WWE Backlash 2026: Draws & Duds

WWE Backlash 2026 heads your way this Saturday from Benchmark International Arena in Tampa, Florida, and it is a show with a potentially polarizing five-match card. Two titles are on the road, as Roman Reigns defends his World Heavyweight Championship against Jacob Fatu, while Sami Zayn attempts to reclaim the lads’s United States Championship from Trick Williams. The remainder of the cardboard is comprised of grudge matches — not less than, if “grudge match” is the correct term for Danhausen teaming with a mystery partner against The Miz and Kit Wilson.

Your mileage may vary in terms of Danhausen or any of the opposite Backlash matches, but how does the WINC staff feel concerning the show as currently laid out? That is the query we’re here to reply. Which Backlash matches make us want to enroll in ESPN, and which make us want to avoid wasting our money as a substitute? Listed here are our biggest draws and largest duds for WWE Backlash 2026!

I’ll start out by saying this match overall goes to be an in-ring banger, and it’s something loads of people have been looking forward to for quite a while. It is also a match that ought to have taken place at WrestleMania, so it matches the Backlash theme, if there still is a theme to those premium live events as of late. But it surely’s a dud, all because of TKO and company greed. Asuka and IYO SKY may tear the home down in Tampa, Florida with their incredible abilities, however the damper TKO put over this match, because of the discharge of Kairi Sane mid-storyline, makes this quite a bit less exciting.

Sane was an enormous a part of the story, with Asuka screaming at her any probability she got and SKY finally attempting to get Sane to return around and leave her abusive tag team partner. It was a story loads of fans were invested in, one which many figured would come to an end on the “Grandest Stage of Them All,” but that ended up not being the case. Things took a turn for the more serious when Sane was revealed to be amongst the post-WrestleMania releases on April 24.

There are rumors that Sane could appear at Backlash to wrap up the story, but that just feels type of sad. It’s hard to say at this point if that might actually help put a bow on this angle, or if it could just feel more like a “Is that this what you wanted?! Here, rattling!” moment from WWE to fans. After WWE brought back R-Truth following his impending departure from the corporate last yr, officials usually are not going to need to make that a habit each time there is a swell of support behind a released star. So a Sane appearance could still mean a Sane departure, though an enduring image of her hugging SKY over a fallen Asuka within the ring could be type of nice.

Asuka and SKY can do their best to make this an in-ring classic, nevertheless it still seems like a dud now, all because of corporate greed. All three of those women got the short end of things, starting with the WrestleMania snub, and it really sucks to see. Perhaps “dud” is a powerful word, but this one actually is overshadowed by much greater things.

Written by Daisy Ruth

WWE loves that Danhausen. I do not have to let you know he’s a draw — just have a look at his position on the cardboard.

The demon-huckster-hustler has been in WWE for barely three months and has already snagged one in every of three spots on the paywalled, premium version of WWE Backlash, and I truthfully cannot blame WWE. Fans have already seen Trick Williams and Sami Zayn wrestle over america Championship, and Seth Rollins vs. Bron Breakker is basically a glorified “Raw” predominant event if it isn’t for a title.

I do not know who Danhausen goes to select as his partner, nevertheless it’s the start of the month and my paycheck is burning a hole in my pocket. I’ll pay $30 to see whatever circus Danhausen and The Miz provide you with. Perhaps it’ll be John Cena, back from retirement, possibly it’ll be AAA favorite, Mr. Iguana, or possibly it’ll be Finn Balor as a Demonhausen, or possibly it would be a second Danhausen. Perhaps a mini-Danhausen, or a Danhausen who’s big as a redwood. Perhaps it’s an entire family of Danhausens. WWE Superstar God could show up for the twentieth anniversary of His WWE debut.

Nobody could’ve predicted at Danhausen’s coldly-received WWE debut that he’d be sharing the ring with John Cena at WrestleMania just weeks later, so who knows what may very well be next. The chances are countless, and that’s the fun of Danhausen.

Written by Ross Berman

While america Championship match pitting champ Trick Williams against Sami Zayn is a technically a real Backlash match, since their first bout did occur at WrestleMania 42, it is also a dud, since it seems like we already know the final result. Williams is simply too over with fans to take the gold off of him right after he just won it in Las Vegas, and Zayn’s current character arc doesn’t appear to be leading him back to the mid-card title.

It is also a dud because WWE creative is thrashing a dead gingerbread man into the bottom. Sure, it was funny leading into WrestleMania, with Williams going as far to release a diss track titled “Gingerbread Man” to make fun of the ginger-haired Zayn. It was even still funny when Williams brought out an individual in a life-sized gingerbread man costume, not once, but twice, and the second time, it in fact turned out to be Zayn wearing it, resulting in a beat down of Williams and Yachty. Nonetheless, after their WrestleMania match, Zayn has continued the angle with the costume, resulting in a slightly bizarre segment on the May 1 edition of “WWE SmackDown” where he cut a promo on it, then attacked it.

After which WWE still took it further with having a medical team literally check on the empty costume, then announce a funeral shall be held for it on the go-home edition of the blue brand before Backlash. Sure, that may result in a brawl between the champion and challenger, nevertheless it all feels very Vince McMahon-esque at this point.

The match will even be one in every of two to happen on ESPN 2 before the event moves to the premium service, which either means it would be excellent to get fans to subscribe to the ESPN app, or it would be ridiculously rushed. With the best way things went across each nights for WrestleMania 42, it’s secure to say the match won’t go over 10 minutes, and can likely see involvement from Lil Yachty at ringside. Or, perhaps things get a bit more exciting and Zayn snaps and turns fully heel, beating down Williams with a chair or something to get himself disqualified.

Between the predictability of the match and the actual fact WWE is thrashing the comedy angle into the bottom, this match is a dud for Backlash, a premium live event without too many exciting things on the cardboard overall.

Written by Daisy Ruth

Presumably the predominant event of Backlash, Roman Reigns shall be defending the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against his cousin, “The Samoan Werewolf” Jacob Fatu. For years has this been a dream match, stemming from Fatu’s dominance on the independent circuit as MLW World Heavyweight Champion coinciding with the start of Reigns’ run as “Tribal Chief.” And that is much more the case now that Fatu has established himself as one in every of the uncrowned predominant eventers in the corporate. 

Having seen off a former World Heavyweight Champion in Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania 42, Fatu emerged to make the challenge to Reigns in the course of the “WWE Raw” after ‘Mania, putting himself at odds together with his family all once more. He has since drawn the ire of Reigns and the Usos, in addition to Solo Sikoa and MFT on Friday nights. But that hasn’t stopped him. He has consistently got the upper hand on Reigns with the Tongan Death Grip, and smashed through Sikoa and everything of the group.

The truth is, while in real life the choice was made to chop costs, the WWE canon will recognize that Fatu was the one to shelve Tanga Loa and JC Mateo of their final appearances. That each one just lends to the incontrovertible fact that Fatu is a dangerous challenger for Reigns and his recent run atop the corporate. It might be difficult to ever bet against Reigns taking the win on the night, but Fatu is someone who could, and has been booked well in that regard. 

This might be a draw since it featured Reigns. It might be a draw since it featured Fatu. Them facing each other with the title on the road just elevates that to a wholly recent standing. It is and away probably the most intriguing match on the cardboard.

Written by Max Everett