June 28, 2023 / By mobanmarket
Cody Rhodes is continuing his story, but will it have a happy ending?
Rhodes did beat Brock Lesnar in front of a hot crowd in San Juan, Puerto Rico at Saturday's Backlash. It was an effective, explosive back and forth main event, perhaps best known for the spot towards the end of the match where Lesnar hit his forehead on an exposed turnbuckle and proceeded to bleed buckets.
Unlike at WrestleMania when the Hell in a Cell match had to be stopped so Finn Balor could be stapled up, Lesnar continued the match as a bloody mess (probably because no one is going to tell Lesnar what to do) until the finish when Rhodes pinned Lesnar’s shoulders on the mat while Lesnar had the kimura locked in.
With the World Heavyweight title tournament set to become the major story over the next few weeks, it only makes sense that Rhodes is an early favorite. For whatever reason, I don’t feel like this is the end of Lesnar at the moment, especially when there’s a Saudi Arabia payday incoming later this month. I could see Rhodes winning the Raw portion of the tournament and Lesnar winning the SmackDown portion of the tournament, leading to a rematch at Saudi Arabia later this month.
The question if that happens: will Lesnar do two jobs in a row?
Rhodes and Lesnar headlined this year’s Backlash, but after watching the show it was clear that the main event should have been Bad Bunny and Damian Priest’s San Juan street fight.
This was a fun match and better than most of WWE’s weapon matches lately. Bunny came out and instantly felt like one of the hottest acts in pro wrestling. It was something special. The crowd, who was the real story of this show, was super hot for everything. It might have gone on a little too long, but the cameos of Savio Vega and Carlito towards the end were fun and I have no real complaints other than Bunny nearly spiking his head on a sliced bread spot.
Still, he’s gotten pro wrestling down pat, and it's quite amazing how talented he and Logan Paul are at picking up pro wrestling this rapidly.
On the undercard, The Bloodline managed to defeat Matt Riddle, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn in what looks like the final blow-off match between the six.
Although I guess as undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions, Zayn and Owens could still appear on the other brand.
This had to follow the street fight and while it was a perfectly fine match, it felt way too long at 22 minutes especially after having just gone through a 25-minute match. The main story of the match was the dysfunction between The Usos and Solo Sikoa. The question now is if they will manage to make up or if it’s the start of The Bloodline crumbling like Rhodes predicted a few months ago.
Austin Theory retained the United States title over Bobby Lashley and Bronson Reed.
It was fine with every single triple threat trope you’ve ever seen in WWE, including the finish. Let me know if you’ve seen this finish before: participant one hits participant two with their finish. Participant three, a heel, then throws participant one out of the ring and covers participant two for the win. Very predictable. The Theory run is doing nothing for me still.
Rhea Ripley defeated Zelina Vega to retain the SmackDown Women's title as expected.
Vega got a tremendous response in Puerto Rico to the point of being moved to tears. The match was alright, but the story was more about the hot crowd as opposed to the match. The Raw Women’s title match that opened the show was far better with Bianca Belair defeating IYO SKY to retain. In terms of overall wrestling, it was probably the best match on the show. They have been teasing off and on for months that Damage CTRL may be in the midst of splitting up, and based on the commentary during this match and the finish (Damage CTRL attempting to interfere but fail), it seems like the group is heading in that direction again after weeks of start and stop teases.
Seth Rollins and Omos had a fine match.
Rollins, despite the goofy gimmick that has never really fit him, is one of the best wrestlers in WWE so it makes sense that he and Omos had a better than expected match. This seemed to be a way of getting Rollins a big win ahead of the World Heavyweight Championship tournament and it seems clear that he will be in the tournament in some form or fashion, and could even be a favorite if Rhodes is not in it.
Backlash was a real fun show coming off of two strong WrestleMania events.
WWE is on a roll with their pay-per-view shows and we only have to wait a few more weeks until Night of Champions on May 28. Let’s see if Rhodes will finish the story there…or SummerSlam…or maybe they’ll hold off until WrestleMania 40.
Or, maybe he’ll form the Allied Powers with the British Bulldog and feud with Tatanka. We’ll see.
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