WWE Backlash 2016 PPV Predictions

Introduction: The first SmackDown exclusive PPV since the brand split is upon us with the return of Backlash. From here on out there will be a WWE PPV every couple of weeks or so along with Raw and SmackDown every week, that's a lot of wrestling. I'm not sure bringing back brand exclusive PPVs are a good idea, I fear they'll hurt the quality of the PPVs and when I look at this card it seems a bit so-so to me. The card doesn't look bad but it doesn't blow me away either, still it should be a fairly decent show. Ambrose and Styles should have a good main event, Miz and Ziggler for the Intercontinental Title should be good stuff and we'll see the crowning of two new champions so this show does have a level of intrigue going in. There isn't a lot announced for this show as of now so if it's still the standard one hour kickoff and three hour PPV expect last minute filler to be

Will Ambrose Or Styles Leave First SmackDown PPV The Champ?

added, I don't expect this show to be great, just pretty good if I'm honest.

WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship Tournament Semi Final: The Usos vs. The Hype Bros: Despite both these teams already losing their semi-final matches in the tournament to crown the

first SmackDown tag team champions they'll both get a second chance here. This is because the Usos turned heel on the go-home show taking out Chad Gable of American Alpha taking them out of the final. Ryder and Mojo lost to Slater and Rhyno but have a second chance here too but I fully expect the Usos to make the final. That heel turn was long overdue, the crowd turned on them a long time ago and with the popularity of teams like American Alpha and Slater & Rhyno nobody would care about them as babyfaces. Now as heels they can have really good matches with teams like Alpha and I expect them to go over the Hype Bros here to set them up in the final against Slater and Rhyno.

Chances of Winning:The Usos 80% The Hype

Bros20%

WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship Tournament Final: Heath Slater & Rhyno vs. The Usos/The Hype Bros: So in the final I expect it to be the Usos vs Slater & Rhyno. And I can't quite believe I'm saying this but I see Slater and Rhyno walking out as the SmackDown Tag Team Champions. This is because I see American Alpha or at least Jordan costing The Usos to avenge his partner and Slater and Rhyno will take advantage to win the titles. I hope they do now after they removed Alpha because Heath has become one of the most entertaining acts on WWE TV and I'm loving the odd couple pairing with Rhyno. It's a really good position for Rhyno to help a young guy get even more over than he already is because there's no real point him being a singles at this stage in his career. So I think Alpha cost Usos here and Slater along with Rhyno wins a SmackDown contract and the tag team titles.

Chances of Winning:Heath Slater & Rhyno 70% The Usos 30%

Intercontinental Championship Match: The Miz © vs. Dolph Ziggler: The Miz will defend his Intercontinental Title here against Dolph Ziggler. These two have had plenty of

matches together and they’ve all been good. They’ve built a chemistry together with the amount of times they’ve wrestled and since this match should get plenty of time with the lack of depth on the card I would expect a really good match. Everyone was talking about the Miz’s promo he cut on Daniel Bryan which highlighted why he’s very underrated. His promo the week after when he spoke about not getting respect despite riding all the highs and lows in WWE for ten years now was also really good and I liked the character development they did with Miz there and I hope it continues. Dolph has been calling Miz out as a coward which was what Bryan initially labelled him as and they’ve run with the story that Miz hasn’t got it in him to prove himself otherwise which has been pretty good build. Dolph finds himself in the mid-card again just a few weeks after challenging for the world title at SummerSlam which is a shame for him but this is something he can sink his teeth into. Miz has been champ for a while now but has had a good title reign and I can see them running with this storyline and feud beyond this PPV so I’ll say with dirty tactics or distraction from Maryse Miz remains champion.

Chances of Winning:The Miz © 75

%Dolph Ziggler 25%

WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship Six Pack Elimination Challenge: Becky Lynch vs. Natalya vs. Naomi vs. Carmella vs. Nikki Bella vs. Alexa Bliss: To crown the first ever SmackDown Women’s Champion we’ll see a six pack elimination challenge here with virtually the whole SmackDown women’s roster in the same match. I hope this doesn’t end up really clustered, these girls need to take care in structuring the match because six in the same ring all at once is a lot and it could easily become very scrappy and uncoordinated. But everyone in this match is a good worker so structured well this could be a very decent match. I wouldn’t really have a massive problem with any one of these six becoming champion and quite honestly I think all of them are in with half a chance. But some more than others, I think the front runners include Becky, Nikki and Carmella. With a feud between Carmella and Nikki kicking off in the past few weeks I could easily see the title going to one of them two so they can feud over the title. In fact it may even come down to those two but after Nikki’s triumphant return from injury I can see her getting her big moment by winning the title.

Chances of Winning:Nikki Bella 40% Carmell

a35% Becky Lynch 25%

Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt: After his defeat to Lesnar at SummerSlam Orton moves onto Bray Wyatt one on one here. I can’t say I’m looking forward to this match, on paper it doesn’t look like a

classic at all. I didn’t mind the promo they did two weeks ago on SmackDown but the individual ones they cut on the go-home show Tuesday night were just confusing and boring in all honesty. It didn’t help me to get excited for this match even a little bit and as a contest I can see this one being a bit difficult to sit through. Hopefully I’m proved wrong and these two blend really well together but I can see this one being a bit of a snoozefest if I’m honest. I see Orton winning here too, I give Bray a chance because I see this feud continuing after this show so they might put Wyatt over so Orton comes back for him but I think this feud has been designed to make Randy strong again after the defeat to Brock. I hoped Bray would be one of the guys who benefits most from the brand split but it doesn’t look that way at the moment and I see him having to add another notch to the loss column here.

Chances of Winning:Randy Orton 65% Bray Wyatt 35%

WWE World Championship Match: Dean Ambrose © vs. AJ Styles: In the main event Ambrose will defend the WWE World Title against Styles. This should hopefully be a really good main event, I don’t expect it to be as good as Cena versus Styles from SummerSlam, not nearly as good as that but hopefully still a solid main event. It’ll be interesting to see how their styles mix in this match and hopefully it’s a really good mix. AJ getting the title shot here was the logical move after the win over Cena, some of the build has been hit and miss and they’ve only had a couple of weeks to hype the match so they’ve been slightly handicapped in that sense but hopefully they make up for it here with a really good match. I’m very interested to see who leaves champion because I think either could. I’m not sure when Cena is due to return but if it is as soon as this Sunday I can see him costing AJ the title. But if he isn’t coming back for a while then I can also see them keeping Styles’ momentum going by giving him the title. Ambrose has been champion for a few months and has had a hot and cold title reign for me so maybe the time is right to move the belt onto AJ. Rumour is Cena isn’t going on full hiatus until October but also he won’t be at the PPV this Sunday so this one is really up in the air. I’m going to go out on a limb though and say Styles becomes Champion with Cena getting in on the title picture after this PPV.

Chances of Winning:AJ Styles 60% Dean Ambrose © 40%