It was a busy week for WWE as they continue to build off of what transpired at WrestleMania and Greatest Royal Rumble. Now, heading into Backlash, new feuds are occurring and stories are still developing. Here’s what I liked and disliked from this week so far.
Good: McIntyre + Ziggler
Drew McIntyre joined Dolph Ziggler at the main stage of WWE Raw and so far the two have been a perfect tandem. McIntyre was brought up from NXT and has used his size and athletic ability to naturally pair himself with the smaller Ziggler who takes most of the reigns on promos.
The two have yet to have a feud with anyone yet, but my hope is that they aren’t used as a tag team, rather a pair of singles wrestlers, in the future.
Bad: Braun and Lashley together
While both of these two men are tremendously gifted, neither has an opponent that can really test the other. And if all of the pairings eventually lead to a rivalry, I’m fine with it, but I’m anxious to see these two battle it out.
Good: Kevin Owens is wonderful
Owens set himself up as the next potential feud against Roman Reigns. This would be nice since Samoa Joe is now on SmackDown and Owens is completely dominating as a heel. Reigns would continue to get boos from the crowds in a rivalry with KO, but the two can put on some good battles, especially is Sami Zayn gets involved.
Hopefully, Dean Ambrose is close to a return and that would set off a two-on-two rivalry. Ambrose returning would also give Reigns a boost in the right direction if paired with The Big Dog.
Bad: WWE’s obsession with little people
Lord have mercy, WWE is absolutely beating a dead horse with the little people… Big Cass brought out another small person as he insulted Daniel Bryan. Cass is someone who will need to pair with a more talkative wrestler if he hopes to succeed or he’ll just become a 7-foot jobber and you can’t teach that.
Good: Randy Orton is still Randy Orton
His betweenish ways get better and better as he ages. He’s still friendly enough to get over with the crowd, but vicious enough to give someone an RKO, whether they deserve it or not. Jeff Hardy found himself in the line of fire after their 2-on-2 match.
Orton and Hardy will certainly be a match reminiscent of great times in the WWE when they square off at Backlash.
Bad: Cien still hasn’t debuted
Andrade “Cien” Almas needs to arrive already. Since Cien was paired with Zelina Vega, he has exploded to become a star. He can carry that momentum over to SD Live, but for that to happen he has to actually show up. It’s a decent heel tactic to prolong his arrival, but they have to be careful not to wait too long.
BACKLASH PREDICTIONS
- Ruby Riott def. Bayley
- Shinsuke Nakamura def. AJ Styles
- Seth Rollins (c) def. The Miz
- Jeff Hardy (c) def Randy Orton
- Nia Jax (c) def. Alexa Bliss
- Charlotte def. Carmella (c) via countout
- Roman Reigns def. Samoa Joe
- Daniel Bryan def. Big Cass
- Braun Strowman and Bobby Lashley def.Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn
Featured Image: 2018 Topps Now WWE #14