WWE BACKLASH 2026
MAY 9, 2026
BENCHMARK INTERNATIONAL ARENA
TAMPA, FLORIDA
Watch: ESPN Unlimited (US)/Netflix (Non-US)
MEET YOUR REVIEWER:
Suit Williams: You can read Suit’s long-form previews and reviews of wrestling from around the world here at Voices of Wrestling! You can find more of his work at SuitWilliams.com, including watch projects like Williams Watches Wrestlemania and the 1997 retrospective series As Good As It Gets! Follow Suit on all social media platforms @SuitWilliams.
Coming off another rocky road to Wrestlemania, and another losing PR battle with the post-Wrestlemania cuts and rumors of talent being asked to take pay cuts (all while the C-suite executives get massive raises), WWE rolled into Tampa for their Backlash show.
The first two matches aired on ESPN2, and once again, WWE treated that golden hour of television like UFC prelims, coldly rolling out two matches and doing nothing to hype the rest of the card. For someone who constantly gets told about how much the WWE product is better for the casual fan, WWE itself doesn’t seem terribly interested in getting the casual eyes that would be watching on linear ESPN programming to watch the rest of the product.
BRON BREAKKER (W/PAUL HEYMAN) DEF. SETH ROLLINS
For as wildly incorrect as he is, there is something endearing about Seth Rollins believing himself to be a high-level workrate guy. It’s nice to see the effort put in, even if at his best, he peaks at a 4* (which he didn’t on this night).
This was a good opener, with an energetic crowd carrying the work to a slightly higher level. Breakker still isn’t the worker his physical potential says he can be, and in this environment, I doubt he’ll ever truly get to his peak as a worker. But he was good here against Rollins, who, outside of a couple of blown spots that went viral, matched his intensity as much as one can in the sterile environment that comes with this promotion.
We got a finish designed to protect Rollins more than highlight Breakker, as Austin Theory & Logan Paul ran distraction after a stomp. Breakker countered a Stomp off the second rope with a spear for the win. ***1/2
UNITED STATES TITLE MATCH
TRICK WILLIAMS (W/LIL YACHTY) (C) DEF. SAMI ZAYN
Fans and pundits believe that Trick Williams’ charisma will take him to the top of WWE. While I agree that his effortless charisma has already done him a world of favor, given how his in-ring development has lagged in comparison, his charisma also opens up a world of new issues. Those issues being the creatively bereft room of writers (whom you can see fellating themselves on WWE UnReal) sticking this poor guy with whatever dopey, moronic, childish ideas that come to mind, with the hope that his charisma can make something of it.
That’s why, instead of getting a story that Zayn had been trying to tell since before WrestleMania of the beloved veteran having to deal with fans choosing a new star, we have weeks of ga-ga and nonsense with a Gingerbread Man mascot. Being able to get anything over in this company is a gift and a curse. This company will test that ability to its very limits, and they will do it at the expense of a man who has already proven to be a difference maker with the right push in NXT. And I don’t care how you spin it or sell it, screwing around with Gingerbread Men mascots and D-tier rappers who add nothing to his presentation isn’t the right push.
This was a SmackDown match with weird psychology. Zayn was the heel, but it was 2-on-1 with Yachty getting in Zayn’s way. Do you think the casual fan understood why Lil Yachty was there, or why he was holding a big candy cane? Zayn took Yachty out with a Helluva Kick on the outside, but Trick dodged a Helluva Kick and hit a Trick Shot knee to retain. **
DANHAUSEN & MINIHAUSEN DEF. KIT WILSON & THE MIZ
I’ve watched a lot of bad stuff in my time reviewing WWE for this site. I’ve watched a lot of bad stuff in my time reviewing a lot of wrestling for this site and others. There’s very little that I will outright veto and reject.
With that said, you would have to strap me to a gurney like Hannibal Lecter and employ the Ludovico Technique from A Clockwork Orange to get me to watch this match. Forget the minis and Danhausen as a featured act, I’ll be damned if I spend another second of this life watching Mike Mizanin wrestle.
I will say this. It’s very funny watching people discuss the theories and origins of pro wrestling to defend Danhousen having a CLONING MACHINE like this is Family Matters. Stefan Urquelle, this was not. N/R
IYO SKY DEF. ASUKA
“WE WANT KAIRI!”
You’re not getting her, so shut up about it. You might not be getting any more Asuka either, if the reports of her “semi-retirement” are true. She may have been one of the wrestlers asked to take a pay cut, or she is just seeing out the end of her contract. Either way, this is another long-time company stalwart clearing out their locker.
I’ll be honest, I always thought Asuka was a little overrated. I liked her undefeated streak and advocated for her to main event Wrestlemania against Ronda Rousey in an undefeated superfight. But outside of that, it’s a lot of forgettable Kabuki Warriors stuff and matches that I find more good than great. But she’s over, and people in the business seem to love her, so if she wants to work more in America, the choice will almost certainly be hers.
There was a lot of mat work, which I appreciate as you never see any on big-time shows anymore. The big spot came as both women were standing on the announce table. Iyo used Wade Barrett’s notebook to block Asuka’s mist, leading to them both standing still and staring at each other like they were giving dialogue in an RPG on the Nintendo DS. After more back-and-forth, Iyo won with the Over The Moonsault. Asuka hugged Iyo after the match, and it seems as though the saga of Damage Control has finally come to an end. ***1/4
JOHN CENA’S BIG ANNOUNCEMENT – THE JOHN CENA CLASSIC
John Cena was here. Isn’t it interesting how he’s been booked for both shows that the alleged Needle Mover, Roman Reigns, was set to main event? Cena had an announcement that would shake WWE to its very core. That announcement was an event, The John Cena Classic, and a new title to go with it. This is how it works: I don’t know how it works. The company doesn’t seem to know exactly how this is going to work either.
But the idea Cena put out was that there would be main roster wrestlers against NXT wrestlers, like his retirement show in December. The twist is that the fans will get to vote on the champion, and that the losers of the matches will still be eligible to win the title via the fan vote. It’s an idea that’s been used in Dragongate with the Open The Owarai Gate Title, which was largely a comedy title as Owarai is the Japanese word for comedy. This feels like a way to use Cena’s name on more shows, which doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in the current roster.
WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH
ROMAN REIGNS (C) DEF. JACOB FATU
When in doubt, fall back to the Bloodline. We’re all the way back, with The Usos falling back in line behind Reigns and more family strife, this time with Jacob Fatu. This feud has given us the lore of the TONGAN DEATH GRIP. Fatu challenged Reigns for the title on the Raw after Wrestlemania, and when Roman turned him down, Fatu choked Roman out with the Tongan Death Grip. Roman explained that they didn’t use that hold on family, but Jacob was desperate to be World Champion and didn’t care who he had to go through to get it.
It’s an interesting twist on the story, but IT’S THE SAME STORY. So many times in pro wrestling history, promoters try to go backwards. Back to old angles, back to old stars, back to what worked at one time. But time works a lot differently in pro wrestling, and going back to an old formula is rarely a long-term answer. WWE seems to think that the Bloodline is one of the exceptions to the rule, but I have my doubts.
I’d argue this push for Fatu is coming a year too late, and that’s being generous. Fatu immediately popped off the page when he came into the company and felt red-hot after his TV feud with Braun Strowman early last year. Instead of going with him as a main event heel for WWE Champion Cody to rival, he was a midcarder going back-and-forth with Solo Sikoa and Drew McIntyre and constantly disappearing from TV.
This feud has gotten Fatu some steam, and he was over in this match against Reigns. The match was good, and surprisingly, lacked the typical Roman mid-match ACTING. Fatu got to kick out of a spear and got a nearfall off a step-up moonsault. Reigns went on a big closing stretch after fighting the Tongan Death Grip off, but a second spear wasn’t enough to put Fatu away.
Fatu locked on the Tongan Death Grip, and Roman sold it well by wildly grabbing for whatever was to hand. He ended up pulling the turnbuckle pad off and sent Fatu into the exposed buckle. A third spear put Fatu down for the count, but Fatu was right back up like he was Hercules at MSG. He choked Reigns out with the Tongan Death Grip, taking out referees and road agents until he had Reigns foaming at the mouth. A quality main event to this show, and a very good start to Roman’s latest reign on top. ****1/4
