Untitled Monday Blog -- Backlash Edition!

 

Good Morning!

That was a weird weekend, but because of prior commitments I just figured the move was to skip our beloved Casual Friday and hop right into the Untitled Monday Blog – or the Blog du lundi sans titre, since we were in France for both SmackDown and Backlash. Thanks, Google translate!

If we’re being honest, I kinda overlooked Backlash. As it’s right after WrestleMania, it seemed pretty unlikely that any of the champions who won at the Granddaddy of Them All would drop their titles. My picks, as made on our buddy Ricky Raiden’s Twitch Stream on Saturday morning, were therefore kinda chalk – I picked the Bloodline to win because we needed to keep momentum on the side of Bloodline 2.0. I chose Damien Priest, Cody Rhodes, and Bayley to retain their titles. And I went with the Power
Buff Girls to take the Tag Team Championships off of the Kabuki Warriors, since Jade Cargill is our new “chosen one” and she and Bianca Belair are a dynamite pairing (no pun intended). I went 5/5, putting this year’s record at a solid 73%.

*Stephen A. Smith voice* HOWEVER, what I didn’t count on was our French Fed Fans to absolutely carry the weekend for WWE. Those folks were so into it that I really didn’t get as mad as the internet seemed to be that WWE announced its largest gate ever for Backlash. I mean, if one keeps up with the product, wouldn’t one be inclined to pay to see it live, especially when one considers that France gets house shows and very little else – a live PLE is a really big deal for them! Yes, they paid more than we stateside would have, but considering their lack of options, I think it’s fine. But I digress.

The event had some surprises, too! Aside from great matches all around, the team of Randy Orton and Kevin Owens lost due to shenanigans AND a debuting Tanga Loa, brother to recent Bloodline 2.0 heavy Tama Tonga! I don’t know much about him, but those folks who follow New Japan Pro Wrestling tell me he’s, well, not as exciting an addition as Jacob Fatu would be. Still, you can’t have a Bloodline without the numbers to negate any good guys who decide to team up, and the Guerillas of Destiny – that’s Tonga and Loa as a tag team, and thank God for teams with names – certainly add said numbers. 

Since we didn’t get a chance to talk AEW last week, let’s have a look back at the Dynamite/Rampage power block we got on Wednesday. NBA and NHL playoffs have made a mess of All Elite Wrestling’s programming, but instead of merely cancelling the shows that would have been bumped because of those playoff games, AEW made the call to extend Collision or Dynamite where it could. And Wednesday’s programming left nothing to complain about, as it left those dastardly Young Bucks in control of the show after a disconnection from Tony Khan. When we last saw the AEW CEO, he was in a neck brace during the NFL draft, and got a lot of mileage out of that kayfabe injury. He had a grand time promoting his brand and taking shots at WWE, and while I’m over the latter part of that, I’m glad they’re using his victimization at the hands of the New Elite for some long term storytelling.

Speaking of long term storytelling, Swerve Strickland met his opponent for Double or Nothing in a few weeks, and it was none other than Christian Cage. Cage reminded Strickland that Swerve nearly murdered Cage’s baby boy, Nick Wayne, a few months back, and Cage is out for revenge. Christian and his family beat the hell out of the new champ, and established themselves as a threat against the Mogul Empire. While the rankings crowd may argue that Christian hasn’t been around since his yambags were used as a pincushion during a TNT championship match with Adam Copeland, the Young Bucks simply decided that as acting showrunners, they can kinda do whatever they want. Christian provides a good, established opponent for Swerve, and a believable threat to his championship – all good things!

Kenny Omega made his return at the end of Dynamite, giving an impassioned promo about how he nearly lost his life to diverticulitis. He told us that he wasn’t ready to come back yet, but also reminded the crowd and the New Elite that as long as he’s still with the company, he still holds a portion of the power as co-executive vice president. Expectedly, that didn’t sit well with the baddies, and Okada faced Kenny down for a little back-and-forth before the Bucks went all in with an attack on Omega that left him hospital-bound. 

It’s a very WWE direction for AEW, an “evil authority figure” storyline that we haven’t gone back to since the days of The Authority in the Fed. But I’m fine with it – as long as the matches aren’t going to suffer, and I can’t imagine anyone in AEW would allow that to happen. It’ll be fun to have some dyed in the wool baddies on a program that often feels too morally gray. Sometimes you just want to root for a good guy, and boo a bad one, you know?

Tonight is Raw, where we’ll be locking in the mostly-uneventful draft. With Backlash in the rear view, we’re back to regular tv programming, which means distracted viewing for yours truly as I vaguely keep up with the Nuggets and the NHL. I’m sure I’ll have more to say later in the week, but since we’ve got a bit of a house cholo list to finish before tonight, I think we’ll call it a day.

Closing Up Shop

…in which I say goodbye for now

And that’s it! I’ll see you later in the week for the usual Casual Friday and any Untitled blog posts. If you have questions, concerns, or comments, drop 'em in the comments section below! And follow me on Twitter (X), Facebook, BlueSky and/or Instagram using the links on the right.

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