Draft:Backlash 2025

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Backlash 2025
Promotion	WWE
Brand(s)	Raw SmackDown
Date	May 10, 2025
City	St. Louis Missouri
Venue	Enterprise Center
Attendance	17,155
Tagline	"One Last Time"
WWE Network event chronology
← Previous WrestleMania 41 Next → Saturday Night's Main Event XXXIX
Backlash chronology
← Previous Backlash France Next → —

Information

Backlash will be Promoted in St. Louis and is an Upcoming PLE broadcasting through Peacock, and Netflix all around the world. This will be the 26th annual Backlash as the first Backlash was held back in 1999. The concept of the PLE is a post PLE from WrestleMania. (In this case, WrestleMania 41.) Introducing Divisions from Raw, & SmackDown. This Will Also be John Cena’s First Backlash since 2009, & Last Backlash PLE, Due to him Retiring at the end of 2025.

There were 5 matches that took place on this event. 2 matches were men (Eli vs. Drew Mcintyre and John Cena (c) vs. Randy Orton). The other 3 matches were Women Matches. (Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez (c) vs. Tatum Paxley and Gigi Dolin, Bianca Belair (c) vs. Rhea Ripley, and Tiffany Stratton (c) vs. Jade Cargill vs. Charlotte Flair)

Background

The event was held at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri.

Backlash is a recurring 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 and has been held every year since, except in 2019. 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 show returned the event to its original concept.

Storylines

These Storylines for the upcoming PLE will be Scripted. Results are predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands, while storylines are produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.

Main Event

It was announced on the April 21, 2025 Episode of Raw that Randy Orton Will have a title match against either World Champion Jey Uso, or Undisputed WWE Champion John Cena At the Event. On the April 25, 2025 episode of SmackDown, Orton Confronted John Cena, and wanted a title match at Backlash, which Cena Hesitated, because he didn't think Orton should fight him, but was later confirmed after Cena Accepted. On the May 2, 2025 Episode of SmackDown, Cena attempted an AA On Orton, But Orton countered it and gave Cena the RKO. On the Final Raw Before Backlash, Orton Showed up to talk before their Final confrontation the following week on SmackDown, and Called Cena out, but never showed up.

Undercard Matches

On April 5, 2025, ICW (Indie Championship Wrestling) Top Guy Eli Had his Final Match (wrestled there for 10 Years) in his own retirement show. After That, he needed to take some time off before making an appearance in WWE. On the April 11, 2025 Episode of SmackDown, Eli Made an Appearance, Not Medically Cleared, but wanted to hype the Crowd for WrestleMania 41. He Announced that Drew Mcintyre Will answer Damian Priest’s Demand to a Match At WrestleMania 41 & Also to Talk about his Girlfriend’s Match (Liv Morgan). Drew Mcintyre Interrupted him talking about him accepting the match and started talking about Eli’s Family and Liv. This Created a brawl Between the 2 as Damian Priest Came out to join the brawl. Later That Night, SmackDown GM Nick Aldis Gave MCMG a Match for the WWE Tag Titles at WrestleMania 41 & an unsanctioned match the Prior Week, which Eli had Pointed out. Eli Said that Drew Made it “Personal” and Directly Demanded a Match against Mcintyre at Mania. Nick Declined and Refused, because not only Eli was not Medically Cleared, but Damian Priest vs. Drew Mcintyre at WrestleMania 41 was official and was not Changing at any point. During the match that Mcintyre won, Drew Continued the Attack, but Eli Came to fend off the attack against Mcintyre. WWE Had Made the Match Official Between Mcintyre & Eli at Backlash, which was made official by SmackDown’s GM Nick Aldis on the April 25, 2025 Episode of SmackDown. On the April 28, 2025 episode of Raw is netflix, Eli had an Interview to talk about Mcintyre, but Mcintyre claymore and attacked Eli Repeatedly. On the May 2, 2025 episode of SmackDown, Eli & Mcintyre Brawled, then later Eli said the match was gonna be a No Disqualification Match, as was Confirmed.

At Stand & Deliver 2025, Gigi Dolin & Tatum Paxley Won the Tag Team Contenders match for a Women’s Tag Team Championship Match, Which has been Decided to take place at Backlash 2025 against the Reigning Tag Champions, Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez. On the April 28, 2025 episode of Raw, Liv Morgan Defeated Gigi Dolin. On the Following Episode of Raw, Tatum Paxley Defeated Raquel Rodriguez, Make both Teams have balanced Momentum.

At WrestleMania 41 (Night 2), Bianca Belair Won the Women’s World Championship. On the April 21, 2025 Episode of Raw, Bianca and Ripley Agreed to have their own “Rematch” At the Event. On the April 28, 2025 episode of Raw, Bianca told Rhea she would beat all the respect out of her.

At WrestleMania 41, Tiffany Stratton Retained the WWE Women’s Championship against Charlotte Flair. On that same Night, Jade Cargill Defeated Naomi. On the April 25, 2025 Episode of SmackDown, Jade Cargill Decided that her next motive would be to win the WWE Women’s Championship at Backlash, Flair Interrupted. Tiffany Joined as well. Jade then said that since Flair wanted another shot after Tiffany beating her, and that since Jade wanted to have a title Opportunity as well, then it should be a Triple Threat Match at Backlash. Later that Night, it was Confirmed.

Event

|+ Other on-screen personnel !|Role: !|Name: |- |rowspan=2|English commentators |Michael Cole |- |Wade Barrett |- |rowspan=2|Spanish commentators |Marcelo Rodriguez |- |Jerry Soto |- |rowspan=1|Ring announcer |Alicia Taylor |- |rowspan=5|Referees |Jessika Carr |- |Dan Engler |- |Dallas Irvin |- |Eddie Orengo |- |Chad Patton |- |rowspan=1|Interviewer |Byron Saxton |- |rowspan=4|Pre-show panel |Jackie Redmond |- |Big E |- |Peter Rosenberg |- |Vic Joseph |}

Preliminary matches

The First Match was Eli vs. Drew Mcintyre in a No Disqualification Match. The Match had near falls, with weapons getting in the middle of it. After a while, Eli Connected a Spear To Mcintyre, but Kicked out. Eli then went on the top rope to attempt a Shooting Star but Drew ended up moving. As Eli Landed on his Feet, Drew Connected a Claymore to Eli, but didn’t go for a pin. Instead, He went ringside to pull out a Chair with Liv Morgan’s Face on it, to taunt Eli’s & Liv Morgan's family. As Drew was Taunting, It allowed Eli to recover from the Claymore, and as Drew was gonna hit Eli with the Chair, Eli Connected the Final Spear to win the Match.

Next Was the Women’s Tag Team Championship Match: Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez (c) vs. Gigi Dolin & Tatum Paxley. The Match Had some Near Falls and Ended with Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez Retaining as Liv tagged herself in as Raquel was going for her finisher the tejena bomb as Tatum Countered which resulted in Liv Connecting an Oblivion to win the match.

Next was the Women’s World Championship match: Bianca Belair (c) vs. Rhea Ripley. The Match wasn’t too surprising of near falls, but Bianca Belair ended up retaining the title after countering the riptide into a ddt, then using her braid which didn’t count as a dq, but connected the KOD to retain the title

Next was the WWE Women’s Championship Triple Threat Match: Tiffany Stratton (c) vs. Jade Cargill vs. Charlotte Flair. Match had near falls throughout the time. Later in the Match as Jade was going to pin Stratton after connecting the ‘Jaded’, Naomi attacked Cargill, as they brawled through the Arena. As the Ref was also attacked, Flair made Tiffany Tap, but didn’t count as the Referee didn’t see. As Stratton was going for the ‘Prettiest Moonsault’, Nia Jax also returned to attempt to cost Tiffany, but as Jax was going for the Somoan Drop, Stratton Countered it into a DDT, and somehow lifted Jax into a powerbomb onto Flair and secured the win with her finisher ‘Prettiest Moonsault’.

Next, was the Main Event for the Undisputed WWE Championship: John Cena (c) vs. Randy Orton. Match had near falls like other matches, with Cena targeting Orton's Back. Later in the Match, Cena landed an AA to the Referee. As Orton Connected an RKO on Cena. Orton went for the Pin, but there was no Referee. Another referee came to count the pin, but was pulled by Travis Scott, who got an RKO by Orton, which cost Cena to Low-Blow Orton and hit him with the title, Like how WrestleMania 41 ended, and Retained.

Results

No.	Results	Stipulations	Times
1	Eli defeated Drew Mcintyre by Pinfall	No disqualification match	15:00
2	Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez (c) defeated Tatum Paxley and Gigi Dolin by Pinfall	Tag team match for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championships	8:55
3	Bianca Belair (c) defeated Rhea Ripley by Pinfall	Singles Match for the WWE Women's World Championship	15:02
4	Tiffany Stratton (c) defeated Jade Cargill and Charlotte Flair by Pinfall	Triple Threat Match for the WWE Women's Championship	18:36
5	John Cena (c) defeated Randy Orton by Pinfall	Singles Match for the Undisputed WWE Championship	22:11
(c)  – the champion(s) heading into the match