Smark Out Moment

The WWE Backlash 2018 pay-per-view is presented by Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live and scheduled for May 6, 2018 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Follow along here for spoilers and information on the event's card, lineup of matches and news regarding the pay-per-view.

The following are my predictions for the 2018 WWE Backlash PPV. Check back for Backlash 2018 results and review coverage here when the time comes..

Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live present WWE Backlash 2018 Spoilers

WWE Championship No Disqualification Match: AJ Styles (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

So the WrestleMania match ended with Styles retaining so Nakamura could turn heel, then the Greatest Royal Rumble match ended with a draw because they needed to stall to do this match again. I'm assuming this is where Nakamura takes the title, then, so they can have ANOTHER match at Money in the Bank.

PREDICTION: Shinsuke Nakamura wins the championship.


Roman Reigns vs. Samoa Joe

Roman Reigns will just beat Samoa Joe to offset how he lost twice in a row to Brock Lesnar. Lame. I really wish they wouldn't have announced this ahead of time, as it does nothing for either guy and even less for Samoa Joe if he loses, but even if he wins, it doesn't really matter. I'm HOPING he wins, but I don't have a lot of faith in it being anything but a means to give Reigns a win back.

PREDICTION: Roman Reigns wins.


Intercontinental Championship Match: Seth Rollins (c) vs. The Miz

Since Seth Rollins is on Raw and there's no Raw/SmackDown hybrid match for the United States title, I think that makes it obvious The Miz stands no chance here. This is a byproduct of them not planning things out in advance and then throwing things around with the Superstar Shake-up and Greatest Royal Rumble.

PREDICTION: Seth Rollins retains the title.


Raw Women's Championship Match: Nia Jax (c) vs. Alexa Bliss

This is Alexa's rematch from WrestleMania, and I think it's a straightforward loss for her. Nia is too new as the champion to drop the belt and not seem like she's a failure.

PREDICTION: Nia Jax retains.


SmackDown Women's Championship Match: Carmella (c) vs. Charlotte Flair

Flair needs her rematch, of course, so this makes perfect sense. Part of me is just expecting Flair to get the title back, but an even bigger part of me is thinking Carmella will somehow retain so this can get dragged out and either Asuka wins the title instead, or Flair just gets it further down the road.

PREDICTION: Carmella retains.


Big Cass vs. Daniel Bryan

It's a strange feud to start Daniel Bryan with, but I think the entire point of this is for Big Cass to get booed, rather than Bryan to be the focal point. Because of that, I'm going with Cass to get the victory so he has the heat and this feud can continue with Bryan being the underdog. However, there's also a very good chance Bryan catches him, beats him, and Cass just gets even more infuriated because of that loss, so that's why he continues to attack him in future weeks.

PREDICTION: Big Cass wins.


Braun Strowman and Bobby Lashley vs. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn

So Strowman needs a partner for WrestleMania, picks a kid, then Lashley shows up the next night and the two of them perpetually team with each other? Why wasn't Lashley just his teammate? This is particularly confusing when you consider how the Raw Tag Team Championship isn't on the line here (meaning WWE doesn't value it enough to book a match for it) but this is happening, especially since we just saw this (with Reigns and Mahal, too) on Raw. These are definitely Vince's calls.

PREDICTION: Braun Strowman and Bobby Lashley win, unless either of them turns heel.


United States Championship Match: Jeff Hardy (c) vs. Randy Orton

I was kind of hoping Shelton Benjamin would make this a triple threat, but meh, maybe they do that at Money in the Bank instead or something.

PREDICTION: Jeff Hardy retains.


Pre-Show Kickoff Match: Bayley vs. Ruby Riott

Really? This is your example of "the best of both worlds" between Raw and SmackDown? This isn't even an interesting enough segment on Raw, let alone taking up a spot on an event that should be balls to the wall to try to convince people that this is a new era that we need to pay attention to. Fail. Either Sasha turns on Bayley here (which could have just happened on Raw) or that storyline just continues the way it's gone on for MONTHS and it's another "well, Sasha should have been there to help, but they are having issues, and I wonder if they'll still be friends". I don't care.

PREDICTION: Ruby Riott wins.


Cruiserweight Championship Match

If a match is added to the card involving this (which it should), then it needs to be Cedric Alexander defending the title against either Drew Gulak or Buddy Murphy.

PREDICTION: Cedric Alexander retains.

Raw Tag Team Championship Match

This isn't happening.

PREDICTION: TBD.

SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match

This isn't happening.

PREDICTION: TBD.

Universal Championship Match

This isn't happening.

PREDICTION: TBD.