With the WWE Brand Extension once again in full swing, it’s time for the next hurdle in the road, the very first brand-exclusive Pay Per View. Smackdown gets the first kick at the can with Backlash, a PPV name that actually has a long history due to formerly being WWE’s first post-Mania PPV that dealt with the fallout from the largest show of the year (hence the name). Can Smackdown maintain the legacy of Backlash? Well, they’ve actually got a pretty big hill to climb, thanks to a small roster, a show that doesn’t seem to have enough matches announced to fill three hours, and having to introduce two major titles on the same show with only a few weeks of build-up. The talent is there, however, so the show could actually be quite good. And if you want some more thoughts and predictions to get you prepared for Backlash, well, then just keep reading.
10. More Matches, Or…
Headed into the PPV, there are a total of six matches announced. Granted, any number would seem small after the twelve matches that were booked for SummerSlam a few weeks ago, but six seems awfully light for a full Pay Per View, which generally averages seven or eight matches, plus at least one bout on the pre-show. And we only got to six matches due to the injury angle that changed the finals of the Smackdown Tag Team Title tournament from American Alpha vs Slater/Rhyno into a “Second Chance” qualifier between The Usos and The Hype Bros for the right to replace the injured Alphas on the same show. In addition, outside of maybe the WWE Title match, we can’t really see any of the announced matches going excessively long, which is the usual way WWE fills time when they’ve under-booked a show. The only problem is, Smackdown’s roster is so thin that, aside from a likely pre-show match involving the tag teams not still involved in the tournament, there aren’t really a lot of options to add meaningful matches to the PPV. More realistically, let’s look at a second option for Backlash…
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2652810-pros-and-cons-of-mick-foley-daniel-bryan-being-named-raw-smackdown-gms Source: BleacherReport.com