WWE Payback 2017 is officially in the books and in complete honesty, it was a pretty solid show. Feuds were advanced, new ones were created, we witnessed the first ever House of Horrors match and most importantly Roman Reigns lost to Braun Strowman. All in all, it’s fair to say that this was a successful night.
But now we must look to the future, and as has always been the case with WWE, they want to one up themselves, and they’ve got the perfect opportunity to do just that at WWE Backlash. In a few weeks time, Chicago will play host to SmackDown LIVE’s first exclusive pay per view event after WrestleMania 33 and they need to knock it out of the park.
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We’ve already spoken about the success of Payback, but that doesn’t mean that we aren’t confident in what the blue brand can produce. In fact, there’s a good chance that the SD LIVE contingent could surpass their red rivals when it comes to the overall quality of the show. Sure it’s going to be tough, but it’s definitely doable.
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So with that being said, here are five ways in which Backlash can improve upon Payback.
#5 World Title main event
While Payback was a decent enough show, one of the biggest problems it had was the lack of a World Title match. Now as we all know Brock Lesnar is a part-time guy, and he’s not always going to be able to show up and defend the Universal Championship, but it does take away from the event ever so slightly.
Because of that, SD LIVE need to strike while the iron is hot by booking their WWE Championship bout as the main event of Backlash. Now obviously Randy Orton vs. Jinder Mahal isn’t the most appealing of bouts to all members of the WWE Universe, but the build has been pretty good so far, and if you give them a chance to shine, they could surprise a lot of people.
It’s time for the King of Strong Style.
#4 Nakamura showcase
It’s obvious from an outsider’s perspective looking in that they’re trying to build Shinsuke Nakamura as a big deal, especially when you consider that he’s on the poster for Backlash. Because of this, there’s going to be a lot of expectations going into his match, and the WWE need to be smart with how they book it.
If it’s Dolph Ziggler again that’s the opponent then that’s fine, but you can’t have Shinsuke struggle. The Japanese star needs to be presented as unstoppable for a few months and while a good old fashioned back and forth wrestling match with Dolph would be interesting, it only serves to make Nakamura look a little bit weaker right off the bat.
The KO Show is here once again.
#3 Owens needs to win
Kevin Owens vs. Chris Jericho at Payback told a great story, with Y2J constantly working on Owens’ injury before finally gaining a measure of revenge after months of torture, courtesy of the Prizefighter. Unfortunately, seeing KO lose felt a little bit deflating and was one of the negatives coming out of the PPV – for us anyway.
Heading into the match against AJ Styles, which will undoubtedly be incredible, there’s a lot of pressure on WWE to make both guys look strong while also keeping the title on the right guy – which at this point is Kevin Owens. AJ is ready for the main event, and the same can be said for KO, but he needs to have a solid run with the belt in order to elevate it once more.
Stay on Monday nights.
Also read: 10 Questions from WWE Payback that most need answering
#2 No Raw talent
Payback had a series of great matches, but a lot of them didn’t really make all too much sense. The reason for this was due to all of the SmackDown LIVE talents that performed at the event, courtesy of the Superstar Shake-Up booking WWE into a corner. It made everything feel a little bit irrelevant, and that never makes for an enjoyable watch.
So at Backlash, we need to firmly re-establish the brand exclusive rules by having no Raw talent feature whatsoever. In fact, we’d even go so far as to extend this all the way through to the build-up for Survivor Series. Have no superstars overlap on the opposition’s show, and that will make the inevitable invasion angle feel that much bigger.
We love you, Breezango.
#1 Give the tag teams time
The Raw Tag Team Championship match at Payback was enjoyable enough, with the 12-minute bout ending in a not so surprising heel turn by Cesaro & Sheamus. There was also a decent enough tag team bout on the pre-show, furthering our desire to see SmackDown LIVE give their tag teams the same treatment.
The Usos vs. Breezango for the straps may not seem like an entertaining clash on the face of it, but if you give them enough time, then this could be an enjoyable contest. Plus, it establishes the idea that the blue brand’s tag division is at least somewhat on par with Raw.
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