WWE’s Backlash pay-per-view takes place tonight at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot in San Juan, Puerto Rico. This event marks the first time WWE has held a premium live event in Puerto Rico since the New Year’s Revolution event in January 2005 and will look to celebrate the island in a number of matches. Grammy Award-winning artist Bad Bunny will compete in his first singles match at the event, taking on his former tag partner Damian Priest. As a lifelong wrestling fan, Bunny first appeared in WWE in January 2021 as a musical guest for that year’s Royal Rumble. That, along with a reign as 24/7 Champion, eventually led to him competing in his first match at WrestleMania 37 when he teamed with Priest to beat The Miz and John Morrison.
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Bunny would then return to action in the 2022 Men’s Royal Rumble match and pop up at WrestleMania 39 last month for the match between Rey Mysterio and Dominik Mysterio. His involvement in helping Rey win enraged Priest and the rest of Judgement Day, prompting the group to attack Bunny and put him through a table on the following episode of Monday Night Raw. He’d eventually recover from the attack and challenge Priest to a San Juan Street Fight after whacking him with a kendo stick.
WWE Backlash 2023 Star Time, How to Watch
Backlash will begin at 8 p.m. ET on Saturday night. The show will air exclusively on the Peacock streaming service here in the United States.
WWE Backlash 2023 Full Card
- Cody Rhodes vs. Brock Lesnar
- SmackDown Women’s Championship: Rhea Ripley vs. Zelina Vega
- United States Championship: Austin Theory vs. Bobby Lashley vs. Bronson Reed
- Raw Women’s Championship: Bianca Belair vs. Iyo Sky
- Bad Bunny vs. Damian Priest (San Juan Street Fight)
- Seth Rollins vs. Omos
- Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn & Matt Riddle vs. Solo Sikoa, Jimmy Uso & Jey Uso
WWE Draft Fallout
While the 2023 WWE Draft won’t fully take effect until next week, the results of the draft could play a role in Saturday’s show. Ripley, the SmackDown Women’s Champion, was selected for the Raw roster during the Draft while Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair was drafted to SmackDown. This situation could be complicated even further as both of their respective opponents at Backlash — Vega and Iyo Sky — were drafted to SmackDown.
This will also mark the last time we see rivalries like Bobby Lashley vs. Bronson Reed and Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn and Matt Riddle vs. The Bloodline for the foreseeable future as Lashley, Jimmy Uso, Jey Uso and Solo Sikoa will all exclusively wrestle on SmackDown going forward.
Zelina Vega on Bringing The LWO Its First Championship
Zelina Vega, who is of Puerto Rican descent, will also be heavily featured during the show as she’ll challenge Rhea Ripley for the SmackDown Women’s Championship. If she wins, it’ll mark the start of her first singles championship reign in her WWE career.
“It would be an honor to be able to bring a championship,” Vega told PopCulture‘s Brian Jones during the Backlash press junket this weekend “And I think that’s what we need right now is again, you’re representing not just for Puerto Rico, but for Latinos in general, for WWE, and for all the people that have got to work their asses off and haven’t gotten the opportunities that they’ve worked so hard for.”
“And I think even now getting this opportunity against Rhea, I’ve said this before, win, lose or draw, you’re going to get all of me. And I always like to quote Rock Lee when it comes to stuff like this. Like he said, ‘A hero’s not one who never falls. It’s the one who gets up again and again, never losing sight of their dreams.’ And that’s a hundred percent me when it comes to this. So I’m focused, I’m ready. And I think making sure that LWO stands strong is something that we’re all really focused on,” Vega said.
Cody Rhodes’ Final Message for Brock Lesnar
The show’s other headlining match will see Cody Rhodes take on Brock Lesnar. Rhodes delivered a final message to “The Beast” on this week’s SmackDown, noting in order for his “story” (aka his journey to finally winning the WWE Championship) to continue he’ll need to beat Lesnar.
“Everybody should be afraid of Brock Lesnar, but the difference is tomorrow is Backlash, and I don’t have any time to be afraid of Brock Lesnar. Because tomorrow I bring the pain Brock Lesnar. Tomorrow is a fair fight Brock Lesnar. Tomorrow I leave this beautiful island of Charm etched into my heart, because this is the place where I got back on the road to finishing the story to claiming my Kingdom and I did it by defeating Brock Lesnar,”
