Conni
katharsis
Will do my thoughts and opinions for Backlash 2018 and its matches on this post, I will do the same for Wrestling Dontaku Nights 1 and 2 which will be coming soon™
Ruby Riott (with Riott Squad) vs. Bayley - Simple pre-show match, cemented Riott Squad as heel the standard way of interference they did ok but like most pre show matches no build up and rather bland, nothing much else to say. 1.5 / 5
Seth Rollins (c) vs. The Miz - One of The Miz's best matches in 2018, both did really well in portraying the story at hand with Seth Rollins' in ring performance being as great as ever while The Miz also did pretty good which made the match really interesting and great. Despite The Miz's currently shifting character he still managed to tell the story in a heelish manner quite well while Seth Rollins is one of Raw's best babyfaces which told the point really well, great finish and great performance by both. 4 / 5
Nia Jax (c) vs. Alexa Bliss - Aside from some small fight-backs by Alexa Bliss, Nia Jax kinda dominated the match with all that throwing around of Alexa Bliss, it may make the former champion look too powerless but the objective of getting Jax over as a dominant and monster-ish powerful champ has been successful, but aside from that it could come of as kind of bland, there were some nice spots but the match quality itself could've improved significantly, but story-wise this was adequate. 2.75 / 5
Jeff Hardy (c) vs. Randy Orton - The build up to this was rather weird because Shelton Benjamin was involved in this and what was the point of having him there if he wasn't going to be related to match at all because he didn't show up at all or at least wasn't even in the match, which kinda makes him having his issues with Orton and Hardy kinda pointless while his pinfall victory against Orton may've been all for nothing because the issue about him being the no. 1 contender wasn't even touched upon which made the story behind this match not as good, the in ring quality, however, was fine, nice finish. 3 / 5
Daniel Bryan vs. Big Cass - Nice way to make Daniel Bryan win satisfactorily but also a decent way to still make Big Cass dominant in the end due to the post-match beat down which was deserved or else Big Cass wouldn't look like a threat to D Bryan so the finish and story telling was fine, Cass was a good heel throughout the match and Bryan is also one of the best babyfaces too so you know how that goes. In terms of in-ring, Cass would good using his character and size to influence his moves like the Big Boot which I think fits him nicely, Daniel Bryan is good as ever. Although my one complaint is that they do have spots, but they aren't as memorable so they might need this or else some can see this match as kinda bland. 3 / 5
Carmella (c) vs. Charlotte Flair - Carmella got quite over by beating Charlotte relatively clean while of course portraying the rather frail, but effective heel persona which makes her an adequate heel champion who now has some feats to back her up so this match played nicely into the story although while maintaining that she does still run away which is totally fine. Didn't make Charlotte look to weak either because she dominated a significant portion of the match before Mella got the upper hand, for in ring both did fine but again no significant spots, story is fine. 3 / 5
AJ Styles (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura - Now this match really grinded my gears, god damn it WWE I know you like to prolong your feuds to make it intense but it isn't working here, you're wasting potential time of these two amazing wrestlers because these series of matches aren't befitting of their careers at all. The ending was horrible either, the Low Blows are really excessive at this point and no one will be satisfied with this ending again, GRR was enough, not again at Backlash. As a face, Shinsuke Nakamura was rather stagnant with the whole program with Jinder and they can't just deny heel Nakamura now by giving crappy endings because the same thing will happen again which Nakamura doesn't deserve, just give him the title already, he's already made his heel stuff effective while also getting AJ over as a face on the occasions they meet. Shinsuke is already ready for the title, prolonging it with these false feud finishes aren't going to work as effectively as people think. In terms of in-ring I feel like the two could do much better, but I don't think it's their fault really as in NJPW they are given much more freedom in their wrestling matches, but in WWE they aren't which makes this match rather suppressed. 2.5 / 5
Braun Strowman and Bobby Lashley vs. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn - This match was good overall with the in ring quality being pretty good with Braun's monster tactics on point, Bobby Lashley's power on display while Owens and Zayn are good technica wizards. The story here was also not bad with Strowman and KO going at odds while they keep doing the chasing thing outside the ring which needs to watch out for being too redundant. Overall pushed the babyfaces quite well while also making Owens and Zayn not that weak due to the situation they're in which builds up the feud nicely although the direction is currently unclear so they'll need to focus on that soon while the basis of the feud is also unclear because how it started was from multiple tag matches so that needs to get sorted out. But otherwise, in ring and story is fine, good feud builder. 3 / 5
Roman Reigns vs. Samoa Joe - I feel like this feud was built up pretty poorly with Joe looking like he just wanted to clean up Brock's leftovers. I know Joe hates Reigns but just because Reigns is losing a lot doesn't make it a good feud if Joe just wants to make Reigns lose again and lose hope for good, surely they can make a better feud because they had rather minimal confrontations while the verbal battles were really redundant, I feel like they could've based the feud on something better than Reign's losing streak which is now broken btw because why not. Overall the story was awkwardly builded and has no good direction while the in ring was ok as usual. 2.5 / 5
Overall Backlash was pretty bad, the Styles / Nakamura match and the Reigns / Joe match all had really crappy or bland endings while the build up to the latter was pretty bland while the Styles / Nakamura feud is being delayed and depleted of its hype and intensity with both men not looking too good so far. As with the other championship matches they were ok, but only ok as they may want to make their current champions look strong yes that's fine but there weren't any significant and memorable spots from them that they can use to ensure their dominance as champions. Overall consensus, Backlash was rather bland paling in comparison to Wrestling Dontaku, which I'll get to in the future. I was pretty disappointed, hoping MITB is better.
Let me know what you think of Backlash 2018 and / or what I've said about it.
Ruby Riott (with Riott Squad) vs. Bayley - Simple pre-show match, cemented Riott Squad as heel the standard way of interference they did ok but like most pre show matches no build up and rather bland, nothing much else to say. 1.5 / 5
Seth Rollins (c) vs. The Miz - One of The Miz's best matches in 2018, both did really well in portraying the story at hand with Seth Rollins' in ring performance being as great as ever while The Miz also did pretty good which made the match really interesting and great. Despite The Miz's currently shifting character he still managed to tell the story in a heelish manner quite well while Seth Rollins is one of Raw's best babyfaces which told the point really well, great finish and great performance by both. 4 / 5
Nia Jax (c) vs. Alexa Bliss - Aside from some small fight-backs by Alexa Bliss, Nia Jax kinda dominated the match with all that throwing around of Alexa Bliss, it may make the former champion look too powerless but the objective of getting Jax over as a dominant and monster-ish powerful champ has been successful, but aside from that it could come of as kind of bland, there were some nice spots but the match quality itself could've improved significantly, but story-wise this was adequate. 2.75 / 5
Jeff Hardy (c) vs. Randy Orton - The build up to this was rather weird because Shelton Benjamin was involved in this and what was the point of having him there if he wasn't going to be related to match at all because he didn't show up at all or at least wasn't even in the match, which kinda makes him having his issues with Orton and Hardy kinda pointless while his pinfall victory against Orton may've been all for nothing because the issue about him being the no. 1 contender wasn't even touched upon which made the story behind this match not as good, the in ring quality, however, was fine, nice finish. 3 / 5
Daniel Bryan vs. Big Cass - Nice way to make Daniel Bryan win satisfactorily but also a decent way to still make Big Cass dominant in the end due to the post-match beat down which was deserved or else Big Cass wouldn't look like a threat to D Bryan so the finish and story telling was fine, Cass was a good heel throughout the match and Bryan is also one of the best babyfaces too so you know how that goes. In terms of in-ring, Cass would good using his character and size to influence his moves like the Big Boot which I think fits him nicely, Daniel Bryan is good as ever. Although my one complaint is that they do have spots, but they aren't as memorable so they might need this or else some can see this match as kinda bland. 3 / 5
Carmella (c) vs. Charlotte Flair - Carmella got quite over by beating Charlotte relatively clean while of course portraying the rather frail, but effective heel persona which makes her an adequate heel champion who now has some feats to back her up so this match played nicely into the story although while maintaining that she does still run away which is totally fine. Didn't make Charlotte look to weak either because she dominated a significant portion of the match before Mella got the upper hand, for in ring both did fine but again no significant spots, story is fine. 3 / 5
AJ Styles (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura - Now this match really grinded my gears, god damn it WWE I know you like to prolong your feuds to make it intense but it isn't working here, you're wasting potential time of these two amazing wrestlers because these series of matches aren't befitting of their careers at all. The ending was horrible either, the Low Blows are really excessive at this point and no one will be satisfied with this ending again, GRR was enough, not again at Backlash. As a face, Shinsuke Nakamura was rather stagnant with the whole program with Jinder and they can't just deny heel Nakamura now by giving crappy endings because the same thing will happen again which Nakamura doesn't deserve, just give him the title already, he's already made his heel stuff effective while also getting AJ over as a face on the occasions they meet. Shinsuke is already ready for the title, prolonging it with these false feud finishes aren't going to work as effectively as people think. In terms of in-ring I feel like the two could do much better, but I don't think it's their fault really as in NJPW they are given much more freedom in their wrestling matches, but in WWE they aren't which makes this match rather suppressed. 2.5 / 5
Braun Strowman and Bobby Lashley vs. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn - This match was good overall with the in ring quality being pretty good with Braun's monster tactics on point, Bobby Lashley's power on display while Owens and Zayn are good technica wizards. The story here was also not bad with Strowman and KO going at odds while they keep doing the chasing thing outside the ring which needs to watch out for being too redundant. Overall pushed the babyfaces quite well while also making Owens and Zayn not that weak due to the situation they're in which builds up the feud nicely although the direction is currently unclear so they'll need to focus on that soon while the basis of the feud is also unclear because how it started was from multiple tag matches so that needs to get sorted out. But otherwise, in ring and story is fine, good feud builder. 3 / 5
Roman Reigns vs. Samoa Joe - I feel like this feud was built up pretty poorly with Joe looking like he just wanted to clean up Brock's leftovers. I know Joe hates Reigns but just because Reigns is losing a lot doesn't make it a good feud if Joe just wants to make Reigns lose again and lose hope for good, surely they can make a better feud because they had rather minimal confrontations while the verbal battles were really redundant, I feel like they could've based the feud on something better than Reign's losing streak which is now broken btw because why not. Overall the story was awkwardly builded and has no good direction while the in ring was ok as usual. 2.5 / 5
Overall Backlash was pretty bad, the Styles / Nakamura match and the Reigns / Joe match all had really crappy or bland endings while the build up to the latter was pretty bland while the Styles / Nakamura feud is being delayed and depleted of its hype and intensity with both men not looking too good so far. As with the other championship matches they were ok, but only ok as they may want to make their current champions look strong yes that's fine but there weren't any significant and memorable spots from them that they can use to ensure their dominance as champions. Overall consensus, Backlash was rather bland paling in comparison to Wrestling Dontaku, which I'll get to in the future. I was pretty disappointed, hoping MITB is better.
Let me know what you think of Backlash 2018 and / or what I've said about it.