The 2020 Backlash was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE, held for wrestlers from the promotion's main roster brands, Raw and SmackDown. It was the 15th Backlash and aired on June 14, 2020, with all of the matches taking place at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. While the majority of the event aired live, the main event was pre-recorded on June 7 and produced as a cinematic match.
The event was originally scheduled to take place in Kansas City, Missouri; however, the event had to be relocated due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Like WWE's other shows since mid-March, Backlash was moved to the WWE Performance Center, though unlike the previous shows, Backlash was not announced until after the start of the pandemic, which made it WWE's first PPV and livestreaming event to be announced during the pandemic. It was the first Backlash held since 2018 and the final to be titled "Backlash" until 2023 as both the 2021 and 2022 events were titled as "WrestleMania Backlash", which moved the event back to May and reinstated its original concept of featuring the backlash of WWE's flagship event, WrestleMania. This would also be the final Backlash to livestream on the American version of the WWE Network, which merged under Peacock in April 2021.
Seven matches were contested at the event, including one on the Kickoff pre-show. In the main event, Randy Orton defeated Edge in what WWE billed as "The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever". In the penultimate match, Drew McIntyre defeated Bobby Lashley to retain Raw's WWE Championship. In other prominent matches, Braun Strowman defeated The Miz and John Morrison in a handicap match to retain SmackDown's Universal Championship and Sheamus defeated Jeff Hardy.
Production Background
Backlash is a professional wrestling event that was established by WWE in 1999. It was held annually from 1999 to 2009, but was then discontinued until it was reinstated in 2016. The event was originally broadcast exclusively via pay-per-view (PPV) before it began simultaneously livestreaming on the WWE Network in 2016. The original concept of the event was based around the backlash from WWE's flagship event, WrestleMania, but this theme was dropped with its revival in 2016. In 2019, Backlash was originally scheduled to be held in June, however, it was canceled and replaced by a one-off event called Stomping Grounds. Backlash was then reinstated for June 2020. It was the 15th Backlash and featured wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brand divisions.
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic In early March, Fightful Select reported that Backlash was planned to take place in Kansas City, Missouri on June 14, 2020. However, the event was not announced or promoted by WWE until May 10 during Money in the Bank; the advertisement had no reference to a city or venue, but confirmed it would be held on June 14. As a result, it was WWE's first PPV and livestreaming event to be announced after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, which began affecting WWE's programming in mid-March. The pandemic forced the promotion to move the majority of its shows for Raw and SmackDown to a behind closed doors set at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, though in late May, WWE began using Performance Center trainees to serve as the live audience.
Jeremy Lambert of Fightful originally reported that most of the matches were filmed in advance on June 7, hours before the Performance Center recruits were moved to Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida to act as spectators for NXT TakeOver: In Your House that aired live that night. However, it was revealed by wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer the day after that only the Edge vs. Randy Orton match was pre-recorded. The recruits had a call-sheet at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time that had them working both events until midnight on June 8. The rest of the Backlash card aired live on June 14.
The pre-recorded nature of the Edge vs. Randy Orton match allowed WWE to create a cinematic match, utilizing "unique production techniques and camera angles ... to add to the experience". One production technique was amplified crowd noise. Some spots in the match were also refilmed to get different angles, or to perfect certain moves. WWE also used the classic Madison Square Garden microphone that was used during WrestleMania I, with previous recordings of the late Howard Finkel (1950–2020) doing introductions for both wrestlers. Referee Charles Robinson also wore a classic light blue shirt with a black bowtie.
Storylines The event comprised seven matches, including one on the Kickoff pre-show, that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.
At the Royal Rumble, WWE Hall of Famer Edge, who was forced to retire in April 2011 due to a neck injury, returned during the eponymous match and eliminated his old Rated-RKO tag team partner Randy Orton before his own elimination soon after. The feud became very personal over the next several weeks and culminated in a Last Man Standing match at WrestleMania 36 Part 2, where Edge defeated Orton. On the May 11 episode of Raw, both men made their first post-WrestleMania appearances. Orton said that the better man won at WrestleMania, but questioned Edge if the better wrestler had actually won. Noting that both the Royal Rumble and Last Man Standing matches were non-traditional, Orton challenged Edge to a traditional singles match at Backlash; Edge accepted the following week. WWE then billed the match as "The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever".
On the May 11 episode of Raw, Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) approached Bobby Lashley backstage and praised him on his victory from earlier that night. However, he questioned why Lashley was facing a mid-carder while King Corbin was being invited over from SmackDown to face WWE Champion Drew McIntyre in a non-title match. MVP noted that Lashley had not had a WWE Championship opportunity since 2007's The Great American Bash and questioned when Lashley would show his true self. Lashley then aligned himself with MVP, which also enraged Lashley's storyline wife Lana. The following week, Lashley and MVP observed McIntyre's match against Corbin from the stage. After McIntyre defeated Corbin, McIntyre stated he wanted to face Lashley, who was held back by MVP. On the May 25 episode, it was confirmed that McIntyre would defend the WWE Championship against Lashley at Backlash.
At Money in the Bank, Braun Strowman defeated Bray Wyatt to retain the Universal Championship. On the May 15 episode of SmackDown, Strowman teamed with Mr. Money in the Bank Otis to defeat The Miz and John Morrison. The following week, Miz and Morrison lambasted Strowman for teaming with Otis (whom they made fun of the week prior) and then stated their loss the previous week was unfair. Miz taunted Strowman about his match with Wyatt and questioned if Wyatt was actually finished with Strowman. Morrison then seemingly issued a challenge for Miz to face Strowman, who accepted and defeated Miz. Following the match, Morrison challenged Strowman to defend the Universal Championship against himself and Miz in a handicap match at Backlash, which was made official.
At Money in the Bank, Asuka won the women's Money in the Bank ladder match. The following night on Raw, Raw Women's Champion Becky Lynch revealed that she was pregnant and announced a hiatus for maternity leave and that the ladder match was actually for the title instead of a contract that granted a championship match, thus Asuka became the new Raw Women's Champion. On the May 18 episode, Nia Jax, who was also in the ladder match, interrupted Asuka's title celebration and wanted a shot at the title. The following week, she won a triple threat match to become the number one contender against Asuka for the title at Backlash.
On the March 13 episode of SmackDown, Jeff Hardy returned for the first time since April 2019 and won his match. Throughout April, Sheamus would defeat enhancement talents with video packages showing the recovery of Hardy playing afterwards. This continued until the May 1 episode, where after Sheamus won his match, it was announced that Hardy would return the following week. There, Hardy was interviewed about his career before calling out Sheamus. After mocking Hardy's career, Sheamus brawled with Hardy, who got the upper hand. Hardy and Sheamus were then scheduled to face each other in a first round match for the vacant Intercontinental Championship on the May 22 episode, where Hardy won. However, the following week, Sheamus framed Hardy, who was arrested after crashing his car into Elias while under the influence. Later that night, after Sheamus lost his match, he was attacked by Hardy. On the June 5 episode, Hardy explained the situation when he was interrupted by Sheamus. Another brawl broke out with Sheamus getting the upper hand. It was then confirmed that Hardy and Sheamus would face each other at Backlash. On the final SmackDown before Backlash, a contract signing was held. After Hardy took a urine test, he told Sheamus that "it's better to be pissed off than pissed on" before throwing the urine in his face. It was then revealed that Hardy's test results came back negative.
On the May 11 episode of Raw, The IIconics (Billie Kay and Peyton Royce) returned for the first time since November 2019 and defeated WWE Women's Tag Team Champions Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross in a non-title match. During the title match the following week, Bliss and Cross retained via disqualification when Royce, who was not the legal competitor, repeatedly sent Bliss into the ring post. Later that night, The IIconics argued backstage. On the May 25 episode, The IIconics apologized for their loss and engaged into a brawl with Bliss and Cross, with the challengers getting the upper hand. On the May 29 episode of SmackDown, Bliss and Cross were interrupted by Bayley and Sasha Banks, with the latter defeating Bliss in a singles match. On the June 1 episode of Raw, Kay defeated Cross. The same week on SmackDown, Banks and Bayley defeated Bliss and Cross to win the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship. On June 8, Banks and Bayley were scheduled to defend the title against The IIconics and Bliss and Cross in a triple threat tag team match at Backlash.
On the April 27 episode of Raw, Apollo Crews's team defeated United States Champion Andrade's team in a six-man tag team match when Crews pinned Andrade. Later that night, Andrade (accompanied by Zelina Vega) defeated Crews to retain the title after Crews tweaked his knee, rendering him unable to continue. This caused Crews to be removed from the men's Money in the Bank ladder match. On the May 18 episode, Kevin Owens and Crews defeated Andrade and Angel Garza in a tag team match. Later that night, Crews challenged Andrade to a title match which took place the following week, where Crews was victorious. On the June 1 episode, a title match between Crews and Owens ended in a no contest when Garza and Andrade interfered. This led to a tag team match where Crews and Owens defeated Garza and Andrade. The following week, Andrade defeated Garza and Owens in a triple threat match to become the number one contender for the U.S. title at Backlash, which was scheduled for the Kickoff pre-show.