been too methodical and dull for his own good. It’s sad because when Orton wants too, he’s probably a top 5 worker in the business. Did you see some of those standing dropkicks in this match? He still has it. He’s still a quality worker on the inside. But when you’re getting paid millions despite not being a consistent main eventer anymore, why bother going full-throttle?
Jeff didn’t really have anything to offer either, as his style of singles matches only work with certain people that can match his intensity, and the 2018 version of Randy Orton is not it. He’s just a bland superstar with skull-head tattoo sleeves. Then, when you consider how over the segment with Elias and Rusev Day was, it’s a mystery how one of WWE’s mid-card titles are being fought for by two guys who hadn’t faced each other one on one in a decade. Again, nothing bad with the match. But it was just a match. **
Daniel Bryan def. Big Cass
Don’t tell me that Big Cass’ ceiling was being good at getting hot tags from Enzo. I thought that working with Daniel Bryan would force Big Cass to work a smarter style of match and even though we only got a small sample size of one match, he came up, ironically, short in this performance. I don’t know what it is, but for as Big Cass is, his offense just doesn’t look like it hurts a lot aside from his big boot. It just doesn’t look powerful. What makes it worse is that Daniel Bryan wasn’t able to play his role effectively because of it. Bryan plays well in a match when he’s coming from behind as an underdog. However, it never felt like Daniel was in any major jeopardy of losing, and that’s on Cass to work on being more believable with everything.
In addition, I wasn’t a fan of how quickly Cass tapped out. Getting his heat back by attacking Daniel after the match is okay, but we can’t deny that Cass tapped out squeaky clean to a guy half his size after over 8 months on the shelf. How are we supposed to take him seriously now? I would understand the post-match attack out of frustration if he lost on a fluke pin (that’s what I predicted the finish would be), but doing it after a tap-out just makes him look weak. To top it off, he didn’t really face a significant amount of damage in the match to have him easily submit to that extent. The match was fine for two men who haven’t worked with each other before and one who is making his in-ring return, but it wasn’t anything special, and they didn’t hit the big guy/little guy dynamic like I wanted. **1/4
Carmella (C) def. Charlotte – Smackdown Women’s Championship
This was everything I feared it would be. It was a match that was posing as a match to hide Carmella’s severe in-ring deficiencies. Carmella is pretty much in the same boat as Alexa Bliss in that regard, only Carmella is just far more obnoxious and not nearly compelling a character to help carry things along. Charlotte is a 1st class performer, but she’s not a miracle worker either. If she was able to carry Carmella to something in the three-star range, she probably should hold the Women’s Title for the rest of her career. I could just tell from the start from Carmella’s early retreat in the ring and the incessant yelling that there was going to be a lot of extra antics to try and hide the fact that Carmella can’t go with Charlotte. As a matter of fact, the distance in skill between Carmella and Charlotte is probably that of Staten Island to North Carolina by foot.
The finish was also kind of weak to me. Did you see the offense that Charlotte took from Asuka at WrestleMania? A simple kick to a knee and a half-assed pin is what makes a 3 count? I let out a big audible laugh after that because it was ridiculous. No amount of shouting could save this match, unfortunately, and the onus is now on Carmella to improve as a performer so people can actually buy into her. Put it this way. If Mella is Money, then Charlotte is Bank. *1/4
AJ Styles (C) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura – WWE Championship (No Disqualification) – No Contest
WWE managed to make AJ and Shinsuke, the WWE Championship match not only NOT be the main event, but take their No DQ stipulation and render it pointless with another non-finish. And here I thought that crappy non-finishes were being saved for the glorified Saudi house show. If we’re talking about the actual match, it was like all of their other matches. It was solid before the abrupt finish. Although, I think in this situation, the hits were a bit stiffer and there was more meaning to each one of the punches and kicks. In addition, I absolutely loved AJ responding Shinsuke’s low blowing in kind. Being a face can only go so far, but when your nuts are damaged beyond belief, you can’t afford to stay that way for long. The physicality aspect of the match was good, and I did like the back and forth, but the issue in this match is just like all of the other AJ and Nakamura matches we’ve had before. The pacing.
The pacing in this match was far too slow for my taste, and they didn’t utilize the No DQ stipulation like I intended. No Disqualification, No Holds Barred and Extreme Rules all hold the same meaning, but in WWE land, the extent to which the superstars will utilize that stipulation depends on how scary the stipulation sounds. I guess I can find the humor in two men kicking each other in the dick so hard to the point where the match should have probably main evented Great Balls of Fire last year. However, I just hate advertising matches and not giving fans a finish, especially considering the whole point of making the match No DQ was to ensure that there would be a winner. I know Nakamura is still relatively fresh as a heel and the idea is to protect him, but not every loss can be damaging if it’s booked right. At best, you can say this was marginally better than their WrestleMania match, but this match can only be so good when we never get a finish. ***1/4
Braun Strowman and Bobby Lashley def. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn
This was basically the same tag match we saw on RAW a couple of weeks ago, except nowhere near as exciting. What made the match on RAW exciting was that Bobby Lashley spent most of the match being worked over by KO and Sami Zayn, and the anticipation of Braun getting a hot tag just kept building and building and building until the roof came unglued when he finally got the tag and just started running over everybody.
This was the definition of filler and usually, this spot on the card was reserved for the ladies. The match really didn’t get going and no one cared about it. Literally. Oh, and apparently the 2nd Universal Champion can’t kick out of a vertical suplex now after being held in the air for 2 and a half seconds. Braun running over KO on the outside will get a positive reaction for only so long. *1/2
Roman Reigns def. Samoa Joe
The match went damn near 25 minutes long for THAT finish? I fail to see the logic in chinlocks and rest spots for 3-5 minutes at a time when the crowd has already been on their collective asses for three hours. That’s not how you work a crowd. This needed to have a brisk pace, and NOT be some sort of extended slugfest. Why this was the main event over AJ/Nakamura, even with the non-finish is beyond me. The pacing alone is proof positive this had no business going on last. From chants of “Boring” to “CM Punk” to “Johnny Wrestling”, this match was exactly that. It was just there. Dull and boring.
The match would pass on RAW, but as a PPV main event, this was the formula of Roman Reigns matches that I hate. Roman Reigns is a good sports entertainer and good at wrestling but he is not built for extended matches that go into the 20 minute time length. He just isn’t. There are certain guys built for it and others aren’t, and WWE doesn’t play to Roman’s strengths. And then they continue to wonder why he keeps getting these negative reactions. I predicted Roman to win because there was just no way I’d think WWE was ballsy enough to have Roman lose against Brock and then Joe to top it off. Put it this way. If this match was 10 minutes shorter, it would have been better. Instead, it felt like a chore to get through the entire time. **1/4
Conclusion:
How can WWE live with themselves needing 3 and a half hours for an 8 match card? I also find it funny how they were emphasizing us getting the best of both RAW and Smackdown going forward as if the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania never happened. Seth Rollins and The Miz was easily your match of the night by a country mile, but boy did we fall off a cliff fast. The only match I could bear to watch from start to finish without being somewhat disgusted at it was AJ and Nakamura, and that match was the only one on the card without a definitive finish. And it was a fucking No DQ match to boot.
WWE has to learn that longer shows do not create better ones, and they absolutely did not need all that time for tonight. Also, what in the world would entice WWE to believe that we required 20 minutes to add build between the Roode/Elias feud? Sadly, I can’t recommend Backlash, because in all candor it was a one match show. AJ and Nakamura was fine, but the finish was too sour for me because it ruined the entire point of why that match was made. Watch Rollins and Miz, but then shut off the tape. It’s not worth the extra 3 hours after. Thumbs down for Backlash 2018.
