United States championship match
A feud that’s run throughout the Performance Center era gets a PPV title match.
The Road to Backlash
When WWE moved Apollo Crews back to Raw on the WrestleMania 36 fallout show, not many people expected it to amount to much.
When Andrade returned from injury after ‘Mania and - along with Zelina Vega & Angel Garza - became fixtures on Monday nights, a lot of folks wondered if El Ídolo’s time had finally come.
Two and half months later, both men are in a somewhat surprising position.
An Andrade-inflicted knee injury led to Crews being written out of the Money in the Bank ladder match spot he won by beating MVP. He wasn’t gone for long though, and Kevin Owens brought him back to resume hostilities with Vega’s crew. KO & Apollo beat Andrade & Garza in a tag match, and that led to another shot at the U.S. title for Crews.
With a healthy knee, Andrade couldn’t hold onto his title, and Apollo earned his first championship since signing with WWE five years ago.
The new champ gave Owens the first shot, but Andrade & Garza crashed that to give us a Teddy Long Special. The good guys won that, but when Kev was given the opportunity to earn another opportunity to take his friend’s title, El Ídolo swooped in and pinned his teammate after Garza took a Stunner.
With that win, the rematch was set for Backlash.
What’s at stake
There’s some added intrigue regarding whether or not Vega can keep her team together. Angel was predictably upset by Andrade’s method of victory last Monday, and we got a backstage segment where Zelina ushered them off camera to settle things in private. There’s a decent chance she was unsuccessful, and the further dissolution of her squad leads to Apollo retaining tomorrow night.
But that speaks to the larger issue hanging over this whole affair... where do any of these folks stand with the brass now that Paul Heyman doesn’t have a hand in booking Raw?
Andrade’s long been a Heyman Guy, and Vince McMahon’s allegedly already soured on Crews once during his time on the main roster. Garza and Vega have charisma coming out of their very attractive ears, but cruiserweights and valets/managers aren’t on Vince’s list of favorite things.
Could Backlash be the last hooray for this whole group as players on Raw, let alone performers who can grab a PPV spot?
We won’t find out until the weeks after Sunday’s show. So enjoy what should be a really good match, and then start worrying afterwards.