I’m a little late to discuss this, but I guess better now than never, right? I have to say, I enjoyed most of the show on Sunday night. There were a lot more positives than negatives in my opinion and I think that is the main thing in this WWE environment. We’re one step closer to the WWE performing in front of a regular live audience and I think they’re stalling until then, but there were a lot of good matches on Sunday. Here are the results from Sunday’s PPV and my reaction to it all.

- Men’s Singles Match: United States Championship

Sheamus (C) over Ricochet

I disliked the fact that this wasn’t announced prior to the show and they popped it on us during the kickoff show. With that being said though, the match wasn’t bad, not particularly great though. Honestly, I think I’m taking away from it because of the fact that there was no build at all, but the match was fine. Ricochet hasn’t been on TV in a very long time and I know it is an open challenge, but this just shows the title means nothing creatively. They didn’t even care to announce it. It doesn’t appear that this feud is over though.

GRADE: 6.8/10

- Women’s Triple Threat Match: RAW Women’s Championship

Rhea Ripley (C) over Asuka and Charlotte Flair

What kind of ending was that? The ending of this match sucked. I get that Charlotte was supposed be knocked to the outside, but she clearly wasn’t and it appeared that she could’ve stopped Ripley from executing here finisher. None of that happened. From what we could tell, Charlotte delivered a big boot to aid Ripley in her victory. The match other than that was fine, but having Ripley play things off like the 13-time Champion doesn’t deserve to be in that match is just dumb and her acting like she earned that championship is just horrible storytelling. I will never buy into this title reign for Rhea because of that and every successful defense will just leave a bad taste with me and I hate that because I think Ripley is a great talent.

GRADE: 7.4/10

- Men’s Tag Team Championship: SmackDown Tag Team Championship

Rey and Dominik Mysterio over The Dirty Dawgs (C)

This was just an awesome moment. I have to be honest though, I knew that Dominik was going to appear throughout the match, but playing this off as a handicap match for the titles is again bad creative. If you remember correctly, Braun Strowman needed a tag partner at WrestleMania 34 to be eligible for the tag titles, but it’s ok for Rey Mysterio to compete in a handicap match for the tag belts? I get that most fans will overlook that, but if you set precedents, you need to follow them. I’m going to overlook that though and move on. The match was good and they told a great story in the ring. It is cool to see the Mysterios with the belts.

GRADE: 8.7/10

- Men’s Lumberjack Match

Damian Priest over The Miz

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I’m not going to thrash this like most fans have, but it was pretty stupid. Personally, I didn’t think it was as horrible as some made it out to be, but it was a cheap way to promote a movie. Especially considering the fact that neither The Miz or Priest are in the movie. To the fans that are extremely dissatisfied with this match, I completely understand. Also, I’ve heard that The Miz may have torn his ACL last night, which is horrible news. Considering how long he has been in the WWE, he has had a very healthy career and hopefully if this news is true, he makes a speedy recovery.

GRADE: 5.5/10

- Women’s Singles Match: SmackDown Women’s Championship

Bianca Belair (C) over Bayley

I really enjoyed this match and like I said in the predictions article, I like this feud a lot better than Banks/Belair. I hope this feud continues and if it does, I can only see it getting better from here. Bayley is the perfect heel for Belair to face and I really like the way that they matched up on Sunday. There isn’t much to say about the match, but it was great.

GRADE: 8.5/10

- Men’s Triple Threat Match: WWE Championship

Bobby Lashley (C) over Braun Strowman and Drew McIntyre

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This was towards the end of the show and after it ended, it was match of the night. Up until that point, the show had some good match, but this was by far the best of the rest prior to it. These three powerhouses put on a show and they did a triple threat the right way. Strowman looked like a legitimate threat and McIntyre didn’t get pinned, so that continues his feud with Lashley. Strowman added another dynamic to this match that I didn’t see before, but I’m glad he was added. Lashley didn’t need to carry the here, but at least McIntyre had to get things done and he did. Lashley has been a very interesting champion, but it appears that he may have another contender on the horizon after RAW.

GRADE: 9.5/10

- Men’s Singles Match: Universal Championship

Roman Reigns (C) over Cesaro *MATCH OF THE NIGHT*

This was an incredible way to end the night and I honestly don’t think they could’ve planned this match any better than they did. Cesaro was built properly to make him appear to be a legitimate threat and Roman’s match was almost met, but not quite. It is rare that you get a match that you literally don’t want to end, but this fit in that category. I think it could’ve gone on for another 15 minutes and nobody would’ve cared. Both superstars were incredible and I really want to see Cesaro go over Roman Reigns at some point down the line. Roman didn’t need The Usos or anybody to win the match and I think this is how his match at WrestleMania should’ve been done. He didn’t need Jey Uso to win, he never has. If you want to build a legitimate dominant champion, he doesn’t need assistance to win big matches. Also, Seth Rollins getting his shots in on Cesaro at the end will only make Cesaro look stronger down the line. They did it right on Sunday night and I don’t think the could’ve done anything differently to make it better.

GRADE: 10/10

Yacs

WrestleMania Backlash (2021) Results and Reaction