WWE Backlash 2005 PPV results

WWE INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE
CHRIS JERICHO VS SHELTON BENJAMIN
Benjamin outwrestled Y2J early on till Jericho gets fed up and start slugging it out. Cool spot where Y2J counters an out of ring powerbomb into a hurricanrana. Another cool spot where Benjamin jumped up the top rope in a single leap to catch Y2J with a superplex! Y2J countering the dragon-whip into the Walls of Jericho was sweet too. Benjamin hit a STIFF looking jumping face kick shades of Toshiaki Kawada. The closing sequence was REALLY good as Y2J went for the Lionsault, but Benjamin put his knees up, but Y2J landed on his feet and tried for the Walls again, but Benjamin countered it into a hurricanrana which Y2J countered into sunsetflip which Benjamin countered into a jackknife-flip for the win! VERY good match to kick things off as there were a lot of good counter-wrestling exchanges. They paced it very well and gave it good time, though it could have been longer.
Match Rating: ****

WWE TAG TEAM TITLES: TAG TEAM TURMOIL MATCH
MATCH #1: THE HEART THROABS VS WILLIAM REGAL & TAJIRI
Tajiri busted out a new submission move that I could best describe as a double-underhook surfboard. The Heart Throabs were less than impressive, and Tajiri scored the quick win with a sunset flip out of the corner. Thank God.

MATCH#2: WILLIAM REGAL & TAJIRI VS SIMON DEAN & MAVEN
Team Simon System quickly go to work on the champions. They dominate Tajiri for a bit till Regal tags in and cleans house leading to the win with his killer running knee strike to Simon’s head.

MATCH#3: WILLIAM REGAL & TAJIRI VS LA RESISTANCE
La Resistance take advantage of the tag champion’s fatigue and beat the champions down for a bit till Tajiri gets a second wind and unloads the kicks. Regal tags in gets beat down a bit before he makes a comeback and locks on the Regal Stretch which he hasn’t done in a while. Tajiri tries the Tarantula on Conway but gets knocked off. Regal takes out Conway but Granier rolls up Regal and hooks the tights to eliminate the champions!

MATCH#4: LA RESISTANCE VS THE HURRICANE & ROSEY
Hurricane goes right to work hitting the blockbuster on Conway for the near fall, but Hurricane takes a big bump as he gets tossed out of the ring and his leg clipped the corner post! La Resistance take control till Rosey tags and goes to work using his size and power getting a near fall on Conway with a big slam. Rosey kicks out of a big double spinebuster and escapes the Au Revoir, taking out Grenier and slamming down Conway, leading to Hurricane doing a big dive on off Rosey’s shoulders as he sat on the SECOND ROPE to WIN the match! NEW TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS!

Overall: Not bad overall. Everybody worked hard and kept the work up to keep the match watchable. And damn it’s about time Hurricane & Rosey became the tag champions!
Match Rating: ***1/2

LAST MAN STANDING MATCH
EDGE VS CHRIS BENOIT
Not long before the “We want Matt” chants start up in this one. Also isn’t long before Edge tries to bring some weapons into the match but Benoit cuts him off and they brawl into the audience for a bit. Back into the ring and Benoit locks on the Sharpshooter, which causes Edge to tap out! Doesn’t count though. Benoit then hits the triple-German sending Edge to the outside where he gets an 8-count. Benoit goes for a suicide-dive, but eats a face full of garbage can lid! The impact was just SICK as Benoit was at full speed in mid-air! Benoit gets a 7-count before Edge whacks him with the garbage can lid again and rolls him into the ring where he then superplexes Benoit onto the garbage can in the ring! Both men get to their feet to break the count and Edge brings a LADDER into the ring! Edge takes down Benoit and climbs the ladder, but Benoit recovers and German suplexes Edge off the ladder! The struggle to their feet and Benoit hits another release German suplex. Now Benoit goes up the ladder and tries for the diving headbutt, but Edge moves and Air Canada crashes and burns! Edge tries to use his briefcase as a weapon, but Benoit counters it into the Crippler Crossface! Both men struggle to their feet again and Benoit tries for the rolling-Germans again, but Edge blocks the third and counters into an Impaler DDT onto the briefcase! Benoit gets up at 9 and Edge gives him the Spear! Benoit back to his feet at 9 again and Edge gives him ANOTHER Spear! Benoit gets to his feet at 9 AGAIN, and Edge grabs a BRICK out of his briefcase and whacks Benoit on the back of the head with it to finally keep Benoit down for the 10 count! Edge wins!
Wow. This was really nicely done and Edge going over here was the right thing to do and they pulled it off convincingly.
Match Rating: ****

Lita pulls off a heelish promo as she psyches up Kane, and hints how it would be interesting to see Viscera win and Trish pay him off. Kane says that’s a disturbing thought. But Lita says she prefers Kane and they two actually KISS BIG TIME on screen!

Jerry Lawler is in the ring and he brings out the WWE Divas: Christy Hemme, Maria, Candice Michelle, Victoria, Stacy Kiebler & even Lilian Garcia since they were plugging the Divas 2005 magazine. They show the Divas favourite pictures from the magazine, and as Lawler is about to interview the Divas, out comes Chris Masters!
Lawler and the Divas leave as Masters gets in the ring. Masters opens the Masterlock Challenge, but offers $3,000 this time instead of $1,000. He calls out a muscular looking person from the audience which turns out to be a girl! Her name is Melisa and Chris mocks her gender before moving onto the Challenge.
The Challenge ends almost as quickly as it starts and Melissa is out. Nice going WWE, you just wasted 10-minutes of PPV time.

Viscera waits for Trish and the big man comes on to Trish again. Trish tells the big man to get his head straight cause until he “takes care of business, there will be no business”. Vis slaps Trish on the ass as she walks off. Fun stuff.

KANE with LITA VS VISCERA with TRISH STRATUS
Vis takes down Kane early with a big clothesline, but misses a corner splash. Kane sends Vis to the outside and climbs up top to hit a big dive out of the ring on Vis! Back in the ring and Kane hits a BIG legdrop on Vis. Vis comes back with a spinning heel kick on Kane, I NEVER get bored of seeing that! Vis slams Kane and misses and elbow drop. Kane goes after Trish as she mouths off at Lita, leaving himself open to a corner splash followed by a Samoan Drop from Vis. Kane mounts a comeback, but is caught in a side-walk slam by Vis. Vis tries a backdrop off the rops, but Kane counters with a running DDT shades of the Undertaker! Kane up top and hits a flying clothesline before trying for the chokeslam, but Vis escapes and knocks Kane to the outside. Vis goes after Kane, but Lita gets in his way so Vis shoves her aside. Vis then misses a splash and rams himseld into the corner post. Trish tries to hit Kane with a steel chair, but Lita cuts her off by whacking the steel chair into her face with her crutch! Back in the ring, Kane goes up for the flying clothesline, but Vis catches him and drops Kane with a double-arm chokeslam for a near fall. Vis goes after Lita and tries to plant a liplock on her which leads to Kane taking the opening to hit the big boot followed by a chokeslam for the win!
DAMN! This was better than I expected!
Match Rating: ***1/2 (YEAH, They actually earned it!)

Post match, Trish grabs the mic and berates Vis, saying she’s gonna get a real man to do the job next time and how even if Vis did get the job done that she wouldn’t have gone through with the deal anyway. This pisses off Vis who bear hugs and slams down Trish. Vis looks to leave and the crowd is going nuts. He looks back and psyches up the crowd before hitting the big splash on Trish! Vis leaves to a HUGE ovation as medics come to help stretcher Trish out.

MOHAMMAD HASSAN & DAIVARI VS SHAWN MICHAELS & HULK HOGAN
Big pop for Hogan as expected. Hogan starts off for his team and needless to say he has his way with the Arab-Americans. HBK tags in and they give Hassan a double big boot to the face. The face team control the match for the first five minutes or so till the heels finally get the advantage as Hassan hit HBK on the back with a steel pipe when the referee wasn’t looking. The heels take control working on HBK’s back and Hassan locks on the camel clutch. HBK shows incredible strength as he picks up Hassan from the camel clutch position and slams him down hard! Both men make tags and Hulkamania runs wild on both Arab-Americans! Hogan gives Daivari the big boot, but Hassan whacks him on the back with the pipe when he tries for the leg drop! Daivari makes the cover, but Hogan kicks out at 2 and Hulks Up! We all know what comes next: Big punches, Irish whip, big boot and…..HASSAN INTERUPTS THE LEGDROP AGAIN! Hogan whacks Hassan off the apron and HBK hits Sweet Chin Music on Daivari, leading to Hogan getting the pin for the win.
Ok, this was by no means a mat classic, but the fans were way into it and popped for everything Hogan did, even just walking around the apron! Passable overall, and Hassan is still undefeated as he wasn’t pinned.
Match Rating: ***

We get the standard Hogan pose-down in the ring with HBK to close the show. Oh wait, we still have a world title match.

Interview with Triple H where he blabs about how the PEDIGREE will bring him his 11th World Title win.

Christian & Tyson Tomko come out to the ring. He addresses the fans about the upcoming draft then does a really funny rap where he heels Batista, Evolution, JBL and of course, JOHN CENA! Looks like Christian is Smackdown bound.
Christian is pushing himself as the next champion no matter which brand he ends up on at the end of the draft. And I think I’d like to see that happen on Smackdown.

The main event is next!

Ric Flair comes out with a serious look on his face. He takes the mic and sound like he has something important to say. Then he spoils the moment by saying he’s here to introduce “the greatest wrestler in the world today”. Groan…

WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE
TRIPLE H VS BATISTA
Triple H made two early attempts at the Pedigree to mess with Batista’s mind, and Batista made one early attempt at the Batista-bomb. The match goes to the outside where HHH gives Batista a sick looking spinebuster onto the guardrail! Triple H than give Batista a suplex on the floor. We then get the standard two heels on one attack strategy from Flair & HHH as they attack Batista’s back. Hearing King talk about “The Truth” so much throughout the match makes me wonder if Ron Killings will run in later?
Anyways, Batista comes back with a big lariat on HHH and takes control from there with his power offense. They go to the outside and I smell a bladejob coming. H gets whipped and smacked into the steps. Back into the ring and Batista continues his power assault. Flair tosses the belt to H and distracts the referee as Batista goes for the Batista-bomb. H gets jacked up and whacks Batista with the belt for a near fall. H tries for the Pedigree Batista escapes. Referee gets bumped and H hits the Pedigree on Batista! Flair rolls the referee into the ring, but the ref is out cold from Batista’s lariat!
Another referee runs down as H tries for another Pedigree, but Batista counters into a spinebuster for a near fall! H counters a backdrop into a facebuster off the ropes for another near fall. Batista breaks the Pedigree again and flattens H in the corner three times with big lariats. H gives the referee a low blow! Flair in the ring and Batista takes him out. Batista escapes another Pedigree and launches H into the corner. Batista tries the Batista-bomb, but H gives him a low blow! H backs Batista into the corner and starts pounding him from the second rope. Batista lifts H out of the corner and Batista-bombs him down for the three count to retain!
Started off slow, but ended up being a lot better than their WrestleMania match!
Match Rating: ***1/2

Batista celebrates and leaves as HHH gets to his feet and is so pissed at the loss he shoves off Flair and Pedigrees the referee! Show ends with Batista taunting an irate HHH on the rampway.

Overall: The show definitely worked better than it looked on paper, save for the two in ring interview bits they could have done on RAW. The Christian segment was good, but the Divas/Chris Masters segment could have been done to give more time to the other matches though, as I feel Benjamin/Y2J & Edge/Benoit could have been better served with more time. Good event overall.