WWE Backlash 2020 Results: Winners, Grades, Reaction and Highlights

WWE Backlash returned to the pay-per-view lineup this year after being left out in 2019. As one of WWE's longest-running events, it is an important part of the company's history.

Sunday's show featured the men and women of WWE operating at the Performance Center in Orlando, Florida once again due to the coronavirus pandemic, but with more states beginning to ease lockdown restrictions, WWE could have fans back sooner rather than later.

Here is a look at the card from Backlash:

• Edge vs. Randy Orton (The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever)
• Asuka vs. Nia Jax (Raw Women's Championship)
• Apollo Crews vs. Andrade (United States Championship)
• Jeff Hardy vs. Sheamus 
• Braun Strowman vs. The Miz and John Morrison (Universal Championship)
• Drew McIntyre vs. Bobby Lashley (WWE Championship)
• Banks and Bayley vs. The IIconics vs. Bliss and Cross (Women's Tag Team Championships)
• Street Profits vs. Viking Raiders (Raw Tag Team Championship)

Let's take a look at everything that happened at the PPV. 

Apollo Crews vs. Andrade (US Title)

Credit: WWE.com

Kevin Owens joined the commentary team to make sure Angel Garza and Zelina Vega did not interfere in Crews vs. Andrade. 

The challenger took control early by using an illegal chokehold over the top rope until the ref forced him to break. As the fight spilled to the ringside area, Crews hit a back-body drop onto the metal ramp. 

The United States champion followed up with a moonsault from the apron. They traded control several times over the next few minutes to make this a competitive contest.

A slingshot DDT brought El Idolo close to winning at one point. Garza tried to distract the champion, but Owens took him down. This allowed Crews to hit a spinning powerbomb for the pin and the win.

Grade: B+

Analysis

As expected, Crews and Andrade delivered a great match. Their technical precision was on point and their high-flying moves looked great.

Owens being the equalizer helped keep the match fair, but it also opens up the possibility that he will request a title shot for helping Crews retain his belt.

Garza and Andrade won't be together much longer if El Idolo blames him for failing to provide a proper distraction. 

Bayley and Banks vs. Bliss and Cross vs. IIconics (Women's Tag Titles)

Credit: WWE.com

The first match on the main show featured Bayley and Sasha Banks defending the women’s tag titles against The IIconics and the team of Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross.

Billie Kay, Cross and Bayley began for their teams. Cross' unorthodox offense allowed her to get the better of the other two Superstars until she was able to tag in The Goddess.

Banks, Bliss and Peyton Royce each tagged in to give their partners a chance to rest, but all six women ended up brawling at the same time at one point. 

Bliss may have been the smallest competitor but when she got the hot tag from Cross, she ended up dominating the other four Superstars.

After The Goddess hit Royce with Twisted Bliss, though, Banks ran in and rolled Bliss up to steal the win and retain the titles. 

Grade: B-

Analysis

Triple Threat tag teams matches can be tricky sometimes. There are a lot of moving parts to keep track of, which can sometimes lead to an awkward bout.

Thankfully, this wasn't one of those occasions. The match progressed in a fun and logical way. It never felt like there was too much going on at one point, which is always a risk with more than two teams.

Even Fatal 4-Way tag bouts can be easier to manage because only two people are legal at the same time. Triple Threats usually have three people in the ring at once, but everybody contributed to ensure this one went smoothly.

Royce and Bliss were the standouts here, but everybody came out of it looking good. The women's tag team division has potential if WWE keeps pushing it. 

Jeff Hardy vs. Sheamus

Credit: WWE.com

Sheamus took Jeff Hardy down right away as these combatants locked up immediately. The Irishman pushed his rival's face to the mat and scraped off some of his face paint. 

The Celtic Warrior was clearly looking for revenge after The Charismatic Enigma threw urine in his face on Friday's SmackDown, and he taunted Hardy as he beat him down in the corner.

The high-flyer began to focus on Sheamus' leg to combat his Brogue Kick. They took the fight out of the ring so Hardy could hit a dive from the steel steps.

He considered using the steps as a weapon but the ref talked him out of it. Sheamus punished him with a flurry of elbow strikes to the back of the neck. 

Hardy began to rally but Sheamus prevented him from hitting the Swanton Bomb. They botched a move late in the match and Hardy almost took a header right into the mat.

The Charismatic Enigma hit the Twist of Fate and a Swanton, but The Celtic Warrior saved himself with a foot on the rope. Sheamus came back with two Brogue Kicks to get the win. 

Grade: C+

Analysis

The storyline leading to this match has been questionable at best. Even if Hardy signed off on it, many fans feel using his real-life issues with drugs and alcohol in a feud is a bad decision.

The buildup was odd, but the match itself was decent. Both men used the things that brought them to the table like Sheamus' power and Hardy's agility.

The only real criticism one could levy against this bout was how predictable it was. You could almost see which moves were coming from a mile away. A lot of matches are like that, so it didn't keep this one from being enjoyable. There were a few sloppy moments but not enough to ruin it. 

Having Sheamus win was an odd choice unless it leads to a reveal that somebody else was responsible for framing Hardy a few weeks ago. 

Asuka vs. Nia Jax (Raw Women's Title)

Credit: WWE.com

Asuka did her best to combat Nia Jax's power early on, but the Raw women's champion eventually found herself being thrown around by the powerhouse.

Jax began to slow the pace down as she kept The Empress of Tomorrow grounded with power moves. As she taunted the titleholder with Kairi Sane's name, Asuka nailed her with a spinning back fist. 

The Empress took her down with a missile dropkick and a hip attack for a two-count. She then sent Jax into the ring post to soften up her shoulder. 

They ended up fighting outside the ring until the referee counted out both women, allowing Asuka to retain the belt.

Grade: C

Analysis

This wasn't as good as it could have been and did not have a satisfying ending, but it could have been much worse.

Asuka is always entertaining, but her style works better against opponents who are a little quicker on their feet than Jax. The conclusion makes it look like this feud may continue for another month. 

Braun Strowman vs. The Miz and John Morrison (Universal Championship)

Credit: WWE.com

After debuting their new music video, The Miz and John Morrison tried to keep Braun Strowman off his game by using quick tags and speed to stay away from him.

The Monster Among Men kept brushing off their offense and eventually threw both men out of the ring. They took him down with a combination of moves that ended with Morrison hitting a dive over the top rope to the floor. 

The universal champion tried to make a comeback but wound up running himself into the ring post.

Prior to the fight, The Miz and Morrison were told only one of them would become the new champ if they beat Strowman. That seemed to play in The A-Lister's mind when he pulled his teammate off of The Monster when he went for a pin. After realizing what he had done, he tried to help him get the pin once more but to no avail.

Strowman kicked out with authority and took out both men. He hit the running powerslam on Morrison for the pin and the win. 

Grade: C

Analysis

Strowman can be exciting against the right opponents, but The Miz and Morrison aren't the best people to get a good match out of him.

This didn't go too long, so there was only one moment when The Miz and Morrison were not in sync, and that is what led to their downfall.

This could have been a fun gimmick match but ended up being just as predictable as expected. 

Drew McIntyre vs. Bobby Lashley (WWE Championship)

Credit: WWE.com

MVP accompanied Bobby Lashley to the ring for his match against Drew McIntyre for the WWE title, and he distracted the champion so his client could put him in a full nelson before the bell.

It took several officials to force him to break the hold, but the damage had been done. The Scottish Psychopath struggled to regain his composure and get to his feet.

He told the ref he could continue, and Lashley immediately pounced on him in the corner once the bell rang. He hit a vertical suplex for a near-fall as Lana watched from backstage.

The WWE champion still hadn't had a chance to remove his jacket when The All Mighty laid him out with a clothesline for another two-count. 

McIntyre began to build some momentum after sending Lashley out of the ring. The champ took a bad fall and landed right on the top of his head. He appeared to be alright and continued the match.

Lashley countered a Claymore Kick with a Spear to get a close two-count before Lana made her way to the ring. She got on the apron and accused the ref of cheating.

McIntyre ended up knocking The All Mighty into Lana, who fell into MVP's arms. This led to the champion hitting a Claymore to retain his title.

Grade: B-

Analysis

The pre-match attack made it seem like this would be a quick encounter, but they ended up having a longer match than expected.

A couple of moves looked messy but most of the bout saw the two powerhouses trying to outdo each other with various feats of strength.

This is one of the few matches that would have benefited from being a little shorter. The longer they went, the more small mistakes they started to make.

However, they did manage to keep the match interesting as it progressed. Both men looked as dangerous as ever, so it was hard to tell who would win.

The best thing to come out of this may be the end of Lana and Lashley's relationship, though. 

The Street Profits vs. Viking Raiders (Raw Tag Titles)

Credit: WWE.com

The fight started out in the parking lot. Erik ended up getting slammed on top of Strowman's car, and all four men took off out of fear of what The Monster Among Men would do to them.

The two teams kept fighting backstage and incorporated several props from their previous competitions. They agreed to put the weapons down and fight like men. 

At one point, Angelo Dawkins tackled Ivar through a glass pane near the Performance Center entrance. As they fought in the parking lot, several people pulled up on motorcycles. Akira Tozawa revealed himself as one of the bikers and gave a quick promo in Japanese.

The Raiders and Street Profits joined forces to battle the squad of enemies. This quickly turned into a comedic brawl between the two groups. Tozawa eventually brought out a huge masked man to face them, but Ivar summed his turkey leg like Thor calling Mjolnir. 

After they escaped on a production truck, all four men ended up in a dumpster. The video ended with them trying to escape a monster that looked like it was right out of a movie Mystery Science Theater 3000 would roast.

Grade: B (With extra credit)

Analysis

This ended up being something of a surprise cinematic match complete with soundtrack and flashbacks. It came out of nowhere, so a lot of people were probably thrown by the presentation.

Even if this didn't seem to make sense, it was a fun showcase of the comedic chemistry these two teams have built up in recent weeks.

Having Tozawa lead a group of ninjas was a weird twist, but anything that gets him on a PPV has to be a good thing. 

There was a lot to like about this, but many fans probably would have preferred to see them settle their feud with a real match. 

Edge vs. Randy Orton

The match began with a Madison Square Garden mic unit hanging from the ceiling. Howard Finkel's voice introduced the competitors. 

They locked up and struggled for control until Randy Orton slammed Edge's face into the mat. The Rated-R Superstar hit a few deep arm drags before his rival countered the last one.

The Viper kept him grounded in a headscissor hold but Edge escaped. Every time it looked like he would take the upper hand, Orton slithered out of his grasp.

The Ultimate Opportunist took him down in a hammerlock. They continued to use mostly technical offense as they countered and reversed each other every step of the way.

A headbutt from Edge caused Orton to start bleeding from his forehead. The old Edge began to emerge as he smiled seeing the damage he had done. The Viper hit his signature backbreaker to turn the tables and kept focusing on Edge's neck by sending him into the barricade and steel steps. 

After a long struggle, Edge came back with three suplexes in a row as an homage to Eddie Guerrero. They traded chest chops as they got back to their feet. The Viper hit a huge superplex to put himself back in the driver's seat.

The Rated-R Superstar dropped Orton with an Edgecution for a near-fall. At this point, it started to drag on a bit. They slowed the pace down considerably as The Viper set up for the RKO. Edge countered and hit the Edge-O-Matic for a two-count. He even used Christian's Unprettier but still couldn't keep Orton down. The Viper used a Pedigree with the same result. 

Orton was stunned when Edge kicked out of the RKO, but The Rated-R Superstar was just as shocked when he failed to win with two Spears in a row. The Viper drilled him with a Punt to finally get the pin. 

Grade: A

Analysis

Edge and Orton took the "greatest wrestling match ever" title seriously. They used more mat-based offense than we have seen either of them employ in years. 

While everything they did was fluid, it didn't feel like we were watching Edge and Orton until about halfway through the match. It felt like we were watching them try to wrestle like Daniel Bryan, which is not what these two Superstars usually do.

Once they started using more strikes and power moves, we started to see more signature moves from their respective repertoires. 

The crowd noise WWE piped in was often more distracting than it should have been, but Edge and Orton were still able to have an incredible match.

Was this the greatest match ever? No, but it was really good and that is the best we could have hoped for.