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Backlash (2023)
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Backlash (2023)
The 2023 Backlash was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by the American company WWE. It was the 18th annual Backlash and took place on May 6, 2023, at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot in San Juan, Puerto Rico, held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. This was the first WWE pay-per-view event held in Puerto Rico since New Year's Revolution in January 2005, and the second Backlash event held outside the continental United States following the 2004 event. After the previous two years were titled "WrestleMania Backlash", the 2023 event reverted to its original name while still maintaining its post-WrestleMania concept, with the 2023 event based around the backlash from WrestleMania 39.
Puerto Rico native and Grammy Award winning rapper Bad Bunny was featured at the event. He was originally promoted to be the host of Backlash, but it was later announced that Bad Bunny would compete in a San Juan Street Fight against Damian Priest, also of Puerto Rican descent, a match that Bad Bunny won. The match also saw appearances by Puerto Rican wrestlers, Carlito, who made his first WWE appearance since the February 1, 2021, episode of Raw, and Savio Vega, who made his first WWE appearance since the 2020 Survivor Series. This match and the event's final match were promoted as a double main event.
Seven matches were contested at the event, including Bad Bunny's aforementioned Street Fight. In the event's final match, which was the other main event, Cody Rhodes defeated Brock Lesnar. In other prominent matches, Austin Theory defeated Bobby Lashley and Bronson Reed to retain the United States Championship, Rhea Ripley defeated Zelina Vega, who was WWE's only female roster member of Puerto Rican descent, to retain the SmackDown Women's Championship, and in the opening bout, Bianca Belair defeated Iyo Sky to retain the Raw Women's Championship, subsequently becoming the title's longest-reigning champion.
The event received positive reviews, with fans and critics lauding the San Juan Street Fight and the Raw Women's Championship match, deeming them highlights of the night, while also praising Rollins vs. Omos, the six-man tag team match, and the main event.
Backlash is a recurring professional wrestling event that was established by WWE in 1999. It was held annually from 1999 to 2009, but was then discontinued until it was reinstated in 2016 and has been held every year since, except in 2019. The original concept of the event was based around the backlash from WWE's flagship event, WrestleMania. The events between 2016 and 2020 did not carry this theme; however, the 2021 event returned to this original concept and the event series was in turn rebranded as "WrestleMania Backlash". With the announcement of the 2023 event, the event reverted to its original name of Backlash while still maintaining its post-WrestleMania theme.
Announced on March 8, 2023, the 18th Backlash featured backlash from WrestleMania 39. It was scheduled to take place on Saturday, May 6, 2023, at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot in San Juan, Puerto Rico, marking the first WWE event to be held in Puerto Rico since New Year's Revolution in January 2005, which was also at the same venue, and the second event overall to be held in the territory. The event featured wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brand divisions, and aired on pay-per-view (PPV) worldwide and was available to livestream on Peacock in the United States and the WWE Network in most international markets. It was also the first Backlash to livestream on Binge in Australia after the Australian version of the WWE Network merged under Foxtel's streaming service Binge in January. It was also announced that the May 5 episode of Friday Night SmackDown would air live from the same venue. Tickets for both events went on sale on March 21.
It was initially announced that Grammy Award winning Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny would serve as the host of Backlash. He had previously performed his song, "Booker T", at the 2021 Royal Rumble, wrestled in a couple of matches, and also won the now-defunct WWE 24/7 Championship. However, it was later revealed that Bad Bunny would instead wrestle in a featured match at the event. Bad Bunny also hosted the Backlash press conference that was held on Friday, May 5 at 12 p.m. Eastern Time.
The event included matches that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.
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Backlash (2023)
The 2023 Backlash was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by the American company WWE. It was the 18th annual Backlash and took place on May 6, 2023, at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot in San Juan, Puerto Rico, held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. This was the first WWE pay-per-view event held in Puerto Rico since New Year's Revolution in January 2005, and the second Backlash event held outside the continental United States following the 2004 event. After the previous two years were titled "WrestleMania Backlash", the 2023 event reverted to its original name while still maintaining its post-WrestleMania concept, with the 2023 event based around the backlash from WrestleMania 39.
Puerto Rico native and Grammy Award winning rapper Bad Bunny was featured at the event. He was originally promoted to be the host of Backlash, but it was later announced that Bad Bunny would compete in a San Juan Street Fight against Damian Priest, also of Puerto Rican descent, a match that Bad Bunny won. The match also saw appearances by Puerto Rican wrestlers, Carlito, who made his first WWE appearance since the February 1, 2021, episode of Raw, and Savio Vega, who made his first WWE appearance since the 2020 Survivor Series. This match and the event's final match were promoted as a double main event.
Seven matches were contested at the event, including Bad Bunny's aforementioned Street Fight. In the event's final match, which was the other main event, Cody Rhodes defeated Brock Lesnar. In other prominent matches, Austin Theory defeated Bobby Lashley and Bronson Reed to retain the United States Championship, Rhea Ripley defeated Zelina Vega, who was WWE's only female roster member of Puerto Rican descent, to retain the SmackDown Women's Championship, and in the opening bout, Bianca Belair defeated Iyo Sky to retain the Raw Women's Championship, subsequently becoming the title's longest-reigning champion.
The event received positive reviews, with fans and critics lauding the San Juan Street Fight and the Raw Women's Championship match, deeming them highlights of the night, while also praising Rollins vs. Omos, the six-man tag team match, and the main event.
Backlash is a recurring professional wrestling event that was established by WWE in 1999. It was held annually from 1999 to 2009, but was then discontinued until it was reinstated in 2016 and has been held every year since, except in 2019. The original concept of the event was based around the backlash from WWE's flagship event, WrestleMania. The events between 2016 and 2020 did not carry this theme; however, the 2021 event returned to this original concept and the event series was in turn rebranded as "WrestleMania Backlash". With the announcement of the 2023 event, the event reverted to its original name of Backlash while still maintaining its post-WrestleMania theme.
Announced on March 8, 2023, the 18th Backlash featured backlash from WrestleMania 39. It was scheduled to take place on Saturday, May 6, 2023, at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot in San Juan, Puerto Rico, marking the first WWE event to be held in Puerto Rico since New Year's Revolution in January 2005, which was also at the same venue, and the second event overall to be held in the territory. The event featured wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brand divisions, and aired on pay-per-view (PPV) worldwide and was available to livestream on Peacock in the United States and the WWE Network in most international markets. It was also the first Backlash to livestream on Binge in Australia after the Australian version of the WWE Network merged under Foxtel's streaming service Binge in January. It was also announced that the May 5 episode of Friday Night SmackDown would air live from the same venue. Tickets for both events went on sale on March 21.
It was initially announced that Grammy Award winning Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny would serve as the host of Backlash. He had previously performed his song, "Booker T", at the 2021 Royal Rumble, wrestled in a couple of matches, and also won the now-defunct WWE 24/7 Championship. However, it was later revealed that Bad Bunny would instead wrestle in a featured match at the event. Bad Bunny also hosted the Backlash press conference that was held on Friday, May 5 at 12 p.m. Eastern Time.
The event included matches that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.