Having had a lot of fun reminiscing about the Summerslams of days gone by leading up to this year’s effort, I thought i’d do the same again for the next PPV, which is the Smackdown exclusive Backlash. Let’s see how many “Who booked that” moments we’ll see on this trip down memory lane.
Backlash 1999
The first PPV named Backlash took place way back in 1999, when PPV’s were still called In Your House haha ahhh memories. The main event of the first Backlash event witnessed the WWE Champion Stone Cold Steve Austin defeat The Rock to retain the title in a No Holds Barred match with Shane O’ as the guest referee.
Somehow Ken Shamrock found himself going on in the penultimate match in a losing effort against the Undertaker, and in the longest match of the night, Triple H beat X-Pac, I mean who booked that as the longest match of the night? We also go treated to a Boiler Room Brawl where Mankind beat Paul Wight aka The Big Show.
Elsewhere on the card The Ministry of Darkness (Bradshaw, Faarooq & Mideon) won a 6 man tag team match against The Brood (Christian, Edge & Gangrel), Al Snow beat Hardcore Holly to win the Hardcore Title, The Godfather retained the IC Title against Goldust, who had The Blue Meanie of all people in his corner, and the New Age Outlaws (Billy Gunn & Road Dogg) beat the team of Jeff Jarrett & Owen Hart to become #1 contenders to the WWE Tag Team Titles.
Backlash 2000
Backlash 2000 is where we witnessed Triple H finally be dethroned of the title, he should have in all honestly lost at WM 2000 in the famed Fatal 4 Way with a McMahon in each corner. Despite the odds being heavily stacked against him, The Rock beat Trips to win the WWE Title, with Shane O’ as guest referee. In the penultimate match Chris Benoit retained the IC title via DQ against Chris Jericho, and in perhaps one of the biggest “who booked that” moment in Backlash history witnessed The Big Show beat Kurt Angle in less than 3 minutes, I mean seriously who in their right mind would have booked that?
Elsewhere on the card Edge & Christian retained the Tag Titles against the DX team of Road Dogg & X-Pac, Dean Malenko retained the Light Heavyweight Championship against Scott 2 Hotty, Big Bossman & Bull Buchanan went over The Acolytes, Crash Holly retained the Hardcore Title in a 6 man match also involving Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy, Hardcore Holly, Perry Saturn, and Tazz. T & A (Test & Albert with Trish) beat The Dudleyz, and Eddie Guerrero retained the European Title with a win over Essa Rios.
Backlash 2001
The 2001 Backlash was all about two matches. The main event was the randomly put together Power Trip of Triple H & Steve Austin, I say randomly put together because it came to be because Austin turned heel and sided with Vince and well Trips joined in kind of thing, Austin was the WWE Champion & Trips was the IC Champion, up against The WWE Tag Team Champions The Brothers of Destruction (Kane & Taker) with all the gold on the line. Naturally Austin & Trips won and held all the main gold of the company.
The other match that was Backlash 2001, was a 30 minute Ultimate Submission match between Chris Benoit and Kurt Angle. After 30 minutes of wrestling the two were tied at 3-3, and in sudden death overtimes, Benoit was victorious. If you’re looking for match to watch from a Backlash event this is one I do suggest you all take the time to view.
Elsewhere on the card in a 6 man tag team match X-Factor (Albert, Justin Credible & X-Pac) yes, yes, who booked that team as a faction, beat The Dudleyz trio, Rhyno retained the Hardcore title against Raven, William Regal beat Chris Jericho in the awesomely named Duchess of Queensbury Rules match, Shane O’ beat Big Show in a very, very good Last Man Standing match and Matt Hardy retained the European title in a triple threat match against Christian and Eddie Guerrero.
Next article i’ll look at the Backlash events from 2002-2006. As ever you’re more than welcome to share your views with me on twitter, you all know where to find me now.
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