The 2021 WrestleMania 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 16th Backlash and due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it took place on May 16, 2021, from the WWE ThunderDome, a bio-secure bubble that at the time was hosted at the Yuengling Center in Tampa, Florida. The concept of the event was based around the backlash from WrestleMania 37, which was the first time that Backlash carried its original post-WrestleMania theme since 2009 and as a result was titled "WrestleMania Backlash".
This was WWE's first PPV and livestreaming event to present the ThunderDome from the Yuengling Center, following a four-month residency at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. It was also the first Backlash to livestream on Peacock in the United States, following the shutdown of the American version of the WWE Network the prior month on April 4. The 2022 event would also bear the "WrestleMania Backlash" name but it was truncated back to "Backlash" in 2023 while maintaining the post-WrestleMania theme.
Seven matches were contested at the event, including one on the Kickoff pre-show. In the main event, Roman Reigns defeated Cesaro by technical submission to retain SmackDown's Universal Championship. In another prominent match, Bobby Lashley defeated Drew McIntyre and Braun Strowman in a triple threat match to retain Raw's WWE Championship. Also on the undercard, Bianca Belair defeated Bayley to retain the SmackDown Women's Championship and Rey Mysterio and Dominik Mysterio defeated Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode to win the SmackDown Tag Team Championship, thus becoming the first-ever father and son team to hold a tag team championship in WWE.
The event received mostly positive reviews from critics and fans. It included a promotional tie-in for the 2021 zombie film Army of the Dead, which starred former WWE wrestler Batista. In addition to Batista doing a voiceover for the event's opening vignette, the Lumberjack match between Damian Priest and The Miz had the lumberjacks acting as zombies. This tie-in was heavily panned and covered in the media, with the New York Post calling it "one of WWE's saddest moments ever". Despite the negative criticism towards the tie-in, the rest of the event was well received.
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 2016 revival.
The 16th Backlash was initially scheduled for June 20, 2021, however, during Night 2 of WrestleMania 37, it was revealed that Backlash had switched dates with Money in the Bank and would instead take place on May 16, 2021. It was also revealed that it would be titled as "WrestleMania Backlash", thus returning the event to its original concept and featuring the backlash from WrestleMania 37. It featured wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brand divisions, and in addition to airing on traditional PPV worldwide and via livestreaming on the WWE Network in most international markets, it was the first Backlash to livestream on Peacock in the United States after the American version of the WWE Network merged under Peacock the prior month on April 4.
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic that began affecting the industry in mid-March 2020, WWE had to present the majority of its programming from a behind closed doors set. Initially, Raw and SmackDown's shows were done at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. A limited number of Performance Center trainees and friends and family members of the wrestlers were later utilized to serve as the live audience. In late August, these programs were moved to a bio-secure bubble called the WWE ThunderDome. The select live audience was no longer utilized as the bubble allowed fans to attend the events virtually for free and be seen on the nearly 1,000 LED boards within the arena. Additionally, the ThunderDome utilized various special effects to further enhance wrestlers' entrances, and arena audio was mixed with that of the chants from the virtual fans. After being hosted at Orlando's Amway Center, the ThunderDome was relocated to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida in December.
Due to the start of the 2021 Tampa Bay Rays season, as Tropicana Field is the home venue of the Tampa Bay Rays, on March 24, 2021, WWE announced that the ThunderDome would be relocated to the Yuengling Center, located on the campus of the University of South Florida in Tampa, which began with the April 12 episode of Raw. Subsequently, WrestleMania Backlash was WWE's first PPV and livestreaming event produced from the ThunderDome at the Yuengling Center.
Storylines The event comprised seven matches, including one on the 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.
On the April 16 episode of SmackDown, Universal Champion Roman Reigns, along with Paul Heyman and Jey Uso, boasted about retaining his championship in the main event of Night 2 of WrestleMania 37. Reigns was then interrupted by Cesaro, but before he could speak, Reigns, Jey, and Heyman left the ring and departed backstage. Later, Cesaro confronted WWE officials Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville about facing Reigns that night, even as a non-title match. However, instead of Reigns, Cesaro faced Jey in the main event, which ended by disqualification when Seth Rollins, who Cesaro had defeated at Night 1 of WrestleMania 37, interfered and attacked Cesaro, proclaiming that their rivalry was not over. On the special Throwback SmackDown on May 7, Cesaro was scheduled to face Rollins with the added stipulation that if Cesaro won, he would earn a Universal Championship match at WrestleMania Backlash. Cesaro defeated Rollins once again, securing the championship match. Also that episode, Jey's brother Jimmy Uso returned from injury, last appearing at Hell in a Cell in October 2020, and although conflicted at first, particularly because of what Reigns did to them at Hell in a Cell, Jimmy also eventually aligned with Reigns, but soon turned on Reigns.
At Night 1 of WrestleMania 37, Bobby Lashley defeated Drew McIntyre to retain the WWE Championship. On the following night's Raw, Lashley's manager MVP declared that no one could defeat Lashley. McIntyre interrupted and wanted another opportunity at Lashley, claiming that he would have defeated him if MVP had not distracted him and prevented him from performing the Claymore Kick on Lashley. Braun Strowman and Randy Orton then interrupted and stated their respective cases to challenge for the title. WWE official Adam Pearce then scheduled a triple threat match between McIntyre, Strowman, and Orton with the winner facing Lashley for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania Backlash, which was won by McIntyre. On the April 26 episode, Strowman challenged McIntyre to a match with the added stipulation that if Strowman won, he would be added to the championship match at WrestleMania Backlash. Strowman defeated McIntyre, thus the championship match became a triple threat match.
In the main event of Night 1 of WrestleMania 37, Bianca Belair won the SmackDown Women's Championship. On the following episode of SmackDown, The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford, the latter of whom is Belair's real-life husband) threw Belair a championship celebration. Later, Bayley challenged Belair for the title. The following week, the championship match was scheduled for WrestleMania Backlash.
At Night 2 of WrestleMania 37, Rhea Ripley defeated Asuka to win the Raw Women's Championship. The two had a rematch the following night on Raw, however, the match ended in a no-contest after interference from a returning Charlotte Flair, who attacked Asuka. Prior to the match, Flair, who had been off TV for the past month, returned that night after missing her first WrestleMania since WrestleMania 32 in 2016. The following week, Flair lost to Asuka thanks to a distraction from Ripley. Following the match, an irate Flair attacked the referee. Adam Pearce subsequently suspended Flair, however, fellow WWE official Sonya Deville, who primarily appeared on SmackDown, reinstated Flair the following week after Flair made a public apology on Raw. On the May 3 episode, another rematch between Ripley and Asuka for the Raw Women's Championship was scheduled for WrestleMania Backlash. However, Deville allowed Flair a chance to present a proposal and after hearing Flair's case, Deville added Flair to the championship match to make it a triple threat match.
At the special "WrestleMania Edition" of SmackDown on April 9, Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode and The Mysterios (composed of Rey Mysterio and Dominik Mysterio) took part in a fatal four-way tag team match for Ziggler and Roode's SmackDown Tag Team Championship, where the champions retained. On May 7, a title match between the two teams was scheduled for WrestleMania Backlash.
At Night 1 of WrestleMania 37, Bad Bunny and Damian Priest defeated The Miz and John Morrison. On the following Raw, The Miz hosted a segment of "Miz TV" along with Morrison, which also saw the return of Miz's wife Maryse to WWE programming, who last appeared in December 2019. Miz bragged and claimed that he turned Bad Bunny into a WWE superstar. Priest interrupted and praised Bad Bunny and then challenged Miz and Morrison to a handicap match. Priest lost the match after The Miz pinned him with a roll-up and used the ropes as leverage while Maryse also assisted. Priest then defeated The Miz the following week. On the May 3 episode, Priest defeated Morrison due to an untimely distraction by The Miz. The following week, Priest defeated Morrison to pick the stipulation for his match against The Miz at WrestleMania Backlash, and chose a lumberjack match.
Event + Other on-screen personnelRole:Name:English commentatorsMichael Cole Pat McAfee Adnan Virk Corey Graves Byron Saxton Spanish commentatorsCarlos CabreraMarcelo RodriguezRing announcersGreg Hamilton Mike Rome RefereesDanilo AnfibioShawn BennettJessika CarrDan EnglerDarrick MooreEddie OrengoRod ZapataInterviewerKevin PatrickPre-show panelKayla BraxtonJohn "Bradshaw" LayfieldPeter RosenbergBooker TSonya Deville
Pre-show During the WrestleMania Backlash Kickoff pre-show, United States Champion Sheamus faced Ricochet in a non-title match. In the end, Sheamus performed a Knee Strike on Ricochet to win the match.
Preliminary matches The actual event opened with Rhea Ripley defending the Raw Women's Championship against Charlotte Flair and Asuka. In the closing moments, after an evenly competitive match between the three, Ripley performed the Riptide on Asuka to retain the title.
Next, Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode defended the SmackDown Tag Team Championship against Rey Mysterio and Dominik Mysterio. Earlier in the night, Dominik was attacked by Ziggler and Roode, and medical personnel ruled Dominik unable to compete. During the match, Ziggler and Roode dominated Rey. About mid-way though, Dominik eventually entered the match. In the end, Rey performed a 619 on Roode and tagged in Dominik, who then performed a Frog Splash on Roode to win the titles, thus becoming the first-ever father and son team to hold a tag team championship in WWE.