Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s annual review of WWE Backlash, where four championships were on the line and four championships were successfully defended! If you missed the show and want to know what happened, please feel free to check out our Backlash results page for all the objective details. If you want to know what the WINC staff thought of the show, however, you're in the right place.
Did we appreciate Lyra Valkyria scoring a flash pin on Becky Lynch? Were we moved by Pat McAfee's plight in his uphill battle with GUNTHER? Is there some way for us to be more absolutely finished with El Grande Americano than we already are? From Jeff Cobb's violent debut to R-Truth delivering his childhood hero from justice, here are three things we hated and three things we loved about WWE Backlash 2025.
Going into Backlash it had been interesting to see the evolving dynamic between Jacob Fatu and Solo Sikoa, isolated by instance through the injuries of Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa, and unknowing of where they stand with one another after Sikoa lost his claim to the Tribal Chiefdom. Fatu took the title at WrestleMania seemingly to the chagrin of Sikoa, reluctantly congratulating the man he brought in as an enforcer after accomplishing the task he had failed, and since then has continued to plead his independence and the right to call the plays, leaving questions over what Sikoa really does for the "Samoan Werewolf." So it was time for Sikoa to try and answer those questions this weekend, coming out to the surprise of the fans in attendance and Fatu himself, flanked by the debuting Jeff Cobb, to ultimately hand Fatu the title retention.
It was a gift that will likely come with caveats in the coming weeks, and one that Fatu spent moments proverbially looking at in the gullet, before finally taking advantage. It was exactly what he said he didn't want just last night and is a glaring example of the fact that in spite of all that's happened, Sikoa still believes himself to be the leader. Cobb can also be seen as a potential replacement for Fatu, a signal of intent from Sikoa for his enforcer to not forget about his place and who it was that brought him into the fold. But then he is also a really fun wrestler to observe and appears to be a good get altogether, so the spot as a whole was just great to watch as a fan. It's a bonus that everything fits together in a way that enhances the story going forward.
Written byMaxEverett
Maybe "survives" isn't communicating how awesome Lyra Valkyria's Women's Intercontinental Championship retention was, but by God, was that an insane fight.
I walked into Valkyria's title defense against Becky Lynch thinking that this was either going to be a disqualification finish (that's me being generous) or that Lynch was going to walk out of St. Louis the new Women's Intercontinental Champion. I thought that Valkyria was going to put up a nice little fight, but that Lynch would absolutely mop the floor with her and prove all of the "Becky Hogan" allegations. After all, Lynch was implicated in Bayley's removal from WrestleMania 41 at best and was somewhat involved at worst if she can boot a fellow Four Horsewoman from the biggest card of the year, taking the title off of an up-and-comer should have been like taking candy from a baby.
I have to apologize to Becky Lynch for ever doubting her.
Lynch and Valkyria tore the house down, especially as the only women's match on Saturday's Backlash card. Lynch and Valkyria showed up and showed out with their high-octane, hard-hitting match; they were full of emotion, sadism, and spectacular wrestling. Best of all: Valkyria got the win! Lynch put Valkyria over, and while I know that this is not the first time Lynch has agreed to lose to her fellow countryman, it still feels great to witness such a monumental win amidst the sea of Valkyria doubters and "Becky Hogan" comparisons.
I can't lie; Lynch is great as a heel. Take this as positively as possible: Lynch's experience in clown school does wonders for her heel character. She's cartoonishly evil, especially with the way she crashes out at every minor inconvenience, but I think that it's a great juxtaposition to her grounded, emotionally stable face character. What I especially love about her over-the-top villain persona is how it translates to her moveset. When she's a heel, her movements get more frantic and brutal, her eye rakes and Dis-Arm-Hers get more feverish and erratic. It adds to the whole experience, which is why she's so convincing as a heel.
I cannot sing Valkyria's praises enough. I think she will be buried in my pyramid when I die. She is just such a great babyface, and, like Lynch, her moveset reflects that. For her stature, she should not be lifting up people for the Nightwing as she does, but her incredible feat of strength shows grit and determination. Her high-flying agility showcases her youthful energy, and her capacity to be one of the wrestlers of the future. The way she reversed Lynch's roll-up into a one-armed pin of her own speaks volumes to her experience and in-ring wit. Everything Valkyria does in the ring highlights her character.
The match and Lynch's willingness to put Valkyria over set the bar high. While the rest of the show might not have followed up on that (more to come), I'm glad that the women had great representation for the rest of the night.
Written by Angeline Phu
In a show full of high-strung emotions, major storyline beats, and thought-provoking character development, Dominik Mysterio and Penta had a lot to follow. When the two me locked up, however, and nothing happened outside of typical Judgement Day interference and a questionable appearance by El Grande Americano, the absence of soul was felt.
I said what I said in the title: I could not care less about this match. I could not care less about what the match did, I could not care less about its outcome, and I could not care less about where all associated parties will go from here. That match was alright wrestling, sure, but when nearly every other match on the card had some sort of purpose to it, this match fell incredibly flat. We do not claim GUNTHER's match against Pat McAfee, but even that had more character-building (or, rather, character-restoring) for GUNTHER than Saturday's Intercontinental Championship match had for either Mysterio or Penta.
I get that Mysterio is trying to establish himself as "the greatest Mysterio of all time," but I don't know if taking on the guy you already defended the title against once is necessarily the way to do that. I get that Mysterio is trying to establish himself by attempting to get a "clean" win over Penta, but I don't know if having the Judgement Day and Americano out at ringside, so the clean win definitely does *not* happen, is the way you should be approaching that problem. This match did absolutely nothing for Mysterio, and it did absolutely nothing for Penta they didn't even expand on the Americano angle they seem to be peddling! I know I've made "this could have been an email" comparisons to pointless matches in the past, and it rings just as true now as it did then. This match really did not do anything for either party. This could have been an email.
If you're looking for a fun match, then I guess this was it? Not really, because Mysterio and Penta while great wrestlers in their own right didn't necessarily branch out, moveset-wise. Penta had that one moment where he dove off of the top of the corner post to connect a Vertical Crossbody onto Mysterio, but otherwise? Nothing. There was nothing really pearl-clutching in the match nothing inspiring. It was just good wrestling, and that's about it. In a card that was chock full of much more impactful wrestling, "just good wrestling" is not going to cut it. I'm not saying that all matches have to break narrative ground or feature some huge twist, but if you're going to load a card with matches that *do* break narrative ground or feature some huge twist, you can't be mad when the one match that *doesn't* do that falls flat.
It sucks, because Mysterio and Penta are great talent. They just didn't go to that next level, though. Maybe they don't need to on a minor event like Backlash. However, when everyone else did...
Written by Angeline Phu
GUNTHER vs. Pat McAfee was the worst match I have ever seen in my life but not because it was bad. I actually thought it was fairly effective at what it was trying to do. In fact, Iactually think what it was trying to do is the best thing wrestling can do, or at least one of my favorite things wrestling does. This was a match structured in a way that I normally enjoy, with a goal that I think wrestling should almost constantly be striving to achieve. I should have liked it, maybe even loved it. And it's possible I would have, if not for Pat McAfee.
To be clear, this isn't about me personally not liking McAfee. I don't like him, but that's not what this is about. This is about the match's intent. And a match like this one is designed, in every way that matters, to make the babyface look like a superstar even in defeat. We've seen this match a million times in wrestling history; the formula isexceptionally well-worn at this point. This wouldn't have been the best version of it even if McAfee wasn't involved Michael Cole's dramatics at ringside were enough to ensure that it couldn't even sniff the top 50 but if McAfee had been involved, it would have been good. The formula works so well it's actually difficult to screw it up. If the person GUNTHER was beating up, taunting, and refusing to pin was a wrestler; if the person who survived all the suplexes, the powerbombs, the clotheslines, who escaped the sleeper holds and passed out rather than tap was awrestler, this would have been good. Maybe even great, who knows?
It wasn't a wrestler, though. It was Pat McAfee. Again, forget about personal opinions he's a commentator. He's not a wrestler. He's not part of the in-ring roster. He's had six WWE singles matches in five years and two of them were on the same show. You know how meaningful a match like this could have been for, I don't know, NathanFrazer? Ludwig Kaiser? Literally any member of the LWO? For crying out loud, GUNTHER shook McAfree's hand after the match that is a star-maker! Apollo Crews would kill his grandmother to be in that spot, and you give it toPat McAfee?Why? For what reason? What is he going to do with the rub he just got? If he doesn't wrestle after this, it was a complete waste of time, and if he does wrestle after this, that's even worse, because those are other spots and other matches that are going to McAfee and not an actual member of the roster.
WWE is obviously a soul-sucking corporate abomination that cares more about celebrities than wrestlers, but I didn't really feel it until Backlash, when they took something pure from the heart of pro wresting and used it to put over a retired NFL punter with an ESPN show.GUNTHER vs. Pat McAfee was the worst match I have ever seen in my life, not because it was bad, but because it was extraordinarily effective at doing something terrible.
Written by Miles Schneiderman
There is, admittedly, very little you can do about the dwindling work rate of John Cena and, to a much lesser extent, Randy Orton as they faced one another in potentially the last installment of their saga of too many sequels. But at the same time even I underestimated how gruelingly slow the glorified finisher-fest was going to be, reliant on RKO and Attitude Adjustment spamming for near-falls no one was really surprised by.
Cena was put through tables, both of the announcer and chipboard variety, but continued to accidentally take out the referee to conveniently save the match from reaching a logical conclusion. But even with the referee down, Orton sought to put the match away with the Punt Kick he continually teases to blow the dust off of, only to be stopped by the rapper we didn't expect to get involved: R-Truth. Of course, Truth's running gag is that Cena has always been his "childhood hero," even if the timelines are a little off. So I guess it makes a little sense that he didn't want Orton to kick his head off. But is this really the best we can do with the finite time left of Cena's run?
The match felt like the outcome of dialing up the sliders on a game of WWE 2K, with infinite finishers being thrown out as if they were lariats or rest-holds, and naturally some of the spots worked but wound up drowning in the sea of them. Cena promised to ruin wrestling, and while wrestling itself is sure to recover eventually, he certainly gave it his best attempt.
Written by Max Everett
Okay, this match is very divisive. I will be the first to agree that this feud, while theoretically awesome, has been plagued with problems. John Cena has been cutting the same "dysfunctional relationship" promo for the past three weeks, Randy Orton has been hitting him with RKOs for the past three weeks, and the only reason it even remotely worked is because Cena fell for it every time. Come the actual match: Cena had insane ring rust, Orton over-RKO'd every breathing soul, and R-Truth's comedic relief was sorely misplaced. There were a lot of issues with this match, and yet in the wise words of the fictional Cardinal Lawrence, certainty is the great enemy of unity.
Yes, I watched "Conclave" recently, and yes, I know that some of you reading this don't necessarily care for unity. However, I do think that wrestling gets better when you avoid certainty, and when you entertain the split nature of the in-ring world, this match included. What Cena and Orton absolutely lacked in in-ring chemistry, they made up for in in-ring storytelling, and while the end of that match was an overbooked mess, there was an underlying narrative that made their moves however clunky feel like a trip down memory lane.
Their match initially began with the facade of good will. I actually don't have much to say about this. It's a classic heel move to fake a handshake, but it's a heel move that Cena chose for that reason. No, what I found especially interesting was the progression of tradition into innovation. You'll notice that Orton and Cena started with very traditional grapples: chin locks, trips down to the mat. Then, after they get finished with the foundational stuff stuff they would have pulled back at the Brian Pillman Memorial Show or OVW then they moved to the classic moves: Orton Stomps, Attitude Adjustments, "vintage Orton" hanging rope DDTs.
Tradition bleeds into innovation, and Orton transformed an Attitude Adjustment into an RKO. Cena stepped out of his playbook out of the tradition he's worked for the past two decades and used weapons, ref bumps, and R-Truth I mean, low blows to secure his victory. While these aren't "innovative" in the textbook sense, there is a progression to new tactics between the both of them. They evolved from their boyhood moves into tactics they've only learned as men have only learned from growing alongside each other. It is a progression of their rivalry told through moves. When they weren't reinventing, they were mirroring each other, from chin-locks to mat pounding to finisher mockeries. Their careers have been inextricably intertwined for the past two decades, and it showed in this match.
This is in-ring storytelling. While it might not have been written in the finest of prose, or even on the most basic of paper, it was still a story. We hardly get to see such a prime example of a wrestling narrative told through a match, so despite everything we ought to enjoy it.
Written by Angeline Phu
