WWE BACKLASH 2023
MAY 6, 2023
COLISEO DE PUERTO RICO
SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO

Watch: Peacock

MEET YOUR REVIEWER

Suit Williams: WWE makes a rare, televised stop in Puerto Rico, so expect heavy juice and no clean finishes. The Puerto Rican crowd that was in the house for last night’s Smackdown was red hot, and I’d expect them to fire up for the big show here tonight. Follow me on Twitter @SuitWilliams, and if you’re interested in Ring of Honor, check out my reviews over at the Wrestling Observer website.

WWE RAW WOMEN’S TITLE MATCH
BIANCA BELAIR (C) DEF. IYO SKY (W/BAYLEY & DAKOTA KAI)

This was an excellent opener to this show. The crowd decided that Iyo was the babyface here, giving this match some immediate juice as Iyo worked over Belair’s arm. The work here lived up to the noise, as these two had a great match. Belair’s arm compromised her offense, but she was able to modify it, hitting a one-armed press slam and countering Iyo’s offense. Iyo kept on the arm and looked like she was on the way to winning on her own when the rest of Damage Control came out.

They almost helped her win with interference, but the referee caught Bayley holding Belair down by the braid. Belair then got her knees up on Iyo’s moonsault attempt and hit the KOD to win. The crowd wasn’t mad that Belair won, as they cheered the match after the bell. They touted Belair as the longest reigning women’s champion in modern history, which won’t mean anything when she trades belts with Rhea Ripley on Monday. Anyway, great stuff here, and with the Damage Control issues, I hope it equals more singles matches for Iyo in the future. ****1/4

SETH ROLLINS DEF. OMOS (W/MVP)

It’s one thing for Bianca Belair and Iyo Sky, two great wrestlers, to have a great match. But for Seth Rollins to get 4 stars out of OMOS is something significant. This Puerto Rican crowd is molten hot for this show, giving genuine reactions and pumping up the atmosphere for these matches.

And listen, these matches have come through. Credit to whoever put the match together, as this match was very smartly put together. And credit to Omos, who put in a good shift here in what was easily the best match of his career. Rollins hit two stomps that Omos kicked out of, but a top-rope stomp got the win. I held my breath on that last stomp, as it looked like a Sid Vicious Special. ****

WWE UNITED STATES TITLE TRIPLE THREAT MATCH
AUSTIN THEORY (C) DEF. BOBBY LASHLEY, BRONSON REED

From my preview of this show on Friday: “Lashley will hit Reed with a move, and Theory will dump Lashley out of the ring and steal the pin because that’s how every three-way match this company does ends.” Let’s see about that.

Anyway, this match started off sloppy, with guys out of position on spots and the referee in the way of one of Theory’s rolling moves. But again, this crowd willed this match to get better and popped for the big spots. Reed was impressive here with his big-man moves, including a moonsault that missed Theory that led to the finish. Lashley hit Reed with a move – a spear – then Theory dumped him out of the ring and stole the pin. Do I know this creatively bankrupt company or what? ***1/4

WWE SMACKDOWN WOMEN’S TITLE MATCH
RHEA RIPLEY (C) DEF. ZELINA VEGA

Vega came out in Puerto Rican-themed gear and was in tears during the introduction.

Michael Cole mentioned that Vega dedicated this match to her father, who died in the 9/11 attacks. Maybe it’s just me, but I wouldn’t bring that stuff up if she was just gonna lose in 5 minutes. I’d maybe put her in an undercard match that she could actually win. What’s Lacey Evans or Xia Li doing so that they couldn’t drop a fall here? It’s just more WWE broken-brain logic, as they give Vega a moment after losing the match where the crowd can give her a pity ovation. Ripley retains the title she will be passing to Bianca Belair in short order. **

SAN JUAN STREET FIGHT
BAD BUNNY DEF. DAMIAN PRIEST

Bad Bunny came out to an incredible pop. That’s what a pop sounds like. These people aren’t popping for Liv Morgan or Austin Theory like that because they aren’t superstars. THIS IS A SUPERSTAR.

This match was pure fan service to the Puerto Rican crowd that has been waiting for a major WWE show since 2005. With the hometown superstar, plus the appearances of Rey Mysterio, Carlito, and Savio Vega coming to run off the interfering heels, and an awesome WWE-style plunder brawl, this was genuinely one of the best WWE matches you’ll see. And I don’t have to go into a diatribe about the heel going over and ruining the atmosphere, because Bad Bunny hit his moves and won! And everyone was happy! How about that!

Give so much credit to Damian Priest here, as he bumped and sold for Benito incredibly well. And credit to Bad Bunny, who DOES NOT HAVE TO BE HERE. The man is a superstar in the original sense, selling out concerts and going to whatever the Met Gala is, and hanging out with normal famous people. He’s doing this because he likes wrestling. And that’s cool as hell. This was a genuinely great match, and I highly recommend it. ****1/2

THE BLOODLINE (JEY USO, JIMMY USO & SOLO SIKOA) DEF. MATT RIDDLE, KEVIN OWENS, & SAMI ZAYN

The best storyline ever in wrestling is here as a nice little cooldown match between the billed double main event. The story here is, surprise surprise, Uces don’t trust each other. Jey and Solo had tension, blind tagging each other and staring at each other. We got Bloodline Theater, and the crowd was kind enough to quiet down so we could hear the story being told. This was fine though, as the crowd was into the match when the babyfaces were in control and the work itself was professional.

The funny thing is that this match and this Bloodline dissension angle would probably have more juice if WWE did the right thing and had Roman lose the title at Wrestlemania. Then, the tension of Roman losing the titles and vanishing breaks up the once-strong Bloodline. Then, if you want to try something with Jey Uso, you could run that at Summerslam as a tag match against Roman and Solo. But that’s getting into fantasy booking. The reality is that the ratings have settled back to normal, and the crowd responses to the steps in this story are tepid at best. Solo won with the Samoan Spike on Riddle. ***1/4

CODY RHODES DEF. BROCK LESNAR

Not to harp on this point, but here’s another match that would have had so much more intrigue had Rhodes won the title at WrestleMania. An interesting first-time-ever match with the Lesnar Fear instilled in everyone over the last decade makes this a red-hot, talked about, and analyzed matchup for the weeks leading into this show. Instead, it’s kind of a big match, but nowhere near as energetic or as interesting as it could have been. All to artificially pump up the numbers for the title reign of a guy who’s on vacation until the summer.

The match was fine, but it was lacking the energy of the truly great Brock matches. Whether that’s due to the crowd tiring out or the lack of real stakes to this match can be debated. What I would prefer to debate is the finish. Lesnar – bleeding in Puerto Rico like a true pro wrestler – had Rhodes in the Kimura Lock. Rhodes fought and fought until he stacked Lesnar onto his shoulders and got the flash pin to win. Rhodes immediately bailed out from the ring and left up the ramp as the show faded to black with Lesnar in the ring. ***1/2

Pardon my Brian Windhorst impression, but why would they do that? Cody Rhodes is the fresh star fighting his way up the ladder to Finish The Story. Brock is Brock and needs no protection. Why would Cody use a flash pin instead of getting an emphatic, defining victory to get him moving back toward the World Title? Now, the answer could be as simple as WWE wanting to run this as a rematch in Saudi Arabia for the new WWE World Heavyweight Championship – AKA The Silver Medal.

But what if Vince McMahon, now officially back in control of WWE, just can’t get over the hump with Cody? What if Vince can’t get over the idea of “an AEW guy” holding his top title and being the tip-top guy? Ask yourself this: would Roman beat Brock like this? Would Roman, the undisputed most-pushed act in the promotion, win a match and crawl away before the show faded to black? Or would Roman beat Brock and stand tall in the center of the ring, eyes squarely on him as the last image fans saw?

Maybe it’s my lack of trust in this promotion as a whole causing me to ask these questions. But between WrestleMania and the finish here, I think it’s fair to start asking if WWE truly sees Cody Rhodes as a top guy.