WWE Backlash 2018 Results: Reviewing Top Highlights and Low Points

Going into WWE Backlash 2018, the advertisements perpetually referred to the event as having the best of the Raw and SmackDown rosters joining forces to start a new era where all pay-per-views would be unmissable.

One glance at the lineup showed that there was an equal mix of potential and disappointment, as some matches were good on paper but suffered from issues like being rematches previously seen over the past month.

In a way, this felt like an advertisement for the leftovers of WrestleMania, the Superstar Shake-up and the Greatest Royal Rumble, which means the Backlash name was oddly fitting to classify it as just a rebound from what had happened before.

Still, history has proved that all events, no matter what preceded them, have a chance to be anything from amazing to horrible with a healthy gray area between.

Now that the dust has settled, how did Backlash turn out? Were there more positives or negatives throughout the night?

It's time for us to look back on what transpired in Newark, New Jersey, on Sunday and discuss the biggest standout moments of the event, for better or worse, as we break down the highlights and low points of WWE's latest pay-per-view.

Low Point: Pre-Show Kickoff

Credit: WWE.com

For months, the feud between Bayley and Sasha Banks has consisted almost entirely of one of the two wrestling a heel and their arguments getting in the way of their success.

Whenever it's a situation like The Riott Squad or Absolution, the numbers game always catches up to Bayley and Banks because the other one wasn't there to help out properly.

This is exactly what happened here, which means this was absolutely nothing different from what has gone on week after week, and it's simply a repeat of a Monday Night Raw segment.

Four different championships weren't defended on this card, but this match was included, even though it accomplished zero advancements in the storyline.

If WWE is going to keep everything in repeat mode like this, what is the difference between these co-branded events? This would be an underwhelming segment on a Raw-only event!

Coupling that rather pointless match with the rest of the pre-show, which was the standard video package and recap material, meant the whole hour wasn't worth taking time out to see and could have been significantly better with just the littlest bit of effort.

This was the first thing WWE presented to the audience as a means to tell fans that future pay-per-views are going to be things you can't skip, and it certainly didn't come off as a sweeping change for the better.

Highlight: Intercontinental Championship Match

Credit: WWE.com

Fundamentally, this was just an extremely solid match between Seth Rollins and The Miz, where both of them looked strong and told a good story.

Having Rollins work with the injured leg gave The Miz something to target while also showcasing The Architect's tenacity.

Several times throughout the match, it seemed as though The Miz would be able to recapture the Intercontinental Championship, only for Rollins to power through and keep fighting.

While it's a shame The A-Lister isn't able to continue his conquest to become the best intercontinental champion of all time, the title is safe where it is around the waist of Rollins.

Highlight: Elias, The New Day, Rusev Day, No Way Jose and Bobby Roode Segment

Credit: WWE.com

Following Nia Jax vs. Alexa Bliss and Jeff Hardy vs. Randy Orton, which were neither good nor bad enough to consider noteworthy, there was a filler segment featuring a bunch of the music-based Superstars.

The Elias part of it with the very game crowd booing him incessantly was already fun enough as it was, but things kept getting more off the rails with the additions of The New Day, Rusev Day and eventually No Way Jose with a full conga line.

It's odd to say that this was one of the highlights, as it was only a means to get the crowd to laugh a bit before Bobby Roode nailed Elias with a Glorious DDT, but it was more memorable than what preceded it.

Furthering the feud between Roode and Elias was also a smart move, as it will draw more attention to what is happening on Raw and gives The Glorious One a bit of revenge against The Drifter.

All in all, this wasn't the type of thing that would be amazing every event going forward with this new marketing strategy, but for this particular event, it was fun enough to make the cut and stand out.

Highlight: Daniel Bryan vs. Big Cass

Credit: WWE.com

While the match itself won't go down in history as being particularly memorable, the positive thing in the segment between Daniel Bryan and Big Cass was the balance of the story being told.

Fundamentally, this is a feud where Cass feels inadequate compared to Bryan despite the size difference between the two.

To illustrate that point, Bryan was able to get the win—an embarrassing one, at that, since it was a submission—to prove that he is indeed the better wrestler.

To counteract this, Cass vented his frustration after the match by asserting his dominance over Bryan, just to prove a point that he can still beat him up.

This feud can continue just as it did before, based on the finish of this match, with Cass feeling even more inadequate now that he's tapped out.

Low Point: Bobby Lashley and Braun Strowman vs. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn

Credit: WWE.com

It speaks volumes that this was positioned in the bathroom break slot between the two more important matches, because that's exactly what it was.

After this match took place effectively twice in a row on Monday Night Raw, with Braun Strowman and Bobby Lashley winning, there was no reason to continue this feud with a carbon copy of what had already happened.

The commentary team tried to sell this as being an important victory just because it's on a pay-per-view, but when an event is structured to be a glorified episode of the weekly television shows, it devalues the pay-per-view itself.

Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn are in limbo without a substantial enough feud to really sink their teeth in, Strowman deserves much better than this—especially after his Greatest Royal Rumble win—and Lashley has yet to get any real momentum since his return.

The complete lack of a response from the crowd during the finish proved how meaningless this was.

Low Point: Roman Reigns vs. Samoa Joe

Credit: WWE.com

When the crowd has consistently not taken kindly to Roman Reigns, no matter what the situation, it isn't a good idea to end an event with a match that has a dynamic the audience doesn't want to follow.

Obviously, the story being told here was supposed to be sympathetic toward Reigns, yet the fans were decisively in favor of Samoa Joe, cheering when he would get the better of the situation and booing when Reigns would fight back.

There was also a lot of rest holds here, which riled up the audience even more, prompting boos and chants of "this is boring."

That isn't what your ideal main event should be.

Having Reigns win isn't going to get him any more fans. All it accomplished was making Samoa Joe look weaker, which will have adverse effects on the SmackDown roster in retrospect when Joe runs through everybody.

It will seem as though Reigns is better than the entire blue brand, which is exactly the type of narrative fans aren't enjoying.

What do you think were the standout segments of the night? How would you rank the matches not included on this list? Did you feel strongly one way or the other about the way Shinsuke Nakamura vs. AJ Styles went down or anything else like that?

Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below.

Anthony Mango is the owner of the wrestling website Smark Out Moment and the host of the podcast show Smack Talk on YouTube, iTunes and Stitcher. You can follow him on Facebook and elsewhere for more.