WWE BACKLASH

Lyon, France

THE BLOODLINE (SOLO SIKOA & TAMA TONGA) vs. KEVIN OWENS & RANDY ORTON "STREET FIGHT" (19:38): This show was really only memorable because of the super hot, boisterous crowd. They chanted, sang, jumped up and down, and stood for a lot of the show. I was wondering...are they like this when watching anything in Lyon, France? Like during every soccer match are they like this? And at every concert? Or was it just because the WWE rarely goes there? Either way, the show was forgettable but the crowd made the show at least entertaining. This show was pretty much just an average house show type of event. All of the matches were good but nothing was worth going out of your way to see. This opener was a street fight so they used trash cans and tables and chairs. The big spot had Kevin Owens giving Tama Tonga a top rope suplex bomb onto four chairs sitting up. Orton gave Solo an RKO on the announce table that sort of dropped but didn't break. Match was entertaining. **1/2

BAYLEY vs. NAOMI vs. TIFFANY STRATTON (13:34): Tiffany Stratton seems like a wrestler on the verge of being a big star. She looks like a barbie doll with gigantic fake tits but she used to be a gymnast so she can actually wrestle. I think she's supposed to be a heel, though, which kind of doesn't make sense. Hate the hot blonde? I mean...maybe if you're a woman. Doubt a guy would hate a plastic bombshell. The one good thing on this show was that all of the matches were pretty fast paced so weren't boring. Bayley retained her title. **1/2

DAMIAN PRIEST vs. JEY USO (15:47): This was fast paced with a lot of action. I think the big problem on this show was that there was no drama in any of these major title matches as to who would win. Bayley, Priest, and Cody just won their titles at Wrestlemania so obviously weren't going to lose that fast. Good match, though. I don't really think Damian comes across as a big, superstar champion, though. He seems like an IC title type of guy. The Judgment Day interfered throughout, though Dominic wasn't on the show. **1/2

JADE CARGILL & BIANCA BeLAIR vs. THE KABUKI WARRIORS (ASUKA & KAIRI SANE) (17:22): Cargill and Bianca won the women's tag team titles. I honestly forgot the WWE even has women's tag team titles. Do they still have two of them for RAW and Smackdown? As hot as the WWE is these days, I don't really think the product is all that great. I will say that Cargill didn't look as sloppy and as awkward in this as she has in the past. Maybe the WWE has better backstage trainers than AEW or maybe it's just that she's been doing this long enough to have gotten better. Bryan Danielson supposedly trained her a little bit in AEW. Maybe it finally paid off? Or maybe he was a bad trainer? Match was okay. **

CODY RHODES vs. AJ STYLES (27:18): This was a good match, although, honestly, I kind of thought it would be a lot better. AJ is older these days, so I guess expecting him to be as awesome as he was in New Japan is ridiculous. Also...Cody isn't as good as Okada or Suzuki were back when AJ wrestled those guys in NJPW. They did the big announce table break. That might be the only thing I remember in this match. This show was a throwaway but the hot crowd was something else. **1/2