A few weeks ago, I wrote an article about the commercialism of Wrestlemania, essentially the longtime debate between the art of media and it being reduced to the lowest common denominator to reach the widest audience possible. Along with that is the process where rather short-term business decisions are made at the expense of potentially bigger success in the grand scheme of things. Sometimes, it’s unavoidable, but can simply be the nature of the beast for the global, publicly-traded corporation of TKO.
Just three weeks after the biggest show of the year and the payoff to many of the current crop of storylines, the WWE is tasked with bringing another pay-per-view to its audience with a $30 price tag on the ESPN app.
Don’t get me wrong, Backlash looks very solid on paper, and I’m expecting an entertaining show this weekend, but as the puzzle pieces were put in place, specifically with the past few weeks of Raw, I’m wondering if management is disposing of one of its drawing cards way too early. Part of the reason that Drew McIntyre was left without a direction prior to WM 42, and thus thus the shotgun approach to his feud with Jacob Fatu on relatively short notice, was that the Drew/Cody Rhodes match was used up late last year and didn’t have enough steam left just a few months later to be a viable option for one of the marquee bouts of the biggest show on the calendar. We saw Drew/Cody on pay-per-view, Saturday Night’s Main Event, and a few times on Smackdown.
Obviously, for TKO to cash-in on the WWE brand with the astronomical ticket prices, they are rarely going to cut back on the pay-per-view schedule. So, the office had pay-per-views that needed a match rather than matches that were built to justify a pay-per-view platform. I’m not saying the WWE was wrong in their use of Cody/Drew to get through the latter portion of 2025, as it might’ve been unavoidable, but rather to point out that the trade off was that it wasn’t a realistic option further down the road. That’s one of the reasons why the build to WM and eventually the perception of Cody Rhodes as champion were disjointed because what was set up to look like a Cody/Drew showdown to settle the score quickly pivoted to Rhodes/Randy Orton.
Unfortunately, the sum total of that scenario, and this has been the case for most of Drew’s career since he returned to the company in 2017, he’s kept at a notch below the true main event guys. McIntyre is a tremendous performer and the quality of his performances reflect that regardless of his position on the card, but he hasn’t been showcased at the same level of other guys like Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes, or CM Punk. It goes without saying that even a small step behind that group isn’t a bad position, but again, there’s a reason why Drew is just underneath the top-tier as far as star power.
With the build to Backlash, the question might be, is management truly ready to run with Jacob Fatu or did they hotshot this main event match with Roman Reigns because Backlash needed a major selling point?
Make no mistake about it, as I’ve written before, Jacob Fatu has the potential to be a major star for the organization. He has incredible agility for someone of his size, he got in the best shape of his career before he signed with WWE to minimize the risk of injury, and he has an authenticity that very few have in the industry today. It seems like it’s easy for the audience to believe the Fatu character, and that can draw money.
However, timing is everything, and there are key points where the perception of a performer matter if they are going to get as over as possible.
The times that the office missed the boat on a performer during the latter tenure of Vince McMahon as the boss are numerous. The WWE narrative in retrospect might be that the “Yes!” movement was a grand plan, but the reality was that WWE brass were forced to change course because 2014 was Daniel Bryan’s year. That same year, Bray Wyatt should’ve defeated John Cena. It’s almost unbelievable now given their current status, but in 2018, when the audience still rejected the Roman Reigns super push in the main event, Braun Strowman was organically over with the audience. Braun won the tag titles with the youngster Nicholas, and Roman worked the main event to very little crowd reaction. By the time the office tried to move Braun to the title picture a few years later, they missed the opportunity since his momentum had declined significantly and injuries affected his in-ring performance.
That’s the concern ahead of the Backlash pay-per-view, if Fatu loses, does it hinder his momentum or pigeon-hole him into a secondary spot on the card?
With the countless hours of television and expanded international tours, it’s easy to allow the complacent notion of “there’s another opportunity next time” for a talent to skew the optics of a situation. Again, timing matters, and unless the office is ready to push Fatu as the champion, I’m not sure booking him to lose in a spotlighted main event won’t take away some of his shine. It’s a drastic example, but Wrestlemania 14 was the right time for Stone Cold to win the championship, if the office missed that key opportunity, it might’ve impacted his peak run as the top guy.
As far as the result of Backlash, I can’t imagine that WWE brass takes the title away from Roman three weeks after he won the championship, specifically because it would neutralize most of the sizzle from his stellar bout against CM Punk to capture the championship. At the same time, I don’t think a loss does anything to Roman’s status as a top star. This is meant as a compliment, Roman is as over as he’s going to be, and he reached a spot where he doesn’t have to be the champion to maintain his main event status. Fatu signed with the company tow years ago so the question appears to be, are they ready to put the stock into him as someone they expect to be a major draw? On one hand, the argument could be made that more of his story needs to be developed, and it does seem rushed, but on the other hand, with the amount of retirements in recent years, it’s imperative that management attempts to replenish the star power on the roster.
If I had a vote, I’d say that Fatu should win the championship to give him a shot to elevate himself to the next level. Granted, I wouldn’t have booked the match this early, but if it’s going to happen then I’d say that there’s a bigger opportunity cost if he loses that would typecast him as someone not on the level of the championship than they would be to give him a chance to become a cemented main eventer. This scenerio has somewhat booked Fatu into a corner in terms of his perception if he doesn’t win the belt, but at the very least, there’s a compelling main event for Backlash, which is the balancing act for the office with so many different priorities for the company.
What do you think? Share your thoughts, opinions, feedback, and anything else that was raised on Twitter @PWMania and Facebook.com/PWMania.
Until next week
-Jim LaMotta
Email [email protected] | You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, & Threads @jimlamotta89
