It’s time for some Backlash after another stellar WrestleMania and we’re in St. Louis! The new WWE Champion John Cena defends the championship against hometown hero Randy Orton! Becky Lynch returned at Mania but now she challenges former partner Lyra Valkyria for her Women’s Intercontinental Championship! Dominik Mysterio will defend his own Intercontinental Championship against Penta! Jacob Fatu defends the United States Championship in a fatal 4-way match. Join us for a live recap of WWE Backlash today starting with the countdown pre-show at 5 PM ET/4 Central on social media, and the main premium live event at 7 PM ET on Peacock (USA) and the WWE Network (worldwide). Hit F5 or refresh as often as you like for the latest updates.
Michael Cole and Wade Barrett make their entrances as they will be the commentary team for the show. Perchard Owens performs the “Star Spangled Banner” at the end of the Countdown show. At 7 PM ET, we get underway with WWE Backlash!
* United States Championship: LA Knight vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Damian Priest vs. Jacob Fatu {C}
Referee Dallas Irvin is assigned for the first match of the night. The fight breaks out between all four men! LA Knight battled Jacob Fatu in a corner, but the champ quickly turns the tables, but Knight side-steps him and hits a neckbreaker. Knight gives Priest a back suplex in the ring, and dropkicks McIntyre through the ropes. Knight is in control here, Priest cuts him off, but Knight drops him as well and hits both McIntyre and Priest with a double elbow drop. Knight counters a Samoan drop, drops the champ, gets a 1-count, Knight and Priest double-team on Fatu with a high/low, and they throw him shoulder-first into the ringpost. Priest claps Knight’s ears, McIntyre hits Priest with a belly-to-belly suplex, a spinebuster to Knight, then hits a neckbreaker to all three men, and kips up full of energy.
Knight clotheslines McIntyre, Fatu drops Knight, Priest kicks him in the head in a corner, delivers a hurricanrana to the champ, plants McIntyre with a jumping flatliner, a running double axe handle to Fatu, a rope-walk crossbody to McIntyre, clotheslines Fatu, jumping elbows to McIntyre and Knight, then clotheslines McIntyre out the ring, and hits Knight with a spinning heel kick. Fatu gives Priest a pop-up Samoan drop onto the barricade at the timekeeper’s area, spots McIntyre on the other side of the ring, and both men step up and into the ring to square off.
Fatu and McIntyre size each other up, start throwing punches back and forth, McIntyre with a throat thrust, Fatu hits a running back elbow, and hits a pop-up Samoan drop followed by the running hip attack! The crowd chants “This is awesome” for the first time tonight. Fatu goes up top, McIntyre cuts him off with a rake of the eyes, goes up to him, Knight cuts McIntyre off, stomps him down in the tree of woe, and hits a running knee. Fatu knocks Knight down, McIntyre pulls himself up for a suplex, Fatu lands on Knight with a swanton, hits Priest with a suicide dive, and hits McIntyre with a swanton bomb!! Priest hits Fatu with the BFT, Priest plants Knight with SOUTH OF HEAVEN, McIntyre hits Priest with the CLAYMORE, and priest lands on Knight for one-two-NO as McIntyre has to break up the count!
Fatu is back up, McIntyre hits the Future Shock DDT, more chaos ensues, McIntyre hits Knight with the CLAYMORE, makes the cover, 1-2-NO as Priest pulls the referee out the ring and flips McIntyre off!! Priest and McIntyre battle outside the ring and take each other out. Fatu gets back in the ring, headbutts Knight, shouts “Yadadamean!”, goes for the springboard moonsault, but Knight rolls out the ring, hits the springboard elbow drop, another springboard elbow drop, covers, and gets 2.5! McIntyre and Priest are battling in the production area far away from the ring already losing the match out there. McIntyre hits the Glasgow Kiss, Priest blocks a suplex by raking his eyes, and plants McIntyre with SOUTH OF HEAVEN THROUGH TWO TABLES ON THE FLOOR!!! “Holy shit! Holy shit! This is awesome! This is awesome!” Several officials and medical staff check on Priest and McIntyre.
Knight and Fatu continue to fight at ringside, Knight even slams Fatu’s head on the announce table, lays him out across the table, gets on the turnbuckles, and Solo Sikoa saves Fatu from danger to a chorus of boos. Knight chases after Sikoa, but Knight gets knocked out… by JEFF COBB!!! JEFF COBB IS HERE AND HE DESTROYS LA KNIGHT AT RINGSIDE! Sikoa looks on with approval, but when Fatu gets to his feet he looks at them apprehensively. Fatu gets back in the ring, hits the running hip attack, connect with the SPRINGBOARD MOONSAULT, and covers for 3!! WINNER and STILL United States Champion: JACOB FATU!!
Wade Barrett observes Jacob Fatu’s face, noting that Fatu looks like he had no idea about this plan. This is evident as Fatu walks past Solo Sikoa and Jeff Cobb with his championship, and even looks back at them with a confused look on his face.
We get a video package for the next match, starting at Becky Lynch’s return at WrestleMania to be Lyra Valkyria’s partner, to then turning on her and attacking her just to fight for the title tonight. Referee Jessika Carr will be assigned to this match.
* Women’s Intercontinental Championship: Becky Lynch vs. Lyra Valkyria {C}
Becky takes her down at the bell from a waistlock, Lyra hits a back elbow to break free, but Becky hits a shoulder block and talks trash. Becky goes for a takedown into a pin, but Lyra reverses for a 1-count, and Becky does an armdrag. Lyra trips her, applies a reverse Boston crab and grabs the arms for a swinging pendulum submission, then locks her legs for the Romero stretch, rolling over and over for more punishment. Lyra gets a 2-count, delivers a northern lights suplex with a bridge pin for 2, hits a step-up enzuigiri, Becky rolls out the ring, and Lyra dropkicks her through the ropes.
Lyra gets her back into the ring, goes up top, Becky cuts her off, throws her off the turnbuckles, clubs her on the back, rubs the champ’s face into the mat, and covers for a 1-count. Lyra tries to battle back, but Becky slaps and chops her, pulls her up by the hair, Lyra side-steps her in a corner, Becky side-steps her, hits the springboard kick, delivers the Becks-ploder, and covers for 2. Becky gets in ref Jess’s face for the count, and Jessika has to admonish Lynch for attacking Valkyria in the ropes. Becky hits a baseball slide, beats her up at ringside, and taunts Lyra’s fiancé at ringside. Lyra fires up, but Becky takes control again and gets a 2-count in the ring. Lyra starts to fight back, counters a suplex with an inside cradle, rolls through into a fisherman’s buster, and both women are down.
Lyra clotheslines her, another clothesline, back kick, front kick, cartwheel into an enzuigiri, delivers a sit-out gutwrench powerbomb, and gets a near-fall. Lyra and Becky battle on the turnbuckles, Lyra delivers a stalling superplex, makes the cover, and gets a 2-count. Becky counters Night Wing, Lyra counters with a rollup for 2, Becky reverses the rollup and grabs the ropes, ref Jess catches her, Becky plants the champ with a reverse DDT, and gets a 2-count. Lyra counters the Manhandle Slam, blocks the springboard kick, hits a plancha over the ropes to the floor, throws her back into the ring, goes up top, hits the legdrop to the back of the neck, and gets a near-fall. Lyra goes for a moonsault, but Becky gets her knees up to block.
Lyra fights her off, they trade shots back and forth, Becky kicks her, blocks a backslide, butterfly suplex into the armbar, Lyra counters into her own armbar, Becky counters into a pin for 1, then locks in the Dis-Arm-Her! Lyra counters with a schoolgirl rollup for 2, counters the Manhandle Slam with an armdrag, but then Becky plants her with the MANHANDLE SLAM for 1-2-KICKOUT!! “This is awesome! This is awesome!” Becky looks upset, she start to pummel the champ, looks over to ringside, goes out to grab a steel chair, ref Jess takes the chair away from her, so Becky removes a top turnbuckle pad. Both women tease hitting the turnbuckle, Lyra hits a German suplex, connects with the spinning kick, connects with a diving moonsault from the middle ropes, and covers for 2.9!
Becky counters Night Wing again, shoves her into the middle turnbuckle, delivers the MANHANDLE SLAM AGAIN, and covers for the 1-2-KICKOUT!! Becky is losing her patience, attempts to slam her head into the exposed turnbuckle, but the ref stops her from doing it! Ref Jess goes for the turnbuckle pad to fix it, Lyra counters the Manhandle Slam, plants her with NIGHT WING, but the delay from the ref only gives her a 2-count! Becky counters Night Wing, Lyra counters the Manhandle Slam, Becky goes for a rollup, but Lyra counters with a rollup for 3!! WINNER and STILL Women’s Intercontinental Champion: LYRA VALKYRIA!!
Lyra is holding her nose as it’s probably broken, but Becky doesn’t care as she attacks her after the bell!! Becky locks in the Dis-Arm-Her on the champion in frustration until Adam Pearce and other referee come down to stop the assault! Becky is finally ushered away, and Lyra is finally able to get to her feet.
We get a video package for the next match where Dominik Mysterio won the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania, and he’ll do anything he can to remain the champion as long as he has his Judgment Day stable there to back him up. Eddie Orengo is the referee for this match.
* Intercontinental Championship: Penta vs. “Dirty” Dominik Mysterio {C}
Dom shoves him at the bell, Penta dropkicks him, hits a running hurricanrana, and Mysterio hits his own running hurricanrana. Penta pops him up in a corner, superkicks him, hits the Backstabber, and covers for a 2-count. The crowd chants “Dirty, Dirty Dom” for the champ, Mysterio crotches him on the top rope, sends him out the ring, and hits a suicide dive into a DDT on the floor! Dom beats him up at ringside, gets back in the ring, poses on the ropes, throws him back into the ring, the crowd starts a dueling chant, hits the tope atomico, and gets a 2-count.
Dom mocks Penta’s walk, stomps him down, mounted punches, covers for a 1-count as Penta grabs the bottom rope, and puts him in a chinlock. Penta battles out, hits the reverse sling blade, goes up top, stands atop the ringpost, and lands a diving crossbody to the floor. Both men are down as the ref starts his count, Penta throws him back in at 6, gets on the apron at 7, goes up top, Dom kicks him on his way down, delivers a suplex, Penta blocks the second, Dom dropkicks him in the back to send him on the ropes, but misses the 619. Penta hits a slingshot crucifix pin for 2. Dom plants Penta with the OBLIVION and covers for 2.9!
Dom goes back up, Penta cuts him off, they battle on the apron, Penta blocks a suplex, kicks him in the head, and hits the MEXICAN DESTROYER ON THE APRON!! Out comes Carlito to cause a distraction on the apron, and JD McDonagh and Finn Bálor show up on the another side! Finn grabs a steel chair, the referee catches them, points to all three and EJECTS them from ringside! Penta dives over the ref with a tope con hilo, gets back into the ring, superkicks Mysterio, goes up top, Finn distracts the referee, and El Grande Americano shows up to headbutt Penta with the loaded mask! Dominik hits the FROG SPLASH AND GETS THE 3-COUNT to retain the title! WINNER and STILL Intercontinental Champion: DOMINIK MYSTERIO!
El Grande Americano, the new WWE Speed Champion, lays at ringside proud of himself, while Dominik Mysterio proclaims himself as the greatest Intercontinental Champion leaving with the ref of Judgment Day.
We get a video package for Gunther losing the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania, and taking out his anger on Michael Cole and Pat McAfee on the Raw after Mania. Dan Engler is the referee for this match. Michael Cole apologizes in advance saying that he will be completely biased for this match cheering for McAfee.
* Pat McAfee vs. GUNTHER
Cole is on his feet and jacket off from the get-to. McAfee approaches with caution, Gunther laughs, and the crowd chants “You tapped out” at the former world champion. They lock up collar-and-elbow, Gunther shoves him backwards, they lock up again, and Gunther throws him off after a headlock. Gunther takes an arm, slams him on the back and puts him in an armbar standing over him. McAfee kips up, ducks a chop, and he’s holding his own with the crowd chanting “Let’s go Pat!” McAfee puts him in a headlock, Gunther puts him on the apron, and pats him on the head. McAfee punches him, hops over the ropes with punches, but Gunther quickly drops him with a chop.
Gunther clubs him on the back, kicks him down, McAfee with jabs, a chop of his own, Gunther wants more, McAfee chops him again, and Gunther CHOPS him down. Gunther chops him on the chest again, McAfee puts up his dukes, and Gunther hits another hard chop. Cole tells Gunther to just pin the man and be done. Gunther hits a shoulder block, McAfee avoids an elbow drop, kicks him in the back, Gunther with a snapmare, and a kick of his own to Pat’s back. McAfee gets back to his feet, Cole is still on his feet cheering him on, McAfee chops Gunther again, but Gunther hits a big boot, then invites Cole into the ring. The crowd chants “You tapped out!” loudly at him.
Gunther taunts Cole, McAfee chops him, Gunther chops him harder, and delivers a German suplex. Barrett admonishes Cole to not antagonize Gunther, as Gunther is relishing in his punishment by putting him in a sleeper hold. McAfee tries to get out, but Gunther delivers a German suplex, and laughs about it all as Cole wants him to end the match now. Gunther puts him on the top turnbuckle, McAfee blocks a suplex, hits elbows to block, backflips off the top landing on his feet, Gunther goes for a German suplex, McAfee lands on his feet again, kicks him in the back, and a big punt kick to the chest.
Gunther challenges him to hit him, McAfee hits punches and chops, they trade punches, McAfee superkicks him, Gunther blocks another kick, delivers the POWERBOMB, and locks in the Boston crab in the middle of the ring. MICHAEL COLE GETS OFF COMMENTARY TO CHEER ON McAFEE AT RINGSIDE! McAfee reaches for the ropes, but Gunther switches to the STF and elbows McAfee in the face. Gunther grabs Cole, pulls him into the ring, Wade Barrett is on commentary by himself, Gunther grabs Cole for the powerbomb, McAfee saves him with a kick, Cole scrambles out the ring, and Gunther boots McAfee in the face. McAFEE WITH A ROLLUP FOR 2! McAfee counters a suplex, Cole grabs Gunther’s leg from ringside, McAfee lands on Gunther for the cover, but Gunther still kicks out at 2. Gunther looks on at Cole, McAfee with the sleeper hold, but Gunther escapes, locks McAfee in the SLEEPER HOLD, and McAfee turns red but refuses to stay down! McAfee battles back with elbows, Gunther drops back down, and McAfee passes out! WINNER: GUNTHER!
Michael Cole gets in the ring to check on Pat McAfee, while Gunther laughs in his victory. Dan Engler gets in-between them to prevent any further attacks. McAfee gets to his feet, standing tall with pride, and Gunther acknowledges respect. Cole hugs McAfee, exits the ring to leave him the ring by himself, and the crowd gives McAfee a standing ovation for his efforts. Michael Cole rejoins Wade Barrett on commentary and returns to business as usual. They report on Money in the Bank, Worlds Collide, and the comparison of career numbers for John Cena and Randy Orton. The main event is next!
We get a video package starting with John Cena winning the Undisputed WWE Championship at WrestleMania, and Randy Orton stepping up to confront him and be his first challenger, and possibly their last match against each other after 25 years. They’ve had the same path in WWE over the years with the same accolades and victories, with Cena having more world championship reigns at 17, and Orton close by at 14. It’s Randy Orton vs. John Cena once again, with the dynamic and attitudes of both men and the crowd reactions flipped. Orton comes out first to a roaring applause from his hometown crowd at 107 dBA, and they sing his theme song reaching 115 dBA. The crowd starts their dueling chants of “Let’s go Cena” and “Cena sucks!” Cena comes out next, the arena all blacked out, and filled with boos for the champ. Ring announcer Alicia Taylor does the proper title match introductions, Chad Patton is the referee for this match, he keeps the two men separated, holds up the championship, calls for the bell, and the main event match is underway!!
* Undisputed WWE Championship: Randy Orton vs. John Cena {C}
They stare each other down, lock up collar-and-elbow, clean break, another collar-and-elbow, clean break, and the crowd is on fire for this match. Cena offers a handshake, Orton looks at him with caution, and Cena with a poke in the eye. Orton hits a shoulder block and pokes him in the eye for retribution. Cena rushes in at him, Orton backs him to a corner, blocks a cheap shot, punches him down, and puts him in a headlock as the crowd chants “You can’t wrestle!” A small group answers that with “Yes, he can!” Orton hits a shoulder block, does a headlock takeover, Cena pushes him off, Orton hits another shoulder block, and Cena rolls out the ring planning to leave. Orton goes after him, clubs him on the back, and punches him on the way back to the ring.
Cena clotheslines him, mounted punches, 10-punch in the corner, Orton kicks him, does his own 10-punch in the corner with 10 extra punches, and hits a European uppercut for a 2-count. Orton starts the Orton Stomp starting with Cena’s left leg, right leg, right hand, left hand, finishes with the kneedrop to the head, and covers for 2. Orton kicks him in the chest, Cena reverses an Irish whip, puts him in the sleeper hold, wraps his legs around to wear him down, Orton counters with his own sleeper hold, Cena pushes off, puts him back in the sleeper, then Orton puts him in the sleeper, Cena puts him in the sleeper, and Orton counters with a belly-to-back suplex.
Both men are down, they get to their feet, Cena hits the shoulder tackle, another shoulder tackle, delivers the spinning suplex slam, You Can’t See Me, and hits the 5-Knuckle Shuffle. Cena picks him up for the AA, Orton slips off, hits a clothesline, another clothesline, delivers the snap powerslam, pulls Cena through the ropes, Cena counters with a rollup for 2, goes for the STF, but Orton tries to block it. Cena tries to drag him, but Orton kicks him off, gets him in the ropes, and plants him with the draping DDT for “Vintage Orton!” Orton calls for the finish, Cena gets to his feet, blocks the RKO, picks him up for the AA, but Orton counters with the RKO DURING THE ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT SIMULTANEOUSLY!! “This is awesome! This is awesome!”
They trade shots to YAYs and BOOs from the crowd. Cena headbutts him, Orton hits a European uppercut, Cena picks him up, hits the ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT, covers, and gets 2.9! Cena waits for him to stand, Orton grabs the ropes to block, Cena ducks a clothesline, hits the shoulder tackle, and Orton counters another shoulder tackle with the RKO! Cena rolls away to the corner, Orton goes for the Punt, but Cena moves out the way, hits the ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT AGAIN, and covers for 2.99!!
Orton crawls to the corner, Cena mocks Orton pounding the mat, backs up to a corner, looks to do his own Punt, goes for the RKO, but Cena shoves Orton into ref Chad Patton, and hits the ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT for the fourth time! Cena shushes the crowd, You Can’t See Me to the commentary table, Cole asks why, and Cena answers with “History.” Cena gets in the ring with the WWE Title, and Orton hits the RKO!! The ref comes to, counts, 1-2-KICKOUT!
Cena rolls out the ring, Orton rolls out as well, the crowd chants “Bullshit” and Orton hears them so he dismantles the announce table. Chad Patton admonishes Orton for it, Orton glares at him, and Cena shoves Orton into the ref again, this time Chad Patton’s head hits the steel steps! Cena shoves Orton into the ringpost, looks over at the table, taunts the crowd, picks Orton up, but Orton gets back to his feet, and ORTON GIVES CENA THE ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT ONTO THE ANNOUNCE TABLE!! The table partially collapses, Orton attacks Cena some more, checks under the ring, pulls out a standard table, sets it up at ringside, drags Cena to it, Cena fights back, slams his head on the steel steps, Orton counters the AA, and ORTON PLANTS CENA THROUGH THE TABLE WITH THE ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT!!
Orton gets the champ back into the ring as the crowd chants “This is awesome!” Orton hits another RKO, referee Eddie Orengo rushes to the ring, and counts the 1-2-KICKOUT!! Orton asks the ref if it was two, Cena swings with the WWE Championship, but Orton ducks, Cena clocks referee Orengo, and Orton his the RKO to Cena again!! Orton makes the cover but there’s no ref! SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis rushes the ring with more agents to check on Orengo, and Orton is livid that no one is making the count. Orton hits the RKO TO NICK ALDIS! Another RKO to an agent! An RKO TO GREGORY HELMS! RKO TO SHAWN DAIVARI! RKO TO JAMIE NOBLE!!
Orton sees Cena in a corner, backs up to the opposite corner, Cena gets to all fours, rushes for the Punt Kick, but R-TRUTH runs into the ring to save his hero John Cena and pleads to Orton not to kick him in the head, Orton questions R-Truth’s decision to get in his way, so he drops Truth with the RKO for interfering!! Cena from behind hits Orton in the balls with the LOW BLOW, picks up the WWE Championship, clocks Orton in the head with the championship, makes the cover, and the original ref Chad Patton crawls into the ring to count the one, two, three!!! WINNER and STILL UNDISPUTED WWE CHAMPION: JOHN CENA!!!
Cena walks around the ring with his WWE Championship proud of retaining the title. “I know you can’t see me but can you hear me? Cut the damn music! I don’t need music. What I need is competition. And I sure as hell don’t need you. Drink it in, St. Louis, because this is what the last real champion looks like.” Cena stands tall on the turnbuckles with his WWE Championship to pose, taunt and troll everyone. The credits roll and the main PLE show is over.
Post-show, Cena looks on as the crowd continue to jeer and boo this man. Cena looks disgusted as the crowd chants “Thank you Cena!” Cena walks off with an unsure look on his face, trying to ignore the fans on his way to the back, then poses with the title one last time before walking through the curtain. The Backlash post-show is now underway and we’ll also have comments from the post-show press conference.
