mobanmarket This past Sunday night was the big Backlash show from the Allstate Arena in Chicago, Illinois. The Smackdown-exclusive show featured a much-anticipated Kevin Owens vs. AJ Styles match, the in-ring debut of Shinsuke Nakamura, the controversial Jinder Mahal vs. Randy Orton match for the WWE Championship, and much more. Let’s dive in and dissect what happened here, shall we? Good. The show kicked off with the Nakamura/Ziggler match.
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Dolph Ziggler –
Dolph came down to the ring and waited as Nakamura made his entrance. They delayed his entrance music for a good while before they finally cued the violins. Shinsuke got a pretty decent reaction from the Chicago crowd, but only made his normal entrance for the show. Ziggler was by the announce desk patiently waiting for Shinsuke to finish up his entrance.
At last, the match begins! Dolph Ziggler actually puts up a good fight against the “King of Strong Style” here. In the early stages, he was dominating the match. Why can’t Nakamura just defeat Ziggler easily? Ziggler’s time has definitely passed in my eyes, and this match could have been a way to help Nakamura get his first win decisively and in grand fashion by showing off all of his best moves. Ah well, it doesn’t really matter, because in the end, Nakamura did end up showing off his skills.
Nakamura got the upper hand later on in the match, and locked Ziggler into a triangle choke until he got to the ropes. Nakamura tried to hit the Kinshasa throughout the match, but Ziggler always found ways to avoid it. After almost pinning Dolph, Ziggler immiediatly got up and hit Shinsuke with a famouser, which nearly put Nakamura away. Dolph then went into the corner and tuned up the band to deliver a superkick to Shinsuke.While he managed to avoid the kick, Ziggler was able to hit a Zig-Zag, but Shinsuke kicked out. Finally, Nakamura successfully hit his first Kinshasa for the win.
Winner: Shinsuke Nakamura
They re-aired the “Fashion Files” skit from Smackdown this past Tuesday where Breezango vowed to defeat The Usos before doing a freeze-framed high five.
Breezango vs. The Usos for the Smackdown Tag Team Championships –
Tyler Breeze came down to the ring still dressed as a janitor from the aforementioned skit. He had a mop hidden in a bucket that should’ve have also functioned as a selfie-stick, but it wasn’t. The match was comedic for the most part. The match started with Breeze literally mopping the mat, then one of the Usos charged after him but ended up running into one of the ring posts. Breeze then proceeded to mop his face, which got the crowd to chant for the mop. Ugh. I like Breeze and Fandango, and I do enjoy “the Fashion Police”, but please don’t let the mop be a regular feature for this team. Then again, perhaps I may get my wish. The other Uso was then tagged in and broke the mop in half, and the crowd HATED them for doing so.
This comedy was actually pretty well received by everyone: the fans, the announcers, and even the Usos couldn’t help but laugh every now and then. After Fandango got some time in the ring, Breeze reemerged from under the ring. He was dressed as an old lady, your guess is as good a mine as to why exactly. Breeze hit some dropkicks on the brothers, this allowed for “let’s go grandma” to start. Finally, the Usos start fighting back, knocking off Breeze’s wig and glasses in the process. Upon the realization that this old lady was Tyler Breeze, JBL noted, “That’s Tyler Breeze!” Hey, Bradshaw occasionally has his moments, I suppose. Speaking of which, Breeze’s dress was torn off and thrown directly at JBL, to which the 50-year-old announcer stated: “Last time this happened, I payed for it.” I feel bullied and harassed thanks to those images.
It’s funny to think, but once you look past the goofy gimmick, you realize that the Fashion Police are both fantastic wrestlers. Breeze wrestled the rest of the match as himself, and was thrown over the barricade by the Usos. Fandango then did a dive/flip onto the two brothers and dragged one of them back into the ring. He went on top of one of the posts, but he was kicked off and pinned. A nice showing for the Breeze and Fandango, hopefully they don’t just fade back into obscurity after this match.
Winners: The Usos
Sami Zayn vs. Baron Corbin –
Fairly basic little match here, nothing too fancy. I figured that Corbin would get the win, and then likely head towards a feud with Randy Orton for the championship. After the outcome of his match though, I don’t even know what to believe. Anyway, Corbin rolled out of the ring early on. Every time that Baron tried to reenter the ring, Zayn would stop him by bouncing all over the ropes. He bounced off the middle rope and did a backflip before sitting down for no reason at all. This got under Corbin’s skin, and I wished that he would have been angry enough to try doing that himself. Anyway, Corbin did get back in the ring and he beat down Zayn. Baron was pretty much in control for the remainder of the match, he hit the Deep Six on Sami for a two-count.
Zayn fought back by turning an attempted End of Days into a clothesline. Corbin then slid out of the ring again, but immediately ran back in and hit Sami with a backbreaker. He hit another one later on for a close near-fall. Corbin began to set Sami Zayn up on one of the ring posts, but Zayn managed to hit a sunset-flip powerbomb on “the Lone Wolf”. Zayn never got to go see End of Days, and that’s because he then hit the Helluva Kick and got the win. A surprising outcome if I may say so.
Winner: Sami Zayn
A limo arrived backstage as the Bollywood Boyz (now Singh Brothers) rolled out a carpet in front of the limo doors. I didn’t expect Jinder Mahal to step on the carpet and ‘fly away’ due to some hydraulics underneath of it, but if this were any other time in WWE history, then I absolutely would’ve. Luckily, Jinder only stepped onto the carpet, but he did cut his “evil foreigner” promo again after an interviewer arrived. I guess some things never change with this company. He called the Chicago crowd a bunch of “haters” and vowed to win the title. He claimed he’s being disrespected, and began to speak in his language of Punjabi. He got the “what” and “CM Punk” treatment, a few boos, but most people just didn’t take this goober seriously at all.
James Ellsworth came down to the ring, and though he was booed, he still got more of a reaction than Jinder earlier. He called himself the Michael Jordan of WWE, then introduced his teammates.
The Welcoming Committee vs. Charlotte Flair, Naomi, and Becky Lynch –
Yep. That’s the name their sticking with for Ellsworth, Natalya, Carmella, and Tamina’s team. I suppose that Breezango is lamer, Air Boom was also an atrocious name, and so is WWE Champion Jinder Mahal. Tamina came down with similar gear, hair, and facial expressions as Nia Jax. Becky Lynch did her hair in some strange Luna Vachon-esque style. As she made her entrance and tried to energize the crowd, they cut to a shot of a little girl in the audience yawning and about ready to take a nap.
Carmella was in this match for most of the beginning stages, then Naomi was tagged in and stayed there for most of the match. Tamina hit a ton of slow, boring, slams throughout this match, not unlike Nia Jax. Naomi finally was able to make the hot tag over to Lynch, and the team all took turns fighting each other. Natalya eventually locked Becky into the sharpshooter, causing her to tap out. The victorious team walked away as Becky, Charlotte, and Naomi all watched in anger.
Winners: The Welcoming Committee
Kevin Owens vs. AJ Styles for the United States Championship –
This match was a bit surprising in that I expected it to close out the show, and because it was actually rather dull, but that’s just me talking. They have a back-and-fourth match with the momentum constantly shifting in one another’s direction. It started off with some grappling, “Chinlock City” returned, and they traded the advantage for a while. At one point, AJ went for the Phenomenal Forearm, but appeared to botch the move. It’s possible that it could have been done on purpose as his injured knee was crucial in the story of this match, but I don’t think that was the case. Owens managed to turn it around and make the crowd ignore it anyway.
Styles hit a Pele Kick on Owens, then got him outside and suplexed him on the ring apron. Gasp! Don’t you know that that’s the hardest part of the ring? Styles removed the monitors and such from the announcer’s table, he put Kevin on the table and went for a Styles Clash, but one of his legs fell into the hole where one of the monitors was. He pulled his leg out, but his boot was tangled in a mess of cables. He struggled to remove the cables, and hung upside down from the table as he tried to remove them. He looked silly, and it cost him the match too. Owens took advantage by running back into the ring and taking the cheap count out victory. After the match, Owens kicked Styles in the head. He was helped out by referees, and was not able to walk out on his own. Why didn’t Owens do that during the match, or any of his matches for that matter? The crowd was into this, but they will probably have even better matches later on this summer.
Winner: Kevin Owens
They recapped the pre-show match which saw “The Perfect 10” Tye Dillinger defeat Aiden English with the Tye-Breaker. Aiden English is still crying and depressed after this loss. They made it out to appear as if he’s having some sort of nervous breakdown. Classy, Vince.
Erick Rowan vs. Luke Harper –
Rowan placed his sheep mask on the ring steps and would constantly look out towards it during the match. It began with Rowan wearing down Harper, which as you can imagine, just had everybody in this crowd on the edge of their seat. Rowan slid out of the ring, but Harper charged after him hard into the barricade. Luke also dove through the ropes and pushed Erick in between the announce desks before giving Rowan a senton. He tossed the Rowan back into the ring and gave him a big boot as well. Luke Harper superkicked Rowan, causing him to fall onto the ropes. Finally, Rowan looks towards the mask. He begins to regain some strength. He appeared to be reinvigorated by this mask, and what does looking at this mask cause the big man to do? Well, not much actually. He was superkicked again by Harper, then knocked out by an elbow, then pinned.
Winner: Luke Harper
Randy Orton vs. Jinder Mahal for the WWE Championship –
This was Jinder’s big moment to really shine in this match. This was his chance to prove to all of us that he truly deserved to mix it up in the main event scene, and could hang with the likes of Randy Orton. The beginning of this match certainly did him no favors, as Randy was being introduced by Greg Hamilton, Orton attacked Mahal from behind, and the match begun. Orton threw Jinder out of the ring, tossed him over the announcer’s table like a garbage bag, punched him, kicked him, and threw him back in. It appeared as if the match would end early, but Jinder rolled back into the ring and was given a quick pep talk by the Singh Brothers in the corner. As he gets up, Orton almost hits the RKO, but Mahal escaped out of the ring.
Now we’re on to the fun part: Jinder Mahal actually wrestling. He worked the arm, and he worked the arm, he released it for just a moment or so, then he went back to working the arm. If he did anything else in this match, be sure to let me know. I’ll totally feel bad about it. Half of the Allstate Arena did want to see Mahal win the title, while the others chanted against him. Orton regained momentum and gave a draping DDT to Mahal. He went for the RKO again, but Mahal slipped away once more. Orton went after him, but the Singh Brothers stood in his way. He fought them off with ease and got Jinder back into the ring. This time, he setup and hit the RKO, but his injured arm was aggravated as a result. Orton dramatically crawled to make the cover, and as the referee counted to two, the Singh Brother pulled Mahal out of the ring just in time.
Orton absolutely lost it after this, and he ran after the Singhs. He managed to flip both brothers high into the air, and then have each of their heads land on one of the announce tables. It looked brutal and the crowd in Chicago came alive. Orton gave draping DDT’s to both of the Singh Brothers at the same time, but this proved to be a fatal mistake for ol’ Randall. Jinder Mahal managed to sneak back into the ring from behind, and he delivered to Cobra Clutch Slam on Orton for the shocking victory.
Winner: JINDER MAHAL!!!
Yes, you read that correctly. Jinder Mahal pinned Randy Orton to win the WWE Championship in the main event of Backlash from Chicago, Illinois. He’s certainly not the only person to win the big prize from out of nowhere (no pun intended). This match reminded me a bit of when Sheamus put John Cena through a table on pay-per-view to win the WWE Championship for the first time after he’d only been on the main roster for a few months. I’ve joked throughout this article about Jinder’s big win, but I am happy for the guy. After years of doing nothing, getting released, and then being rehired to do nothing again, I am happy to see the company put faith in somebody new. Randy Orton as champion does absolutely nothing for me, so I can’t see how Jinder will be any worse.
For some reason though, I don’t expect this title reign to last very long. I get the feeling that it could be a situation where he’ll drop it back to Orton on Smackdown or the next pay-per-view. I certainly don’t see him defending the title at SummerSlam. Then again, I never saw him winning the WWE Championship either, so who knows what could happen? The match did get a pretty decent reaction from the crowd, albeit mostly when Orton was on offense, and the title change did prompt a few cheers from shocked fans. No “you deserve it” chants for The Maharaja though. Clearly a result of the disrespectful American fans. See? The storyline is working! Either that or they were waiting to chant that at the acne on his back and the veins in arms.
See you next time!