Space Pirate at work: Pro Wrestling: WWE Backlash 2018

My first time seeing anything at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey was interesting. I bought a ticket for the show out of expectation. I figured this being the first show big show in the United States post WrestleMania we might get a great show. In the past the post WrestleMania Pay-Per-Views were as good and sometimes better then WrestleMania. Things seem to line up that way when the card was announced. I didn't buy into the best of both worlds advertising, I just expected a good show. What I got was the worst WWE Pay-Per-View I've ever been to live.

Allow me to explain why this show was bad. First off it was not the fault of the audience. The blame for this shows failure lies directly at the feet of World Wrestling Entertainment. I'd never been to the Prudential Center but I was pretty sure the building would be a dump. It was not a dump at all, not as big as it looks on the outside, the stairs in the arena are very steep, the seats were narrow, but it's very far from being a bad building. The fans from New York and New Jersey know pro wrestling so when they get a show that is not entertaining their reactions will reflect how good or bad a show is or was.

The second point is the show turned out to be a one match show. The only match that was actually worth the price of admission was the opening match between Rollins and The Miz for the Intercontinental Championship. The rest of the show played out like a bad episode of Raw or Smackdown. The U.S. title match was a "lets see who can catch the early flight" match. The Newark airport is close to the Prudential Center so this match felt like two guys ready to fly home. The Raw Womens Championship match played out like this, a nearly six foot tall woman got beat up for ten minutes by a woman whose barely five feet tall. The end came when the six foot tall woman fell down on the five foot tall woman, by accident. And then a "be a Star" speech out of nowhere to end the segment. The other matches all meant nothing. The WWE Championship match became a nut kicking contest, Daniel Bryan had the worst match I've ever seen him have in WWE or anywhere else. Charlotte can beat a woman who was undefeated for nearly two years but loses via a roll up to a woman she beat a month ago. Finally we get to the main event which turned out to involve Roman Reigns.

Third point the whole show was timed poorly. When the main event, which wisely was not advertised is a Roman Reigns match starts after 11PM your going to have a hostile crowd. Here's the thing, when I was young everyone knew one thing about any wrestling pay-per-view, whether WWF, WCW, ECW, whatever they all ended at 10:55PM. That's it, end of show, go home, we're done see you later. There's been this terrible trend by WWE lately of ending shows after 11PM. This especially highlighted with WrestleMania ending near midnight which sucked. The main event started hot but cooled off. When that happened people started chanting, "beat the traffic". I was looking at the time knowing that my travel time meant getting to bed well after midnight. Whether you live in New York or New Jersey getting home after midnight on a Sunday night from any show is never a good thing. Something that surprised me was this was the first time I was at a pay-per-view headlined by Roman Reigns. I have never, ever seen that many people leave or be ready to leave a show that quickly.

With all that said there was some good thing that came out of all this. For starters my camera doesn't suck now. I went to the show expecting to take some good pictures for you guys. But I was cheap and got cheap seats, so my seating angle was not great. And then there was the lighting. There was four sets of lights that were so bright that it blinded me for most of the night. It also ruined my ability to take good pictures. I had to put my hand over the lens to take decent pics. When I tried watching the show on the screens there were speakers covering them. I now appreciate Vince instructing everyone to face the hard cameras when they pose or make pinfalls. Trying to watch the screen to see facial expressions was never my thing but now I understand.

This show can't be considered a Saudi Arabia hangover show. It was something that did not give people their moneys worth. That is the worst part in this whole thing. The best value in entertainment was not in one its key markets. This makes bad pay-per-view number four so far this year. Lets see if the return of Money in the Bank to Chicago does anything to save this year for WWE. Coming two weeks after Okada versus Omega IV I hope for their sake they put on a better show then what just paid to see. Enjoy.