WWE Backlash 2018 Matches: Results Guaranteed to Disappoint Fans

The landscape of professional wrestling breeds disappointed fans for one reason or another, and Sunday's WWE Backlash pay-per-view from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, is unlikely to be any different.

With championship bouts, grudge matches and the most polarizing Superstar on the roster all slated for the show, the likelihood that the WWE Universe will find something to be disappointed about is fairly high.

Which match results will have fans scratching their heads, questioning booking and offering up alternative outcomes that would have better suited their own personal preferences?

Match Card

• No Disqualification Match for the WWE Championship: AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
• Intercontinental Championship Match: Seth Rollins vs. The Miz
• United States Championship Match: Jeff Hardy vs. Randy Orton
• Raw Women's Championship Match: Nia Jax vs. Alexa Bliss
• SmackDown Women's Championship Match: Charlotte vs. Carmella
• Daniel Bryan vs. Big Cass
• Roman Reigns vs. Samoa Joe
• Braun Strowman and Bobby Lashley vs. Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens
• Kickoff Show: Bayley vs. Ruby Riott

Reigns Defeats Samoa Joe

Anytime the prospect of Roman Reigns winning any match is discussed, diehard fans balk at the idea.

He is WWE chief Vince McMahon's chosen one, after all, and they simply cannot approve of such a notion that he would win a pay-per-view match. Not taking into account the fact Reigns has lost two Universal Championship matches in a row leading into the match.

Reigns beating Samoa Joe would almost certainly infuriate the portion of the fanbase that believes an indy pedigree and time spent in Ring of Honor or in Japan makes that star instantly more deserving of a push.

It would also disappoint those fans of SmackDown Live who constantly feel overshadowed and underserved by WWE's pro-Raw favoritisms.

Joe, slated to be a significant member of the blue brand, would lose considerable momentum by dropping a match to Reigns, who is essentially bulletproof.

Some of the disappointment would be warranted, especially taking into consideration the importance of keeping Joe strong ahead of what could well be a championship program against either AJ Styles or Shinsuke Nakamura on Tuesday nights.

Unfortunately, when it comes to Reigns, the criticism and backlash (pun most definitely intended) are the subjects of a bias that stopped making sense the moment the second-generation star became one of the most consistently great wrestlers on the roster.

Cass Defeats Bryan

In a just world, Daniel Bryan would not do the job for Big Cass. In a just world, he would run through the big man with a knee to the face and move directly on to a WWE Championship program.

A just world is not one wrestling fans always reside in, though, and the result is an outcome that will not leave them overly enthusiastic Sunday night.

Yes, Bryan could use some main event momentum to catapult him back into the championship picture. Unfortunately, he has been used as a litmus test of sorts for Cass, whose value as a marquee performer on Tuesday nights will be graded based on his performance against the leader of the Yes! Movement.

Sunday's match is more about establishing Cass as a genuine main event heel rather than spotlighting Bryan.

That may not sit well with Bryan's fans, who believe he should be the focal point of the show. But in an industry that has to look toward the future at some point, the outcome that sees Cass beat Bryan and build his star is an admirable one.

Strowman and Lashley Defeat Zayn and Owens

The WWE Universe has already seen this one play out before.

Braun Strowman and Bobby Lashley bulldozed Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens on Raw two weeks prior to Backlash, beating them in convincing fashion. This rematch exists solely to continue the ongoing program involving Owens and Zayn's disrespect of Raw general manager Kurt Angle.

It is also wholly unnecessary and only sets up Zayn and Owens to have their momentum and credibility diminished once more at the hands of a makeshift team that does not need the win.

Zayn and Owens have the tools to be the lead villains on Raw, but as it is, they are a midcard villain act that has unsettled business with Angle but no rivalry with full-time workers to speak of. Thus, they are thrust into matches designed to punish them.

It hurts their credibility and eats away at whatever edginess they still possess.

And why? To keep Angle a focal point of a show brimming with stars who probably are not getting the attention they deserve?

A booking misstep, for sure.