The SmarK Rant for WWE Backlash 2024 – 05.04.24

The SmarK Rant pour le WWE Backlash 2024 – 2024 Mai 04

En direct de Lyon, France

Vos hôtes sont Michael Cole et Corey Graves

Kevin Owens & Randy Orton v. Solo Sikoa & Tama Tonga

The crowd is so hot that they actually sing along with “Voices”, a song that no one else in any country has ever sang along with, even in private. Gotta respect the hustle there. We get the big brawl to start as the referees all desperately try to break it up for some reason. So Owen stuns some security geek, and Nick Aldis comes out to make it a STREET FIGHT. So we get Orton and Solo fighting up the stairs while the crowd goes even more nuts somehow and you can tell that Kevin Owens is living his best life out there. Orton saves KO from a double-teaming by the Bloodline, and then Kevin hits a frog splash off the railing onto Solo. Orton also teases it and then thinks better of it. Man’s getting older, that’s wise. So instead he drops Tama Tonga onto the announce tables. RKO loads up the plunder but even in France they want tables. Owens beats on them with kendo sticks and garbage cans and does his own commentary and this must be like Christmas for him with this crowd. Tables finally do get involved and Kevin puts Tonga through a table with a frog splash from the apron, but Solo puts Randy through a table with a samoan drop. Owens also gets taken out and Tama beats on him while Michael Cole educates us on IWGP title history and something called the Bullet Club. Man remember the days when something like them telling us about how Haku was his dad would blow our minds? The Bloodline double-teams KO and beats on him in the corner to get some heat on him, as if the match needed more heat, and they find more tables. KO fights back while Orton has disappeared, and he manages to send Solo into a table before walking into a Tonga clothesline. But then Tama wastes too much time and Orton returns and makes a comeback and this crowd is so hot that even Orton’s same comeback from the past 15 years seems OP. RKO gets DEUX. Solo makes the save and preps the announce table for Orton, but Randy hits him with an RKO on the table in a cruel twist of irony. This leaves Owens with Tama Tonga in the ring, as he hits Tama with a series of chairs and then sets them up in the corner before going to the top and hitting a fisherman’s buster onto the chairs. That gets two, but Tanga Loa debuts to make the save, and Solo slams KO onto a chair and finishes with the Samoan Spike at 19:35. Finish kind of deflated the insanely hot crowd a bit but really I’m just glad Kevin didn’t kill himself trying to top his own crowd reactions. They couldn’t quite maintain the momentum for the full 20 minutes but it was a crazy fun main event brawl in the opening slot. ****

WWE Women’s title: Bayley v. Tiffany Stratton v. Naomi

I know busting on Def Rebel is all the rage but I’ve gotta jump on and say that Bayley really needs better music for this run. They all trade armdrags to start and Tiffany flips out of it, which leads to trading rollups for two. Tiffany with a double jackknife for two and Bayley can’t even hide her delight with the crazy crowd reactions. Tiffany with the handspring elbow on Naomi, but Bayley cuts her off, so Tiffany dropkicks Bayley into a double stomp for two. Tiffany dumps Naomi and takes over on Bayley with choking on the ropes, but Bayley rolls her up for two. Stratton with another handspring elbow, but Bayley cuts her off with a german suplex, which Tiffany rolls into an Alabama Slam for two. Naomi and Tiffany brawl on the floor and Tiffany hits a handspring into the railing, but Naomi hits Bayley with a blockbuster off the railing. Back in the ring, Naomi with a moonsault on Tiffany for two and she takes Bayley to the top, but Tiffany breaks it up and Naomi powerbombs her for two. Bayley breaks it up with a flying elbow for two. Bayley with a sunset flip on Naomi, but Tiffany blocks another one and that gets two. Bayley to Belly gets two. Tiffany goes for the moonsault, but Naomi breaks it up, so Tiffany slams her on the table and adds one for Bayley as well. Back in the ring for the double moonsault, but it misses, Naomi and Bayley team up for a 3D on her and everyone is out. Naomi comes back with an enzuigiri on Bayley, but Bayley reverses into a cradle for the pin to retain at 13:34. Tiffany absolutely looked like a top star out there and hung with both of them. ***1/2

World Heavyweight title: Damian Priest v. Jey Uso

Does “Yeet” translate into French, I wonder? Jey slugs away in the corner while playing with the crowd, so Priest bails to the floor to escape the Yeeting. Back in the ring, Priest slugs him down and follows with a clothesline for two. Priest beats on him with kicks, but Jey comes back with a suplex and more Yeeting. Jey with a flying bodypress for two. This brings out JD McDonough to allow Priest a spear for two. Jey with a superkick while Priest and JD argue, and the flying splash gets two. They slug it out and Priest gets the Razor’s Edge for two. Jey escapes the chokeslam and spears him for two. Next up, Finn Balor comes out and interferes, allowing Priest to hit the chokeslam for two. Priest with a pair of spinkicks, but Jey fights back with superkicks and another flying splash for two, but JD makes the save. Jey takes him and Balor out and goes for another splash, but Priest cuts him off and finishes with the flying chokeslam at 15:45 to retain. I wasn’t particularly invested in this one, as it was basically just Jey being the guy going “Yeet yeet yeet” and then losing and everyone knew it. It was fine and the hot crowd elevated it a lot, though. ***

WWE Women’s tag team title: Asuka & Kairi Sane v. Bianca Belair & Jade Cargill

Bianca wins a power battle with Asuka to start and gets a cradle for two. Asuka tries the submission and Bianca slams out of that and fights off the champions before bringing Jade in. Kairi bounces off her for a bit and the faces double-team Kairi with an H BOMB and moonsault from Bianca for two. Oh man I’m having enough trouble watching the Harris Brother push on Nitro in 2000 without getting flashbacks on this show too. Kairi goes after the braid and Bianca dropkicks her to the floor, but walks into an ambush from Asuka. Kairi follows with a dive to the floor and the champions take over. Asuka with a sliding knee for two. Kairi goes up with a flying clothesline for two. Bianca comes back with a suplex on Asuka, but Kairi cuts off the tag and the champs double-team Belair again for two. Belair fights out of a chinlock and Jade gets the hot tag and slams Kairi all over for two. The champs double-team her with kicks but Kairi goes for a pin and apparently she’s not legal. That was a such a weird, momentum-killing spot, as they would have been way better off just having Kairi kick out and moving on, instead of leaving Jade to flail around and figure out the next step. So it’s over to Asuka again as Jade sells for a bit and looks pretty lost out there. Kairi randomly takes her down with an armbar and Jade doesn’t seem to know what to do with that, while Bianca comes in and Asuka does her own armbar and Bianca leads Jade into stereo slams to escape. Bianca comes in with a double team suplex as this is kind of falling apart. The Warriors double-team Bianca with Kairi’s flying elbow onto an inverted DDT from Asuka, which gets two. Jade saves and makes the comeback, powering Kairi into Jaded and a KOD from Bianca to win the titles at 17:20. This was way too long and completely lost the plot at the end. They should have kept it simple with Jade doing the hot tag and getting the win. **. I wouldn’t call it bad thanks to the hot crowd keeping it entertaining enough, but it certainly wasn’t anything particularly good.

WWE World title: Cody Rhodes v. AJ Styles

They trade takedowns to start and slug it out in the corner, before Cody puts him down with a dropkick and gives him a little STARDUST action. Man who ever thought he’d come back from THAT one? AJ with his own dropkick, but Cody backdrops him to set up a delayed suplex, so delayed they should call it Jack Perry’s return to TV. But Cody sells the shoulder afterwards, so AJ goes after it and starts working the arm. And the crowd goes even more crazy, singing about everything they see like they’re a bunch of French Randy Newmans, and they trade cradles for two. They fight to the floor and back into the ring, where Cody tries a delayed superplex but loses AJ due to the injured shoulder. So AJ drops him with an electric chair, but misses a Lionsault and Cody makes a comeback with the powerslam. Disaster Kick gets two. Another try is caught by AJ, but Cody reverses an electric chair into a rollup for two. AJ with the ushigoroshi for two. AJ misses a blind charge and Cody bulldogs him for two and they head to the apron, where AJ suplexes him onto the bad shoulder on LA PARTIE LA PLUS DURE DE L’ANNEAU, but Cody powerbombs him through the announce table and they’re both out. Back in the ring, they slug it out for another double down, but Cody hasn’t had enough yet! So they come out swinging again and Cody wins that battle with a Flip Flop and Fly for two. Cody with the cutter, but AJ catches him and they trade tombstone attempts before AJ suplexes him into the corner instead. AJ with the springboard 450 and that gets two. AJ with the BURNING HAMMER for one and Cody makes the comeback. Cody Cutter gets two. Cody is such a top guy now. Cody with the Rainmaker pose to set up the Crossroads. THAT’S NOT YOUR TAUNT, JERK! I take back my previous compliment. AJ escapes anyway and tries the forearm, but Cody blocks him with a superkick and goes for a kimura. AJ powers out of that and they trade finisher attempts, but Cody cradles for two. Super Cody Cutter and Cody does another stolen pose before hitting Crossroads for the pin to retain at 27:19. Look I know it’s a promotional war right now but that’s crossing a line when you disrespect another man’s pose like that. I’ve been on the internet, I know how things work. Anyway the match was great and Cody is probably at the top of his game right now and I kind of wish they had something bigger for him to do here. ****1/2

A very fun show, but as with the main event, I wish the card was more interesting to justify the insane crowd they had here, because with bigger and/or better matches this could have been an all-timer. As it is, it’s a tremendous house show lineup elevated by one of the hottest crowds ever, with a great main opener and main event and not much in between. But in the streaming era, that’s more than enough for a strong thumbs up. Check this one out.