|
 Third Edition Now On Sale (Updated All-Time Rankings, New Entries, Plus the "Wine Cellar" Section); Click to Order ”The Doc” Chad Matthews has been a featured writer for LOP since 2004. Initially offering detailed recaps and reviews for WWE's top programs, he transitioned to writing columns in 2010. In addition to his discussion-provoking current event pieces, he has written many acclaimed series about WrestleMania, as well as a popular short story chronicle. The Doc has also penned a book, The WrestleMania Era: The Book of Sports Entertainment, published in 2013. It has been called “the best wrestling book I have ever read” and holds a 5-star rating on Amazon, where it peaked at #3 on the wrestling charts. Follow @TheDocLOP QUESTION OF THE DAY: What did you think of Backlash overall; did it exceed or meet your expectations? I found it troubling when I started tuning into what the masses were saying about Backlash over the weekend, as far too often it seemed that people were downplaying the quality of the Smackdown brand since the split and using that as a reason to be underwhelmed about Sunday’s PPV card. Let’s be clear: Smackdown’s is not a particularly deep roster at present time, but Tuesday nights since the end of July have featured a lot examples of motivated talents maximizing their minutes and, while Backlash was reflective of Smackdown’s lack of talent depth on paper, it was a reasonable expectation that maximization of screen time would be a theme on PPV that recurred from television. Low and behold, Backlash was a great show, featuring the pacing and spacing of the card that Summerslam lacked and an awesome example of what drive to succeed can produce even in the face of perceived lack of talent depth. At no point was that more apparent than in the opening match to crown the first Smackdown Women’s Champion. Anyone who says that the blue brand’s division is weak has not been watching the blue brand, which has gone out of its way to give its women a chance to showcase their abilities. Talent still must be developed clearly, but what those six women did in a fairly limiting gimmick (Six Pack Challenge) spoke to the potential of the division as a whole. Sans for one botched spot, they put on a performance to remember that set the exact tone needed for a second Women’s Title. WWE came under fire for splitting the female talents across both brands and making another championship for Smackdown’s division, but it is pretty obvious that between the established veterans like Becky (congrats) and Nikki and the emergent rookies, namely Alexa (has figured it out) and Carmella (is figuring it out), the women of Smackdown are proving the naysayers incorrect. (*** ½) The Smackdown Tag Team Championship Tournament happenings offered another example of what the blue team is doing well: freshening stale acts. The Usos had become decreasingly relevant for a solid year until they turned heel last week and their look and actions as antagonists was on point at Backlash. Their match with the Hype Bros was about as good as it could have been given that Mojo Rawley was involved and their tandem leg attacks made them out to be vicious and dangerous (** ¾). The ultimate victory in the finals for Heath Slater and Rhyno was for many people quite cathartic (** ½). Slater has come into his own chasing a contract while becoming the New Era’s Santino-type comedy relief. The Rhyno-Slater chemistry is oddly strong and the fans wanted to see Slater seize the day. I am critical of what it means for newly minted championship belts to first be worn by the random comedic team and would have preferred to see the Usos dash Slater’s dream to keep two really strong TV stories going for longer in the most effective ways possible (elevate the heels and keep the babyfaces chasing), but that criticism aside, Slater has earned his moment and I still expect the Usos to win the titles before long. I said on Twitter yesterday afternoon that Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt would perhaps be the barometer of success for Backlash, thinking that Wyatt’s own renaissance could be one of the night’s biggest stories, but Orton’s failure to be medically cleared changed the course of both their rivalry and the show itself. The feud between Orton and Wyatt could benefit from the backstage Eater of Worlds attack and the RKO response that cost Bray a victory against Kane (** ½) and the card probably benefitted from the semi-main-event being postponed, as it allowed another match to step into the spotlight and truly deliver. Dolph Ziggler vs. The Miz was one of my favorite matches of the year. It was a great match, first and foremost, which utilized the added heat from the Intercontinental Champion’s own resurgence in recent weeks to create a compelling, character-driven performance; dare I say that their increasingly old school-approach of going from a deliberate pace to an emotionally-charged climax yielded the best non-gimmicked one-on-one IC Title match of the decade and arguably the best match of both their careers. What made it doubly stand out to me, though, was how much of a reminder this was from Miz and Ziggler that, with a little personic consistency and a little more time to be showcased, they have the ability to tell a wonderful story on the 20’X20’ canvas and be contributors at a headlining level. Theirs was a match that took the in-ring familiarity born from so many rapid-fire mid-card scraps against each other in recent years and tweaked it to fit the longer run-time they were afforded to tell a more psychologically engaging tale. The theme of revitalization has been mentioned several times already regarding the strength of the Smackdown brand’s approach through 7 weeks; Rhyno, Slater, and the Usos were solid instances of characterizing that theme, but Ziggler vs. Miz was an 18-minute microcosm of it. Just a tremendous match that elevated both wrestlers, Maryse, Smackdown, and the Intercontinental Championship (****). And then of course there was the classic main-event! Anyone down on the Backlash card surely had to feel confident that at least they would see an awesome match go on last, but I have noticed a strangely unenthusiastic vibe regarding Dean Ambrose lately. I don’t get it; Ambrose has owned his role as the face of Smackdown, immersing himself in his Lunatic Fringe character as much as ever (surely it's not just because of one somewhat disappointing Summerslam match?). Ambrose vs. AJ Styles, to me, was a clash between the hottest act in the game this month (The Phenomenal One) and the hottest act in the game the previous few months (Dean-o) - the two leading candidates for WWE Wrestler of the Year. The quality of the match last night reflected that. In yet another WWE Match of the Year candidate on PPV – may I just quickly note how much I’m enjoying this year from an in-ring standpoint – Ambrose and Styles wrestled the same kind of old school match that did Ziggler and Miz only better. It was as good in the style in which it was wrestled as Cena vs. AJ was at Summerslam in the style in which it was wrestled. Samuel ‘Plan might agree with me that Backlash was in some ways very In Your House circa New Generation-esque; I felt like I was watching a match from 1996 during last night's main-event and I want to emphasize how much I appreciated that given the more epic-stylings of August’s top bouts. I was completely locked into the story that they told. It built beautifully, having plainly established Styles as the uber-confident “hot hand,” then transitioning to Ambrose fighting back with spurts of momentum, and finishing with AJ taking full advantage of a momentary referee lapse to gain the decided, albeit cheap, strategic advantage. Styles winning was the right decision for now, but it’s going to be interesting to see whether or not Ambrose gets the title back in short order. With beating Cena clean last month, AJ almost had to win at Backlash. I very much look forward, though, to watching them pen the next chapter in their budding rivalry. Just outstanding. I loved this match (**** ½). All in all, Backlash truly was a microcosm of the Smackdown brand through two months. Its talents are not listening to the people claiming that their roster is weak and are frankly setting out to prove that their depth will not for long be an issue because they’re going to do a good job of developing their newer stars and revitalizing their wrestlers that need a shot in the arm. Backlash might well have been the best PPV of the year; the show flowed very well from top to bottom, interlacing its emotional highs and lows as well as any card in 2016. Your turn Raw. Show us what you’ve got.
|
