Predicting the match order at WWE Backlash 2016

It's one thing to predict the winners and losers at WWE's Backlash 2016, but how about taking a guess at the match order on that card?

WWE has announced 6 different matches for Backlash 2016.

Here is my subjective view of how important each of these 6 segments rank on the Backlash 2016 card, ordered from most important to least important.

1. Dean Ambrose vs AJ Styles
2. Randy Orton vs Bray Wyatt
3. Women’s Championship Six-Pack Challenge
4. Heath Slater and Rhyno vs Usos / Hype Bros
5. The Miz vs Dolph Ziggler
6. The Usos vs Hype Bros

It is important to come up with a list like this to get an idea of which matches are going to be placed in the key spots on the card or take up the most time, and which matches might end up in the cool-down spots or be given the least amount of time.

I’m slotting Orton ahead of the three mid-card championship matches due to Orton’s established position as a main event level superstar, including his recent main event against Brock Lesnar.

The three mid-card championship matches are somewhat interchangeable in terms of importance. Some might even argue that Heath Slater’s match is the second most important one on the card, which is pretty incredible.

Only 6 matches booked?

The fact that there are only 6 matches booked on this card needs to be addressed before any predictions can be made. To put it simply, this card will not be able to fill out 3 hours with just these 6 matches. Only events like Royal Rumble, Elimination Chamber, Money in the Bank, or Survivor Series can possibly get away with 6 matches over 3 hours, because those events include absurdly long gimmick matches.

Backlash 2016 doesn’t share anything in common with those events. So either more matches or segments will have to be added to this card, or Backlash 2016 will probably be more like a 2.5 hour event.

I think this event is going to need 2 more segments to fill out three hours, so I am going to add both a filler match and a non-wrestling segment in the ring. Corbin could destroy someone in a filler match, and maybe Kane will come out and chokeslam the entire heel portion of the tag team division after an awkward singing / dancing competition between Breezango, Vaudevillains, and the Ascension.

Opening match

I usually spend a good amount of time mulling over the options for the opening match, which is generally one of the medium-level attractions on the card that doesn’t require a dedicated video package beforehand to hype it up.

However for Backlash 2016 I am going to ignore those guidelines and just open the night with Hype Bros versus The Usos. One of these teams will be fighting twice on the card, and so I think WWE will get this match out of the way right at the start of the show.

Assuming Ambrose’s match main events the card, which seems extremely likely, that gives me the current segment order:

Segment 1: Hype Bros vs The Usos
Segment 2:
Segment 3:
Segment 4:
Segment 5:
Segment 6:
Segment 7:
Segment 8: Dean Ambrose vs AJ Styles

Everything else

I’ve looked at the timing of 8-segment WWE events before, and Segment 4 usually ends up being one of the longest matches of the night. I’m a little tentative about following these timing guidelines due to how empty this card feels and that some filler segments will need to be added, but I don’t have much else to go on without taking random guesses.

Wyatt and the Women’s Championship matches stand out to me as the most likely to go long, and so I want to slot one of them into Segment 4. I also think that a cool-down segment will be tossed in Segment 7 (right before the main event), which means that another long match should go in Segment 6.

Segment 5 or 6 should play host to Slater’s match, as it seems reasonable to assume the two tag team matches will be kept far apart on the card.

I’ll throw an unannounced Kane chokeslam spree into Segment 7 for the cool-down spot while still mulling over the options for Segments 4, 5, and 6.

That gives me the following card:

Segment 1: Hype Bros vs The Usos
Segment 2:
Segment 3:
Segment 4: Wyatt or Women
Segment 5: Slater or ?
Segment 6: Slater or Wyatt or Women
Segment 7: Kane chokeslams heels
Segment 8: Dean Ambrose vs AJ Styles

One of the least important matches of the night usually end up in either Segment 2 or Segment 3, so I’ll throw an unannounced Corbin match into one of those slots.

Considering that Usos versus Hype Bros is not the most exciting match to start the show with, I think Miz versus Ziggler should immediately follow it up as the higher work rate match that usually ends up going on early in the night. That’s exactly what happened at Payback 2016, where a lower work rate match started the show (Enzo and Cass vs Vaudevillains) and WWE immediately followed it with a higher work rate match between Zayn and Owens.

For Backlash 2016, I think Miz versus Ziggler will serve as that higher work rate match in Segment 2, following a relatively short tag team match to open the card.

That puts Corbin in Segment 3, and gives me the following card:

Segment 1: Hype Bros vs The Usos
Segment 2: The Miz vs Dolph Ziggler
Segment 3: Baron Corbin vs ???
Segment 4: Wyatt or Women
Segment 5: Slater or ?
Segment 6: Slater or Wyatt or Women
Segment 7: Kane chokeslams heels
Segment 8: Dean Ambrose vs AJ Styles

Even though the Slater story is interesting, the tag match with Rhyno probably shouldn’t go too long. So I’ll throw that tag match into Segment 5, in between two matches that are better suited to going long.

At this point, deciding between Orton and the women for Segments 4 and 6 is basically a coin flip. Even though Vince might decide to anchor the middle of the show with an Orton match, I’ll stick to the idea that the bigger star goes on later in the night. That means Orton winds up in Segment 6. Nikki winning the championship could be a pretty big deal though, so it’s hard to feel confident in this choice.

Finalized card

So here is my final prediction for the match order at Backlash 2016, along with guesses on the bell-to-bell match times. The total match time on this show is hard to predict due to only 6 matches being currently announced. This show will probably be lucky to reach 90 minutes in match time, even with an extra filler match thrown into the mix.

Segment 1: Hype Bros vs The Usos (8 minutes)
Segment 2: The Miz vs Dolph Ziggler (13)
Segment 3: Baron Corbin vs ??? (6)
Segment 4: Women’s Six Pack (15)
Segment 5: Slater and Rhyno vs Usos / Hype Bros (10)
Segment 6: Randy Orton vs Bray Wyatt (16)
Segment 7: Kane chokeslams heels
Segment 8: Dean Ambrose vs AJ Styles (22)

That's my prediction for the match order at Backlash 2016. What's yours?