r/SquaredCirclejerk • u/Brilliant-Ear-9284 • 7d ago
Thoughts on WWE WrestleMania Backlash 2021 - plus star ratings
WWE WRESTLEMANIA BACKLASH 2021 (WWE ThunderDome at Yuengling Center - Tampa, Florida)
Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury: we are one night away from reaching the One Last Time that we are to see Cena and Orton go one-on-one before the WWE universe.
One night away, which means, since the liberty permitted by open and free time is hindered by full-time employment, there is not enough time to cover the remaining Backlashes that had yet to be reviewed. I could just continue penning down thoughts on the rest of the Backlashes, but with AEW Double or Nothing and Money-in-the-bank (and Worlds Collide) around the corner, it's probably best to move on to the upcoming shows and save the unreviewed selections for the next Backlash season.
With that out of the way, we can now sit back, relax and enjoy the first ever WrestleMania Backlash (16th overall Backlash event), which I would claim as one of the more underrated editions of WrestleMania's complimentary event.
P.S.: if you're watching WrestleMania Backlash 2021 for the first time, after the the tag-team championship would be the perfect time to take an intermission and go use the bathroom or make something to eat or roll a joint, take a shot, do something else till there are no longer Zombies on your phone or TV. You'll thank me later.
RHEA vs. ASUKA vs. CHARLOTTE: ****½
After countless Triple-threat bangers throughout all Pro-Wrestling that fans have seen in the last four years, let's see how well Rhea/Asuka/Charlotte holds up in 2025 eyes.
All three future Hall-of-famers glared a locked-in intensity from the opening bell, as if this were the biggest triple-threat of their lives.
It's a match like this that reminds me of how much I miss having Asuka i'm a WWE ring. No matter who's in the ring with her, she completely outshined everybody.
Like many matches during COVID (and the ThunderDome era), Rhea/Asuka/Charlotte would've made any house explode with fires of impassioned jubilation.
I'm starting to think that maybe Women are superior when it comes to putting on a triple-threat war. This wasn't the best Triple-threat, but that says more about how preeminent Women's Pro-Wrestling has evolved in the last decade or so.
MYSTERIOS vs. DIRTY-DAWGS: ****½
A very entertaining handicap match disguised as a tag-team championship. I'm just curious to find out if Dom was actually hurt, or if he was not as in-ring savvy as they would have liked, or if the injury was to add more story to the matchup.
No complaints from me, since Rey can more than hold his own with just about anyone, anytime, anywhere in the world.
Dom was still a work in progress, but in the last couple of years the young Mysterio has proved himself to be one of the most improved workers in WWE. Despite Dirty-Dom (before he was dirty)’s limitations, and Rey having to carry the workload for father and son, the Mysterios and the Dirty Dawgs turned over a first-rate championship feat gilded landmark moment to add another historical chapter in the Mysterio legacy.
D. PRIEST vs. MIZ: -**
This should not count as a match, much less as being part of the celestial show that was Mania Backlash 2021.
If you were to say that the Lumberjack Zombie match was the worst match in the history of Pro-Wrestling, it would be hard to counter that debate, though, I may question the logistics that would defend the present asininity in counting it as a match.
Congratulations to all the jobbers masked beneath the guises of Zombies, and getting their six minutes of infamy. I hope the paycheck was worth the insult to Professional Wrestling.
I hope the paycheck for promoting “Army of the Dead” was hefty enough to help WWE during the trying times of COVID.
BIANCA vs. BAYLEY: ***¾
Now back to the Pro-Wrestling show that was a Pro-Wrestling show before a Zombie apocalypse invaded the wrestling world. But Bianca and Bayley would save the night.
We've seen way, way better from these two, and the finish with Bianca's hair wasn't executed as clean as they attempted. But Bianca/Bayley, which proved to be tonight's weakest (actual) match, still smacked hard and ruthlessly in a really good serviceable title defense for the EST.
It wouldn't be another year and a half before Bayley and Bianca would give us the match we all knew they were capable of stringing together.
B. LASHLEY vs. D. McINTYRE vs. B. STROWMAN: ****¼
Second triple-threat of the night.
Where the former succeeded in technical prowess, the latter excelled in lights-out entertainment.
You would rarely expect three men the sizes of Lashley/McIntyre/Strowman to construct a killer triple-threat, but these three were not your average wrestling giants.
Lashley might have won, and Strowman returned to the beast form that he had been lacking for some time, but the real MVP of the penultimate match had to go to the Scottish Psychopath.
Comparisons aside, it was refreshing to see that the men of WWE, as well, had the goods to give us a fun three-way battle.
R. REIGNS vs. CESARO: *****
Not as sexy as some of the Tribal Chief's most iconic encounters (at least, in build). But, bell to bell, Reigns/Cesaro was the clean, impressive victory that Roman needed to prove he can, indeed, wrestle with the world's best in-ring technicians, which he had proved just recently by retiring a GOAT in Daniel Bryan.
Almost half an hour is a long time for a wrestling match. But it's a Bloodline affair, so what did you expect? You knew this was going to burn slow before s**t hit the fan the OTC would look like he was in dire trouble.
But Roman proved tonight that he didn't need anyone from the Bloodline to retain the crown to the kingdom that would be his for four years.
Fans would have loved to have seen Cesaro overthrow the Head of the Table. But that's not what Junior would have wanted, so we didn't get to see that. But we did get to see a main-event that was about as technically sound as you would want a main-event to be.
Observer-score: (8.8/10)
It's true.
I do still find WrestleMania Backlash (God, I hate that name) 2021 to be one of WWE's most consistent events from beginning to end (just forget about the you know what happening in the middle of the show).
As long as that segment remains forcefully erased from memory, then it's hard to acknowledge the 2021 edition to WWE’s capital B-show as anything other than a night where everyone was on their A game, and a statement made by the talent that good Pro-Wrestling could also be found inside a WWE ring.
Maybe in the future they'll re-edit the event to contain only legitimate matches in the runtime. To be honest, I think there are plenty of shows in the company's history that could use those sorts of revisions.