Backlash (2025)

Background in St. Louis, Missouri. 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 show returned the event to its original concept. On March 14, 2025, WWE announced that the 20th Backlash, promoted as "Backlash St. Louis", would take place on Saturday, May 10, 2025, at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri, and feature wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. In addition to airing on traditional pay-per-view (PPV) worldwide and via livestreaming on Peacock in the United States, the event was available to livestream on Netflix in most international markets and the WWE Network in any remaining countries that had not yet transferred to Netflix due to pre-existing contracts. This marked the first Backlash to livestream on Netflix following the WWE Network's merger under the service in January 2025 in those areas. Tickets went on sale on March 21 via Ticketmaster. while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown. In the main event of Night 2 of WrestleMania 41, John Cena won the Undisputed WWE Championship to become a record 17-time WWE world champion. On the following Raw, Cena gloated about his win only for his long-time rival Randy Orton to attack Cena with an RKO. On SmackDown that Friday, as Cena was about to cut another promo, he was interrupted by Orton, who tried to reason with the now villainous Cena, who had turned heel at Elimination Chamber: Toronto back in March. After an exchange of words, Orton challenged Cena to a match for his championship that night; however, Cena declined, stating that the match should happen in Orton's hometown of St. Louis at Backlash. The match was subsequently made official, and was billed as "One Last Time". Prior to Night 1 of WrestleMania 41, Bayley, who was supposed to team up with Lyra Valkyria for a WWE Women's Tag Team Championship match on Night 2 of the event, was found attacked backstage by an unknown assailant, requiring Valkyria to find a new partner. On Night 2, Becky Lynch made a surprise return as Valkyria's mystery partner and they won the Women's Tag Team Championship. On the Raw the night after WrestleMania 41, Gunther came out and argued with commentators Michael Cole and Pat McAfee as Gunther felt disrespected by them following his loss at WrestleMania. Gunther then attacked Cole which led to McAfee attacking Gunther in Cole's defense, however, Gunther managed to overpower McAfee and choked him out. The following week, McAfee wanted to fight Gunther and asked SmackDown's General Manager Nick Aldis, who was subbing for Pearce that night, to lift Gunther's suspension. Aldis declined and instead proposed a match between them at Backlash, which McAfee accepted. and a day later at Night 2, Drew McIntyre defeated Damian Priest in a Sin City Street Fight. At Night 2 of WrestleMania 41, Judgment Day's Dominik Mysterio won the Intercontinental Championship in a fatal four-way match also involving Penta and Mysterio's stablemate Finn Bálor, the latter of whom he pinned. ==Event==

Preliminary matches Before the event, Pershard Owens performed "The Star-Spangled Banner". made his WWE debut, assisting Jacob Fatu in defending the WWE United States Championship. The actual event began with Jacob Fatu defending the United States Championship against LA Knight, Damian Priest, and Drew McIntyre in a fatal four-way match. During the match, Fatu performed a swanton on McIntyre. Knight performed a BFT on Fatu followed by a South of Heaven by Priest on Knight and a Claymore by McIntyre on Priest, who fell into a pin on Knight, with McIntyre breaking it up. McIntyre performed Future Shock DDTs on Fatu and Knight. McIntyre performed a Claymore on Knight, but Priest pulled the referee out of the ring. With McIntyre and Priest fighting outside the ring, Knight performed two elbow drops on Fatu for a nearfall. Priest performed a South of Heaven on McIntyre through tables. Knight attempted an elbow drop on Fatu through a table, but Solo Sikoa pulled Fatu to safety. Jeff Cobb, making his WWE debut, then attacked Knight. Fatu pinned Knight following a moonsault to retain the title. After that, Lyra Valkyria defended the Women's Intercontinental Championship against Becky Lynch. Valkyria attempted a moonsault, but Lynch got her knees up. Lynch performed a Manhandle Slam on Valkyria for a nearfall. In the end, Valkyria attempted Nightwing, but Lynch blocked and struck Valkyria in the nose. Valkyria countered a pinning combination into her own to retain the title. After the match, Lynch attacked Valkyria. In the third match, Dominik Mysterio defended the Intercontinental Championship against Penta. During the match, Carlito, JD McDonagh, and Finn Bálor showed up at ringside. As Bálor grabbed a chair, he, McDonagh, and Carlito were ejected from ringside. In the end, as Penta went to the middle rope, El Grande Americano performed a headbutt on Penta, allowing Mysterio to perform a Frog Splash and pin Penta to retain the title. In the penultimate match, Gunther faced Pat McAfee. After Gunther dominated most of the match, McAfee performed a Punt Kick on Gunther for a one count. In the closing moments, McAfee applied a sleeper hold on Gunther, who escaped and performed a lariat on McAfee. Gunther then applied the sleeper hold on McAfee, who passed out, to win the match. After the match, Gunther gave McAfee a show of respect. Main event retained the Undisputed WWE Championship against Randy Orton. In the main event, John Cena defended the Undisputed WWE Championship against Randy Orton. Throughout the match, Cena and Orton executed their respective moves. At one point, Cena attempted a Punt Kick, but Orton moved out of the way. Cena performed an Attitude Adjustment on Orton and grabbed the title belt. Orton then performed an RKO on Cena for a nearfall. Orton performed an Attitude Adjustment on Cena through the announce table and another through a table he retrieved. Orton then performed another RKO for a nearfall. In the climax, Cena charged at Orton with the belt, but struck the referee. Orton then performed another RKO on Cena, but with no referee to count the pin, Orton performed RKOs on Nick Aldis and producers. As Orton attempted another Punt Kick, R-Truth blocked Orton, who laid out R-Truth with an RKO. Cena then performed a low blow on Orton and struck him with the title belt to retain the title. After the match, Cena proclaimed that he was what a real world champion looked like. ==Reception==

Wade Keller of Pro Wrestling Torch stated that the main event's first portion "was rudimentary to a fault", but in character for John Cena and Randy Orton's "styles, especially at this point in their careers". As the match progressed, "fans got more into it", and Keller was not bothered with the ref bumps "because the expectations for Orton and Cena telling this story straight-up isn't really there, so a lot of outside stuff and controversy was likely and, ultimately, worked". Shakiel Mahjouri of CBS Sports gave the match a grade of A−, stating that it was not "a technical thriller", but "there's a charm to seeing an iconic rivalry's final chapter after 20 years". With the match being physical with high stakes and a hot crowd, it "was an overbooked throwback to WWE's heavily used playbook in the 2010s". John Canton, reviewing for TJRwrestling.com, gave the show an overall score of 7.25 out of 10, calling it "a pretty good show most of the way" whilst noting it sat below the generally high average of quality WWE PLE's had been reaching. He gave the main event a score of 3.25 stars, enjoying the "nearfalls and the counts with no referee", and stated that whilst Cena's win will "frustrate fans", it embodied Cena's new role as a heel. Canton gave his most positive remarks towards the Women's Intercontinental Championship match, calling it an "excellent match" and positively noted its use of counter wrestling, expressing his excitement for Lyra's further development in the WWE. ==Aftermath==

During the Backlash post-event press conference, Triple H commented on Damian Priest's South of Heaven Chokeslam on Drew McIntyre, stating that McIntyre was "banged up but totally fine". Also during the press conference, R-Truth interrupted Undisputed WWE Champion John Cena's promo. This led to Cena performing an Attitude Adjustment on R-Truth through a table. Raw Following his loss at Backlash, Penta faced and defeated Chad Gable on the following episode of Raw. Also on Raw, Becky Lynch addressed her loss to Women's Intercontinental Champion Lyra Valkyria, Lynch and Valkyria were subsequently scheduled for another title match at Money in the Bank. SmackDown On the following episode of SmackDown, as a result of John Cena's attack on R-Truth during the Backlash post-show, a non-title match between them was scheduled for Saturday Night's Main Event XXXIX. It was also announced that Drew McIntyre would face Damian Priest in a Steel Cage match at Saturday Night's Main Event XXXIX. ==Results==