In my No Way Out review the other day, I was covering the lead up to WrestleMania X-Seven, and now I'm here today to cover the fallout, as I've already reviewed that 'Mania earlier this year(you can that review here). In case you somehow were unaware of the results of that show, the main event featured one of the most stunning and controversial heel turns in wrestling history, as "Stone Cold" Steve Austin sold his soul to Satan himself, Vince McMahon, to take the WWF Championship away from The Rock. In the weeks to follow, Austin has really solidified himself as the top heel in the company, forming an alliance with former bitter rival Triple H, unofficially known as the Two-Man Power Trip. Austin and Hunter executed a brutal assault on the Hardy Boyz and Lita, with Austin even hitting Lita with multiple stiff chair shots in an uncomfortable display of true heel scumbaggery. Going after The Undertaker and Kane would prove to be a step too far for the new duo, as the Brothers of Destruction vowed revenge. The brothers would quickly capture the tag titles, while "The Game" took the Intercontinental strap, setting up a massive main event for Backlash, with the three most prestigious belts in the company on the line. I've never watched any of Austin's heel run from this time, so I'm looking forward to finding out just what it was like.
- Backlash 2001 comes to you from the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois, just outside of Chicago proper, though the WWE has always insisted the venue is actually in the Windy City. Regardless of wherever it's technically located, it's seen some of the biggest and best events in WWE history, including three WrestleManias and the legendary Money in the Bank 2011. You can always expect a hot crowd for any wrestling show in Chicago, and this was certainly no different, as the fans in attendance were into pretty much everything.
- We open this night with all three of the Dudley Boyz(Bubba, D-Von and Spike) in action against X-Pac's new faction, X-Factor, also featuring Justin Credible and Albert. Right away, the hot crowd massively elevates this one, as though the actual in-ring action is largely uninteresting, they absolutely love the Dudleys and despise X-Pac, so they are very invested in the outcome. The heels manage to steal a win, as X-Pac and Credible nail a double superkick on Bubba, but in traditional Dudley fashion, Bubba and D-Von get their heat back after the match, putting X-Pac through a table with a 3D following a low blow from Spike.
- It is quite refreshing to see a straight up singles Hardcore title match, as Rhyno defends against Raven. It's so rare to see two competitors in the division get the opportunity to just work by themselves for an entire match, with no run-ins to speak of. Both men batter each other with weapons, which the crowd just loves, popping big for Raven smashing Rhyno in the skull with a street sign. Rhyno attacks Raven with a shopping cart, but then accidentally Gores himself right through it in a great spot. The final original ECW champion still wins anyway, as Raven takes too long preparing for an attack with a literal kitchen sink, getting caught with a Gore.
- Chris Jericho has sort of replaced Stone Cold as the new anti-authority face recently, feuding with Commissioner William Regal, defeating Regal in the opening match back at WrestleMania. The two meet again here in a very gimmicky match, as Regal has brought in the "Duchess of Queensbury", who is here to stack the odds in Regal's favor. She interrupts proceedings multiple times to change the rules to stop Jericho from winning, helping him avoid losing to the Lionsault and the Walls of Jericho. Y2J finally has enough, putting the Duchess in the Walls to a big pop, but Regal takes advantage of the moment, hitting multiple chair shots on Jericho to get his win back. These two are clearly capable of putting on a really great match, but for whatever reason, the WWF just won't give them that chance. The 'Mania match was way too short and couldn't get out of first gear, while the wrestling in this one was completely overshadowed by the Duchess and Regal's heel shenanigans. I also thought this made Jericho look really bad, as this more comedic storyline and match feel like obvious midcard fare, and I think he's more than ready for the main event, especially with Rock still out for the next few months.
- I did really enjoy Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit's match back at WrestleMania, a hard-nosed technical affair that was a terrific showcase for the talents of both men. As such, I was really excited to watch their Ultimate Submission match on this show, a spin-off of the Iron Man concept, with a 30 minute time limit where the only way to earn a fall is by submission. Let me start by saying that, at least in my opinion, this was easily the match of the night, though I actually preferred the 'Mania match a little bit more. Don't get me wrong, a lot of the work was pretty tremendous and the psychology was airtight, with both men doing tons of limb work and tapping quickly to avoid taking lasting damage. I also thought Paul Heyman, who might well be the best color commentator in WWE history, was absolutely tremendous, putting both guys over and doing a really great job explaining the intricacies of the action to the fans in a way that made perfect sense. A lot of what keeps this from being a truly incredible match is the crowd, who don't seem to understand what they're seeing, and are very quiet as a result. The 'Mania match was just so much easier to get in comparison, as Benoit completely out-wrestled Angle early, who had to result to brawling and cheating to find a path to victory. The crowd did at least perk up for the final few minutes, as Benoit just about survives, refusing to tap to the Ankle Lock as time expired, before submitting Angle with the crossface to a massive pop in overtime. Again, the action was really good, perhaps the best technical match in WWE history, but without an invested crowd, large amounts of the action just felt a bit boring. Huge props to both guys though, as they put forth a tremendous effort, it's just unfortunate the story they were telling just didn't mesh well with the rest of the product.
- Shane McMahon is now the owner of WCW, and has begun recruiting for new signees for his company, which led him into the crosshairs of father Vince and the Big Show, who was of course formerly in WCW as The Giant. Shane faces Show in a Last Man Standing match here, and while I've effused a ton of praise for Shane's matches in the past, this was definitely not his best work. That has less to do with him and more to do with his dance partner, as Show is completely out of shape and totally fails to come across as a true monster for Shane to conquer. The young McMahon does his best to put Show down, even busting out some chloroform, but Show keeps managing to get to his feet. Test, who is now aligned with Shane, interferes to hit a big boot, before laying out Big Show in the staging arena. Shane climbs up the side of the TitanTron, leaping off it to put Show through part of the stage, winning the match. It was a cool moment, but nowhere near as iconic as his fall at SummerSlam last year, and the crowd didn't really care about most of the action until the big dive.
- Here's a fun little triple threat match before the main event, as Matt Hardy defends the European Championship against Christian and Eddie Guerrero. Matt is a really good pure babyface, fighting against the odds as the two heels team up to try and take him out. We get some very creative spots, including a cool moment when Matt counters a backdrop into the ring to hit a DDT on the floor. Edge runs in to Spear Matt, attempting to help partner Christian get the win, but Jeff Hardy makes the save. Jeff hits a big Swanton Bomb on Christian, then holds off Edge as Matt hits the Twist of Fate to leave with his gold. This was an entertaining match between three members of the incredibly stacked midcard that did a really good job helping Matt, who needed plenty of help from the booking team to escape the shadow of Jeff and Lita, the more obvious breakout stars of Team Xtreme.
- Main event time, as all the gold is on the line in a massive tag team match. I really like Austin and Triple H as a team, two guys willing to do whatever it takes to win and have tons of respect for each other after their blood feud over the past couple years. I'm not a huge fan of their more cowardly moments in this match, especially from Austin, who should never be cowering from anyone regardless of whether he's a heel or a face, but I think you can play it off more as mind games than being straight up bitches. A majority of this match is focused around Kane's arm, which has been heavily taped after an attack from the Power Trip. Austin and Triple H focus their offense around the injured arm, while Undertaker shows a lot of reluctance to tag his brother in on a few different occasions, leading to Kane tagging himself in, a really good piece of character work. Though Kane does fight the good fight here, he's not at a hundred percent, and his decision to stay in the match costs the brothers in the end. After Kane hits an interfering Stephanie McMahon with a big boot, Vince runs in to toss a sledgehammer to Triple H. Hunter does the rest, taking Kane to his knees with a hammer shot to the arm, before one more blow to the head finishes the big man off. Austin and Triple H now hold all the gold, as "The Game" becomes only the second Grand Slam champion in WWE history, following his buddy Shawn Michaels. This was a solid main event, as the action was fine and while the story was simple, that made it easy to get invested and rally behind Kane to do the impossible. Not a bad start for Austin's heel run.
7/10
Backlash was a fairly muted show, good but not anywhere near the probably unattainable heights of WrestleMania X-Seven. The Ultimate Submission match may not appeal to everyone, but if you enjoy quality mat wrestling and brilliant psychology from two of the best technicians in the business, I would check it out. The European title triple threat and main event were both fun to watch, and there was really nothing on this show that was offensively bad, the Last Man Standing match was the only one bordering on being boring and that at least included another big dive from Shane McMahon. Again, you couldn't possibly hope to keep up the momentum from 'Mania, that's a once in a lifetime achievement, but this was probably about as good as it really could've been.
Next time on Henry's Pay-Per-View Reviews: Judgment Day 2001, as "Stone Cold" Steve Austin defends the WWF Championship against The Undertaker. See you soon.
- Henry
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