The landscape of WWE shifted at WWE WrestleMania 40, particularly during Night 2’s card. WWE WrestleMania 40 Sunday opened with Drew McIntyre defeating Seth Rollins to become WWE World Heavyweight Champion, a reign that amounted to all of five minutes and 46 seconds thanks to Damian Priest cashing in his Money in the Bank contract to steal the gold after the match. The evening then closed with Cody Rhodes overcoming the odds to defeat Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship, bringing an end to Reigns’s historic 1,316-day run with the title. Both Priest and Rhodes now go into their first premium live event as champions, WWE Backlash, and the odds are ever in their favors.
Early WWE Backlash Betting Odds Favors All Champions
Don’t expect either of WWE’s world titles to switch hands in France.
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Courtesy of BetOnline, both Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes and WWE World Heavyweight Champion Damian Priest are favored to retain their titles at WWE Backlash. Rhodes is an overwhelming favorite at -4000 against challenger AJ Styles, who sits at +1000. Priest’s margin against challenger Jey Uso is significantly narrower, but his -800 odds to Uso’s +425 still makes him a near lock.
Those two matches are the only announced contests on WWE Backlash as of this writing. It remains to be seen as to if the new titleholders of the women’s division, WWE Women’s Champion Bayley and WWE Women’s World Champion Becky Lynch, will defend their prizes during the international event. WWE is likely waiting until after the WWE Draft to make decisions on the rest of the card, as superstars from WWE Monday Night Raw, WWE SmackDown, and WWE NXT are set to be shifted around over the next week. It’s worth noting that champions are protected this year, meaning that WWE Monday Night Raw will keep Priest, Lynch, WWE Tag Team Champions Awesome Truth and WWE Intercontinental Champion Sami Zayn while WWE SmackDown retains Rhodes, Bayley, WWE World Tag Team Champions A-Town Down Under and WWE United States Champion Logan Paul.
Stay tuned to ComicBook.com for updates on the WWE Backlash card as well as live coverage of the WWE Draft on Friday, April 26th and Monday, April 29th.
WWE Backlash Card
- Undisputed WWE Championship: Cody Rhodes (c) vs. AJ Styles
- WWE World Heavyweight Championship: Damian Priest (c) vs. Jey Uso
WWE Backlash goes down on Saturday, May 4th.