Can’t Knock The Hustle: WWE Backlash 2026 Review

WrestleMania is in the rearview mirror.

The WWE calendar continues on, and Backlash is the company’s first pay-per-view event since Mania.

There are five matches on the card that will be worked in front of the crowd at the Benchmark International Arena in Tampa, Florida. Speaking of that crowd, as of an hour before Backlash began, WrestleTix was reporting that there were 339 tickets left for purchase. The venue is set up for a capacity of 14,972 people, so there’s going to be a good amount of people in the building, even if it isn’t a 100% sellout (which I think it will end up being).

I’m not sure what to expect here. As I said, there are only five matches on the card, and one of those five is a comedy match involving Danhausen, Miz, and Kit Wilson. The mystery makes things fun, I suppose.

Let’s have some fun.

 

Seth Rollins vs Bron Breakker

This was the rumored direction for both men at WrestleMania before injuries derailed the plans completely. I’m expecting both men to treat this like a WrestleMania match, but especially Bron, who was set to have the biggest match of his career.

There is a fan in the front row of the aisle that is wearing what looks like the exact same suit that Paul Heyman has on. Color, pinstripes, and everything. What… how… that’s crazy.

In the very early stages, the crowd is hot. They’re being given a fast-paced match, too. That’s a bonus for Bron Breakker matches. Heels usually like to slow things down when they’re in control of a match, but Bron Breakker’s explosive speed and athleticism mean that he’s keeping his foot on the gas far more often than not.

I like the story being told that Bron turned on Seth as a preemptive strike, of sorts, based on Seth’s history and likelihood of doing the turning himself. It makes sense, and it paints Bron in a much smarter light.

Bron goes to land his patented run-around-the-ringside-area-before-he-hits-it Spear, but Seth catches him with a Superkick to the mush while Bron was in mid-air. That was a nice looking spot.

Seth hits Bron with a Buckle Bomb, but Bron immediately responds with a monster clothesline that nearly sent Seth’s head into the crowd. My goodness. It brings out the first “this is awesome” chant of the night.

Superplex from the top rope by Rollins, but Bron counters the Falcon Arrow with a Falcon Arrow of his own! That looked great. The crowd is completely invested in this one now.

Frankensteiner from the top, but Rollins lands on his feet! As cool as that looked, maybe Seth should stop doing spots like that. His knees aren’t exactly what they used to be.

Seth hits a Stomp, but Paul Heyman hops up on the ring apron to interrupt the pin attempt. In a brilliant move, Seth goes to the outside and grabs a chair, because he already knew what was coming. Sure enough, Austin Theory immediately shows up and gets hit with the chair, and now Logan Paul is there to eat the chair, too.

After Seth chases Theory and Paul away, he returns to the ring and takes a Spear… for 2.999! That seemed like the finish, for sure.

Another Spear attempt is reversed into a Pedigree! Seth goes to hit an Avalanche Stomp from the buckles, but it’s intercepted with a Spear! Another Spear gets the pin and the win for Bron. What a match. Tons of action, and a lot of back-and-forth from men who know each other well. 4.25 Stars, and I wouldn’t be mad at you if you wanted to go a little higher than that. Sure enough, both men worked this like it was WrestleMania, and everyone was appreciative of their effort.

 

Trick Williams vs Sami Zayn – WWE United States Title Match

You can say whatever you want about the Gingerbread Man stuff that has been happening in this story, but so far, it hasn’t done anything to hurt Trick’s standing with live crowds. They seem to love the guy more and more by the week. He continues to have an insanely bright future.

Trick begins stomping a mud hole in Sami, but he does it to the tune of the “whoop that trick” chant, and the crowd picks up what he’s putting down, starting the chant right away. That’s fantastic.

Lil Yachty is amazing with his facial expressions and mannerisms. He comes across as someone who has been doing this wrestling thing for years, not a celebrity coming in and cosplaying as a wrestling personality. If you didn’t know anything about him and you saw him on WWE programming, you would think he was your normal manager-type. I hope he finds time to stick around and keep doing this.

I just finished praising Boat, and then he goes and hops up on the ring apron to complain about Sami’s shenaniganery, which distracted the Referee long enough for Sami to grab a kendo stick and almost get the pin after smacking Trick in the head with it.

Yachty is a very important part of this match, so I have to keep writing about him. He just got punched at ringside, then hit with a kendo stick a bunch of times, and then dropped with a Helluva Kick at the barricade. He sold that Helluva Kick like he was shot.

The distraction was enough to affect the finish, though. Sami gets back in the ring and goes to hit Trick with a Helluva Kick, but Trick slips out of the way before landing a Trick Shot for the pin and the win to retain his title.

That was fun. It wasn’t quite to “great” status, but it was as close as you can get, and, as an added bonus, it was better than their match at WrestleMania. 3.75 Stars

 

Danhausen & ??? vs The Miz & Kit Wilson

I’ve seen no less than a dozen different names rumored to be Danhausen’s mystery partner here, and that doesn’t count the numerous names that people are jokingly speculating about. No matter who it is, I can’t see this being any more than a relatively brief comedy match, but I would assume that the crowd will eat it up.

Miz has a shirt with a “Hello! I’m Not Cursed” tag on it, while Kit has a shirt with a “Hello! I’m Not Toxic” tag on it. Funny.

Danhausen opens up a crate with “Cloning Machine” on it, and out steps another Minihausen. This is really happening, isn’t it? The reveal of the tag partner doesn’t get much of a reaction. It seems as if the fans were hoping for some of the other rumored names like CM Punk.

When the music ends to signal the start of the match, there is a loud portion of the crowd booing. Oh boy.

Naturally, Minihausen has not only started the match for his side, but has been the only member of his team in the match several minutes in. We’re building to the hot tag to Ricky Mortonhausen, I suppose.

There’s the hot tag! More like mildly warm tag, but the crowd is still popping for the first time in the match, so I guess it’s some sort of progress.

Danhausen is out here looking like Brock Lesnarhausen, throwing both Miz and Kit around with suplexes. Sheesh.

Kit throws Minihausen in the Cloning Machine and closes the door. The machine begins smoking, and the door pops open to reveal… several Minihausens, who swarm Kit and attack him.

This has already gone on for longer than it needed to.

Miz goes to use a fire extinguisher on the Minihausens, but it doesn’t work. He turns it to himself to check what happened, and sure enough, it goes off on him. In the scramble, he turns the extinguisher on Kit Wilson. It was enough for Danhausen to get the pin and the win.

While this wasn’t terrible, I do think it went on too long. According to unofficial times, it was only about a minute shorter than Trick vs Sami, and it clocked in at 11:38. That’s not necessary. Everything done in the match could’ve been accomplished in about half that time, but that’s what happens when you only have five matches on the card. You obviously have to grade this type of thing on a bit of a curve, but with all things considered, I can’t be offended too much. 3 Stars. Danhausen moves to 3-0 in WWE, and it’s only a matter of time before fans start calling for him to be in some sort of title contention. Imagine that.

 

Iyo Sky vs Asuka

LOUD “we want Kairi” chant from the crowd after the opening bell. It doesn’t last very long, but it was unmistakable.

A minute later, an even louder “we want Kairi” chant breaks out. It, too, doesn’t last very long, but the crowd is making it known that they want her back. Of course, that’s ignoring the rumors that Kairi was let go because she wanted to return to Japan, where her husband and family continue to live.

The match isn’t bad at all, but we’ve now had three “we want Kairi” chants break out. This one wasn’t anywhere near as loud as the previous two, though.

When they aren’t chanting about their desire to see Kairi Sane again, this is easily the quietest that the crowd has been all show long. That’s a shame. They’ll cheer for a big spot from Iyo, but outside of that, they aren’t giving much love for anything. Iyo and Asuka are having a good match so far, but the crowd is going to be what is ultimately remembered from this.

Standing atop the announce table, Asuka goes to hit Iyo in the face with the poison mist, but Iyo uses Woi Bar-ruh’s laptop as a shield. Brilliant move.

A “this is awesome” chant from a crowd that has basically ignored half of everything that has happened since the match began. Okay then.

Over The Moonsault on Asuka, and Iyo picks up the win. It was a really entertaining match that could’ve benefited from a better crowd reaction. 3.5 Stars, either way.

After the match, both women share an emotional embrace and leave the ring together to applause. Are we just going in another direction altogether with Kairi’s release? It sure seems like it. Right away, people on social media are wondering if that was a “goodbye” for Asuka.

 

It’s time for John Cena and his super duper exciting mega amazing ultimate game changer of an announcement that he has been hyping for a while now. Will it be Club WWE related? The announcement of a future host city for WrestleMania? A reveal that Cena is buying WWE? The return of Brawl For All?

The crowd chants “one more match” at him, and he smirks a bit, telling them how good that makes him feel to hear.

Cena begins talking about the show that surrounded his final match, mentioning the NXT names that appeared on the show. He mentions Oba Femi, and the crowd explodes with the “Oba” chants. Man, Oba is a STAR.

Cena’s announcement is the reveal of the John Cena Classic, which will be an entire event of WWE vs NXT matches, with the debut of a brand new championship. No reveal of the title itself, or when the show will be taking place.

He goes on to say that a fan vote will be who crowns the new champion, pointing out that everyone involved in the tournament will be eligible, saying that a wrestler might lose their match, but their hustle wins the loyalty and respect of the crowd, who vote for that wrestler nonetheless. That’s pretty cool, actually. It’s reminiscent of when Cedric Alexander lost to Kota Ibushi in a great match at the Cruiserweight Classic, leading to “please sign Cedric” chants from the crowd, and leading to Triple H himself to walk out and basically tell the crowd that the signing is happening.

 

Roman Reigns vs Jacob Fatu – WWE World Heavyweight Title Match

Main event time.

When this match was first put together, everyone just assumed that it would be another win for Roman. He just won the title at WrestleMania, so to lose it in his first defense a mere 20 days later… that would be inconceivable. Then, word came out that a bunch of the previously announced summer dates on Roman’s schedule were being removed, and that has people speculating if the change is happening because he really is losing here. Time to find out.

I LOVE how they’re portraying the Tongan Death Grip in this story. It is being painted as a move that doesn’t get used very often because of how dangerous it is, and that using it on one of your own family members is an unforgivable sin.

Smart strategy by Roman, working on the Death Grip hand, trying to injure Jacob’s fingers.

Loud dueling chants of “let’s go, Jacob” and “O-T-C” from the crowd.

Superman Punch, but Jacob kicks out at one and immediately pops back up to his feet with the Boogeyman taunt. The crowd goes nuts and chants for Jacob.

This has been a lot of fun so far. Jacob looks like a monster, but Roman is fighting an insanely smart match, trying to counter the Tongan Death Grip with his offense.

Big Spear from Roman, but it gets a 2.999 count, and the crowd gives them a “this is awesome” chant. That really seemed like the finish. Good stuff.

Another Spear attempt is countered into a pop-up Samoan Drop, followed by a picture perfect Moonsault, but Roman kicks out at 2.999999! THAT really seemed like the finish. My goodness. The crowd was eating that up with a spoon.

Jacob goes to hit a Swanton, but Roman gets his knees up. Roman is really selling knee pain there. I can’t say I blame him. It can’t feel good to have a man of Jacob Fatu’s size come crashing down on your knees and shins like that.

The “boo/yay” strike exchange is happening, but both men are getting 50/50 reactions. This crowd truly is split down the middle for both men.

Tongan Death Grip! Roman nearly passes out, but counters it by gouging Jacob’s eyes and pushing Jacob back into the corner… where they squish the Referee. It was a bit of a pointless Ref Bump, because he was right there to count for another pin from Roman, but Jacob kicks out again. These two are taking the crowd on a roller coaster ride.

Another Tongan Death Grip, but Roman scrambles to pull the turnbuckle pad off. He sends Jacob face-first into the exposed turnbuckle before hitting another Spear to get the pin and the win.

An angry Jacob attacks Roman after the match to loud boos. He then takes the Referee out with a Samoan Drop, and goes back to lock the Death Grip on Roman. Adam Pearce and a bunch of WWE Officials run to the ring, and some of them are taken out by Fatu. Pearce is thrown to ringside. Roman is foaming at the mouth as he continues to have the TDG locked on.

Jacob finally leaves the ring, but he changes his mind and runs back in to lock Roman in the TDG once again. He stands over a fallen Roman, holding Roman’s title in the air to a mixed reaction from the crowd as we go off the air.

That was a blast. 4 Stars. I love that Jacob looked like a seemingly unstoppable monster, continuously coming back from things that Roman has put people away with in the past, before it was finally too much for him to take. I’m not 100% sure that the post-match stuff was supposed to be framed as a heel turn, but it certainly showed how dangerous and unhinged Jacob is. That’s the version of Jacob Fatu that the Bloodline has been trying to keep out of WWE according to the storyline, and now, he’s angrier than ever.

 

Very entertaining show from top to bottom. Not a Show Of The Year type of classic, but I found myself enjoying wrestling for nearly three hours, so I don’t have a lot to complain about right now.

Thank you for taking the time to read what I thought. Your support means more to me than you will ever know. I’ll see you again for my weekly Monday column on… well… Monday.