WWE Backlash 2018 review: What we learned, takeaways, future projections

RAW Women’s Championship Match

Nia Jax (c) vs. Alexa Bliss

What we learned: I think we learned here that this feud between Nia Jax and Alexa Bliss has finally come to an end, and it couldn’t come soon enough. Don’t get me wrong here, I’ve rather enjoyed this program, but as I’ve said previously, I think it should have ended the night after WrestleMania. But WWE was able to squeeze a few more weeks and one more pay-per-view match out of it, and we got what we got on Sunday night.

Seeing as the two have been inseparable over the past couple of months, I was a bit surprised not to see Mickie James out there with Alexa Bliss. Perhaps there’s something to that, but I suppose it was nice to see a normal one-on-one matchup for Nia’s first defense of the RAW Women’s Championship. Or perhaps creative finally figured out that someone that the Divas used to call “Piggy James” wasn’t the best choice for Alexa to have around when bullying someone. Hadn’t thought of that one yet, had you?

Nevertheless, this was a decent match at best. Alexa did get in a little more offense than I expected, but it was never to the point where I thought she’d go over. Speaking of going over, I will say that Jax taking that bump over the top rope to the floor looked pretty good. Even at 10 minutes, this match still felt too long, and while they were put in the unfortunate spot of following Rollins and Miz, it still was pretty average. Nia Jax hit the Samoan Drop to retain.

What’s next: It’s being reported that Alexa Bliss suffered a shoulder injury during the match but it’s not yet known if this is legitimate or a work. She and Mickie have been involved with Ronda Rousey and Natalya in recent weeks, a story that was likely to lead to some matches down the road. If this is legitimate, the most important thing is that she recovers and there’s no serious damage. I suppose you could have Ronda slap her in that armbar on RAW to write her off of television for a while, but there’s always a chance that this could be a work to lead to something else.

With her former best friend seemingly now out of the title picture, Nia Jax now needs a new challenger for the RAW Women’s Championship. I don’t think WWE is ready to pull the trigger on Ronda just yet, so she’ll need someone for the summer. My pick would be Ruby Riott. She got a win over Bayley on the kickoff show and would be a great choice. We may see some number one contender’s matches coming our way soon.