WWE Backlash 2018: Match Card and Full Projections for Each Champion at PPV

WWE may have created a slightly reduced pay-per-view schedule for 2018, but with three PPVs in the span of a month, it feels like the company has kicked things into overdrive.

WrestleMania 34 aired on April 8 and the Greatest Royal Rumble followed on Friday. Backlash on Sunday will be the third event in less than a month.

This will also be the first show under WWE's new co-branding initiative. Superstars from Raw and SmackDown will compete at every PPV going forward.

WWE has only booked four title matches for the show so far, but we can expect one or two additions by the end of the week.

Here is a rundown of which belts are on the line, according to WWE.com:

• AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura for the WWE Championship.
• Nia Jax vs. Alexa Bliss for the Raw Women's Championship.
• Seth Rollins vs. The Miz for the Intercontinental Championship.
• Carmella vs. Charlotte Flair for the SmackDown Women's Championship.

Let's take a look at these matchups and how each outcome could affect storylines moving forward.

Seth Rollins vs. The Miz

The Miz will get another chance to reclaim the intercontinental title when he faces Rollins at Backlash. He lost the belt to The Architect at 'Mania and came up short at the Greatest Royal Rumble, so this might be his last chance to get back his coveted title.

The Miz was drafted to SmackDown during the Superstar Shake-up while Rollins remained on Raw with the IC Championship.

If The A-Lister fails to defeat Rollins again, the belt might be off limits to him since they are on different brands. Even with the co-branded PPVs, WWE is going to keep some sense of separation between the two shows, and that means people can only chase the belts on their brand.

We also have to remember Jeff Hardy already has the United States Championship on SmackDown. The odds of WWE moving both midcard titles away from Raw while the Universal Championship is still around Brock Lesnar's part-time waist are slim at best. 

The Miz will cement his legacy as the greatest IC champion of all time someday, it just won't be on Sunday. He will lose and then begin chasing the U.S. or WWE title right away.

Carmella vs. Charlotte Flair

Carmella successfully cashing in her Money in the Bank contract to win the SmackDown Women's Championship was a fun moment, but everyone knows keeping a title is harder than winning it.

Charlotte already has her rematch scheduled for Backlash. WWE has never tried to portray Carmella as being nearly as technically sound as The Queen, but her resourcefulness is what makes her dangerous.

Carmella talks trash, cheats, runs from her opponents and uses anyone she can to get ahead. She is a classic heel in every sense of the word.

Charlotte will be women's champion again, but taking the title away from Carmella so soon after winning it would completely derail her push. The Princess of Staten Island will leave Backlash with her reign intact and move on to a new challenger such as Naomi or Becky Lynch.

Nia Jax vs. Alexa Bliss

The feud between Jax and Bliss was a potential powder keg for the company, but it managed to make the storyline work.

Body-shaming is a hot-button issue, and considering WWE's reputation for putting women in risque outfits so they could wrestle in pillow fights, management had to tread lightly.

Jax and Bliss pulled off every segment during the leadup to WrestleMania and made us care about their feud more than some of the matches we knew would be more flashy.

The Irresistible Force may be the most powerful woman on the roster, but that doesn't mean she can't feel emotional pain. Nobody expected Bliss to dominate Jax in the ring. This feud was about her dominating Jax mentally.

In the end, good prevailed and Jax took the title from The Goddess, officially making her a babyface and setting her first reign in motion. 

The rematch at Backlash feels more like WWE getting Bliss' guaranteed title shot out of the way to make room for whoever will challenge Jax next. Raw has several worthy contenders, so the champ may have to fend off multiple opponents in her next title defense. 

AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

Turning Nakamura heel at WrestleMania might have been the best thing WWE could have done for his character once it became clear he was struggling to find the same momentum he had in NXT.

The history between Styles and Nakamura helped make their feud more interesting leading into 'Mania, but it's hard to get fans invested in a friendly feud.

People like it when two competitors are at each other's throats, and having Nakamura constantly delivering low blows has unintentionally made this story hilarious.

Their match at the GRR was a step up from their 'Mania encounter, but everyone knows they can do better. Their third match at Backlash could see Styles vanquish The King of Strong Style, but Nakamura leaving with the belt is a safer bet.

The whole point of this storyline was to make him into the main event star everyone knows he can be. Having him lose to Styles three times in a row would lead to the opposite outcome.

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What are your predictions for WWE Backlash?