With only six matches announced (and all of these being for a championship) it looked like WWE were planning on making Backlash a great night of WRESTLING, with matches being given enough time to develop and allowing the competitors to tell a decent story in the ring. This gave me some really high hopes for the evening, but in the end, it turned out to be even better than I had expected.

World Tag Team Championships:
The Hardys def. Cade and Murdoch

I thought Benoit/MVP would open the show, but when The Hardys music hit, I knew we were in for a great start to the night – the crowd went wild. This is really what Matt and Jeff have become experts at, getting the fans out of their seats, roaring appreciation, and getting them set for the night ahead. This was a really fun bout, with a couple of nice spots (such as a little touch of Poetry in Motion over the top rope to the floor) and some great teamwork from both corners of the ring which highlighted the clash of styles. To be honest, I even enjoyed the challengers’ ground and pound style to try and keep Jeff down, only to have the younger Hardy tag in his elder brother for some fast paced, high impact offence. Murdoch once again tried his Canadian Destroyer variation (although this time it did look a lot more like a Code Red), much to my amusement, only to have Matt kick out at two – so much for the new finisher. In the end a little opportunism from Jeff with the Swanton Bomb lead to the champs retaining, and even though I’d love to see The Hardys vs. Benjamin and Haas, I honestly wouldn’t mind a rematch between these two teams.

***1/2 – Fun opener with some great teamwork, decent psychology (with both teams mixing it up with their offence so it didn’t seem too stale), and a nice ending with the more experienced team picking up the duke. Good match.

Women’s Championship:
Melina def. Mickie James

Since both Trish and Lita left and the Women’s division basically went to pot, this has been one of the few feuds that actually made sense, and wasn’t designed to sell a few more copies of Playboy. It really delivered on the night too, and after an extended period of heel offence from the champ, the crowd really came alive for Mickie’s fight back which included a nice cross body from the top (take note Gail Kim). Even Melina mixed it up a bit with a couple of unique submissions and pinning combinations which, although weren’t greatly over with the fantastic Atlanta crowd, definitely added to the match. The end seemed a tad sudden with Melina getting the three after a Scorpion Death Drop, but it was a very entertaining bout that exceeded all expectations nonetheless.

**1/2 – Better than I had thought possible, and the hot crowd made Mickie’s comeback all the better. THIS is what I’m talking about when I say this show allowed matches time to develop, and these two beautiful divas certainly told a great story in the ring.

United States Championship:
Chris Benoit def. MVP

After a Mania match that showed nice glimpses of promise between these two, they really delivered with a great non-title match on Smackdown, and thus I was quite hyped for (really) the third encounter between these two. I was left, however, feeling slightly let down – although perhaps I simply expected too much. I felt that the match could have done with a little more fast-paced action along with the mat-based holds, as it did seem like ground hold after hold, with little for the crowd to sink their teeth into. Still, when it got rolling it was very entertaining and Atlanta loved the Wolverine’s German Suplexes (eight in total I think). I did like MVP’s counter to the diving head butt (which, I noticed at the time, signalled the return of Benoit-na-man) but, in a similar fashion to Wrestlemania, the finish was a tad sudden. However, it was well done as it’s showing Benoit has more in his arsenal than submission holds and the head butt, AND that he’s having to resort to different measures to beat MVP, in the process putting both men more over – I approve.

*** - I expected more but this is still a good match, definitely worth watching. I’m not sure the right man went over though, I’d like to see how MVP does with a title run – I’m still not sure if he’s only performing so well at the minute because he’s with Benoit. Still, another solid match from these two so you won’t catch me complaining.

ECW Championship, 3 on 1 Handicap Match:
Vince McMahon, Shane McMahon and Umaga def. Bobby Lashley

This was a pretty formula affair, with the champ getting in some early offence before the numbers game (and the shady tactics) of his opponents got the better of him, but I still enjoyed it. I like to watch Lashley dish out some vicious Suplexes and the like, but when he was grounded (by Shane McMahon strangely, hardly a way to put over a man you’re trying to portray as the strongest in the company, but I digress) the bout did seem to drag. At first I was very ticked off with the ending and Vince taking the title and basically urinating on ECW’s legacy, but in all honesty the belt means less than nothing now anyway, and Vince spouting “peace out my brothers!” to Cena and HBK on Raw converted me. Umaga deserves to be highly commended here; he stayed in perfect character throughout the bout, looking confused with how the tagging situation worked etc. and it really added to the out of control monster gimmick he seems to have perfected.

**1/2 – I expected a lot worse really. The title switch didn’t sit well with me upon first viewing but it’s difficult to degrade ECW much more anyway. I can see what they’re trying to do with Lashley, but I’m not sure the fans are buying into it 100%, so we’ll have to see where he goes from here. Still, the match could have been completely awful and it wasn’t so it’s a slight success.

World Heavyweight Championship, Last Man Standing Match:
Undertaker def. Batista

I had said previously that I didn’t want to see a rematch between these two after their surprise Mania stunner, but the addition of the Last Man Standing gimmick helped to fill the void left by there being no “Title vs. Streak” element this time around, and ensured for a great brawl. A nasty shot with the steel steps opened up Batista not that long into the contest, and Taker even managed to repay the favour from Wrestlemania by driving his opponent through the announce table (this time with a leg drop from the barricade). Back in the ring, in a nice role reversal from what we usually see, Batista powerbombed Taker in a counter to his mounted punches in the corner – I’ve lost count of how many times Taker has done this very move (once being in front of 80,000 in Detroit). The finish seeing Batista spear the champion off the entrance way, complete with parts of the stage falling and some pyro was awesome, and the double count out protects both men’s heat. A great match that actually managed to slightly upstage what they achieved at Wrestlemania – a tremendous feat when you think just how much of the atmosphere should have been missing (the Atlanta crowd ensured it wasn’t).

**** - Ever so slightly better than Mania with some nice innovation and a great ending. It’s a shame Taker’s injury seems set to cut his title reign short, as he was getting back to his old self and having some great matches. These two were even building up some great chemistry, and each of their matches had a real big fight feel about it that’s extremely difficult to create. A couple of nice flashbacks to their Mania match (the table bump, power bomb from the corner) were nice touches too. As for what the future holds I have no idea, but for this match alone, it was brilliant.

WWE Championship, Fatal 4 Way Rules: John Cena def. Shawn Michaels, Edge and Randy Orton

Coming right off a one hour wrestling classic on Raw we rolled right into a crazy, fast-paced, high-octane affair at the pay-per-view that had me hooked from beginning to end. Although, admittedly, multiple person matches do screw up the selling slightly (with competitors being down for insanely long amounts of time in comparison to the move the just received), this is a perfect example as to why many enjoy them so much. There were so many tremendous spots here, with great double teaming (double Boston crab, the Tower of Doom from the corner), backstabbing (HBK shoving Orton into the ring post, Edge nailing Orton with a sweet looking chair shot) and simply constant action that had me, literally, on the edge of my seat. A moment where Orton came seemingly from nowhere to catch a surprised Michaels with an RKO just as he was tuning up the band was a moment of perfection in this contest, and the shock of it sums up the entire match very well. The finish was nothing short of insane – leapfrogs, counters, a Spear on Orton with Edge walking straight into the FU, only for Cena to turn directly into Sweet Chin Music, but luckily fall on top of Orton for the 1,2,3 (with Michaels being too beat down from some vicious attacks to his back throughout the bout to make the save). This really was excellent stuff.

****1/4 – Everything you could really want from a mach like this – bags of action and wholly unpredictable. False finishes left, right and centre punctuated with amazing spots and a load of effort from everyone involved. The ending also leaves the question as to who is the better man between Cena and Michaels unanswered, and, once Khali gets out of the way, should ensure at least one more rematch – and I know I’ll be tuning in to see that one.

Overall Thoughts:

(B) – There’s not an outright bad match on this entire card, and with both main events delivering on a grand scale, Backlash can be considered a monumental success from an in-ring standpoint. WWE really is putting on some awesome matches so far this year (Raw the next night even featured a **** screamer between Orton and Edge) and despite Khali’s re-emerged presence in a meaningful feud I remain optimistic about the direction we’re headed. Smackdown could be interesting in the coming weeks, and perhaps coming off the back of two outsiders for MOTY, Batista may be a better champion if indeed he’s given the strap back. When you consider the two worst matches on the card (both clocking in at **1/2) both could have potentially have been a LOT worse, Backlash really was a great show where everything that should have delivered did so, and the rest even exceeded expectations. The hidden hero here was the brilliant Atlanta crowd who were really into just about everything and added to the night greatly, making it even more entertaining.

Take care,
Gav (GavinNiven@AOL.com)