The first brand-exclusive PPV post the WWE Draft is finally here with SmackDown Live’s Backlash event just a couple of days away. After a disappointing go-home show it’s now up to Backlash to deliver or the momentum of the New Era might stall. The PPV is headlined by AJ Styles challenging Dean Ambrose for his WWE Championship.
We’ll also get out first SmackDown Women’s Champion and our very first SmackDown Tag-Team Champions. There is also the showcase clash between the Eater of Worlds, Bray Wyatt, and Randy Orton. Backlash barely has any sort of undercard so far but all of the announced matches have stakes behind them which makes it an interesting change. Basically, on paper, this card has no filler matches.
Rumours have been flying around for the last few weeks and with Backlash around the corner, it’s time for a last minute rumour update.
6: John Cena won’t be making an appearance
Let’s get the Cena situation out of the way first. It’s been rumoured for months that Cena will be taking a hiatus from the company. Although he hasn’t appeared on WWE programming since SummerSlam, he has regularly been appearing in dark matches and it’s unclear as to when his hiatus starts, the reason for said being his non-WWE projects.
However, we can confirm that John Cena won’t be making an appearance at Backlash as he’s booked to appear in WWE’s international tour this weekend at Manilla and Shanghai.
5: Swerve in the women’s match
The conventional thinking going into the Six-Pack Match for the SmackDown Women’s Championship is that either Becky Lynch or the returning Nikki Bella will leave Backlash as champion. Apart from Natalya, Becky and Nikki are the most experienced women in the division and by far the most over.
However, recent backstage rumblings suggest that WWE might try to use this opportunity to try and create a new star with initial reports suggesting that Alexa Bliss could be that person.
Eva Marie was initially reported to have been in the mix to win the championship but her untimely Wellness Policy violation forced a change of plans and WWE sees Alexa as someone who has a bright future.
4: Heath Slater and Rhyno could actually leave as the SmackDown Tag-Team Champions
After The Usos turned heel and took out American Alpha following their semi-final match in the tag-team tournament last week, most fans and critics assumed that we’d see the newly heel Usos win the SmackDown Tag-Team Championships at Backlash.
While they are still probably the favourites to beat the Hype Bros plus Rhyno and Slater and win the tournament, the latest word on the WWE grapevine suggests that Rhyno and Heath Slater have more than their fair chance of leaving SmackDown as the new tag champions.
WWE have their history of pushing odd couple tag-teams from RVD and Kane to Team Hell No, and Slater and Rhyno could be the latest off ball team to get a push.
3: Bray Wyatt beats Randy Orton
Randy Orton’s much-hyped return to action came at SummerSlam last month where he was bloodied up by Brock Lesnar with the match ending in Lesnar’s favour on a TKO. Now he faces Bray Wyatt in a must-win match at Backlash.
Orton may be the overwhelming favourite to win the match but that doesn’t mean that it’s a certainty. In fact, rumours suggest Bray might actually be the one coming out of Backlash with the elusive win. Even though it probably won’t be a clean win (more on that later), it looks like the Eater of Worlds may actually upset the odds this Sunday.
2: AJ Styles is your new WWE World Champion
AJ Styles has won titles everywhere he’s wrestled from TNA and Ring of Honor to New Japan Pro Wrestling. He’s won some of the most prestigious titles in wrestling history but he has never won a title in the WWE.
Going into Backlash, it looks like AJ Styles is now the favourite to win the WWE World Championship from Dean Ambrose to secure his first championship in the WWE. The historic moment of AJ Styles winning the WWE World Championship will definitely be a moment for which Backlash 2016 will be remembered for a long time…..if it happens of course.
1: Luke Harper returns
Luke Harper has been out since before Wrestlemania 32 with a serious knee injury that he picked up in a dark match after an episode of Raw. Harper was one of the rare WWE talents who were not drafted during the 2016 WWE Draft.
Harper has already started training for a return to the ring and rumours suggest that the agile big-man could be in line for a push on his return, which could be as soon as Backlash this Sunday. Harper could play a part in Bray Wyatt’s match with Randy Orton, interfering to cost Randy Orton the match thereby getting involved in Bray’s feud with Orton.
Will this lead to the formation of a new version of The Wyatt Family? I guess we have to wait and see.
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