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. **