WWE Backlash Review: Lyra Valkyria Shocks Becky, Cena vs. Orton Falls Flat, Cobb Joins Bloodline

Peter Klein

WWE Backlash was full of surprises, from jaw-dropping wins to major storyline developments. Peter Klein breaks it all down:  🏆 Lyra Valkyria stuns Becky Lynch in an instant classic 💥 US Title match delivers chaos — Fatu, LA Knight, Drew, Priest go wild 🤯 Jeff Cobb joins the Bloodline?! Fatu’s new arc begins 🧢 Cena vs. Orton — Built like a main event, but didn’t reach the next gear 👑 Dominik Mysterio & Penta bring high-energy action 🔥 Pat McAfee proves he belongs in the ring with Gunther  💬 Was this one of WWE’s better shows of 2025? Let’s talk Backlash moments 👇  #WWEBacklash #WrestlingRecap #WWENews  🔗 Stay Connected & Support the Show 🎧 Listen & Subscribe:  Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/couch-potato-diary/id1564122189  Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/3QgazeHcSKSteZbBIubcuM 🧠 Partners & Promos:  C of Dead Apparel → https://www.cofdead403.ca/  Swift Energy → https://www.swiftenergy.gg/?ref=mriusnqm  🎁 Use Promo Code: PKPrimetime for 25% off! 📲 Follow Me:  Twitter (X) → https://x.com/primetimeklein  Instagram → https://instagram.com/primetimeklein  Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/Couchpotatodiary  Twitch → https://twitch.tv/primetimepk 📬 Business Inquiries & Fan Mail:  Email → couchpotatodiary@yahoo.com

Transcript

00:00WWE starting the post-WrestleMania calendar with Backlash from St. Louis, Missouri.

00:10In the main event, it was John Cena taking on Randy Orton for the undisputed, but kind of

00:15disputed because there's another world champion, WWE Championship. I thought the build for this

00:21was really good. I really, really enjoyed what they kind of put together and how they put this

00:28whole thing together. I thought they did a great job with it. And tying in all the old footage and

00:34everything like that, there was some of the promos and stuff leading in that was a little bit like,

00:39really? Like Randy Orton saying, oh yeah, always knew he was a bad guy. Always knew he kind of sucked.

00:44And there are some snippets of things you can take from Total Divas where it's like, oh man,

00:49this dude seems like a bad hang. But again, it is tough to paint the picture that the guy who

00:55has the most make-a-wishes of all time is actually a shitty dude. That's a hard sell to make. But

01:01still, when you tie in the past history and everything like that, and John Cena kind of

01:06continuing this, I'm going to be the last world champion and I'm going to erase your family

01:09history. I thought that kind of could have been played into a little bit more. Again, you have to

01:14take a couple logical leaps with like, they will, they decide the lineage of all of these things,

01:19right? So, it would be nice for them to just, you know, kind of tie some of that together. But I do

01:27think that there could have been a little bit more done on the history dynamic of it, rather than

01:31the, oh yeah, this guy was just bad. In terms of the match, it was a bit of a slower pace. And you

01:37knew that was going to be coming in. John Cena is at a place now where he is working a slower pace

01:42of a match. And Randy Orton has been at a place for basically his entire career, where he works a

01:48slower paced match. So, you kind of expected coming in that this wasn't going to be Will Ospreay

01:54against Ricochet and the best of the Super Juniors, right? That this was going to be a story-heavy

01:59match. I did think that there was another gear that this match could have got to, though. They tried

02:05to do it with a bunch of the ref bumps and all of that. And look, I will say this, like as far as I am

02:10concerned, I thought it needed another gear. That crowd didn't. That crowd in St. Louis was behind

02:16this whole thing the whole time. They were there for all of it. So, credit to them for that, because

02:23that was a crowd that made this feel like a big, big, big match and a big-time event. And so, like,

02:30they probably made this match kind of feel better than it was when you just look at the in-ring

02:35aspect of it. And again, the whole point is to get the crowd into it. So, uh, a credit to them

02:41for that. But you still, you still have this in your mind that John Cena matches tended to over-deliver,

02:49right? It wasn't always the prettiest, but there was a lot of emotion and there was another gear

02:54that it got to. And this one just never got there. All the ref bumps, R-Truth running in,

02:57and, um, and all of that. They tried, it just didn't really, didn't really hit the way that

03:04I wanted it to. So now, you look at where do they go from here. Uh, the R-Truth stuff is interesting

03:08and probably leads to a very violent and awful beatdown. And something coming along, um, after

03:15that one, I would imagine maybe, um, the way that they've been kind of attaching Jimmy Uso to it

03:19has me wondering a little bit. That's, I don't think that's an extended feud that a lot of people

03:24would be excited about on the John Cena retirement tour, but it might be a way to get Cody Rhodes

03:28back into it to be the fearless defender of this guy who we all really like. Um, the, the one part

03:34of it, everyone seems to kind of be analyzing and overanalyzing John Cena seeming like he is already

03:40feeling a little bit bad about the way that this is happening. It feels a little too early. And now

03:45this is Paul Levesque era WWE. So this is a, a sprinkle and just a, a little nugget on the way

03:52for us. I don't think that this is something that's going to start to really, whatever.

03:55I think it is something that's going to be kind of poked and prodded at on the way, probably to

03:59SummerSlam. But I do think that, uh, if they were to advance as quickly, it's probably a little bit

04:05too soon, just given, you know, how quick that turn was and everything like that. So maybe that

04:11is a way of getting the rock back involved. Maybe I should stop thinking about trying to get the rock

04:15back involved in all of it. But just like John Cena being like, I hate how I'm doing this in the rock

04:19being like, Hey, this is the way that you, you wanted it. This is the way you have it. Um, or

04:23something along those lines. So I think there's a couple of directions to, to go. I would imagine

04:27the Randy Orton direction is probably done for, for, for this go around here and which means done

04:33forever now. Um, and so I thought an appropriate tribute given all the video packages and everything

04:39like that, but interested to see now where they go with this one here in terms of the rest of the

04:44show. I thought it delivered. I thought this was a really great show. Um, the U S title match

04:48delivered in a big time way. All four guys, Jacob fought to Damien Priest, Drew McIntyre and LA Knight.

04:53I thought they came up with real big performances. Um, unfortunately it hurts a couple of them with

04:59the true clearing the table and smacking the head on the concrete. And it seems like Damien Priest

05:04got a little bit banged up in this as well. So, uh, it is unfortunate that both guys got hurt,

05:08but this was a really fun, really fast paced opener, exactly what you want to start a show.

05:13And the fact that it's all guys who are kind of on the bigger side doing this, um, very impressive

05:19stuff and just a really, really entertaining match. And then you get a little bit of the story added in

05:24as well with Jeff Cobb, um, debuting in the bloodline, not what I was expecting. I am certainly

05:29interested by it. I do think that having there, there is still value in the bloodline and in having

05:37solo being at the head of it. Cause I do think while people can be critical of solo, I do think that he is

05:41improving and I do think he is getting a little bit more comfortable in his character as the leader

05:46of this group. And so having him with some muscle, um, but having that with all due respect to Jeff

05:51Cobb, having someone who won't have a personality that outshines solo, I think will be good for kind

05:58of the perception of him as the leader of that group. And it just with thought to obviously outgrowing

06:03it, it certainly gives you a lot of very interesting kind of scenarios here. And like, do we now get

06:10another, another bloodline civil war where Jacob fought too, and Toma Tonga start their own thing,

06:16uh, and Tonga Loa and solo then has to bring in more guys. And so it's Cobb it's Hickaleo. Um,

06:23and, and on that way. So it opens up a lot of possibilities. I'm very fascinated by it. And I

06:28think a lot of the matches are going to be really good. And once again, Jacob fought two shows that

06:32he is an absolute super duper star Lyra Valkyria against Becky Lynch for the intercontinental title.

06:37And I thought both put on a show that this one was great. Um, this was the type of showcase

06:42for Lyra Valkyria that you want. It is a story that people got invested in, that people cared

06:47about. It is against a character and a performer that people are invested in and care about.

06:52And then the in-ring really, really put on a fantastic display. And so this is what we've

06:59been talking for weeks that they are obviously trying to make the women's intercontinental

07:02championship very similar to the men's, where it is the workhorse title. And that is great,

07:06but you need the stories to get people invested in. And now this is the one that I think elevates

07:11Lyra. I think this whole storyline really does push Lyra into another category, push the

07:17intercontinental title into another category. And so to, to, to now have a story for people

07:22to be invested in and then have the high level of ring work that Valkyria is able to show.

07:28I think this was the perfect, perfect story. The perfect match. All of it was exactly what

07:33this feud, this performer, and this championship all really needed. And a loss doesn't hurt

07:38Becky Lynch at all. She comes out, beats the hell out of Lyra after, and we'll talk about

07:42Raw a little bit later on this week, but cuts a very good promo at the end of it to, to get

07:47people kind of fired up afterwards. So on, on Monday. So I think like 10 out of 10, no notes.

07:53It was everyone in this story did exactly what they needed to. And because of that, now it

07:58has elevated a lot of things coming out of it. Dominic Mysterio and Penta, I thought

08:04they put on a great show. Once again, Dominic Mysterio showing that he is leveling up and

08:08the crowd's getting behind him for this. You get some really fun spots. Once again, these

08:12two show, they have fantastic chemistry and they work together very well. Dom is showing

08:16that he really has more in his bag and Penta is great at getting it out of him. And Penta

08:21is just, again, aura for days that, that he has. The one thing is that it does kind of

08:27feel like Penta is a bit of an afterthought in the entire Judgment Day story with Dominic

08:33Mysterio. And it kind of felt that way going into WrestleMania that he felt like a bit of

08:37a, um, an afterthought given the big personality that is a brawn breaker. Not that Penta isn't,

08:42but you have the champion and then you have the kind of overarching story of the, the Judgment

08:47Day there. Penta just felt like a, oh, and this guy is also really cool and awesome. And

08:52while that's great and we can all believe that, I don't think it is helping him now that

08:56it has, that the story has progressed and he is still just the, we need to get this

09:00guy on the card. And he has a very, very pseudo tie to this whole thing. So let's just roll

09:06with it that way. You would like to see him get a little bit more out of this than he is

09:12right now. Cause while I do think again, aura for days and everything like that, you still

09:18need to build the character up and you can't just, well, he can afford to be in the background

09:22for a little bit. Cause everyone's going to love the entrance and the, the, the, the,

09:25the, the, the, the, the zero and the look and everything like that. Like you have a real

09:28star on your hands here. And I, while I do appreciate that there are only so many stories

09:34you can tell and only so many things you can build up at one time, I do think that he should

09:38be a bit more of a priority than he is being right now. Him and, and Ray Phoenix as well.

09:42And then you get to the very interesting bout of the night and it was Pat McAfee against

09:48Gunther. This was exactly what it needed to be. Um, Pat getting beat up a couple of hosts

09:53hope spots shows off his athleticism and then beat up again. It is, I think it's, it's a

10:00tricky balance with him because he is a former pro athlete who is actually trained in this,

10:06not to the level of it being a crisp show or anything like that. Um, but he is someone

10:10who, well, Ponter did play a physical sport and played his position about as physically as

10:16you can and has the athletic chops to, to do this at a relatively high level and certainly

10:22a high level if he really just focused on that one thing. But also he is a commentator

10:27and he is not supposed to be, um, competitive with one of the best wrestlers in the world.

10:32And so that's a tricky balance to, to kind of walk. And I thought they did perfectly in

10:37this match with McAfee getting the, Oh, miss the moonsault lands on his feet. German suplex

10:41lands on his feet again, just really kind of showing the athleticism that he had. It puts

10:45on display Gunther and just being this absolute maniac, uh, psychopath who has no regard for

10:52human anything and just beat the crap out of, uh, McAfee. I thought it just, it got everyone

10:57what it needed to. The crowd got behind him. Um, it shows what he can do and it delivers

11:03Gunther in a really strong way. And I understand from a commentary standpoint, from his show

11:08standpoint and all of that, McAfee isn't everyone's cup of tea, but this was a really great showing

11:13for him and it keeps Gunther in the spotlight. It gets him looking even more dangerous. And now,

11:19as we'll talk about with the, the raw recap later in the week here, it sets him up in a way that,

11:24or it sets Gunther up now in a way that he can go challenge for the title one more time. So again,

11:30I would say like, aside from the main event, not being exactly what we wanted it to be.

11:35I think this pay-per-view or this premium live event was basically everything that it needed to be

11:40from a WWE standpoint. So a huge credit to them. Um, and a, a very successful show as we continue

11:47on the road now, um, toward Money in the Bank and everything else that WWE has going on.

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