Backlash (test)

Just seen your post Grecian so testing if it will post a new thread.



Miz and Seth have just had an absolute corker of a match. Physical Story... Told.

It was pretty awesome.

If I was being critical I'd say Seth could slow it down a bit at times, like before the frog splash, and I was thinking early on his facials aren't really the best and that was putting me off a bit, but then they did a cool adrenaline rush/fight through the pain spot on the figure four which made up for his one eye pirate face he kept doing... Haha

Great chemistry and the perfect match to end their rivalry regardless of any nitpicking

The internet is calling backlash one of the worst PPV's ever lol

Spoiler ahead on the finish to the WWE title match...

They do realise AJ and Nakamura are building to a classic instead of just going one and done? It was a good match and the ending makes sense. People are obsessed with finality. Why waste the big decisive ending on Backlash when you have bigger events lined up. There's no way to say who is better at the moment, Shinsuke lost when his friendly mind games didn't work, and since he's adapted them to more sinister mind games he's not lost. Story being told over time, come on internet, let the character develop he's not exactly ready to beat AJ with the way he's been on tv since debut, but he's getting there. And having AJ beat him 3 times would help no one, so the two no contests work. The Double nut shot was classic storytelling of a long feud, it was not just a stupid finish. This feud is getting Nakamura over as an interesting character on the weekly tv show they do... a few months back he was just a guy people like for seemingly no reason on WWE tv.

For me it all boils down to this. Double count outs and double tko's are supposed to be frustrating in the moment, but in the long run the final pay off will (hopefully haha) be so much better because of it. I think the universal panning of it is a huge over reaction. It was their best match, their next will be even better. And how sweet will the finality of a clean decisive finish feel after the previous ones? Exactly.

I like watching heel Nakamura 1000x more in WWE than whatever the original debut was. And I liked the finish. It's a double TKO. Deal with it IWC


The main event. I liked when the crowd chanted this is boring so Joe did the same spot again by wearing Roman down with a simple hold and staying there smiling and baiting the crowd. That's called being a good heel. I was laughing, anyway.

I don't know if I like Roman winning because he'd be more interesting to me if he lost again and had to struggle through a bad run, but whatever, the match started with some big bumps, of course it had to slow down in the middle lol.

The main problem the ppv had was that the first match was just so good. It really was awesome. Every element was pleasing, the busted knee spots, reversals, false finishes and the little details where you felt it was a real chess match to get the best of the opponent. They basically did everything anyone else could have done in one match lol.

So many recent ppvs have had their best match first, the rest of it just tails off.

AJ vs Naka was their best match so far. Ending totally made sense, and it's clearly building to some kind of cage match, street fight, something along those lines. My main hope is this was Naka's fifth ppv shot at a world title. How many more times can he be unsuccessful before people give up on him? I love his remixed entrance music too.

Roman, Roman, Roman. Problem I have is that his matches all follow the same pattern. He takes an absolute beating, tables, finishers... Kicks out of the lot, then wins with one spear. The guy is damned good in ring, but spends so long selling, you never see it. I'd love to see him as a Triple H around 2001 heel - hugely confident, never backing down. All the stuff he does now but with added evil. Whenever I see him offscreen or in a Network documentary, he's a really cool, likeable guy, but his booking never allows that to translate to the screen.

Carmella might be my favourite female star. I thought she was great, her character work was brilliant.

I thought the whole thing was a bit dull after the first match. Coming so soon after the GRR, it all felt rushed. It could have done with being a week later.

Yeah it wasn't a great ppv, but people are going crazy like it was all a huge turd of one. Some of it was a bit same old stuff, but it's hardly the worst.

He's kind of had to have a lot of shots because tbh the Rumble meant they had to force him into the spotlight. I feel like he's now looking like a guy who could hold the title though, I don't know if he will because AJ is the money guy, but if he does it's been earned on WWE tv, not just on reputation, his swagger works now, he has a character and he looks more dangerous. I love his new music too. They've got rid of everything that made him look cheap in comparison to other big names and he fits in to the product now.

I think some people viewed him with rose tinted glasses before and just expected him to be on Aj's level and booked like a big deal because of his work outside WWE, but I always said Asuka comes across better on tv, what she did in NXT works in wwe, but NXT Shinsuke doesn't work on tv, nothing changed and it was awkward. So we've basically been watching a work in progress and it's comong together now. WWE knows how to make it work now and he's tweaked it a little bit. A story is being told through his expressions and actions that any level of fan can buy into. And it's making good tv, and the matches are building to a classic.

I think some people are cringing at the thought of a gimmick match, but these are the matches that make people memorable, so I'm looking forward to what they do next. Step up the viciousness and move away from the nut shot now they've done the double one.

Roman does spend a lot of time selling. The way they use him keeps him as the most talked about man in wrestling, but I'm largely apathetic to it. Maybe people leaving the show might create problems for WWE because they even caught it on camera, but they have already paid, so maybe not lol. It looked bad though. It might make them think about throwing in a few surprises late. Apparently the next feud is Mahal so at least that won't be last on any show lol.


Me, me, me, me... I've been loving Carmella too. The little promo for the match they've been running makes her look even better. I noticed a while back on a random pre show she had a talking spot and she absolutely nailed some amazing heel stuff. Since then I've really enjoyed seeing her get more time. She has pure instinct and timing

The Iiconics are also amazing. They had a little run in nxt where you knew they'd be epic on the main roster.  They are 'social media era' money! The annoying Aussie drawl thing is so different to anything else right now. They made the pre show and it's worth skipping through to find their time with the panel.

And a side note SD is getting Zelina Vega too! There's a lot of character talent and on mic brilliance on that brand.

What else was there? I can't see Jeff vs Randy as long term (hopefully Almas comes In here)

No real tag teams on the ppv, so those divisions being reset.

I was surprised Lashley and Braun didn't clash, at some point Braun can't be sharing the beatings with another guy. The whole dynamic was strange there.

Bobby Roode has gone from main eventing Raw with the big push talent to twerking with No Way Jose. It was funny though. Part of thr post I lost last week was about really enjoying the old school booking of Roode vs Elias. They have a potential good feud going. Their Raw match stood out because it was a good old fashioned well worked match with a physical style, and bit of a clue that Roode would seek revenge by taking out Elias' throat too, therefore what? His voice... it's simple but effective if they pick that up again and ignore the "you just want to be a fool and entertain people" thing from the PPV.

There's just no midcard on either show. There are a lot of guys who are below the main event slots, like Roode, but none of them are doing anything memorable. Miz and Rollins are virtually headlining Raw at the moment as Brock is sunbathing / getting the roids out of his system for UFC / sleeping, but the IC is an obvious step below Reigns, but there aren't any other main event heels on Raw for him to work with when Brock's on holiday.

It's wasn't a bad PPV, I've seen much worse (December to Dismember, Mania 27 and Unforgiven 2006 being the worst of the worst), but none of it felt like it had any consequence. No title changes, no swerves. Randy played the heel role, but I got the feeling it was because him and Jeff are both popular, so felt one of them should be evil. I'd be surprised if it went anywhere. Likewise the hinted split between KO and Zayn, it made sense for the night in that they're both chickenshit heels, but (not having seen Raw), I'd be surprised if it continued.

My high point of the show (aside from the Rollins / Miz match, match of the night by some distance and possibly the greatest singles match of Miz's career) was the Carmella pre-match promo. Just the bit where she she squealed 'I'm the champ! Me!'. Her work at the moment is very much like Alexa Bliss - she knows she can't match up with the likes of Bayley or Charlotte or Asuka at wrestling, but her character work is just awesome.

Finally, Lashley still sucks.

It's like here's BRAUN who you love, now please like Lashley too. He's got to turn hasnt he? He's made zero impact since returning.

I didn't mind the KO and Sami stuff, but it just felt like they were breaking out the old rivalry to give the other two a chance to be on the card and beat them up a bit.

If you go back and watch Roode vs Elias last week it has potential for a really good midcard feud. But the ppv was done differently just to fit the comedy segment. I feel like I've enjoyed Elias vs Roman (a one off match) and Roode vs Elias in a one off match, so I hope they give Elias something to get stuck in to. If Roode attacks Elias and busts his throat then he can cancel some of his "gigs" and fight a few times on Raw and maybe set up something bigger at MITB. Bobby is a great guy for him to work with.


I'd go as far as saying I've not seen Rollins that interesting for a long long time. Yes, he can do anything in the ring, pretty much, but there's something about him that's off, I don't find him properly captivating. But that match had it all, he finally felt like he belonged. I dont know how to explain it, but think back to the huge Raw match, I can't remember anything specific from that apart from Rollins went all night. But the Miz match had memorable moments, they can replay the shit out of the knee to the post, the figure four spot, the Miz reversing the reversal of his finish with Seth's knee buckling, thesuperplex reversal into another Miz false finish. And the stomp where he's knocked out Miz, but has to drag himself to the cover. It had a feuds worth of memorable moments in one match. Any one of those could have been finishes in ppv matches lol.

Rack up those memorable moments in matches and I'm in on him going for another world title. If it's not part of the story he hasn't been making his own moments in ring other than being really good. Miz is a master of dreaming up different spots and teamed with Seth and his ability that made magic. Cena vs Seth would be great. Seth vs Roman if they did something fresh with Roman would be awesome. But Seth Vs Balor for example has lacked that magic touch. Despite being really good, theres a next level that Miz brought to their match. Hopefully this makes sense, it's just that extra touch that takes a really good long match to a true WWE style match of the year. AJ vs Cena had that touch because AJ is the working machine and Cena knows the audience and what needs to be done and when it needs to be done.

I really can't wait for Miz vs Bryan and Miz vs AJ now. Haha he could be set to have the top 3 matches of the year! PWI #10 last year, top 5 this year? Top 3?

Admin wrote:

Rack up those memorable moments in matches and I'm in on him going for another world title. If it's not part of the story he hasn't been making his own moments in ring other than being really good. Miz is a master of dreaming up different spots and teamed with Seth and his ability that made magic. Cena vs Seth would be great. Seth vs Roman if they did something fresh with Roman would be awesome. But Seth Vs Balor for example has lacked that magic touch. Despite being really good, theres a next level that Miz brought to their match. Hopefully this makes sense, it's just that extra touch that takes a really good long match to a true WWE style match of the year. AJ vs Cena had that touch because AJ is the working machine and Cena knows the audience and what needs to be done and when it needs to be done.

It's because Miz is probably the rarest thing in WWE. He's a heel who wants to be a heel, who acts like a heel. He doesn't have a cool moveset like KO, he doesn't have catchy music, he's barely got a catchphrase any more. He's just a prick who acts like a prick and is utterly detestable for it. He's only got 2 t-shirts on the WWE shop (I just checked!) and that's it. No sunglasses, cups, hoodies, nothing. He's the only guy who seems to be happy being a heel and foregoing the money. I'm tempted to go as far as to say he's the most valuable guy in WWE at the moment.

Rollins has had to regain his confidence since blowing his knee. He's now got his mojo back, and he's tearing it up. Before he got injured and retired Sting, he was on absolutely stunning form. Now he seems to be back in the frame of mind to just let loose, and it's showing. His hour long stint in the Raw gauntlet match seemed to be the start, now he's having match of the night contenders regularly.

That is so true about Miz. When he started doing Bryan's moveset badly it was genius too. But I think it's more than him just being a heel, I think he brings something to the match planning and calling spots in the ring that others are not. He has a different perspective that isn't forged by Indies, it's forged by his love for WWF. The fact he mentioned his heroes were the guys who held the IC let's you in on those influences. They were some of the very best wrestlers in WWE and his psychology and mind for matchhcraft seems to echo that more than guys who had to spend 5 or 10 years trying to get over in the indies. It's almost the same point were making I guess, but I do think it's more than just the heel elements, he's making guys he's in the ring with better. I suppose you could argue that is what a good heel is supposed to do, but still. Praise to Miz! I think he's way better than anyone ever thought.

In Jarrett's HoF speech, when he made a point of saying that Miz had made the IC title relevant again, I loved Miz's reaction - his mouth dropped and he just said 'Wow!'. That told me more about him any promo ever could. Apart from the Talking Smack with Bryan, of course.