WWE Backlash 2016 Results

Detailed Results

The first SmackDown-exclusive pay-per-view since the WWE Draft appropriately kicks off with SmackDown Commissioner Shane McMahon and SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan, who both make their way to the ring to open Backlash. Shane welcomes everyone to Backlash before saying that, on behalf of himself and Daniel, he wants to thank all of the fans for the success of SmackDown Live and the new opportunities the SmackDown Live Superstars have received. Daniel then promotes the WWE World Championship and Intercontinental Championship matches before declaring that, tonight, they are going to determine the first ever SmackDown Tag Team Champions. Shane then states that they are also going to see the crowning of the first ever SmackDown Women’s Champion and they are going to see that match right now!

With the SmackDown Women’s Championship on display at ringside, the opening match of Backlash would see history made as Becky Lynch, Natalya, Carmella, Naomi, Alexa Bliss, and Nikki Bella would compete in a Women’s Six Pack Elimination Challenge where all six women will compete at the same time with elimination occurring by either pinfall or submission and the last woman in the match will be crowned the first ever SmackDown Women’s Champion. Early on in the match, the women would split off into their own fights in and around the ring and, at one point, it would look to come down to rivals Nikki Bella and Carmella in the ring, but the face-off would be broken up. Each of the six Superstars would then take turns taking control of the match before Natalya takes out Becky Lynch with a suplex and Naomi locks Natalya in a unique arm submission before Alexa breaks it up. Alexa then takes out Naomi before Carmella takes out Alexa and Nikki Bella comes into the ring, fighting out of Carmella’s Code of Silence and scoring with a big spinebuster, but Carmella kicks out.

Nikki then positions Carmella on the top rope, but Natalya comes back into the ring with a powerbomb to Nikki that also results in a superplex to Carmella! Alexa Bliss then tries to pick up the scraps, but fails to successfully pin any of the competitors in the ring. Alexa then sends Carmella to the outside before Becky Lynch re-enters the fray as Alexa nearly puts Becky away before Carmella clears the ring and Nikki comes back in to toss Carmella to the outside. Bella then goes for a dive to the outside, but Carmella intervenes, sending Nikki to the outside. Instead, it would be Naomi taking flight, tossing Carmella out before springboarding off of the top rope, taking out her competition with a dive to the outside! Back in the ring, Alexa Bliss and Natalya would battle it out before Naomi and Natalya work together to hit a super blockbuster powerbomb with Naomi pinning Alexa to eliminate Bliss from the match!

Naomi then sends Natalya to the outside before catching Nikki with a kick to the head, but when Naomi springboards off of the top rope, she is caught with a stiff forearm from Nikki Bella. However, Natalya breaks up the attempted pinfall before locking in the Sharpshooter on Naomi, making Naomi tap out to eliminate Naomi from the match. Natalya then takes Carmella out, giving Nikki the opening to hit the TKO on Natalya, pinning Natalya to eliminate her from the match. Carmella then spots her opportunity, surprising Nikki Bella with a roll-up to eliminate Nikki from the match!

Carmella would then decide to get in the face of Nikki Bella and the eliminated Nikki would blast Carmella with a forearm before leaving the ring as the match comes down to Carmella and Becky Lynch with the SmackDown Women’s Championship on the line. Becky would fire off three of her Beck-sploder suplexes before Carmella rebounds with a kick to the face. Becky then lures Carmella into the Dis-Arm-Her as “The Irish Lass Kicker” locks in the submission on Carmella, making Carmella tap out as Becky Lynch wins the match to become the first ever SmackDown Women’s Champion! After making history, the new SmackDown Women’s Champion is interviewed about her title win as Becky thanks the fans for all of her support, proclaiming “we did it” as Becky Lynch holds her first championship in WWE.

After heinously taking Chad Gable out of action to ensure that American Alpha would not be able to compete in the Finals of the SmackDown Tag Team Championship Tournament, The Usos would face The Hype Bros in a 2nd Chance Match in the tournament with the winners advancing to face Heath Slater & Rhyno in the Finals. In the end, The Usos would manage to isolate Zack Ryder, attacking the left leg of Ryder just like they did to Chad Gable before Jimmy Uso locks in a modified single leg Boston Crab on the injured limb, making Ryder tap out to pick up the win for The Usos as The Usos advance to the Finals to face Heath Slater & Rhyno with the winners being crowned the first ever SmackDown Tag Team Champions.

Backstage, Intercontinental Champion The Miz confronts SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan as The Miz says that SmackDown Live needs him and he wants to renegotiate his contract, saying he wants more money. When the GM does not respond, The Miz says that negotiations are going to get more difficult after he successfully defends the Intercontinental Title, telling Daniel that he is going to go out there and do what Daniel Bryan cannot do and that is compete.

The Intercontinental Championship would then be on the line at Backlash as The Miz, with his wife Maryse in his corner, would defend the prestigious Intercontinental Title against “The Show Off” Dolph Ziggler. During the match, The Miz would look to take a page out of Daniel Bryan’s playbook, utilizing some new submission holds before hitting a series of corner dropkicks and mocking Daniel’s “Yes” chants. After a comeback from Dolph in the match, The Miz would begin to work on the left knee of Dolph Ziggler, setting up for the Figure-Four Leg Lock before Ziggler battles back, scoring with the Famouser. Dolph then looks for the Zig Zag, but The Miz counters before Dolph comes back, locking in the sleeper hold on The Miz. However, The Miz would break free of the sleeper hold by sending Dolph head-first into the top turnbuckle before The Miz charges at Dolph, only for Dolph to score with a big DDT, but The Miz would kick out.

Struggling to stand on his injured left leg, Dolph would look for the super kick, but The Miz would counter, hitting a DDT of his own before locking in the Figure-Four Leg Lock on “The Show Off” with Dolph barely able to pull himself to the bottom rope, grabbing the rope to force the break. The Miz then catches Ziggler with a boot to the face before trying for the Figure-Four Leg Lock again, but Dolph counters before catching Miz with the super kick with the champion just barely able to get his foot on the bottom rope to hang onto the championship.

The Miz then rolls to the outside, trying to get himself counted out, but Dolph would not allow that to happen as the challenger would manage to bring The Miz back to the ring. Maryse would then distract Dolph and The Miz would try to take advantage with a roll-up, but Dolph counters with a roll-up of his own with The Miz kicking out. Dolph then catches The Miz with an uppercut and The Miz draws the attention of the referee as Maryse sprays something in the eyes of Ziggler, which would allow The Miz to take advantage, scoring with the Skull Crushing Finale as The Miz pins Dolph to successfully retain the Intercontinental Championship in a grueling match.

Following a vicious attack from Bray Wyatt earlier in the night where “The Eater of Worlds” savagely assaulted Randy Orton backstage, repeatedly slamming a door on the right leg of “The Viper”, it was time for Bray Wyatt to go one-on-one with Randy Orton. However, the ring announcer would inform everyone that, due to injury, Randy Orton will be unable to compete tonight and that Bray Wyatt has insisted on the referee administering a ten-count before declaring Wyatt the winner by forfeit. The referee would do just that as the referee counts to ten before declaring Bray the winner by forfeit, raising Wyatt’s hand in victory.

However, as Bray tries to leave the ring, the ring announcer would have a surprise announcement as he would announce that Bray will still have an opponent tonight in a No Holds Barred match and that opponent would be none other than “The Big Red Machine” Kane! It would not take long for the match to spill to the outside as Kane sends Bray Wyatt over the barricade, but after Kane exposes the Spanish announce table, Bray would catch Kane with a shot to the shoulder with the ring bell! Bray then tries to use a steel chair against Kane, but “The Big Red Machine” fights back before the action returns to the ring. Bray would then exit the ring, luring Kane to the ropes as Wyatt grabs the steel chair, using the chair on the knee of Kane. Back in the ring, Bray would wear Kane down with the steel chair, delivering repeated shots to the back and mid-section of “The Big Red Machine”. Kane then fights back against “The Eater of Worlds”, catching Bray with a DDT onto the steel chair. Kane then winds up for the chokeslam, grabbing Bray by the throat, but Wyatt counters before sending Kane to the outside.

On the outside, Kane grabs Bray with the intention of delivering a chokeslam to Bray through the Spanish announce table, but Bray delivers a rake to the eyes of Kane before leveling Kane with a clothesline. Wyatt then exposes the English announce table, placing Kane on the table before climbing on top of the German announce table, mocking Randy Orton before putting all of his weight into a big senton that sends Kane crashing through the announce table! “The Eater of Worlds” then rolls Kane back into the ring, sizing Kane up for Sister Abigail, but Kane counters with a chokeslam to Bray Wyatt with Wyatt somehow managing to kick out! Kane then places the steel chair in the middle of the ring before signaling for the Tombstone Piledriver, but Bray counters before planting Kane with a big slam on the steel chair with Kane kicking out! With both men down, a bandaged up Randy Orton would gingerly make his way down to the ring, delivering the RKO to Bray Wyatt! Kane would then capitalize on Orton’s interference, delivering another chokeslam to “The Eater of Worlds”, pinning Bray Wyatt to pick up the win a punishing No Holds Barred match.

After taking American Alpha out of the Finals and defeating The Hype Bros earlier in the night, The Usos would face Heath Slater & Rhyno in the Finals of the SmackDown Tag Team Championship Tournament with the winners being crowned the first ever SmackDown Tag Team Champions and, in addition, if Heath Slater & Rhyno win the tag titles, then Slater gets a SmackDown Live contract. During the match, The Usos would double team Heath Slater, sending Slater back-first into the ring post and this would give The Usos to work over the back of Slater, which they would do throughout the match. Later in the match, Rhyno would get tagged in and would take it to The Usos, but when Rhyno goes for the Gore, Rhyno is sent face-first into the middle turnbuckle by Jimmy Uso.

Heath would then tag himself into the match, scoring with back-to-back neckbreakers to The Usos before hitting a DDT, but Jey Uso would pull Heath out of the ring, preventing the three-count. Back in the ring, Jimmy Uso would catch Heath with a super kick before Rhyno gets back in the ring, blasting Jimmy with the Gore! With the referee unaware of Rhyno’s Gore to Jimmy, Rhyno wills Heath on from the outside as a dazed Slater slowly makes the cover on Jimmy Uso to score the three-count to win the match for Heath Slater & Rhyno as Heath & Rhyno make history by becoming the first ever SmackDown Tag Team Champions and ensuring that Heath Slater gets a SmackDown Live contract! The new SmackDown Tag Team Champions are then interviewed about their title win as Heath Slater thanks Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan for giving him the opportunity to compete in the tournament before declaring that he and his wife Beulah are getting a “double-wide”. Heath Slater & Rhyno then embrace before continuing to celebrate their improbable rise to the top of SmackDown’s tag team division.

Then it was time for the main event of Backlash as the most prestigious championship in WWE would be on the line as, following his huge victory over John Cena at SummerSlam, the self-proclaimed “Face That Runs The Place” AJ Styles would look to continue his ascension to the top of SmackDown Live as “The Phenomenal One” would challenge Dean Ambrose for the WWE World Championship. During the back-and-forth title match, Dean Ambrose would hit a back superplex before trying for Dirty Deeds, but AJ Styles would counter before Ambrose regains the advantage, hitting a backbreaker on the challenger before diving to the outside with his unique diving elbow drop. Back in the ring, Ambrose would hit a double underhook facebuster on Styles with AJ finding the will to kick out. Styles would then look for the Calf Crusher, but Ambrose would block the attempt before Styles sends the champion into the corner with a modified suplex. Champion and challenger then go counter-for-counter before AJ traps the left leg of Ambrose, slamming the leg into the mat.

Making his intentions clear, “The Phenomenal One” would begin to work over the calf of Dean Ambrose, no doubt softening the champion up for the Calf Crusher. The challenger would then do just that, locking in the Calf Crusher on Ambrose, but the gutsy champion is able to get to the bottom rope to force the break. However, Styles would then bring Ambrose back in into the center of the ring, locking in the Calf Crusher again, but this time, Ambrose would grab the head of Styles, repeatedly driving the head of AJ into the mat to force Styles to break the hold. Both competitors would then get back to their feet with Ambrose fighting out of the Styles Clash before Styles and Ambrose find themselves on the ring apron. AJ would look for a powerbomb or Styles Clash on the ring apron, but Ambrose would counter as the champion launches Styles shoulder-first into the ring post! Back in the ring, Ambrose would do his best to overcome his injured leg as Ambrose tries to put Styles away, but AJ would battle back, hitting his signature fireman’s carry neckbreaker, following it up with a spectacular spinout powerbomb, but Ambrose continues to kick out.

AJ then hits the springboard 450 Splash, but the champion kicks out again and the challenger would begin to show his frustration. Ambrose would score with a neckbreaker, striking with repeated knee strikes before sending Styles to the outside. The champion then dives to the outside, sending the challenger over the announce table before tossing Styles over the barricade. Ambrose then gets on the announce table, running across it and the German announce table to dive over the barricade, taking Styles down on the concrete floor. The action then returns to the ring where AJ hits the Pele Kick but Ambrose rebounds with the Lunatic Lariat.

The champion then looks for Dirty Deeds, but AJ shoves Ambrose back as both men squash the referee in the corner. As the referee recovers, AJ spots the opening for an illegal advantage and takes it as the challenger kicks Ambrose below the belt with a blatant low blow before hooking Ambrose up and, with the referee back on his feet, Styles would deliver the Styles Clash to Ambrose, scoring the three-count over Ambrose to become the brand new WWE World Champion! The new champion then exits the ring with his first championship in WWE, leaving the former champion in visible pain in the middle of the ring as, regardless of how he did it, AJ Styles has added to his already unparalleled resume as “The Phenomenal One” is now the WWE World Champion.

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