WWE BACKLASH 2020

WWE BACKLASH 2020

Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross vs. Bayley & Sasha Banks vs. Billie Kay & Peyton Royce

I think the whole 3-way rule freshened this up quite a bit -- it made the action stay not-dull for the majority of it. A gentleman's **

Jeff Hardy vs. Sheamus

Strong showing by both. Comparing this to his PPV match vs. Cesaro, I thought Jeff's performance here was much better & much more spirited; he was a rocking scrappy babyface with awesome fiery times on the offense & good selling of Sheamus' beatdown. Sheamus was rock solid as the heel bully throughout as well. They got a pretty lengthy amount of time to do their thing, and they kept me entertained from bell to bell. Maybe the best match of the night, even though there was one other one that gives it some tough competition. ***1/4

Asuka vs. Nia Jax

These two have had some bangers against each other in the past, and while this one didn't reach the level of those said bangers, it was still pretty good n' all. I did think that Nia's performance was very lackluster though -- she has had some genuinely very good monster performances in the past vs. Asuka (& others too), but here she offered nothing interesting to the table, BUUUUT thankfully Asuka absolutely ruled w/ all of her kick & submission heavy work. **3/4

Bobby Lashley vs. Drew McIntyre

Lashley delivered one of his most compelling performances since his WWE return here. He was an AWESOME aggressor throughout, laying out a vicious beating to the champ, and McIntyre sure matched that viciousness himself as well. A very enjoyable bout. It's between this & Jeff/Sheamus when it comes to my favorite match of the night. ***1/4

Edge vs. Randy Orton

Yeah... The whole marketing line sure did them dirty, but ignoring that, this was essentially exactly what you (or at least what I) would expect from a Edge vs. Randy Orton match, but it's stretched out to 40+ minutes & they add a shitload of more finishers n' kickouts to fill out that time. If you like the two, you probably liked this, but I can't say that I am a fan. By far the best stuff in the thing was the beginning minutes with Orton at first trying to embarrass Edge, and it eventually turning into Edge returning the favor by successfully baiting Orton a couple of times. That was a legitimately pretty charming lil' dynamic they got going for a little bit. All the finishers from other wrestlers they busted out; Angle Slam, Pedigree, Unprettier, 3 Amigos, a goddamn Rock Bottom, just felt cheap & them going "look at how smart we are pal!!!" -- not my kind of stuff to say the least. And then there's WWE adding the piped-in crowd noise, which was ridiculous, and then there's also the PC wrestlers crowd, of which chants make the whole thing feel extremely masturbatory. I totally get why some people loved this, but this was so not for me. *