Can’t Knock The Hustle: WWE Backlash 2025 Review

Man, this is a really weird pay-per-view card.

There are 11 championships on the WWE main roster (13, if you count the men’s and women’s Speed Titles), and only four of them are being defended tonight. Pat McAfee has a match on the show, but World Heavyweight Champion Jey Uso, Seth Rollins, Bron Breakker, CM Punk, Cody Rhodes, and many more do not.

Let’s see what that weird card can deliver on, though. It’s time for WWE Backlash 2025, live from the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri.

Jacob Fatu vs Damian Priest vs LA Knight vs Drew McIntyre – Fatal Four-Way for the WWE United States Title

Another WWE pay-per-view, another fantastic choice for a show opening match. Four competitors that are really over with live crowds, sure to deliver a wild, physical battle for the United States Title. That works for me.

Loud “Fatu” chants before the champion’s entrance took place. He continues to gain popularity with live crowds all over the globe. His face run is going to hit the streets like crack, whenever it takes place.

The St. Louis crowd is pretty hot so far, and they’re getting a match with rapid-fire action to this point.

LOL @ Michael Cole telling Jacob Fatu’s life story, saying that he went to jail, got out, and “had to sleep on a mattress.” The horror! He had to sleep on a mattress?!? That explains so much.

All four men are working their asses off here. This has been a blast so far. Multiple “this is awesome” chants say that the crowd agrees with me.

Priest and McIntyre have taken their feud way out into the crowd, and they’re brawling over by the audio and video equipment storage area. Not the greatest strategy to win the match, guys. South Of Heaven off of a platform and through two tables below! Definitely not the greatest strategy to win the match now.

Jeff Cobb is here! Solo Sikoa showed up at ringside to save Jacob Fatu from an attack by LA Knight, but just as Knight is about to get his hands on Solo, Cobb pops up behind the barricade and takes Knight out. The distraction is enough for Fatu to get the pin and the win, retaining his title, but he looks very confused and bordering on upset that Jeff Cobb is on the scene.

There are so many Polynesians running around right now. I love it.

The match was a lot of fun. 4 Stars. The right choice to open the show, with the right people involved, and the right outcome. We even got a new wrinkle in the Bloodline story, and the eventual face turn for Jacob Fatu. Good stuff.

Lyra Valkyria vs Becky Lynch – WWE Women’s Intercontinental Title Match

I gotta admit… I didn’t think another heel turn for Becky Lynch was going to work, but it seems like I’m wrong so far. She’s not being booed out of buildings or anything, but crowds are actually giving her heel heat, unlike the last times the company tried to make her a heel.

Both of Becky’s elbows are battered and bruised, and her left elbow is bleeding a bit. I forgot to mention it, but Jacob Fatu came up bleeding from the mouth about halfway through the first match. Physical show so far.

Backlash is off to a hot start. A blast of an opening match, and this one has been a ton of fun, as well, to this point.

Lyra gets the pin to retain her title, but is immediately attacked by Becky after the match. During the final sequence, Lyra was grabbing at her nose, selling something. On commentary, Michael Cole wonders if she broke her nose, but it looks okay. She’s still selling it, but it’s not bloody, not disfigured, etc.

Great mix of technical wrestling and hard-hitting brawling. Helluva performance from both women. I’m going to give that 4.25 Stars. As I said, Backlash is off to a hot start.

Dominik Mysterio vs Penta – WWE Intercontinental Title Match

Can these two keep the hot streak going?

The crowd is cheering for Dom, and they exploded when he performed a suicide dive into a DDT on Penta. Even though the Dom character hasn’t acted like a face after what we saw at WrestleMania, there’s still something there between him and live crowds.

Carlito makes his way to the ring, but it’s a distraction, as he gets the ref’s attention. That allows for Finn Balor and JD McDonagh to hop the barricade. JD holds Penta, and Finn looks like he’s going to hit Penta, but he changes his mind and goes to get a steel chair instead. The delay allows for the ref to see what’s happening. Interesting.

With all of the chaos still taking place at ringside, El Grande Americano pops up and hits Penta with a loaded mask led headbutt. Dom lands a Frog Splash after that for the pin and the win. Fun match. Maybe not quite on the same level as the previous two matches, but still 3.5 Stars. Honestly, Dom and Penta were building to something better than that before 817 people got involved in the finish, but I suppose I understand why they went in that direction.

Pat McAfee vs Gunther

Welp. This has the potential to be an absolute train wreck in the best possible way. Unfortunately, it also has the potential to be an absolute train wreck in the worst possible way. I don’t think WWE would be putting McAfee in this match and this position if they weren’t completely confident that he could, at the very least, carry his own weight. We shall see.

Gunther is smirking. That’s terrifying all on its own.

In the early stages, McAfee slips and botches a bit. On commentary, Cole chalks it up to Pat being inexperienced and over-exuberant.

McAfee is doing a really good job of bouncing between being cautious and being confidently motivated. I’ll give him that much.

The crowd went ballistic for McAfee making a brief comeback, including multiple punts, and it led to… Gunther kicking out at one. Yikes.

After basically toying with McAfee, Gunther locks him in the Boston Crab, and Michael Cole makes the crowd pop huge by getting up and going to ringside, basically begging Pat to tap out so that the match can end. McAfee refuses to do so, and an angry Gunther eventually grabs Cole and pulls him into the ring. We get another mini comeback from McAfee before Gunther can lay hands on Cole, though.

Gunther picks up the win after making McAfee pass out in a choke. You know what? That was a lot of fucking fun, and it was put together perfectly. McAfee fought his ass off, and was able to do so because Gunther was clearly taking him lightly. Nothing was unbelievable here. It’s not like Pat was just beating the hell out of Gunther for several minutes at a time. As a wrestling match, I don’t know what you’d rate it. However, as an entertainment spectacle, that was 4 Stars. It told a story that was really good and easy to get behind. I really dug it. Do I want to see Pat McAfee wrestle 100 times a year? No. Of course not. He has more than proven himself, though, during the handful of matches that he’s had. This was his eighth match in nearly five years. Under the right circumstances, with the right story and the right opponent, I wouldn’t mind him having a couple more.

John Cena vs Randy Orton – Undisputed WWE Title Match

Not counting Royal Rumble matches, this is the 23rd pay-per-view to feature some sort of match between these two men, but it’s the first one since Hell In A Cell 2014. Just for the sake of reference, Iyo Sky has wrestled at a total of 22 pay-per-views, and that’s counting Royal Rumble matches. This really is one of the greatest rivalries in pro wrestling history.

The crowd, which has been red hot all night, has already amped things up here, and we haven’t even gotten to the opening bell yet. This is going to be a wild ride.

LOL @ Cena offering a handshake, only to hit Orton with a thumb to the eye. Dirty bastard.

Dueling “you can’t wrestle” and “yes, he can” chants. Sure enough, the crowd is going nuts already.

On commentary, Woi Bar-ruh is going on a rant about how Orton is a locker room leader right now, and that’s more than Cena ever was. He’s talking about how Cena has never been a leader, and has always been about himself and nobody else. IT’S A SHOOT~! If you know, you know.

Orton mounts Cena in the corner and delivers 20 consecutive punches to the face. When he’s done, Bar-ruh calls out “give him 20 more, please.” Funny.

LOL @ the two of them going back and forth giving out sleeper holds. Cena locks one in, Orton breaks free and then locks Cena in one, only for Cena to break free and lock another one in, and so on and so forth.

Attitude Adjustment by Cena… reversed into an RKO by Orton! Orton is too beaten down to go for the cover, though. That was a cool spot.

Cena goes for the multiple shoulder tackles that usually lead to a Five Knuckle Shuffle, but Orton counters the second attempt with another RKO! Another cool spot. Again, though, Orton has had too much taken out of him to go for the cover. Both Cena and Orton are really turning the clock back here.

Ref bump! Uh-oh.

With the ref down, Cena goes and grabs his title, only to eat another RKO when he gets back in the ring. The ref comes to just in time to count to 2.999 there. These fans aren’t happy, chanting “bullshit” after the pin attempt.

Ref bump, part deux! Uh-oh, part deux.

Orton delivers an Attitude Adjustment on the announce table! No, that isn’t a typo.

Orton sets up a regular table at ringside and delivers another Attitude Adjustment on it! No, that isn’t a typo, either. Cena has now been driven through two tables with his own finishing move. We still don’t have a ref, either.

RKO in the ring, but it only gets two, as we had to wait for another ref to sprint his way to the ring to make the count.

Ref bump, part ekolu! Uh-oh, part ekolu.

Nick Aldis leads a bunch of officials to the ring to try and revive the ref, but Orton lays a bunch of them out with RKO after RKO.

Orton lines up for a Punt, only for R-Truth to run down and get in the way. Truth eats an RKO for his troubles, and that allows Cena to hit Orton in the Little Randies. A shot in the face with the title belt takes Orton down for long enough that the original ref gets back in the ring to count to three. Cena retains his title. The second half of the match was overbooked as all hell, but that was a fantastic dose of nostalgia. Both Cena and Orton looked years younger, and showed just how much chemistry they have together. 4 Stars

We go off the air with Cena cutting a brief promo, saying that he needs competition, and that this is what the “last real champion” looks like.

In the post-show exclusive on Peacock, Cena leaves the ring to loud “thank you, Cena” chants, and he actually looks like he’s fighting back emotion. He wipes his eyes, and continues to walk away. It looks like he’s fighting tears again, and he shakes his head, trying to snap back. That was very interesting.

Based on in-ring quality, this was one of the better WWE pay-per-views from top-to-bottom in a long time. All five matches delivered, and were done in front of a red hot, appreciative crowd. Lots to like about this show. I’m giving it a definite recommendation.