00:00A genuinely shocking new member of the Bloodline, Jade Cargill wins WWE gold in her third WWE
00:08match and further proof that European crowds are better than American ones, even in a country
00:13like France which no one likes.
00:15A little bit of friendly European banter there.
00:17Bonsoir my YouTube chums, this is my review of Backlash France in about 10 minutes.
00:29The show opened with the Bloodline taking on the team of Kevin Owens and Randy Orton
00:33which broke out into a brawl before the bell even sounded.
00:36Security and producers tried to break this up, where are you Petey Williams?
00:41And Nick Aldis came out to make this a no-DQ street fight.
00:44While that was all a lot of fun, the main story and what everyone is talking about was
00:49the crowd.
00:50This capacity crowd, the largest WWE arena gate in history thanks in part to the average
00:55ticket price being reportedly $300, were electric for the whole night.
01:01Dan Layton and I spoke about this at length on the WrestleTalk Podcast predictions for
01:05the show.
01:06Even when presented with a five match card that was, at best, pretty good, these outside
01:12the US crowds are always going to be on fire because they don't get to see WWE on this
01:17scale on their home turf.
01:19We saw this last year with Puerto Rico and Backlash, we saw it with Money in the Bank
01:23and Clash at the Castle in the UK, we saw it two months ago with Elimination Chamber
01:28in Australia, and we'll see it again when WWE rolls into Germany for Bash in Berlin.
01:34There have been a lot of successes in the Triple H era when it comes to creative and
01:38overall presentation, but for me the biggest mark in the W column is the WWE call to do
01:44these B-Show PPVs outside the US.
01:47You put on this exact same show in Bumblef Missouri and it's called A Good Show, but
01:53you do this in front of a fired up French audience and baby, you've got a stew going.
01:58From the moment this show started until it ended, this crowd were loud.
02:03And not just the pops for entrances or big moves or finishes, they were loud for everything.
02:09They did not quiet down at any point.
02:12Singing Randy's theme, the football songs, the torches on the phone for Jey Uso, it was
02:17simply incroyable.
02:18That's French for f***ing awesome.
02:21And it translated into the wrestling itself, elevating what was already good action into
02:26great as the guys and girls in the ring fed off the incredible atmosphere.
02:31Case in point, these four men beat the living tar out of each other, and it was a great
02:35first showing for Tama Tonga in WWE.
02:38This being his first match on TV since debuting, and a good window into what we can expect
02:43from him down the line.
02:44It is still so jarring to hear Michael Cole talk about New Japan history, though at one
02:48point even said that Tama Tonga has had great matches with evil.
02:52Someone's been reading up on their cage match profiles and clearly not watching the
02:56matches.
02:57The Heels managed to get the upper hand through a Samoan drop through the table by Solo, and
03:00it led to the Heels working over Owens for the most part until Randy made a comeback.
03:04His RKO to Solo FROM OUTTA NOWHERE was fantastic, and Owens hit a middle roped Fisherman Buster
03:09through a chair bridge and it looked like he had the match won when Tonga Lower, the
03:14brother of Tama Tonga, made his WWE debut and pulled the ref from the match.
03:20G.O.D.
03:21In WWE.
03:22At least, you know, that's what we saw on TV.
03:27As fan footage of this moment shows that Tonga Lower actually messed up his timing and the
03:31referee hilariously pulled himself from the ring.
03:33Solo hit the Samoan Spike on Owens for the win.
03:36Going into the show, the big rumour was that we would see the debut of new Bloodline member
03:41Jacob Fatu, who had told friends on WrestleMania Sunday that he had signed with WWE.
03:47Which was then backed up by reports that he had fully signed with the company by the usual
03:51reputable outlet.
03:53PWInsider reported that he was going to make his debut on Smackdown a couple of weeks ago,
03:57but those plans were changed because WWE didn't need to rush him to TV because the Bloodline
04:04plans were mapped out for the next few months.
04:06Hence why we got all the fan speculation that Jacob Fatu would show up at Backlash.
04:11And all of that was the perfect smokescreen to keep hush the bigger news.
04:16WWE had also signed Tonga Lower.
04:19It's huge credit to WWE that, in a day and age where almost everything gets leaked, they
04:25kept this one quiet.
04:26It led to a huge moment that made me leap out of my seat and a fascinating next chapter
04:32in the Bloodline.
04:33Following Paul Heyman revealing that he had not spoken to Roman Reigns since WrestleMania
04:36meaning that it was Heyman that pulled Roman from the draft and not Roman himself, he,
04:41like the rest of us, clearly did not know that Tonga Lower was joining this rogue Bloodline.
04:48His selling of that fact was just as good as the actual wrestlers taking actual moves,
04:53as he even tried to protect Owens from further beatdown after the match.
04:57He later gave the most pleading, save us look to Jey Uso when he passed him backstage.
05:03G.O.D. vs. The Usos coming to a city near you soon.
05:08It also means that finally, all three members of The Rising are now in WWE.
05:13This was then followed by my match of the night, as Bayley retained her WWE Women's
05:18Championship in a fantastic triple threat match against Naomi and Tiffany Stratton.
05:23Like this hot crowd, this was non-stop and a brilliant showcase for how good Tiffany
05:29Stratton is.
05:30She was a true star in this match and added a whole new dimension to the action.
05:36Her double cartwheel through to the Alabama Slams into the announcer's decks were the
05:39right kind of gnarly, and she rolled them both in the ring to take them out with the
05:43prettiest moonsault ever but missed, and got caught with a Bayley and Naomi 3D double team
05:49in an amazing sequence of events.
05:51Bayley then got a shock roll-up on Naomi for the win.
05:54A su-perb wrestling match made to feel legendary by this crowd.
05:59The same can even be said for Jey Uso vs. Damian Priest, which let's be honest, didn't
06:04have a lot of hype going into it with many, myself included, feeling that it was a bit
06:08mid-card.
06:09WWE just hadn't done enough to make Damian Priest feel like a World Championship guy
06:15before he cashed in his briefcase, Jey was stuck in his heatless feud with Jimmy, and
06:20he's coming off the back of that roundly and rightly criticised Mania match.
06:25But tell that to the French.
06:27Because they went absolutely bonkers for Jey Uso's entrance, and they welcomed Damian
06:31Priest into the building like he was the true King of the North.
06:35The two had a fairly standard match that saw the usual Judgment Day interference, but it
06:38was elevated to a whole new level because of this crowd.
06:42I hate to sound like a broken record, but it's true.
06:44Both men kicked out of each other's finishes, and Jey even had the match won before JD McDonough
06:48put Priest's foot on the ropes to break up the pin.
06:50Jey wiped out JD and Finn Balor at ringside, but ran into an avalanche south of Heaven
06:54from Priest for him to retain his title.
06:57A fine match carried by an awesome crowd.
07:00The only title that changed hands on the show was when the power buff girls of Bianca Belair
07:04and Jade Cargill won the tag titles from the Kabuki Warriors.
07:07After Jade did that jaded transition she did to Sky Blue that one time, and Belair hit
07:11the KOD on Asuka for the win.
07:12It was a very good match that broke down for about three minutes when the referee stopped
07:16Kairi Sane from making a pin attempt because she was not the legal woman, and then let
07:21her tag out to Asuka who he just said was the legal woman.
07:25It meant that they had to redo some spots and it took them a little while to get back
07:29on track.
07:30And I think this moment is a testament to how hot WWE is right now.
07:36In any other era, this would have been a much bigger talking point, and made fun of online
07:41by loads of hyperbolic statements of, WWE is the worst wrestling on the planet.
07:47But in the Triple H era, it was met with this is awesome chants from this awesome crowd.
07:52That's not a knock on anyone, just something I find endlessly fascinating.
07:56And the main event saw Cody Rose defend the WWE Championship against AJ Styles in a, but
08:01I was told AJ was washed up match.
08:04Shout out to AJ for wearing purple just like he did when he defended the NWA title against
08:08Dusty.
08:09It was a fantastic main event, a proper main event wrestling match.
08:14Both men brought fire and energy, and coupled with this incredible crowd, it was a superb
08:19way to end off an already great night.
08:22Cody kicked out of the Burning Hammer at Juan to fire up to get in a Kimura and hit the
08:26Crossroads for the win.
08:28Just one Crossroads, maybe this AJ is washed up am I right?
08:31I'm kidding of course, because this was probably the best AJ Styles match in years.
08:36His LA Night match blew away all expectations at WrestleMania, but this was like a proper
08:40AJ Styles wrestling match.
08:43A reminder that he really is one of the best to ever do it, one of my favourite wrestlers
08:47of all time getting the flowers he deserves.
08:51Backlash was a very good show made legendary by this crowd.
08:55Like Puerto Rico last year, this Backlash will go down in history as one of the most
08:59fun WWE shows I've ever seen.
09:02I can't wait for Clash at the Castle 2 and Bash in Berlin, because you just know
09:07those Scottish and German crowds are going to try and outdo the French.
09:11WWE Backlash is an easy 4 out of 5.
09:14Now go and check out the latest episode of TLC where we count down the worst wrestling
09:19finishers of all time.
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