Dating back to 1999, Backlash has served as a transitional event on the WWE schedule which has served as a place to resolve feuds that didn’t end at the Showcase of the Immortals, as well as those that started following the company’s marquee annual event.
Over the years, Backlash has given WWE fans some of the most death-defying moments, monumental championship victories, and countless explosive attacks.
Shortly after Stone Cold Steve Austin turned heel upon successfully defending his WWF Championship and siding with Vince McMahon at WrestleMania 17 in April 2001, the Texas Rattlesnake formed one of the most dominating yet short-lived tag teams in the company’s history, known as The Two-Man Power Trip, with Triple H, the Intercontinental Champion at the time.
The match went off the rails not long into the bout, and the traditional tag team affair quickly turned into a free-for-all with knocked out refs, run-ins from the McMahon family, and all other sorts of shenanigans before Triple H hit Kane with a sledgehammer to claim all the gold.
The Two-Man Power Trip winning all the major championships in the main event wasn’t the only iconic moment from Backlash 2001.
Once the match left the ring and Shane McMahon and Big Show started working their way to the Backlash stage, everyone knew something big was going to happen, but no one knew just how insane it was going to be.
After nearly a decade, Hollywood Hulk Hogan, along with the other members of the 2021 WWE Hall of Fame stable The NWO, returned to WWE in the run-up to WrestleMania 18.
That very thing happened at Backlash 2002, where Hogan secured his first title in the company since losing the strap to Yokozuna at King of the Ring 1993.
Before Mysterio could be taken backstage and into an ambulance, Big Show picked him up and swung him like a baseball bat against the ringpost, creating an iconic image that has been played time and time again in the 18 years since.
I am fully in the “Goldberg needs to hang up his boots” camp these days, but back in the late ‘90s, he was the biggest thing going in professional wrestling not named Stone Cold Steve Austin.
The main event match was better than it had any reason to be, and made Goldberg look like a dominant force while also not taking anything away from The Rock.
In April 2009, just weeks after taking the World Heavyweight Championship from Edge in a WrestleMania 25 triple threat match which also included Big Show, John Cena was forced to defend his title against the Rated R Superstar in a Last Man Standing match at Backlash.
That giant was none other than Big Show, who, despite not being in the match, attacked John Cena and chokeslammed him through the spotlight on top of the stage.
Following the 2016 WWE Brand Split, Backlash was brought back and made a SmackDown exclusive show.
The first of these two matches was a six-pack elimination challenge for the SmackDown Women’s Championship, which saw Becky Lynch, Alexa Bliss, Carmella, Naomi, Natalya, and Nikki Bella all vying to become the inaugural champ.
Will any of the competitors at the 2021 version of Backlash find a spot on this list after this weekend’s big event? We’ll have to wait and see when WrestleMania Backlash airs live on May 16, at 7 p.m.
When he’s not writing about movies or television, Philip can be found being chased by his three kids, telling his dogs to stop yelling at the mailman, or yelling about professional wrestling to his wife.