Hey, guys, football season is not too far away. I know it's May, but football season will be back before you know it. And what better time to get into a football podcast than right now? And that podcast is called Root of All Eagles. It's a podcast that's available on really any podcast streaming app but the best way you can find them is on Apple and or Spotify. And it's hosted by James Webb, who was originally born in
San Diego. He grew up in Hawaii, and in Hawaii they didn't have any NFL teams to root for, but for as long as he can remember, he's been an Eagles fan and some of his favorite memories include watching players like Donovan McNabb, Brian westbook t O, Brian Dawkins and others as well. And nothing thrilled him more than, of course, seeing the Eagles get to the Super Bowl two times in five years and finally winning in twenty seventeen.
It has been a dream come true for James and I'd really check out this podcast, guys. His passion comes through his authentic passion for football comes through it specifically for the Eagles, just like it does on the w W podcast. Guys. It is the equivalent over there and very listenable. And it's called Root of All Eagles. If you're an Eagles fan or you're just a football fan, there's no better place and time to go check out a
football podcast. Get yourself ready for the NFL season again. It'll be here in just a few months, believe it or not, and I would really recommend you check it out. Guys. It's called Root of All Eagles. Check it out on Apple and Spotify. Today. This is ww superstar Drew McIntire and you're listening to the WWE podcast show, but one that everybody wants me definitely. Sixteen says Roots is modern. You're gonna acknowledge me, all
right, everybody. Welcome to the WWE podcast Official Backlash twenty twenty three preview and prediction show. And it is also Synco de Mayo for those that celebrate or pretend we do, or just use it as a data to drink and an excuse to drink. So for those of you that are then a rebo, okay, as far as I go anyway, I hope all you do. Everybody's doing well and we've got a lot to cover today as Backlash is
tomorrow night. As I record this. I'm it's a Friday morning, okay, So I have not seen SmackDown. I would imagine there's not too many last minute, last second changes to any matches or stipulations added. So if there are, then they aren't accounted for here. But let's let's dive into it, and let's just start reviewing and previewing rather the backlash event. And
you know, one thing that I'm really excited for crowd reaction. You know, I have heard through just news outlets and interviews and everything else that the Puerto Rican crowd is intense, and that's awesome. It's a good thing. They're passionate, and they're passionate for their their brethren, right, meaning especially bad Bunny, who should get a monster reaction like it's Stone Cold coming out of retirement again or something like that. And it's going to be a lot
of fun to listen to and hear how they react. Is it bizarre world? Do they chant cheer heels and boot baby faces? Or is it just you know, an amplified version of what wants cheering the baby faces, booing the heels. We'll see, you know, we'll see. It's going to be a very interesting night at the office, so to speak, and I'm really excited to see how that plays out. The crowd is such a massive part of the show, and I'm going to be paying special attention to that.
Also, we are going to be doing a review show. I'll try to do it immediately after. It's not always plausible because my body shuts down. I can't tell you how many times I have fallen asleep during pay per views. I even fell asleep during WrestleMania because it's just it goes late into the night. My body has just kind of had it by then. But I will do my damnedest to make sure that there's a review show for Backlash
as quickly as possible. Up, I here on the feed and that's going to be available to you, hopefully late Saturday night, but I can't promise anything. It may come Sunday morning at the very latest, So keeping ear out for that. All right, let's dive into it. I'm going with Let's see where do I want to start. I'm using what am I using? I'm using the Torch and their full card here. I really love the Torch. By the way, I'm sure you guys are you know if you
are into wrestling podcast. Then you guys obviously know about them. They are there's such a joy to listen to. Yeah, I'd love their team there. And this is not a this is not a paid plug of any kind. I mean, they're the reason I'm here. Wade Keller and his team do such a great job, and I admire all the work they do, and I know how hard they all work being a fellow podcaster. They are just you know, they're the gold standard in wrestling podcasts. I really believe.
All right, let's get to it. So let's start with Austin Theory. Bronson read him Bobby Lashly for the United States Championship. Let me just say, off the bat, this looks like a sleeper of a pick to be I don't know. It may be in the conversation at least for match of the night. While the story in this is lackluster, to be kind, the match quality should be very good. Austin Theory, we all know his talent. Bobby Lashley, I don't think often gets the credit he deserves.
About how good he is in the ring and how muscular he is, yet how agile he is is really a crazy combination. So this should be awesome, and then of course you have Bronson Reid, who's going to play the monster. Now, this match is going to be about a couple things. Number One, it's going to be about building Bronson read. Okay,
building Bronson Reid. He's obviously not going to take the pinfall here, so this is about building him as a monster, giving him a lot of time to dominate the match, and that's what it's going to be, I believe, And it's gonna be a lot of Bronson versus Bobby, which is the
kind of the side program going on. Bronson read attacking Bobby, brawls, all that, and it's been fun and Bronson read I believe he' undfeated right now, as he should be, and so that's going to be something to watch as Austin theory probably takes a backseat to maybe half the match as he gets slammed through a table on the outside and then it's Bobby and Bronson going at it something like that. That's what I expect probably for part of the
match. And you know that's number one. Number two, of course, wrestling quality, and that really is not going to be a concern here. I'd imagined this match is probably gonna go fifteen minutes, twelve to fifteen minutes, and I expect Austin Theory to walk out US Champion by pinning Bobby Lashley. And what I think is going to happen is Bronson Reid is gonna get a He's gonna hit the tsunami on Bobby not be able to make the cover.
Austin Theory is going to steal the cover on Bobby and get the victory in Austin Theory is going to retain. Thereby, Bronson Reid was never pinned and also caused the pinfall, but Austin Theory retains, so you get the best of both worlds, and I think that's what's gonna happen. I don't think Bronson Reid is ready. We all know Bobby Lashley has no chance. He is the least likely to win, followed by Bronson and then Austin Theory, who I believe he is the most likely. It just doesn't make sense
that you would have Austin Theory beat John c And at WrestleMania. And yes, he's been a little bit cold since that victory, which is bizarre given that the victory overseen and was meant to do the exact opposite. But I think Austin theory needs a bit of a reboot, and him going and winning the United States Championship makes total sense to me. I don't see any reason why he would lose it here outside of a shock victory just to get Bronson
Read a little bit more momentum. I don't. I mean, to me, that doesn't even make much sense because people would look at that as too much, too soon. All right, So also, as I'm typing this in, let's see Bronson Read is on Oh yeah, Bronsonry was also drafted to draw, so you know, there's there's even less of a chance of Bronson Read winning here because the US title is going to SmackDown and the Icy
title's going to Raw. So that's also another massive factor. Yes, Bobby's on SmackDown, So now that I'm thinking about it, my odds have been reversed where Bronson Read is the least likely to win simply because of the draft and he's not ready yet. And also Bobby Lashley is on SmackDown and the US title is gonna live on SmackDown, so Bobby has a much better chance of winning. So I still believe Austin theory should win. Otherwise, what's
the point of the victory over Sena at Mania. That's a massive victory given well, not given how how he won, but he's still won. So there Austin theory. I'm gonna pick to retain, followed by Lashley and then Bronson read okay, Seth Rollins versus Omas, Okay, this this definitely is not going to be Match of the night. And it's not really pointing fingers. It's just the fact of physics. With Omas, he's too big of a dude to have the quote unquote five star match that we need, or
well desire his fans, It's not gonna happen. They'll probably get eight minutes or so, I'd say eight. If it goes longer than ten, I'll be shocked. Seth Rollins is going to get the victory. I mean, how can he not? Which also scares me when there's one that you look at and go, that's a lock that said, this isn't a game, or this is not the time to play games with finishes. This is not a time for Seth Rollins to lose. In some kind of wonky fashion,
somebody interferes causes Seth to lose. No, that's not what should happen here. Okay, there's no hanky panky. Seth Rollins should just get the plane victory. I don't care how he does it. He needs the victory. And why well, you know that new shiny old title that's on Monday night raw. Yeah, they got to continue to build him for the for the Championship, which he's in the top two contenders or favorites to win the belt.
So Omas getting a victory here it's absolutely no sense at all. I mean, the only way that we could have a wonky finish is Omas getting disqualified by you know, using a weapon or something, or a low blow on Rollins or just not listening to the referees five calendar or something. But Seth Rollins gets the victory here. That's that's it. This is probably the most underwhelming Seth Rollins match that we've had in quite a while. But it's
about the championship next and that's coming at Night of champions all right. Re Reply versus Alina Vega another match that you look at and go an absolute lock, one hundred percent lock, and this one also to me is one hundred percent. There's this one again. There's no time or there's no place here for Hankey Pankey at all, even more so than Seth Rollins and Omas. How can it not be Rear Ripley? How can it not imagine the uproar
and the booing that would ensue. People would boo the hell out of Selena Vega because they're not ready for Ria Ripley. They've barely got in a chance to hear from her. I mean, Ria Ripley isn't even cutting promos yet, and the people still love her, and she's in a heel group, acting as a heel. But people want to love her, they're ready to love her, but she's still being masked as a heel. And Ria's got so much more to go here. There is a ton of track left on
this title run, and Rea Ripley hasn't even started. I have said before and I'll say it again. Rii Ripley is probably going to go into WrestleMania forty as champion. I believe that, and she deserves it, and maybe beyond we're getting way ahead of ourselves, but I think it's deserving. I mean, hell, they've kept Bianca Bellair, who's been ice cold and boring as a champion for the last six months or more and they've kept the belt on her. What's the argument against keeping it on Ria. Yeah, there
isn't one. So Selena have an ice showing, and you know what, if I were her, I look at this as, Yeah, the fans know I'm not going to win. I know I'm not going to win, but this is a chance for me to get back into the conversation of being in title matches. And this is arguably Zelena Vega's biggest match of her career. So that's the way I would look at it if I were Zelena and the fans and go, hey, you know what, let's just see what
Zelena's got. This is the chance for her to have a breakout performance, and that's what you can hope for if you're a Zelena fan. All Right, bad Bunny and Damian Priest in a San Juan street fight. This is gonna be fun. This is going to be This is gonna be a lot of fun because we know the capability of a bad Bunny. Now he's no longer going to surprise us with his ability. We know what he's capable of.
He's much better than he deserves. To or he has any business being right, Bad Bunny is going to have a I think a very good night. I think he's going to win this match, and maybe he gets beat down at the end by the rest of the judgment day or something. But I mean, this seems to be a one off, so I don't see this continuing. I think Damian Priests is gonna lose, but lose in a
hell of an effort. This is gonna be physical, is gonna be a lot of tables and chairs and you know, kendlesticks involved in this matchup, and I expect it to be very good. I expect this one to be
ten to twelve minutes somewhere around that time. Yeah, Bad Bunny is still as good as he as he's limited in the amount of maneuvers he knows and that kind of thing, or being able to call a long form match without the use of weapons anytime you see, by the way, a street fight, especially with somebody that's not there a lot or hasn't been there in a while, even in the case of Stone Cold's return, When you have the ability to use weapons and go outside the ring, it expands your arsenal of
maneuvers and waste to tell the story, because if you're confined to the inside of the ring and only wrestling maneuvers, your weaknesses could be exposed. So I think Bad Bunny is going to win this match and send San Juan home happy. There. They're not going to be the main event, but I expect the crowd to be very hot for this one, given the ethnicity of both men, and it's going to be interesting this one more specifically than any
other, what the crowd reaction is. And you know that's that's the most one of the most interesting aspects. As I've said, all right, Bianca Bela versus EO Sky for the Raw Women's Championship. This one's actually a little more difficult than than than on the surface. I don't think Bianca loses here, but there's a case to be made for EO Sky to win and for Bailey to become jealous over the next several weeks or months and then eventually turn
on EO Sky. And that's one scenario. The other scenario is that Bailey directly costs EO Sky the championship, thus Bianca retains. This is tough and it shouldn't be on paper, but with Bianca so cold and boring as raw women's champion over the last six months, and EO Sky I think ready to break out, and really the fans are ready for the whole damage Control group to break away from each other. They've been ready for months and months.
There's also that aspect, and it would benefit Yo Sky, to Kodakai and Bailey everybody. Right now, the sum of the parts is not greater than any individual one. Any individual part is greater than the sum of this group right now, and that's usually the opposite. It's just the group didn't work and it became ice cold quickly, and it's been ice cold for about a
year now, and it's just ready. Right. So that said, my ultimate pick, I think Bianca retains, and I think she retains maybe by Bailey inadvertently, at least on the surface, looking like she didn't cost EO Sky, But ultimately we're going to find out that she did it on purpose. So maybe it'll quote unquote be an accident from Bailey accidentally tripping Eo or accidentally hitting her with an object that Bianca ducks or something. I think that's
what's going to be the case here. Bianca retains all right, final two matches Sammy Zane and Kevin Owens and Matt Riddle versus the USOS and Solo Sokoa. Okay, this one, on paper is likely to be likely to be the match of the night if you're looking at it from if you're just ink and paper perspective, and it probably will be given the talent of all these men. It's just it's otherworldly. The question is this Roman show up? Hey? Guys? Football season is not too far away. I know it's
May, but football season will be back before you know it. And what better time to get into a football podcast than right now? And that podcast is called Root of All Eagles. It's a podcast that's available on really any podcast streaming app but the best way you can find them is on Apple and or Spotify. And it's hosted by James Webb, who was originally born in
San Diego. He grew up in Hawaii, and in Hawaii they didn't have any NFL teams to root for, But for as long as he can remember, he's been an Eagles fan and some of his favorite memories include watching players like Donovan McNabb, Brian Westbrook, t O, Brian Dawkins, and others. As well, and nothing thrilled him more than, of course, seeing the Eagles get to the Super Bowl two times in five years and finally winning in twenty seventeen. It has been a dream come true for James. And
i'd really check out this podcast, guys. His passion comes through his authentic passion for football comes through a specifically for the Eagles, just like it does on the w W podcast. Guys. It is the equivalent over there and very listenable, and it's called Root of All Eagles. If you're an Eagles fan or you're just a football fan, there's no better place and time to go check out a football podcast. Get yourself ready for the NFL season again.
It'll be here in just a few months, believe it or not, and I would really recommend you check it out, guys. It's called Root of All Eagles. Check it out on Apple and Spotify today. I'm gonna say no, I've heard ever rumors of Roman possibly showing up. I don't think he does. I think Roman doesn't come back until Hayman said he does, which is the SmackDown in one week right, So May twelfth, I think is when I believe he's going to return. I don't see a need
for it beforehand. So assuming Roman doesn't show up and nobody else outside interferes, Sammy saying Kevin Owens and Riddle probably win here, maybe are returning Randy Orton. Maybe maybe Orton comes out and returns here, And as the USOS and Solo are attempting to do something wonky, we have Randy come out and you know, even things out with whatever shenanigans they're trying to pull to get the victory. So there's a chance that Randy does return here a chance.
But if nobody interferes, which I still think is the most likely that there's no outside interference, I believe Sammy, Kevin Owen, and Matt Riddle, Kevin Owens and Matt Riddle win because it furthers the story of what the hell is Roman going to do with everyone losing and with the ten sin rising between the USOS and Solo, which has been the main narrative since WrestleMania. With an absent Roman is you want to further that. You don't want to make
it look like all as well right now? You want to continue the tension, and how do you continue the tension by having a blind tag? Right like say, Solo looks like he has an under control he's about to hit the Smollan spike, and Jay tags himself in and tries to finish off Riddle or something, and then it ends up blowing up in their face where Solo had it completely under control and Jay screwed it up or Jimmy, doesn't matter which one, and they end up losing the match because of the blind tag,
and then Solo is furious with them. I don't think they're going to blow up physically, but there's gonna be a lot of death stairs with one another, especially from Solo to the USOS. Ultimately, I think Kevin, Sammy and Matt Riddle win, and it's going to be because of miscommunication or just bad tag team management on the part of the USO s Solo or tension or whatever that is how you further this story. And then what happens when Daddy comes home in a week that's going to be just so much fun to
watch. So that's what I think. In a match that I believe is going to be a lot of fun to watch, This one probably gets fifteen sixteen seventeen minutes, should be I mean, a longer tag team match here as it should. It's the semi main event, all right. Now we get to the main event, which is no championship Matt, it's not a championship match, but it's star power here and it's Brock Lesner versus Cody Rhodes.
Now again, I'm very disappointed, and I'm not accepting or dismissive of the fact that they're or rather complacent with the fact that they did not tell us why Brock attacked Cody, or rather Brock didn't bother to tell us, and management and the creative team didn't bother to feel if there's any reason to tell us Brock why he attacked Cody. All we were left to speculate as well. The announcer should it's because of his position at Wrestlemanian Cody speculated is
because well, I'm an agent of change. None of those make any sense, as I've described over the last several weeks, none of it's consistent, and it's all speculative anyway. So it's it's like triple bad. And then you have Brock, who could have just said, I'm Brock Lesner, I do whatever the hell I want to do. While it's on the surface, It may not seem like it's a reason, it kind of is because it's
from Brock telling you he just does what he wants. And I just don't like the fact that we're just left to just make up a reason on our own. That's lazy, creative. I don't forgive WWE for this. They have done this in the past many times with Brock, and they feel that his star power is just substitutive of him having to have any kind of deep reason for attacking people. It's it's it's hurting the matches overall, even though
he's a massive star. We all know that. But that aside. Because I do not forgive ww for that, I don't give them a pass at all. Outside of that, this match should be a lot of fun. I would imagine Cody Rhodes gets the victory here. The reason is Brock's not going to be hurt by the loss. He just won't. Cody's on the ascent, Cody's more of the future than Brock is. Brock can lose eight matches in a row, go away for six months, and come back and
it's like he's just, you know, hit the reset button. There's no problem. Plus, you know, Brock Lesner's schedule we all know is uh kind of well, it's scattered at best. So I would imagine Brock probably takes a break and comes back towards money in the bank or Summer Slam here after the loss to Cody, Cody should get the victory. He came off a massive loss of WrestleMania. He needs to get some momentum back. Cody will do that. And when I think it's gonna be a fun match,
you know it typically with Brock it's been German German F five. You can't do that with Cody here because there's too much to tell, there's or there's too much skill there to be wasted away in the Oh, well, Brock's gonna just you know, do his uh you know, German German German F five, F five F five can't do that here. Okay, Brock is capable so of more. It's not like he's Goldberg, where he's a one
or two trick pony. Brock is very good in the ring, and I think we often forget that because they've morphed brocks matches into just a few moves as well. But the thing is Brock is capable of a great match and I think they should kind of change the change the style here and have Cody and Lessner actually have a wrestling match filled with a bunch of power moves. Of course, I'm not asking Brock to be a chain wrestler, but wrestle,
you know, don't don't just go for finish finish finish finishers. You can do that in shockcases every once in a while, but not in this case. Doesn't make sense because you're going to waste Cody in what I think could be a really good main event and also in the running of the six man tag with the triple threat for the US title. Those three matches are probably going to be one of the matches of the night if you're looking and care about such things. But Brock and Cody has the potential to be very
good if given enough time. And what I mean by that ten twelve minutes. Okay, you know, I think that's fair for a main event, and I think ultimately Cody wins. Now the question is how does he win. You can't have him cheat to win, I mean you you just can't do that. But I think Cody Rhodes wins here. And also the random potential is Randy Orton attacks Cody here. The history with legacy, Yeah, that's there. It's a very very dark horse prediction. I'm not saying that's
going to happen. That's not my official pick, but it's out there in the ether as like a two percent possibility, five percent possibility. I think Nobody interferes here. It's Cody beating Brock and beating him after getting pummeled by Brock. Most of the match, Cody, you know, ends up maybe getting a small package on Brock, maybe he doesn't win with his finish, which protects Brock a little bit and makes it more believable that Cody snuck a
you know, a small package on Brock. For example. You can have these, you have that. Most of the match, Brock is beating down Cody. Cody has a couple hope spots that are ultimately you know, squashed by Brock. Squashed by Brock. Oh, Cody's coming back. Oh he gets hit with a clothesline. It looks dominant, dominant, dominant, and that Lesner's just toying with Cody. F five. Yet Cody continues to kick
out maybe one or two of them. But then after Cody looks like he's lifeless Brock, Lesner gets arrogant, he's kind of standing on the body of Brock. Cody slips in a small package for the victory. This is one I'd actually be okay with. While I hate the roll up, this is one where you could protect Brock a little bit by being surprised by Cody and not having Cody beat him with a finish. See, that's the most definitive way to beat somebody's with your finish clean over. If it's a surprise maneuver
like the roll up, Cody could do it here. Brock is surprised and loses his mind. Cody slips out of the ring, gets the victory, doesn't pull the tights, but he does get the victory, and it protects Brock. And that's the way I think this should go. After a beat down of Cody for like, you know, several minutes. So those are my picks to review. Austin Theory retains Seth Rollins beats Omas Ripley, retains
the SmackDown Women's Championship that will ultimately be the ROB Women's Championship. Bad Bunny beats Damien Priest. Bianca Belair retains the rob will be the SmackDown Women's Championship, Sammy, Kevin and Riddle beat the USOS and solo, and then Cody beats Brock. So now that I'm looking at it, there's probably only going to be two two heel wins and four baby face wins. So hey, if you're looking to be to quote unquote go home happy, this could be
one of those shows for you. So again, as far as returns go, Randy Orton is to me the only one that could possibly return in the six man tag or against Cody Rhodes to cost him the victory. Here it's I don't I'm not counting on Randy, but if you're thinking about big fun returns, that could be one. But Triple H has shown that he hasn't.
He hasn't done a whole lot of those since he took over. Like, I mean, how many times we thought the Rocks going to come back or Randy Orton for the last year, Right, I'm still voting no on that, but it's it's possible, so keep that in the back of your mind. Those are my thoughts. Hope you guys enjoyed it. And by the way, if you guys want to be able to talk with other fans
live in real time during the show. Join us on Patreon at Patreon dot com slash w W podcast for not just the Discord server where you can chat with all the other Discord members or patrons, but you can also get everything ad free, including the review show, our retro show, our SmackDown review, all of it is going to be available to you. And if you go hire, you get the exclusive after Dark show, an adult version, you get video, and so that that's a little bit more of an incentive
if you want to go hire. So also, if you guys want merch, we know have a merch store ww podcastshop dot com, or you can just go to our website ww podcast dot com and there's a link for the merch stores now open. You can click the button and join us there if you want to. So thanks so much everybody for listening. I will talk to you on the other side of Backlash and Joy and I'll talk to you next time. Hey, guys, football season is not too far away.
I know it's May, but football season will be back before you know it. And what better time to get into a football podcast than right now. And that podcast is called Root of All Eagles. It's a podcast that's available on really any podcast streaming app but the best way you can find them is on Apple and or Spotify, and it's hosted by James Webb, who was
originally born in San Diego. He grew up in Hawaii, and in Hawaii they didn't have any NFL teams to root for, but for as long as he can remember, he's been an Eagles fan and some of his favorite memories include watching players like Donovan McNabb, Brian Westbrook to Brian Dawkins and others as well. And nothing thrilled him more than, of course, seeing the Eagles get to the Super Bowl two times in five years and finally winning in twenty
seventeen. It has been a dream come true for James, and I'd really check out to the podcast, guys. His passion comes through his authentic passion for football comes through a specifically for the Eagles, just like it does on the w W podcast. Guys. It is the equivalent over there and very listenable, and it's called Root of All Eagles. If you're an Eagles fan or you're just a football fan, there's no better place and time to go
check out a football podcast. Get yourself ready for the NFL season again. It'll be here in just a few months, believe it or not, and I would really recommend you check it out. Guys. It's called Root of All Eagles. Check it out on Apple and Spotify today. Thanks for listening to the WWE podcast. Don't forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast app so you don't miss a show, or head to WWE podcast dot com and for all of these shows add free head over to Patreon dot com slash WWE podcast.
Until then, we'll see you next time.