Backlash (2009)

Backlash
Backlash
	Promotional poster featuringRandy Orton
Promotion	World Wrestling Entertainment
Brand(s)	Raw; SmackDown; ECW
Date	April 26, 2009
City	Providence, Rhode Island
Venue	Dunkin' Donuts Center
Attendance	8,357
Buy rate	182,000
Pay-per-view chronology
←Previous; WrestleMania 25	Next→; Judgment Day
Backlashchronology
←Previous; 2008	Next→; 2016

The 2009Backlashwas the 11thBacklash professional wrestling pay-per-view(PPV)eventproduced byWorld Wrestling Entertainment(WWE). It was held for wrestlers from the promotion'sRaw,SmackDown,andECW brand divisions.The event took place on April 26, 2009, at theDunkin' Donuts CenterinProvidence, Rhode Island.It was the final Backlash held until2016,as in 2010, Backlash was replaced byExtreme Rules.The concept of the pay-per-view was based around the backlash fromWrestleMania 25—despite the event's revival in 2016, the 2009 event would be the final Backlash to carry the post-WrestleMania theme until the2021 event.

Thecardcomprised seven matches. The main matches sawEdgedefeatingWorld Heavyweight Champion John Cenain aLast Man Standing matchto win the title andRandy Ortonwon theWWE Championshipin asix-man tag team matchpitting defending championTriple H,Batista,andShane McMahonagainstThe Legacy(Orton,Cody Rhodes,andTed DiBiase); Orton pinned Triple H to win the title. The card also includedJeff HardydefeatingMatt Hardyin an"I Quit" matchandChristianwinning theECW Championshipby defeatingJack Swagger.The event received 182,000 buys, down on theprevious eventfigure of 200,000 buys.

Production[edit]

Background[edit]

The event was held at theDunkin' Donuts CenterinProvidence, Rhode Island.

Backlashis apay-per-view(PPV) event that was established byWorld Wrestling Entertainment(WWE) in 1999. The concept of the pay-per-view was based around the backlash from WWE's flagship event,WrestleMania.^[3]The 2009 event was the 11th Backlash and featured the backlash fromWrestleMania 25.It took place on April 26, 2009, at theDunkin' Donuts CenterinProvidence, Rhode Islandand featured wrestlers from theRaw,SmackDown,andECW brands.^[4]^[5]

Storylines[edit]

Backlash comprisedprofessional wrestling matchesinvolving different wrestlers from pre-existingscriptedfeuds andstorylinesthat played out onRaw,SmackDown,andECW— WWE's primary television programs. Wrestlers portrayed either avillainor aheroas they followed a series of events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.^[6]^[7]

The mainrivalryheading into Backlash pittedTriple HagainstRandy Ortonover theWWE Championship.The feud had started on the February 16 episode ofRaw,when OrtonpuntedTriple H's brother-in-law,Shane McMahonand then performed theRKOon his wifeStephanie McMahon.As a result, Triple H convinced Orton to challenge him for the WWE Championship atWrestleMania 25.At WrestleMania on April 5, 2009, Triple H defeated Orton to retain the WWE Championship. The following night onRaw,WWE chairmanVince McMahonannounced that asix-man tag team matchwould take place at Backlash between Triple H, Shane McMahon, and himself againstThe Legacy(Orton,Cody Rhodes,andTed DiBiase) which was later turned into a WWE Championship match by new general manager of Raw,Vickie Guerrero.That same night, Shane and Triple H were attacked by The Legacy, but were saved by a returningBatista.Vince announced that Batista would be taking his place at Backlash.^[8]On the following week's episode ofRaw,after returning to WWE the week before, Batista arrived on the night of the WWE Draft lottery. Batista made clear his desire to face Orton onRawand take revenge for the punt that kept him from the ring for four months. He was later joined in the ring by both Shane McMahon and WWE Champion Triple H, who both wanted to get their hands on Orton for his attacks on Stephanie McMahon and the WWE Chairman himself, Mr. McMahon. As the three argued over who would get first dibs on Orton, they were interrupted by Vickie Guerrero, who announced that only one of them would get the opportunity to face Orton before Backlash, and that they would have to earn it. Guerrero then placed Triple H, Batista and Shane McMahon in a three-on-twohandicap matchagainst The Legacy for later in the night. Whichever one of them would score the pinfall on either Rhodes or DiBiase will have earned themselves a match against Orton on the nextRaw,but if The Legacy prevailed, then none of the three would be able to get their hands on him. Triple H pinned DiBiase to win the match. On the last episode ofRaw,Orton defeated Triple H in aNo Disqualification matchdespite their teammates interfering during the match. Then a few days later onSmackDown,Batista and Shane McMahon defeated DiBiase and Rhodes in a tag team match.

Another rivalry heading into Backlash brought togetherJohn CenaandEdgeover theWorld Heavyweight Championship.AtNo Way Outon February 15, 2009, Edge attackedKofi Kingston,who was due to compete in anElimination Chamber matchfor Cena's World Heavyweight Championship. As a result, Edge took his spot in the match and won the World Heavyweight Championship by last eliminatingRey Mysterio.At WrestleMania 25, Cena defeated the defending champion Edge andThe Big Showin atriple threat matchto win the World Heavyweight Championship back. On the April 6 episode ofRaw,Vickie Guerrero announced that Cena would defend his World Heavyweight Championship against Edge in aLast Man Standing matchat Backlash.^[9]

Interim General managerTiffanyannounced on the April 7 episode ofECW on Sci FithatJack Swaggerwould defend hisECW Championshipagainst the winner of the "elimination chase", which commenced on that night and involvedChristian,Tommy Dreamer,Finlay,andMark Henry;the participants in the chase would have afour-waythat night. Henry got pinned the same night and was eliminated from contention. The remaining three wrestlers competed in a triple threat match on the April 14 episode ofECW on Sci Fiwith the person being pinned or forced to submit being eliminated from contention; Dreamer was pinned in this contest, leading to a singles match between Finlay and Christian on the April 16 episode ofWWE Superstars,which saw Christian get the victory, thus allowing him to face Swagger for the title at Backlash.^[10]

AfterMatt Hardybetrayed his brother,Jeff,at theRoyal Rumble— costing the latter the WWE Championship against Edge — the two embarked on a feud that saw Jeff initially reluctant to fight his brother; after much goading, they had a match at WrestleMania 25, which saw Matt win; however, with Jeff not fully incapacitated after Matt had vowed to "erase Jeff from WWE", astretcher matchtook place between the two, which Matt also won. As a result of their feud, the SmackDown general manager,Theodore Long,announced an"I Quit" matchbetween the two at Backlash.^[11]

After the release of the film,The Wrestler,and the film's actorMickey Rourkebacking out of a challenge that he had earlier issued toChris Jerichoto a match at WrestleMania 25, Jericho started targeting WWE's legends andHall of Famersby insulting and beating them over many weeks onRaw.(These legends included the likes ofRic Flair,Roddy Piper,Jimmy Snuka,andRicky Steamboat.) At WrestleMania 25, Jericho defeated Piper, Snuka and Steamboat in a handicapelimination match.After winning, Jericho called Rourke out in the ring. During the confrontation between the two, Rourke knocked Jericho down with a punch. Then, on the April 20 episode ofRaw,it was announced that Jericho would face Ricky Steamboat in a singles match at Backlash.

Event[edit]

Other on-screen personnel
Role:	Name:
Englishcommentators	Michael Cole
	Jim Ross
	Jerry Lawler
Spanish commentators	Carlos Cabrera
Spanish commentators	Hugo Savinovich
Ring announcers	Lilian Garcia
Ring announcers	Justin Roberts
Referees	Mike Chioda
	John Cone
	Charles Robinson

Before the event aired live on pay-per-view,Kofi KingstondefeatedDolph Zigglerin adark match.^[12]

Preliminary matches[edit]

The actual pay-per-view began with Jack Swagger defending the ECW Championship against Christian. Swagger controlled the match with takedowns,suplexesandslams.After both men removed the padding on a turnbuckle, Christian avoided Swagger, causing Swagger to collide with the exposed turnbuckle. Christian then executed aKillswitchto win the ECW Championship.^[13]

The following contest involved Chris Jericho and Ricky Steamboat — the latter competing in his first singles match since 1994. As Steamboat attempted adiving crossbody,Jericho countered with aCodebreakerand forced Steamboat to submit to theWalls of Jerichofor the win. Following the match, Steamboat was given a standing ovation from the crowd in attendance.^[13]

CM PunkwrestledKanenext, with Punk mainly attacking Kane's arm with kicks andarm barsto prevent him from performing thechokeslam.After Punk tried to incapacitate his opponent, Kane managed to execute aleg-trap chokeslamfor the win.^[13]

Next was the I Quit match pitting Matt Hardy against Jeff Hardy. The two attacked each other with a number of heavy shots and submission holds during the match. After Jeff placed Matt on a table, he tied him to the table and set up a ladder in the corner of the ring. When the referee asked Matt if he wanted to quit, he took the opportunity to talk down Jeff, bringing up the case of what his father and late mother would think of this before quitting, meaning Jeff won the match. After the match, Jeff vaulted over the ladder and performed aleg dropthrough the table on Matt.^[13]

Santina Marella(really Santino Marella indragposing as his fictitious twin sister) came down to the ring after the match, and proclaimed her prowess beforeThe Great Khalientered in the hopes of kissing Marella, only to have Marella refuse, claiming to love another man,SmackDowncommentator,Jim Ross,who sat at ringside withJerry LawlerandMichael Cole.Beth Phoenixcame to the ring and challenged Marella for her title ofMiss WrestleMania.Before the match started, Khali attacked Phoenix with abrain chop,leading to Marella pinning Phoenix to retain her title.^[13]

Main event matches[edit]

A six-man tag team match for the WWE Championship pitting champion Triple H, Batista, and Shane McMahon against The Legacy (Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes, and Ted DiBiase) was next with the stipulation that if Triple H or any member of his team got counted out, disqualified, pinned or submitted, Orton would become the new WWE champion. The match started with Triple H and Orton brawling to the backstage area while Batista and McMahon continued to wrestle The Legacy. Once the two fought their way back to the ring, the match revolved around The Legacy isolating every member of their opponents, preventing any way for them to make a tag. After Batista was tagged in, the action went outside of the ring. Triple H was tagged back in, and Batista was about to use a steel chair outside on The Legacy, but per the stipulation, Triple H would have lost the title on disqualification, leading to Triple H stopping Batista. The distraction was enough for Orton to strike Triple H with an RKO, but Triple H still kicked out at two. The bell was rung without the referee signaling for it, leading to the referee being distracted long enough for Orton to nail Triple H with a devastating punt. Orton then pinned Triple H to win the title. Following the match, Triple H was taken out on a stretcher.^[13]

In the main event, John Cena defended the World Heavyweight Championship against Edge in a Last Man Standing match. The match started as a heavy brawl between the two but ended up on the outside, with Edge and Cena using the steel steps as a weapon, as they threw each other into it, threw it at each other. Edge executed aspearon Cena. After the two ended up on the broadcast table, Cena threw Edge into the crowd with theAttitude Adjustment.The two fought around the arena, going into the surrounding lobby until they made their way to the stage, leading to interference from Big Show, whochokeslammedCena through a nearby spotlight that exploded; Cena was unable to stand, meaning Edge won the title. Cena was taken out of the arena on a stretcher as the event came to a close.^[13]

Reception[edit]

The show received positive feedback from many viewers. Canadian sportswriter, Matt Bishop, gave the show an overall score of 7/10; most of his praise for the show concentrated on the World Heavyweight title match, which he awarded 9/10.^[14]In addition,Dave Meltzer,writer of theWrestling Observer Newsletter,called the show solid, and gave the main event a score of four-and-a-half stars out of five.^[15]

The Baltimore Sun's writer, Kevin Eck, praised the World Heavyweight Championship match, calling it a "show-stealer" and praised the Jericho/Steamboat match, stating that "The booking here was well done, as Steamboat showed that he can still go".^[16]

In 2013, WWE released a list of their "15 best pay-per-views ever", with 2009's Backlash being ranked at #13.^[17]

Aftermath[edit]

Following the results of the main event, Big Show appeared in a match against Batista the following night onRawto determine who would challenge Randy Orton next for the WWE Championship. During the match, John Cena came down to the ring, distracting Big Show, which led to Batista winning the match. Vickie Guerrero would subsequently announce Big Show would wrestle Cena atJudgment Day,when Cena would be medically cleared to compete in the match.

With Edge winning the World Heavyweight title, the title became exclusive toSmackDown,with Jeff Hardy becoming the number-one contender to face Edge at Judgment Day by winning a fatal four-way match against Chris Jericho,Rey Mysterio,and Kane.

Not satisfied at how he lost the title (due to his collision with a turnbuckle exposed by Christian, which istechnically illegal), Jack Swagger would invoke his rematch clause at Judgment Day, and before that match were to take place, he would make sure that no one would receive a title match before he did by interfering in Christian's matches.

In 2010, Backlash was discontinued and replaced byExtreme Rules.^[18]Also in February that year, the ECW brand was disbanded^[19]and the brand extension itself was dissolved in August 2011.^[20]Also, in April 2011, the promotion ceased going by its full name of World Wrestling Entertainment, with "WWE" becoming anorphaned initialism.^[21]In February 2014, WWE launched their online streaming service, theWWE Network,and in addition to traditional PPV, the events also became available on the Network.^[22]In mid-2016, WWE reintroduced the brand split and also brought back brand-exclusive PPVs.^[23]Due to the need for more PPV events, Backlash was reinstated, and the2016 eventwas held exclusively for the SmackDown-brand and was WWE's first brand-exclusive PPV of the second brand split. Backlash that year was also held in September afterSummerSlam,thus ending its previous tradition of being the post-WrestleMania PPV.^[24]^[25]In 2021, however, the event returned to its post-WrestleMania position and was in turn titledWrestleMania Backlash.^[26]

Results[edit]

No.

Results

Stipulations

Times^[13]

1^D

Kofi KingstondefeatedDolph Ziggler^[12]

Singles match

—

2

ChristiandefeatedJack Swagger(c) bypinfall

Singles matchfor theECW Championship