The 2023 Backlash was a professional wrestling premium live event (PLE) produced by WWE, held for wrestlers from the promotion's main roster brands, Raw and SmackDown. It was the 18th Backlash and took place on Saturday, May 6, 2023, at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot in San Juan, Puerto Rico. After the previous two years were titled "WrestleMania Backlash", the 2023 event reverted to its original name while still maintaining its post-WrestleMania concept, with the 2023 event based around the backlash from WrestleMania 39.
Puerto Rico native and Grammy Award winning rapper Bad Bunny was featured at the event. He was originally promoted to be the host of Backlash, but it was later announced that Bad Bunny would compete in a San Juan Street Fight against Damian Priest, also of Puerto Rican descent, a match that Bad Bunny won. The match also saw appearances by Puerto Rican wrestlers, Carlito, who made his first WWE appearance since the February 1, 2021, episode of Raw, and Savio Vega, who made his first WWE appearance since the 2020 Survivor Series. This match and the event's final match were promoted as a double main event.
Seven matches were contested at the event, including Bad Bunny's aforementioned Street Fight. In the event's final match, which was the other main event, Cody Rhodes defeated Brock Lesnar. In other prominent matches, Austin Theory defeated Bobby Lashley and Bronson Reed to retain Raw's United States Championship, Rhea Ripley defeated Zelina Vega, who was WWE's only female roster member of Puerto Rican descent, to retain the SmackDown Women's Championship, and in the opening bout, Bianca Belair defeated Iyo Sky to retain the Raw Women's Championship, subsequently becoming the title's longest-reigning champion.
This was WWE's first PLE held in Puerto Rico since New Year's Revolution in January 2005, which was at the same venue when it was known simply as the Coliseo de Puerto Rico, and the second overall in the U.S. territory, and the second Backlash held outside the continental United States following the 2004 event. It was also the first Backlash to livestream on Disney+ in the Philippines and Binge in Australia. The event received positive reviews, with fans and critics lauding the San Juan Street Fight and the Raw Women's Championship match, deeming them highlights of the night, while also praising Rollins vs. Omos, the six-man tag team match, and the main event.
Production Background
Backlash is a professional wrestling premium live event (PLE) 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 simulcasting on WWE's livestreaming platforms in 2016. The original concept of the event was based around the backlash from WWE's flagship event, WrestleMania. The events between 2016 and 2020 did not carry this theme; however, the 2021 event returned to this original concept and the event was in turn rebranded as "WrestleMania Backlash".
Announced on March 8, 2023, the 18th Backlash was scheduled to take place on Saturday, May 6, 2023, at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot in San Juan, Puerto Rico and featured wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. This marked WWE's first PLE to be held in Puerto Rico since New Year's Revolution in January 2005, which was also at the same venue when it was simply known as Coliseo de Puerto Rico, and the second event overall to be held in the U.S. territory. It was also the second Backlash held outside the continental United States following the 2004 event in Canada. While the previous two years were titled "WrestleMania Backlash", the announcement confirmed that the 2023 event had reverted to its original name of "Backlash" but still maintaining its post-WrestleMania theme, with the 2023 event based around the backlash from WrestleMania 39. It was also announced that the May 5 episode of Friday Night SmackDown would air live from the same venue. Tickets for both events went on sale on March 21.
It was initially announced that Grammy Award winning Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny would serve as the host of Backlash. He had previously performed his song, "Booker T", at the 2021 Royal Rumble, wrestled in a couple of matches, and also won the now-defunct WWE 24/7 Championship. However, it was later revealed that Bad Bunny would instead wrestle in a featured match at the event. Bad Bunny also hosted the Backlash press conference that was held on Friday, May 5 at 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
Broadcast outlets The PLE was available through traditional PPV outlets worldwide. It was also available to livestream on Peacock in the United States, Disney+ Hotstar in Indonesia, Disney+ in the Philippines, Binge in Australia, and the WWE Network everywhere else. It was the first Backlash to livestream on Disney+ in the Philippines, following the shutdown of its version of the WWE Network in November 2022, and it was also the first Backlash to livestream on Binge in Australia after the Australian version of the WWE Network merged under Foxtel's channel Binge in January.
Storylines The event included matches 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 Night 1 of WrestleMania 39, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn defeated The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) to win the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship. On the following episode of SmackDown, Kevin Owens was attacked backstage by Solo Sikoa, and later that night, Jey defeated Sami Zayn after interference from Sikoa. Afterwards, Jey and Sikoa attacked Zayn further until Matt Riddle made the save—Riddle was injured by Sikoa back in December (kayfabe) and had returned on that week's Raw. The following week, Owens and Zayn's promo was interrupted by The Usos and Sikoa, after which, a brawl ensued and Riddle came out to assist Owens and Zayn. On April 17, a six-man tag team match pitting The Bloodline (The Usos and Sikoa) against Riddle, Zayn, and Owens was scheduled for Backlash.
In the main event of Night 2 of WrestleMania 39, Roman Reigns defeated Cody Rhodes to retain the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship after interference from Paul Heyman and Solo Sikoa. On the following Raw, Rhodes challenged Reigns to a rematch, however, Reigns declined. Rhodes then challenged Reigns and Sikoa to a tag team match, which Reigns accepted on two conditions: Rhodes's partner was someone who competed at WrestleMania 39, and that person could not challenge Reigns for his titles as long as Reigns was champion. Brock Lesnar answered, with the latter stipulation not applying to him due to the stipulation of his match with Reigns at the 2022 SummerSlam. However, the match never occurred due to Lesnar viciously assaulting Rhodes before the match could begin. It was later reported that Lesnar was irate due to his position on the WrestleMania card, as his match had opened Night 2 instead of the main event slot. Rhodes addressed the attack on the following Raw and challenged Lesnar to a match at Backlash. The following week, Rhodes appeared ready to fight, however, Rhodes was deemed unable to compete by medical personnel. To keep Rhodes from fighting Lesnar that night, WWE official Adam Pearce made the match for Backlash official.
In mid-March, Legado Del Fantasma (Santos Escobar, Cruz Del Toro, Joaquin Wilde, and Zelina Vega) began assisting Rey Mysterio in his rivalry with The Judgment Day (Finn Bálor, Damian Priest, Dominik Mysterio, and Rhea Ripley). This partnership eventually resulted in Rey reforming the Latino World Order (LWO) with Legado del Fantasma. On the April 14 episode of SmackDown during a match between Escobar and Priest, Ripley attempted to interfere only to be thwarted by Vega. The following week, Vega asked WWE official Adam Pearce for a match against Ripley for the SmackDown Women's Championship at Backlash. Vega made this request not only because of the ongoing rivalry between their respective stables, but also because Vega was the only female roster member of Puerto Rican descent and she wanted to represent that at Backlash due to the event taking place in Puerto Rico. The match was later confirmed.
At WrestleMania SmackDown on March 31, Bobby Lashley won the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal by last eliminating Bronson Reed. The two faced each other in a match on the April 10 episode of Raw, which ended in a double countout. The following week, Lashley faced United States Champion Austin Theory in a non-title match, which ended in a no contest after Reed interfered. On April 21, it was announced that Theory would defend his title against Lashley and Reed in a triple threat match at Backlash.
On April 21, it was announced that Seth "Freakin" Rollins would be facing Omos at Backlash, despite the two never having any conflict to have a match. Three days later on Raw, Omos's manager MVP explained that he was the one who arranged the match, opining that because Rollins was one of the greatest wrestlers in WWE history, a win over Rollins would be huge for Omos's career. Rollins stated that he was not afraid of Omos and would give him the greatest match of his career.
On the April 10 episode of Raw, Iyo Sky won a triple threat match to become the number one contender for Bianca Belair's Raw Women's Championship. On April 24, the match was confirmed for Backlash.
During Rey Mysterio's match against his son Dominik at WrestleMania 39, Dominik's Judgment Day stablemate Damian Priest attempted to interfere in the match while Bad Bunny, who was a guest commentator and was previously friends with Priest, cost Dominik the match. On the following Raw, Priest attacked Bad Bunny, who was seated in the front row, and put Bad Bunny through an announce table. On the April 24 episode, Bad Bunny returned and announced that although he was originally to be the host of Backlash, he would instead be facing Priest in a San Juan Street Fight at the event.
Event + Other on-screen personnelRole:Name:English commentatorsMichael ColeCorey GravesSpanish commentatorsMarcelo RodriguezJerry SotoRing announcerSamantha IrvinRefereesJason AyersJessika CarrDan EnglerEddie OrengoRod ZapataPre-show panelJackie RedmondPeter RosenbergMatt Camp Preliminary matches The PLE opened with Bianca Belair defending the Raw Women's Championship against Iyo Sky. This was a competitive back-and-forth match between Belair and Sky. In the climax, Sky's Damage CTRL teammates, Bayley and Dakota Kai, came out to aid Sky and distract, however, Belair fought them off. Sky grabbed Belair's ponytail, however, Belair lifted Sky up for the Kiss of Death, knocking over Kai, who stood on the ring apron. Sky countered into a pinning combination for a nearfall. Sky attempted a Moonsault, but the referee caught Bayley grabbing Belair's ponytail, causing Belair to avoid the move. Belair then performed the Kiss of Death on Sky to retain the title. With this win, Belair subsequently became the longest-reigning Raw Women's Champion, as well as the longest-reigning WWE women's world champion of the modern era, breaking Becky Lynch's record at 400 days.
In a backstage promo, Bad Bunny was confronted by Rey Mysterio and Savio Vega. Vega gifted Bunny a kendo stick to use in his Street Fight against Damian Priest which would take place later.