REVIEW A WAI FEEDBACK - WWE BACKLASH 2006

[Deleted]

Post your feedback in this thread for WWE Backlash 2006 featuring:
*John Cena Vs Edge Vs Triple H for the WWE Title
*Shawn Michaels & GOD Vs Vince & Shane McMahon

Catch Review a Wai this Wednesday!

[Alan Jones]

Alan Jones

The main event delivered, as it should, but there were also a number of disappointments. Trish's injury put an end to what could have been a good women's match. I can't really fault them for that. The biggest disappointment is that they cynically booked "God" into a match, knowing that fans would tune in to see *something* but instead we just got a regular handicap match, and not a very good one at that. That's the very definition of bait-and-switch. The IC/MitB and main event were good, everything else can be tossed aside.

[zach volk]

Somewhat enjoyed this pay per view but overall a weak card. The RVD-Shelton match was solid. I was a huge RVD fan from back in the late 90s I was always shocked the WWE didn't do more with him.

Cena winning in the main event was less tired as it would become in the following handful of years but far from a surprise.

This event only has any identity because of the McMahons v. God and HBK match and storyline. The match became sort of a cluster-fuck with the spirit squad coming out and the whole flow to the match seemed ragged. But as an atheist I really enjoyed this storyline. I was a huge HBK fan in the 90s but the returning born-again christian HBK was such a disappointment for me from a character standpoint, his matches were still outstanding of course though. The best of it all was the logic of putting the McMahons over HBK teamed with his imaginary friend. The WWE could have gone the safer route and had HBK overcome the odds but it worked so much better to have the McMahons screw HBK over.

I would give this show a 5 out of 10. The McMahon vignettes leading up to this show were fun too so I enjoyed the pre-match video.

[kickpuncher305]

Aaron Petrowitsch

Definitely an up and down show. Umaga vs Ric Flair should have been a squash match on TV. Chris Masters entrance may have taken longer than The Great Khali walking to the ring. Congrats to Maria for fucking up the winner of the match right before her segment. Unfortunate injury for Trish as the match with her and Mickie James was surprisingly a decent match until the injury. McMahon vs Michaels was a glorified spot fest that seconded as a piece of shit. The sunset flip to powerbomb combo Benjamin hit killed RVD. The only PPV quality matches were RVD vs Shelton and the main event. Overall, I give the PPV a 5/10.

[Allen Gaynor]

So God no showed the PPV. Who would have thought that HBK would find a less reliable partner than Marty Jannetty. I remember at the time I though they were going to bring in Henry "God"winn, as I believe they had signed him to a contract back in 2006. Backlash had a great history of overperforming - a lot of years it looked like a so-so show, but then really delivered. 2000, 2004 and 2007 were all excellent. Unfortunately, not even an appearance from God himself would have brought this show to that level.

[Deleted]

There was only one match that stood out, the Handicap match! Seeing that spotlight follow God down the aisle is exemplary of McMahon’s behaviour and lack of respect for anything and everything – but God damn hilarious. I was also surprised that Michaels agreed to it. Also, big ups to you guys for reviewing this show since I believe there are some die hard Christians on the board that might get emotionally upset at the very thought of such blasphemy.

[Kevin Kittridge]

I'm agnostic (darned near athiest), but REALLY wanted to see Shawn being pummeled throughout the match and try to make it over to his corner...AT WHICH POINT Shawn "tags" the turnbuckle and suddenly is completely refreshed. It's as if "God" has taken over his body and he's a house afire!

Is this scenario ridiculous? Yes.

But dammit, I would really have enjoyed it.

[Alexander Rios]

Alexander Rios

Backlash 2006: to me, it was yet another mid 2000s WWE pay-per-view where they trying SO hard to push the envelope with the horrendous "God" angle not realizing the attitude era ended about 5 years previosly. Personally, I am an agnostic, so it didn't offend me, but a few friends that had watched the show with me who DO believe in God, did try to take it in stride, but at the same time it was a bit over the line with, as Joey Styles would later say "mocking God!" and as Jim Ross would say in this very show: "This is bullshit!"

As far as matches themselves, the only one that sticks out is the triple threat between John Cena, Triple H and Edge, as already Cena was getting hate despite still being...slightly edgier than he is today, Edge starting to come into his own as a main event heel, and Triple Habout to re-form DX with Shawn Michaels.

Putsky award goes to Chris Masters for a 5/10 show in my opinion.

[joao8895]

Hi guys from Portugal!
The show was jiust an average show. The main event and RVD vs Shelton Benjamin was good but everything else was pretty much what you would see on RAW. The handicap match, which they could have done so many creative things, didn't delivered.
I give this a 5/10

[legend832111]

I was actually at this event. I have never gone back to watch it again, but thought I'd share some memories. There was a dark match with Goldust and someone, I think Goldust won. I don't recall the first match. No one liked the squash of Flair. The women's match is fuzzy as well, but I remember my wife saying this was a good time to get a beer. RVD vs. Shelton was a good match. Really liked the Rolling Thunder into a samoan drop. No one was into the Kane and Big show, even less after that DQ finish, waste of time. Most people were laughing at the "God" stuff, check Him for hidden weapons. Shawn carried them to a decent match. Shawn jumping off the ladder onto the predictable Spirit Squad run in was the memorable thing from the whole show. Really enjoyed the main event. The ram Edge's head into the table spot was a good one. Really a solid match. My section was mixed with moms and theirs sons, and guys around my age. So even then you could hear the cheers/boos for Cena. Hunter posed for the crowd on the ramp after the show went off the air. Not the greatest show ever. But a very good main event, and IC Championship match.

[quickstrike83]

Chris Copelin

masters and carlito was a decent match and the right guy went over.
umaga and flair was short but got over the point that umaga was a monster.
trish vs mickie was leading up to what seemed to be a good match until the unfortunate injury.
RVD and shelton was a great match and personally my match of the night.
kane and big show was horrendous and only used to sell see no evil. pointless match
the mcmahons vs hbk and God himself was exactly what i expected, a handicap match where a light shining from the ceiling was michael's partner. wow.
the main event delivered and really saved this show from being a complete waste of time. triple h's blade job was phenomenal and all three men worked there tails off.

6/10 for backlash.

[@afcfreddie8]

Kris Carpenter, UK

I remember watching this show live from here in the UK at the silly times we do once a month & as the McMahons vs God/HBK started, I recall thinking Why oh why do I do this every month! But other than that frankly stupid match the rest of the show was decent.
Umaga was put over as the monster heel he was booked to be & squashing Flair really helped get him over as a big player in the fed, The James vs Stratus match was good, not as great as their Mania outing but solid anyway & compared to the barbie doll, stick thin, trampy, poor rope runners we have today it was a 5star contest!
Show vs Kane was...Erm, there, as was Carlito vs masters, The main event was pretty solid & watching it back has made me remember how much better Cena's gimmick then was, How large Trips was & how much the current WWE miss Edge...ALREADY! The RVD vs Shelton match was my personal highlight, both great workers at the time & whilst it was a tad bit spotfest'esc I thought the in ring chemistry was excellent & just shows that mid card matches do still peek interest, take note WWE... Hint, Hint book these men properly.....Ziggler, Cody, Miz, Alberto, Swagger!!

Great show Guys & cheers for putting up ALL the old Review-A-Wai last weekend, I marked out about it & tweeted John to share my happiness!
All the best,

Kris (Flying the flag in Plymouth, UK)

[thorsten]

Thorsten, Germany

Chris Masters vs. Carlito was the right choice for the opener and apart from that botched kickout attempt it delivered. WWE had great faith in both of these guys but sadly neither guy would reach main event level.

Cool seeing Maria. I always liked her and I’ve heard she’s now doing a pretty good job in Ring of Honor now.

In my opinion, Umaga was such a great performer who deserved a world title run mainly because he was so convincing in the ring as a monster. Very agile and his offense was impressive. I thought they could’ve done more spots to use Flair’s great selling skills to put Umaga over a little more.

Crazy McMahon with the fake tan playing God backstage was hilarious and just so over the top.

Can’t believe they put Mickie James in stupid storylines at the end of her run and let her go just like that. It’s very clear that Mickie and Trish were trained like real wrestlers who can run the ropes. Sadly this match ended early after Trish’s injury.

RVD vs. Shelton Benjamin was the match I was looking forward to the most because I was a huge RVD fan back then. Started off a little slower than expected and had a bit too many rest holds. But there were some great spots like the sunset flip to the outside. Always great to see guys who can do stuff that you usually only see in Jackie Chan movies.

Kane and the saga of blown storylines continued. Don’t get me wrong, Kane usually does all he can to put an angle over but most of them just end in disappointment. Big Show looks freakishly huge here. The ending was cringe worthy to say the least. I would’ve been embarrassed to be in the crowd during that stuff. That really made me want to leave the room.

The God angle was so stupid but it totally fit the crazy McMahon character. And I don’t know how but Vince can make anything work. I’m not saying this was good but Vince is very convincing in his role. Shawn saved this match of course with bumping left and right. Unique finish.

Great main event! Loved the chemistry between the three. Really great spots, great timing and all three guys worked hard to make this work. Triple H was a bloody mess, my God. Lita took a great bump too. Spectacular match with a surprising finish. But Cena kinda no sold the low blow. Still loved this one.

Overall a solid to good show that had great matches in the main event and RVD vs Benjamin. I was surprised that basically every match had talented workers who with good booking could even survive at a main event level. A better show than the 2003 edition of Backlash you reviewed the last time. I rate this one 7 out of 10.

[The Remote Point]

Imran, UK

Being that this was 2006, I will have almost certainly watched this event live, as me and 3 of my friends always did for PPV's around 2006/2007. After watching it back now however, I literally couldn't remember a thing about it... and it's plain to see why.

Before the two main events, there is absolutely nothing memorable... just a standard filler card. Not to say any of it was particularly awful, but I don't think anything was really great. RVD vs. Shelton was good, but not as good as I would have liked. Umaga destroying Flair was fun, but thats probably due to me being a huge Umaga fan (The best "big man" to have been in the WWE in the last 10 years... discuss?).

Onto the two "big" matches, I remember the God angle taking place on TV, but I had succesfully managed to purge this match from my memory until now... anyway, just a ridiculous match. The whole "God" aspect took me right out of it, as I think it's one of those wrestling things that makes you embarassed that you're actually watching this shit. Having said that, HBK did make this match somewhat watchable, and there were some fun spots... but I couldn't help but think about how absurd it all was.

The Cena/HHH/Edge match was great... really very entertaining, so why I have absolutely no recollection of it I do not know (blame God!). I give this match a big thumbs up, with excellent work by everyone involved.

Overall, almost the very definition of a one match show. The main event is the only thing worth seeing... and the only thing worth remembering. I sincerely hope that, 6 years from now, I once again have no memory of the rest of this event.

4/10

If I could be so bold as to recommend future reviews, may I suggest No Mercy 2002, which not only featured the infamous Katie Vick storyline, but also had a Brock Lesnar (with Paul Heyman) vs. Undertaker (with Blood) HIAC match, as well as possibly the best Tag Team match in WWE history. So a lot of stuff to get your teeth into.

Keep up the good work.

[The Pod-Father!]

Brother Pollock & Brother Ting,
This sport of professional wrestling is famous for pushing the boundaries of good taste, and if you are thin-skinned as a fan, your enjoyment of the product will be short-lived. In my lifetime I've only been offended by an angle on a handful of occasions. Unfortunately, it seems like most of those occasions happened in the WWE between the years of 2002 and 2006. Highlights include the Katie Vick story, Triple H's racism, "Eddie's in Hell", and of course the terrible Vince McMahon vs. God fued that culminated at Backlash 2006.

I hated everything about the angle. Faith & religion are topics that I feel need to be handled with a certain level of care & respect. The WWE lacked both, and as a result I think it hurt the build to Backlash. Outside of the main event & Benjamin vs. RVD, there really wasn't a lot to like about this show other than Mickie James' awesome heel persona; which was a great character that was dropped way too soon.

It wasn't a terrible show, but it wasn't a particularly good one either. Combine that with an angle that I found needlessly offensive and you have the makings of a pretty weak event. I think I'd actually prefer to watch that nonsensical April 10th edition of WCW Nitro on a continuous loop than to try to watch Vince McMahon's lame attempts at edgy storytelling from the early 2000's. I give this show a 3/10.