The 2025 edition of Backlash aka ‘Backlash St. Louis’ took place this past Saturday, May 10th live from the Enterprise Center in St. Louis and I had the pleasure to be in the live audience for this one! What an excellent show from top to bottom! Although it didn’t change the current landscape much and none of the titles on the line ended up changing hands, I had a great time and I’m happy to hear that most everyone was satisfied with the St. Louis crowd as well. My vocal cords are feeling the effects today, but I gave it everything I personally had for my people throughout the night. The opening match was the Fatal 4 Way between Jacob Fatu, LA Knight, Drew McIntyre, and Damian Priest for the United States Championship. We were rushing to find and get to our seats before this match started and I figured it was going to be what lead off the show, so I didn’t want to miss any of this one! Fatu got a huge reaction live and he was a maniac throughout the match, using fast paced offense and bouncing and flipping all over the ring, shaking and jiving all the while doing so. Personal rivalries certainly played a factor throughout the match as well, as multiple times Fatu/Knight and Priest/McIntyre split off into their own scraps. Priest eliminated himself and McIntyre from the equation following a ‘South of Heaven’ to Drew off some stacked-up equipment and through 2 tables out in the crowd area. It looked like LA Knight was going to dive onto Fatu and through the announce table before Solo Sikoa made his presence known at ringside and drug Fatu off the table. As Knight was looking to confront Solo ringside, a hooded figure nearly took his head off with a clothesline, and was moments later revealed to be Jeff Cobb making his shocking debut. Fatu looked to be as confused as the rest of us by the arrival of Cobb but capitalized off the moment anyways and hit a moonsault onto Knight for the victory. My speculation is that Solo felt his grasp on Fatu slipping and he knew he was losing his spot as leader soon, the inclusion of the brickhouse that is Jeff Cobb gives him a little insurance rather Fatu chooses he wants to side with him or not. Solo and Fatu are going to head into a rivalry very soon, this is just another layer added into the story, Cobb is someone who can match or even outmatch the strength and size of Fatu so he’ll stand as credible opposition to Jacob Fatu.
Next up was Lyra Valkyria defending her Intercontinental Championship against the newly bitter and resentful Becky Lynch. I had a great time with this match as well, I honestly didn’t know what to expect from this one or how much I would enjoy it, but given their previous shown chemistry a couple years back down in NXT I should’ve expected it, but this was probably one of my favorite main roster Lyra matches next to her series with Iyo last year on Raw. I was fully behind Lyra here, cheering her on and giving Big Time Becks the business when she started her ground and pound offense. This was as hard hitting an affair as it was technical, and these 2 women laid into each other for close to 20 minutes. Becky really laid in some heavy and rather brutal looking punches and slaps on Lyra and that was kind of the story that was told throughout this match. Becky hit Lyra with everything she had; she laid in all her best tricks of the trade and Lyra was able to take it all and keep moving forward. Becky hit a total of 3 Manhandle Slams, but in the end it was Lyra who prevailed after a mess of rollup attempts from both women saw Lyra get the better of Becky and she was able to keep her shoulders on the mat for the pin to retain her championship. Immediately after the bell rang, Becky jumped on the attack on Lyra again and locked her in a Disarmher and wouldn’t let go until being pried off her by officials, a beaten down but not mentally broken Lyra Valkyria held the championship high while being helped out by security. I feel like Bayley will likely get involved in this story soon as that’s who Becky seems to really have the beef with more so than Lyra. I was not at all upset by, but kind of surprised that Lyra retained the championship here though because I kind of figured Becky would pick up the belt to not only give her another accolade on her resume but also to spin into a title feud with Bayley to help elevate the women’s mid card division. But what we got was Lyra getting likely the biggest win of her career thus far against a very game Becky Lynch and I was there to see it live so no complaints here!
Dirty Dominik Mysterio put his Intercontinental Championship on the line next against the hot new star on Raw, Penta. This was a fun match, I still got in on the Dirty Dom chants don’t get me wrong, but this did feel like the outlier in a lot of ways on an otherwise pretty stacked and PLE feeling show. This felt like a typical Judgment Day match you’d see on Raw with the shenanigans and outside interference playing a major factor in the outcome per usual. Dominik hit Liv’s finisher the ‘Oblivion’ on Penta and Penta hit a Mexican Destroyer on Dom on the ring apron which were probably the 2 most exciting moments of the match. Dominik retained following interference by El Grande Americano using his steel plated headbutt on Penta followed by Dom connecting with a top rope frog splash for the victory.
Pat McAfee put his very heart and soul on the line for Michael Cole next as he faced off against ‘The Ring General’ Gunther. This match was honestly better in ways than I expected it to be, but as a fan of Gunther I can’t sit here and lie and say I didn’t want to see a bit of a whooping take place. Not that a whooping didn’t take place, Gunther was in full control for a lot of this matchup, but the feisty McAfee wasn’t going down without a fight either. I will admit there was a moment that Pat went for a moonsault off the top rope and missed but landed on his feet and then immediately reversed a German suplex attempt by Gunther by landing on his feet again and that even shocked me and got me pumped up. The crowd was fully in McAfee’s corner as well, loudly cheering on his hope spots throughout the match as they happened. The man sustained the hard-hitting forearms and chops from Gunther, but in the end the sheer strength and technical in ring ability from the Ring General proved to be too much as Gunther choked Pat out with a sleeper hold. After the match, Gunther showed his respect for Pat for stepping up to the plate by giving him a little bow and walking out without putting his hands on McAfee or Michael Cole any more. I hope Gunther is done feuding with the announcers because this man needs to be doing much bigger things than this, but it was an interesting story to play coming out of WrestleMania. I feel like all in all Gunther’s problem should lie just as much with Michael Cole as it does Pat though, Pat stepped up and took the bullet for the both of them, learning his lesson in the process as well, but Michael didn’t learn jack from this. I guess what I’m saying is most of me wants to see Gunther move onto bigger things now that this match is done, but there’s a small and devious part of me that wants to see Gunther come kick Cole’s ass on Raw for talking all the smack that man talks. Mostly jokes, but really only time will tell.
Finally, the main event matchup between the ‘Last Real Champion’ John Cena and the hometown legend, ‘The Viper’ Randy Orton. The history between these men is legendary in itself, both these guys played a major part in my childhood and adolescence as a wrestling fan and getting to see the 2 of them lock up for most likely the final time live in attendance was a surreal experience in itself. The main difference in this matchup compared to any of their previous ones (apart from the fact that they’re clearly older now) is that John Cena played the role of the dastardly heel and Randy Orton was not only the face, but the hometown hero as well here in the Lou. My vocal cords were shot by this point in the night, but I gave every little bit of what was left of my voice to loudly cheer on both these legends. This was an overbooked mess of a match in all the best ways. We went through multiple refs, multiple tables were broken, multiple officials were treated to an RKO, and the legendary R-Truth even had a run-in in an attempt to save Cena. The match was slow paced as expected and decently back and forth from the jump, Cena ate 3 or 4 RKOs (I think Randy did about 10 or 11 in total if you count the ones on the officials and R-Truth) and Orton also dished out a pair of AAs to Cena as well through the tables. In the end though, the distraction from Truth to save Cena from being punted was enough to get the job done as Cena used this opportunity to nail Randy with a low blow and smash the title off of his head while the ref was still down to get the 3 count. After the show at the presser, John Cena was confronted by Truth who was looking to offer his congratulations, but in real R-Truth fashion he said too much and accidentally offended Cena which lead to him being AA’d through the press conference table. I’m assuming we maybe get a Cena/Truth match at Saturday Night’s Main Event now and honestly, I’m here for it. I don’t think Truth is any real threat to Cena’s title run but he’s been in the business forever and Cena and him have all the history, not to mention that he’s one of the most beloved figures by everyone backstage so if you’re really trying to push Cena as a heel for a bit longer, having him beat down his #1 fan, the beloved R-Truth is definitely a way to do that. I had a great time with the Cena/Orton match though and it is one that I’ll remember being live in attendance for forever.
Match ratings: 1-10 scale (.5 applicable)
Fatal 4 Way for Men’s United States Championship: Jacob Fatu (c) vs LA Knight vs Drew McIntyre vs Damian Priest- 7.5/10
Women’s Intercontinental Championship match: Lyra Valkyria (c) vs Becky Lynch- 8.5/10
Men’s Intercontinental Championship match: Dirty Dominik Mysterio (c) vs Penta- 6/10
Pat McAfee vs Gunther- 6.5/10
Undisputed WWE Championship match: John Cena (c) vs Randy Orton- 9/10
