Backlash X8 - 5/6/2022

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

17 hours ago, NoFistsJustFlips said:

Yes. There's no way those polished metal rings are going to create that cut. I saw exactly what you saw, immediately after contact there was blood. No time to put hands up and blade. They had to have rigged the buckle ring with a gig. There's no possible way you get that perfect of a cut from smooth metal like that. They either notched in something sticking out or welded in a little blade or something of that nature.

On the contrary, I fully believe that a 280 pound man running head first full-speed at a hard metal object - polished and smooth or not - without energy dispensation to spread the point of impact, and not being able to slow down in enough time to prevent said impact, can create a cut far more than "they put a gig into the turnbuckle".

I realize folks are beyond cynical when it comes to WWE's protection of its workers' health, but let's seriously think about the implications of suggesting that, no matter who's idea the latter would have been, that someone would have come up with "let's put a gig in the turnbuckle" and people thought "great idea! No notes! Let's go through with it! That can't end poorly whatsoever!" instead of Brock just not pulling up in time and smacking his head.

[Cobra Commander]

watching the PPV fight now, through the first match

1) feels like this crowd would have been pro-Bayley in a Bayley/Belair matchup if Iyo Sky was being cheered this much vs Belair

2) that near head drop was nasty looking

3) I saw the clip on Saturday night, and I know why he got such a huge pop, but Savio Vega getting a pop like he's Stone Cold is probably even more of a spectacle than Carlito getting a mega-pop. Like if Los Boricuas made a run-in with their 90s music in the Street Fight, the fans would have lost their shit.

4) Seth Rollins is a gentleman of Armenian ancestry who has been adopted by several thousand Puerto Ricans. Omos has a better look this month. Omos is also pretty decently good at taunting fans. He would have had so many things thrown at him if he was working Estadio Roberto Clemente in 1986.

Edited May 8, 2023 by Cobra Commander

[Dolfan in NYC]

I just think it would've been funny for the chipmunk faced ref to try and stop Brock fucking Lesnar from wrestling because he got gigged.

Otherwise, what a fuckin crowd.  They definitely brought up what was a good PPV to an excellent one.   

I've said this before, but you can draw a direct correlation between how good a crowd is, and the LET'S GO at Sami's music.  And boy did this crowd pass that test.  

 

[Cobra Commander]

still watching the show.. Zelina continues the streak of wrestlers losing a WWE PPV match after bringing their relatives/close friends to the first row. An Orphan would just runamuck in the WWE because there'd be no relatives or hometown for them to job in/in front of

also, this crowd made Zelina look like a complete megastar, holy fuck

----

not sure how credit for ring psychology is assigned but a match with Bad Bunny had amazing ring psychology. They didn't make Priest look too weak by giving too much of the match to a celebrity (Bad Bunny looks a bit like Tony Khan), and gave all the local heroes their shine, and Carlito appears to be taking care of his physique.

Edited May 8, 2023 by Cobra Commander

[DJ Hero Morganti]

Sami's lets go and Cody's whoa are the arbiters of how hot a crowd is in 2023.

[Cobra Commander]

before Backlash, when was the last WWE PPV where so many of the wrestlers on the card were this over with the crowd? turns out that passionate fans in Puerto Rico are way way better at creating atmosphere than mainland smarks.

meanwhile post-Street Fight, the Judgment Day is questioning why they didn't call Thunder and Lightning or Glamour Boy Shane to try and counter Savio/Carlito

[Cobra Commander]

the blood in the main event ruleddd... the crowd pop when they saw the blood ruledddd... Brock looked like a fucking maniac putting Cody in a kimura with his face covered in blood, Cody sorta had to win by a fluke because he doesn't really have a killshot move that could logically put Brock down but hey, he won, so that's nice.

this show managed to do two necessary things to hold a wrestling show in Puerto Rico

1) someone used the Backstabber (and even better, it was Carlito, who looked more like the man at Backlash than he looked like when they were trying to push him)

2) there was blood (even if it was hardway not obvious blading)

Hopefully they don't hug the golden goose to death as a result of this but that was an experience.

Edited May 8, 2023 by Cobra Commander

[Cobra Commander]

also after doing a twitter search, quite a few people mentioned the Carlos Colon reference to Bad Bunny doing a figure four vs Damien Priest

[NoFistsJustFlips]

10 hours ago, Sparkleface said:

On the contrary, I fully believe that a 280 pound man running head first full-speed at a hard metal object - polished and smooth or not - without energy dispensation to spread the point of impact, and not being able to slow down in enough time to prevent said impact, can create a cut far more than "they put a gig into the turnbuckle".

I realize folks are beyond cynical when it comes to WWE's protection of its workers' health, but let's seriously think about the implications of suggesting that, no matter who's idea the latter would have been, that someone would have come up with "let's put a gig in the turnbuckle" and people thought "great idea! No notes! Let's go through with it! That can't end poorly whatsoever!" instead of Brock just not pulling up in time and smacking his head.

Yeah I get how it sounds. But the turnbuckle ring in a WWE ring is essentially just a large metal clip similar to a really big key ring. It's not this solid hefty chunk of metal. I don't care how big your are there's no way you're getting a perfect slice in your head that bleeds exactly like a gig by just slamming a smooth key ring into your forehead. Even if you're Brock. I mean you'd get a swollen bruise and some blood. But I looked for it when specifically they showed the reply. It was a slice about a half inch long that was deep enough to instantly just start gushing blood. That's not an impact wound. It also bleed for a long time, and again an impact wound generally swells up and then closes pretty quick.

I'm no blood spatter expert so I could certainly be wrong lol. But I feel pretty confident some kind of rigging took place. Ultimately doesn't matter either way. It was a really well done visual and was super effective none the less.

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

17 minutes ago, NoFistsJustFlips said:

Yeah I get how it sounds. But the turnbuckle ring in a WWE ring is essentially just a large metal clip similar to a really big key ring. It's not this solid hefty chunk of metal. I don't care how big your are there's no way you're getting a perfect slice in your head that bleeds exactly like a gig by just slamming a smooth key ring into your forehead. Even if you're Brock. I mean you'd get a swollen bruise and some blood. But I looked for it when specifically they showed the reply. It was a slice about a half inch long that was deep enough to instantly just start gushing blood. That's not an impact wound. It also bleed for a long time, and again an impact wound generally swells up and then closes pretty quick.

I'm no blood spatter expert so I could certainly be wrong lol. But I feel pretty confident some kind of rigging took place. Ultimately doesn't matter either way. It was a really well done visual and was super effective none the less.

A metal clip that connects to a tensioned double hook that if tensioned properly should be up rigid, that connects to the ringpost.

It's not the clip that would've gashed him. It's going through the clip and hitting the hook which has no give, which would have jammed the clip into his forehead. You don't need to add a gig to that. Even if WWE doesn't use the usual double hook structure of a turnbuckle, you're still basically ramming your head into a foot-long piece of rebar which will then drive another piece of metal into your skull.

Which is more realistic? That a foot-long piece of metal had no give and drove what is tantamount to a carabiner into Brock's forehead, or that WWE welded a jagged piece of metal into the turnbuckle because Brock decided he wanted to juice? Apply Occam's razor. (Which is not a literal razor.)

[writeradam84]

Ok, so I finally finished Backlash this afternoon, picking up with the last two matches that I feel asleep during on Saturday night. Here's just a few brief thoughts as it's late and I probably should be asleep.

I couldn't get into the six-man tag. I really couldn't. Believe me, I tried. It just felt like a typical Smackdown main event. Dissension between the Usos and Solo was interesting. I could dig a Usos vs. Roman & Sikoa tag at some point. Anyway, it was fine. 

Cody vs. Brock was much better than I remember it being on Saturday night. Felt like a proper war, especially with Brock bleeding all over the damn place. Cody getting the pin by countering that submission hold was interesting. Probably the third best match on the card honestly (behind IYO/Bianca and Bunny/Priest).

Anyway, overall Backlash was a damn fine show. Probably my favorite WWE show of the year so far. I'd even put Bianca/IYO and Bad Bunny/Priest up there are far as the best WWE matches of the year so far.

[NoFistsJustFlips]

2 hours ago, Sparkleface said:

A metal clip that connects to a tensioned double hook that if tensioned properly should be up rigid, that connects to the ringpost.

It's not the clip that would've gashed him. It's going through the clip and hitting the hook which has no give, which would have jammed the clip into his forehead. You don't need to add a gig to that. Even if WWE doesn't use the usual double hook structure of a turnbuckle, you're still basically ramming your head into a foot-long piece of rebar which will then drive another piece of metal into your skull.

Which is more realistic? That a foot-long piece of metal had no give and drove what is tantamount to a carabiner into Brock's forehead, or that WWE welded a jagged piece of metal into the turnbuckle because Brock decided he wanted to juice? Apply Occam's razor. (Which is not a literal razor.)

Just watched the clip again to verify what I saw and I'm changing my thought. But I am 30000% sure he didn't connect with the eye hook. 30000% he didn't have enough force to get cut by the ring on the buckle or the eye hook. Remember he didn't charge the buckle. He was standing there and Cody dropkicks his knees out. Very minimal force at all. Pausing it directly after impact there's no wound. He brings his hand to his head to hold it and it's clear to me now the blade was in his glove. He pushes it into his forehead and instant cut.

I get that rigging the buckle ring sounds like a weird idea. But it's not as weird as you're making it out to be. Outside the box ideas happen all the time to get the desired result.

[Cobra Commander]

For the record, Bunny/Priest was my favorite match from this show. I understand why there wasn't blood in the street fight since they were doing it in the main event but I also have no doubt that Bad Bunny would gladly gig himself for a wrestling match if asked to (also, one guy wearing as much white as Priest used to be code for "bloodddddd")

Love that the WWE and Lucha have the same rule that piledrivers are banned but Canadian Destroyers are okay.

[The Natural]

Great show and what a hot crowd. Bianca Belair vs. Iyo Sky was by far my MOTN. One of the best WWE matches this year. Really liked Bad Bunny vs. Damian Priest, Bunny continues to work hard putting a shift in. Cool cameos. Will say the match could have lost 10 minutes. Cody Rhodes vs. Brock Lesnar was good too.

[The Natural]

Meltzer:

Bianca Belair vs. Iyo Sky: ****1/4.

Bad Bunny vs. Damian Priest: ****1/2.

Cody Rhodes vs. Brock Lesnar: ***7/5.

Natural:

Bianca Belair vs. Iyo Sky: ****1/2.

Bad Bunny vs. Damian Priest: ****1/4.

Cody Rhodes vs. Brock Lesnar: ***1/2.

[Lawful Metal]

I only watched Cody / Brock and Bunny / Priest. I enjoyed the street fight, kinda hated the Cody match. 

I don’t know if Priest is a made man just yet, but I’m ready for Bad Bunny to take the titles off Roman.

[Go2Sleep]

Imagine 3 years ago if someone told you that you could book Bad Bunny vs. Logan Paul and it would be a surefire MOTYC.

[The Natural]

5 hours ago, Go2Sleep said:

Imagine 3 years ago if someone told you that you could book Bad Bunny vs. Logan Paul and it would be a surefire MOTYC.

Want to see that match.