This Sunday night, WWE presents a historical PPV, with its annual Backlash event celebrating its 10th anniversary. While this event is not considered one of the "Big 4" WWE Pay Per Views, it is significant because it generally feels like it resonates the echo of Wrestlemania, which is the PPV which always precedes it. The term Backlash itself implies that the superstars of the WWE who won or lost at Wrestlemania will be involved in some form of "Backlash" just three weeks later. That said, let's take a look at the 10 years of history this PPV has provided as well my opinion of each show's most memorable moment.
Backlash began in 1999, and with the exception of 2005, it has always been held in the month of April. From 2004-2006, WWE PPV events were "brand only" shows, meaning PPV's alternated from exclusively featuring Raw talent, or exclusively featuring Smackdown talent. Following 2006, WWE decided that it would once again go back to its original PPV format of featuring a combined Raw, Smackdown, and ECW roster on each PPV.
The first Backlash event was held in 1999 and was more specifically titled "Backlash: In Your House." It emanated live from The Providence Civic Center in Providence, Rhode Island, and was headlined by The Rock vs Stone Cold Steve Austin for the WWE Championship. In addition to featuring a Boiler Room Brawl between Mankind and Big Show and a singles match pitting The Undertaker against Ken Shamrock, the highlight of this show for me was the main event. It was a great match, and it foreshadowed some fantastic future Wrestlemania main events that would see Stone Cold Steve Austin wrestle The Rock.
The second annual Backlash PPV took place on April 30, 2000 at the MCI Center in Washington, D.C.. This show was headlined by The Rock defeating Triple H for the WWE Championship, however this time around The Rock did not make it to the top of my highlight reel. In this case, it was a fantastic match between Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho for the Intercontinental Championship that made a lasting memory on me. Although the bout ended in a DQ when Jericho used the title belt as a weapon against Benoit, the match itself still showcased some great technical, chain wrestling. What made the bottom of my highlight list that year? Big Show dressing up like Hulk Hogan and beating Kurt Angle in a 2 minute squash match. So even if you dress up like Hogan you're still not allowed to sell your opponent's offense?
