WWE BACKLASH

from Rosemont, Illinois

TYE DILLINGER vs. AIDEN ENGLISH (8:20): It was a hell of a good week for pro-wrestling...until this show occurred. New Japan started their Best of the Super Juniors tournament on Wednesday and three matches on the first two shows were excellent (Dragon Lee vs. Takahashi, Ospreay vs. Scurll, and Ospreay vs. Ricochet). NXT Takeover Chicago happened last night in the same building as this show and had, by far, WWE's best match of 2017 when Pete Dunn beat Tyler Bate for the U.K. title. The crowd for the NXT show was also ecstatic. Tonight in the same building the crowd was fairly pedestrian. I guess because this card wasn't all that great? Or...NXT fan's are older, hardcore fans. Either way, this pre-show match was forgettable like the majority of this show. Aiden English's tag team partner quit WWE so English is now stuck jobbing to guys. Dillinger, the "perfect ten," is above average but, still, he's wrestling Aiden English on the pre-show. *

SHINSUKE NAKAMURA vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER (15:50): This was Nakamura's WWE in-ring debut (he wrestled in NXT since March of 2016...coincidentally, his last great match was in March '16 against Zayn). Dolph is just okay, and Nakamura is charismatic and all but this was in no way, shape, or form a classic Nakamura NJPW type of match. Yes, Ziggler isn't Okada, AJ Sytles, or Tanahashi (few are)...but what does it mean? That Nakamura isn't that good? That he was only great in NJPW because of his stellar opponents? I guess time will tell. This was kind of dull. **

THE USO'S vs. BREEZANGO (9:15): I laughed. Tyler Breeze and Fandango are doing a hilarious Fashion Police routine on Smackdown. So, being police, Breeze went undercover during this match and dressed up as a janitor with a mop and then an old lady with a walker...in the ring! While wrestling! The crowd chanted for the mop and then for "grandma!" It was amusing. Fandango also did a very cool, over the top rope back flip maneuver to the floor (is he studying Ospreay's tapes?). So this entertained me. **1/2

SAMI ZAYN vs. BARON CORBIN (14:35): Zayn is awesome, one of the best wrestlers in the WWE. But even he couldn't get Baron out of his boring, zombie-crawl offense. Corbin is supposedly Vince's next big star. Wonder why he sucks and lost here? *1/2

NATALYA, CARMELLA & TAMINA vs. CHARLOTTE, NAOMI & BECKY LYNCH (10:05): Forgettable. Forgotten. They should have done a title match instead, right? Since this was the first Smackdown ppv since February. It was a typical TV melee. *1/2

KEVIN OWENS vs. AJ STYLES (21:10): I thought that this would have been better. AJ has been in great matches so far in his WWE career (against Dolph, Ambrose, Cena, and Reigns). Owens was in some classic matches against Cena...two year's ago. This was good, just not a classic we all expected. The finish had AJ being counted out when he got his foot tangled in the wires on the announce table. Groan. The story during the match was Owens working on AJ's damaged leg. Yawn. Hopefully, the rematch is better. **1/2

LUKE HARPER vs. ERICK ROWAN (9:00): This felt like a half an hour...yet it only went nine minutes. Seriously, who gives a fuck about these two? They're big guys so their moves all seemed brutal and devastating...but the crowd snored. 1/2*

JINDER MAHAL vs. RANDY ORTON (15:45): Was Jinder Mahal even on TV before April? I vaguely remember him. I guess he took Rusev's spot as the #1 heel on Smackdown because Rusev got injured. Or the WWE wants to promote their business in India since Mahal is from India. Mahal is a jobber, though. A total loser who was pushed, surprisingly, to the main event for no good reason and shockingly won the title here in a so-so match. I guess if he had lost he would have been back to the R. Truth pile so a win makes sense. Plus, Randy Orton is been-there-done-that. It would help if Jinder was, like, exciting and a good wrestler. He's not. I can't even remember the moves he did in this match besides some forgettable slams. Mahal has two Indian boys that helped him win. Orton tossed them on their heads on the announce table at one point and it surprised me that they're both not paralyzed. This was a surprise of an ending...so this show had that. It's...er...something. **

WWE PAYBACK

from San Jose, CA

ENZO AMORE & BIG CASS vs. LUKE GALLOWS & KARL ANDERSON (6:35): This was a pre-show match. I'll admit it: I'm sick of these four. Amore and Cass are at least mildly amusing on the mic. Gallows and Anderson are so dull they were even boring in NJPW, which is hard to do. This was short, typical, forgotten. *

MIZ TV with FINN BALOR: Good segment. I liked that this was a "skit" and so the show wasn't just three and a half hours of wrestling. And The Miz is great when he's talking (and Maryse is by his side). This led to a #1 Contenders match on RAW for the IC title (Balor vs. Miz vs. Seth Rollins) that was so much better than any match on this card (Miz won).

CHRIS JERICHO vs. KEVIN OWENS (17:55): Surprise, surprise. Jericho is leaving the WWE to go tour with his band...so he was definitely going to lose. He didn't! He won the U.S. title and is headed to Smackdown for...what? A week or two? This match was better than their Mania match but pretty average. **1/2

AUSTIN ARIES vs. NEVILLE (11:20): Good match, albeit Aries won by DQ when Neville grabbed the ref instead of tapping out. This was a lot better than their Mania match (a trend?) but the non-finish destroyed it's greatness. ***

THE HARDY BOYZ vs. CESARO & SHEAMUS (12:45): Sheamus, who pretty much legit retired Daniel Bryan by having brutally stiff matches with him at the end, kicked Jeff Hardy in the face and Hardy lost a front tooth. After the match, Cesaro and Sheamus turned heel and beat up The Hardy's. This was mostly boring. Where, oh where, is Broken Matt and Brother Nero? *1/2

ALEXA BLISS vs. BAYLEY (11:15): Ugh. Vince loves to see his wrestlers lose and/or be humiliated in their home town. Why? Apparently to get "heel heat," which Dave Meltzer says is hard to get (not that hard...if you write a good script for once). So Bayley lost her title in her home town to the cute, blonde pixie. Considering Bayley isn't that over on the main roster...maybe this was dumb. A so-so match. *1/2

BRAY WYATT vs. RANDY ORTON "HOUSE OF HORRORS" (17:10): We all wondered what a HOH match was. Well it's just a low-class, white-trash, meth den...apparently. Half of this was pre-taped. Orton showed up in a limo to the house at night (the ppv was in California so it was still light out in real life). A tractor crossed the lawn without a driver. Scary! And the door to the house was locked. So...Wyatt made the match. Why'd he lock the door? I thought he wanted the match? It got worse. The house was just a dirty house. One room had hanging baby dolls from the ceiling. The two fake punched each other. Wyatt tossed a refrigerator onto Orton and left. After the Rollins/Joe match, these two came to the ring and continued to wrestle and Wyatt won. But this wasn't for Orton's title. And as silly and non-scary as this was (a house of horrors should have spiders, blood, bats, snakes...something frightening, right?), at least it entertained me. It was so stupid it was funny. And it now goes into lore alongside the Kennel from Hell match and other atrocities. **

SETH ROLLINS vs. SAMOA JOE (15:55): These two, for whatever reason, just aren't as entertaining as they once were. Joe is too old I guess. And the match was basic. *1/2

BRAUN STROWMAN vs. ROMAN REIGNS (11:50): This was boring. Strowman tipped over an ambulance with Reigns in it two weeks ago on RAW but Reigns was still here and alive. His shoulder was taped up and so that's why he lost...he wasn't 100%. Strowman is big but dull. Reigns is only in good matches when wrestling someone awesome like AJ Styles. After the match, they were putting Reigns in another ambulance but Reigns thwarted Strowman and tossed him into the ambulance door then slammed it on him. This all leads to Brock Lesnar vs. Strowman for the Universal title...in July. Fuck. This show was in
April. *1/2