How WWE Should Book Backlash 2018

 

Hey everyone! I love to write and I love wrestling so ever since Night Of Champions 2015, I have been fantasy booking WWE PPV's in detail, and have been a wrestling fan since 2005. If you want, you can read some past editions of these by clicking on my name and searching. Without further ado, here is How WWE Should Book Backlash 2018

> PRE-SHOW:

* We get our usual panel with Renee Young, Booker T, Peter Rosenberg and David Otunga. The panel hypes up the matches, we get video packages and interviews to recap the matches for the night, and they give their predictions. **A Social Media Lounge segment is announced earlier in the day with Daniel Bryan. Use #AskDanielBryan**. We get the Social Media Lounge, and with about 20 minutes left in the kickoff, we get our kickoff match.

 

**KICKOFF MATCH: Bayley vs. Ruby Riott (w/ Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan; Singles match)**

 

* Ruby with the Riott Squad are out first followed by Bayley. **The match goes 11 minutes**. Since Sasha couldn’t beat Riott on RAW, I think it only fitting to have Bayley manage to fight off Liv and Sarah here and get the win over Ruby, further pushing Sasha’s heel side to be unleashed, and furthering the storyline of how Bayley gets done all the things that Banks can’t, eventually leading up to their big match which would be the main event of Summerslam at Barclays, the same arena their Takeover classic took place 3 years earlier.

 

**WINNER by Pinfall: Bayley**

 

* We get the Social Media Lounge segment with Dazzling Dan and Charly Caruso, and then the panel give their final predictions for the WWE Championship main event. We get to the main show.

 

> MAIN-SHOW:

 

* We get the opening video package. As I say every year for Backlash, my fingers are crossed for the hooks stage, but I don’t expect it. This is definitely a stacked card that has suffered a lot from there being another pay-per-view just one week before it. The emotional investment isn’t there in a lot of this card for many, but that’s why I’m here, to book this show in a way that gets everyone excited, and proves everyone wrong. Let’s go.

**1ST MATCH: Seth Rollins (c) vs. The Miz (Singles match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship)**

 

* Rollins is out first followed by Miz and we get formal ring introductions. With how on a roll Seth has been lately and with Miz once again finding new life on Smackdown, this could very well be one of the best matches of the year. **The match goes 16 minutes. The match ends after a big sequence in which Miz is on one knee and Rollins runs the ropes to try a Curb Stomp, but Miz gets up and tries a Skull Crushing Finale. Rollins twists out and hits the Ripcord Knee, followed by the Curb Stomp to nail the victory**. Seth just won the title, Miz is on SD, it just wouldn’t make sense to have Miz win here and have the midcard titles swap brands, especially with all the dream matches for Jeff on SD. Seth retains the title. Don’t worry about Miz though, he’s got a briefcase full of surprises waiting for him at the next PPV...

 

**WINNER by Pinfall and STILL WWE Intercontinental Champion: Seth Rollins**

 

* We get an ad for Tapout. We see Miz stumbling through gorilla after his match, holding his head from the Curb Stomp and Charly Caruso walks up to him and asks him what’s next. Miz goes on a rant about how he’s never given up in his career before and that the Intercontinental Championship is now in his past, and **HE IS OFFCIALLY DECLARING HIMSELF AS THE FIRST MAN TO ENTER NEXT MONTH’S MEN’S MONEY IN THE BANK LADDER MATCH**. As Miz walls away, he and Big Cass walk past each other. They share a nod, and Cass walks toward the curtains as his music hits for his match.

 

**2ND MATCH: Big Cass vs. Daniel Bryan (Singles match)**

 

* Cass is out first with his titantron reading *BIG ASS* followed by Bryan. **The match goes 13 minutes**. One reason I’m so excited for this match is because of how much it reminds me of Daniel Bryan vs. Bray Wyatt from the 2014 Royal Rumble. Much like this match, going into it no one expected much. Wyatt was still relatively green in the ring, and no one was really that excited going in. What followed was a ****½ match and Bray Wyatt’s best singles match of his career to date. I see the very same thing happening with Big Cass here. **The match ends as Bryan is Yes’ing in the corner, about to hit the B+ Knee, but AWWWWWWEEEEESOOOOMMMMEEE hits and Miz’s music starts playing but there’s no Miz. Bryan gets his fists up, prepared to #PunchHisFace, but he turns around into a viscous Big Boot from Cass for the win. Regardless of how much Bryan loses, the fans are still gonna love him. It appears that Cass is going to become a bodyguard or a heavy for Miz and he’s the less established one here so he should get the win, to add an extra layer to the payoff of the Bryan/Miz feud.

 

**WINNER by Pinfall: Big Cass**

 

* We get a graphic and video package for our next match, Carmella/Charlotte as our transition.

 

**3RD MATCH: Carmella (c) vs. Charlotte Flair (Singles match for the WWE Smackdown Women’s Championship)**

 

* Carmella is out first followed by Charlotte. **The match goes 10 minutes**. Everyone seems to be thinking that Carmella will retain here with the help of the IIconics, but I’m thinking of a totally different route. **Near the end of the match, Carmella is in the corner, calling for Charlotte to get up, when Becky Lynch’s music hits. Becky comes out and gets up on the apron in Charlotte’s corner. She gets in the ring as the ref screams for her to get out. Becky stands next to Charlotte, prepared to fight Carmella and help her friend. Becky goes to swing at Carmella but ends up waffling Charlotte and her and Carmella beat down Charlotte to give Carmella the DQ retain**. Becky has been under the radar for way too long now, and no one would expect her to turn on her best friend on Smackdown, plus it would add to an actually good women’s stable of dominant heels, with Becky, Carmella and The Iconics. Heel Becky was fantastic in NXT, and it’s about time she goes back to her roots in order to come back up top.

 

**WINNER by Disqualification: Charlotte Flair; however STILL WWE Smackdown Women’s Champion: Carmella**

 

* We get an ad for Hulu, a sponsor of the PPV.

 

**4TH MATCH: Bobby Lashley and Braun Strowman vs. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn**

 

* Braun and Lashley are out first respectively followed by Zowens. **The match goes 13 minutes**. The Monsters get the win after Braun hits a Running Powerslam on Sami. Big men are not gonna beat medium sized men on PPV. It’s that simple. Owens and Zayn would set their sights on the RAW Tag Titles after this show. Moving on.

 

**WINNERS by Pinfall: Bobby Lashley and Braun Strowman**

 

* We get an ad for Money In The Bank next month, which I will have my full card for at the end of this post.

 

**5TH MATCH: Nia Jax (c) vs. Alexa Bliss (Singles Match for the WWE RAW Women’s Championship)**

 

* Nia is out first followed by Alexa. Wrestlemania went way too long. It should’ve been a squash and the end of the feud. I would’ve actually had this match be a handicap match pitting Nia against Alexa and Mickie James to spice things up a bit, but that’s not what ended up happening. **Nia squashes Bliss in 4 minutes**.

 

**WINNER by Pinfall and STILL WWE RAW Women’s Champion: Nia Jax**

 

*  We go up to the kickoff Panel for their thoughts on the show so far.

 

**6TH MATCH: Jeff Hardy (c) vs. Randy Orton (Singles Match for the WWE United States Championship)**

 

* Orton is out first followed by Jeffery Nero. **The match goes 14 minutes**. These two could put on a fantastic match if they really want to, and much like their Royal Rumble 2008 match, they surely will do wonders. **And also like their 2008 Royal Rumble match, this one ends with the reverse of the finish to that one, when Orton goes for an RKO, but this time Jeff hits the Twist Of Fate for the win and the retain**. Jeff would be involved in the Men’s MITB match next month, because he likes to go through ladders and stuff and that’s a cool thing to watch.

 

**WINNER by Pinfall and STILL WWE United States Champion: Jeff Hardy**

 

* We get an ad for Mattel, another sponsor for the PPV.

 

**7TH MATCH: Roman Reigns vs. Samoa Joe (Singles match)**

 

* Joe is out first followed by Reigns. This has gotta be an absolute brawl. **The match goes 27 minutes, the longest of the night**. These two have had fantastic matches in the past, especially that one on the January 1st RAW, and this should top them all. Give these two plenty, plenty plenty of time to show everything they’ve got and just beat each other up because they just do not like each other. Joe wins after choking Roman out in the Coquina Clutch. Joe simply needs this win more than Reigns; I said Reigns should’ve won his matches at both Wrestlemania and GRR, so of course that means WWE will likely have him win here. It appears that WWE may have given up on Roman being the top guy, but either way, Reigns should continue his losing big matches streak and then eventually make his comeback at a later date, but now and here, the Samoan named Joe, not the one formerly known as Leakee, should choke out the Empire.

 

**WINNER by Submission: Samoa Joe**

 

**8TH MATCH: AJ Styles (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (No Disqualification match for the WWE Championship)**

 

* We get a video package before the match and Nakamura is out first followed by Styles. **The match goes 23 minutes**. Their first two matches have definitely been underwhelming, but the third time’s the charm, and especially in the main event of a PPV, the same PPV where in 2016 Styles won the WWE Championship for his first time and in 2017 Nakamura made his PPV debut. **The two give their all and it finally ends when Nakamura goes for the Low Blow but STYLES HAS A CUP ON. Styles thinks he’s finally outsmarted Shinsuke and hits the Styles Clash but NAKAMURA KICKS OUT. AJ TAKES HIS CUP OFF and goes over to the ref and argues with him over whether it was a 2 or 3 and Nakamura holds his injured right arm from the first Low Blow and HITS A SECOND WITH HIS UNINJURED LEFT ARM. Nakamura hits the Kinshasa for the win and the WWE Championship**. If Nakamura doesn’t win here, I think he’s really done. The feud can still continue as Styles can invoke his rematch clause, and I really think that’s a brilliant finish. AJ thinks he’s finally caught Nakamura red-handed by wearing a cup, but then takes it off as he thinks Nakamura won’t try it again but Nakamura uses his other arm for another Low Blow and gets the win.

 

**WINNER by Pinfall and NEW WWE Champion: Shinsuke Nakamura**

 

> Final Results:

 

No. | Results | Stipulations | Times

:--|:--|:--|:--|

1PS | Bayley defeated Ruby Riott (w/ Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan) by Pinfall | Singles match | 12 minutes

2 | Seth Rollins (c) defeated The Miz by Pinfall | Singles match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship | 16 minutes

3 | Big Cass defeated Daniel Bryan by Pinfall | Singles match | 13 minutes

4 | Charlotte Flair defeated Carmella (c) by Disqualification | Singles match for the WWE Smackdown Women’s Championship | 10 minutes

5 | Bobby Lashley and Braun Strowman defeated Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn by Pinfall | Tag Team match | 13 minutes

6 | Nia Jax (c) defeated Alexa Bliss by Pinfall | Singles match for the WWE RAW Women’s Championship | 5 minutes

7 | Jeff Hardy (c) defeated Randy Orton by Pinfall | Singles match for the WWE United States Championship | 14 minutes

8 | Samoa Joe defeated Roman Reigns by Submission | Singles match | 27 minutes

9 | Shinsuke Nakamura defeated AJ Styles (c) by Pinfall | No Disqualification match for the WWE Championship | 23 minutes

 

> MY MONEY IN THE BANK 2018 CARD (June 17, 2018; Rosemont, IL)

 

No. | Match | Stipulations

:--|:--|:--|:--|

1 | Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Baron Corbin | Singles match for the WWE Universal Championship

2 | Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs. AJ Styles vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Samoa Joe | Fatal 4-Way match for the WWE Championship

3 | Nia Jax (c) vs. Natalya | Singles match for the WWE RAW Women’s Championship

4 | Deleters Of Worlds (Bray Wyatt and Matt Hardy) (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre | Tag Team match for the WWE RAW Tag Team Championships

5 | The Bludgeon Brothers (Harper and Rowan) (c) vs. The Good Brothers (Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson) | Tag Team match for the WWE Smackdown Tag Team Championships

6 | Cedric Alexander (c) vs. Buddy Murphy | Singles match for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship

7 | Andrade 'Cien' Almas (SD) vs. Bobby Roode (RAW) vs. Elias (RAW) vs. Finn Balor (RAW) vs. Jeff Hardy (SD) vs. The Miz (SD) vs. Rusev (SD) vs. Seth Rollins (RAW) | 8-Man Money In The Bank Ladder Match

8 | Alexa Bliss (RAW) vs. Bayley (RAW) vs. Becky Lynch (SD) vs. Charlotte (SD) vs. Ember Moon (RAW) vs. Mandy Rose (SD) vs. Naomi (SD) vs. Sasha Banks (RAW) | 8-Woman Money In The Bank Ladder Match

 

Well, that was how WWE should book Backlash 2018. Tell me what you liked and didn’t like, and what from this post you’d like to see actually happen on the show. Be sure to look out for my next posts, “How WWE Should Book NXT Takeover: Chicago II” and “How WWE Should Book Money In The Bank 2018” the days before each show. Enjoy the PPV, everyone.