partsfunknown,partsfunknown survival series,partsfunknown reaction,partsfunknown lists,partsfunknown worst,partsfunknown fantasy booking,partsfunknown monday night war,partsfunknown quizzlemania,wwe,wwe smackdown,wwe raw,wwe 2023,aew,wwe top 10,backlash,wrestlemania,wwe backlash,backlash 2024,backlash 2023,payback,greatest royal rumble,in your house,cody rhodes,bad bunny,braun strowman
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 "Last night we saw as the French say, 'Le Backlash'
00:03 This is your yearly reminder that the wrestling year does not end with WrestleMania.
00:07 The show of shows fades to black and then four weeks later another pay-per-view comes down the pipeline
00:12 to let us all know that the earth has continued to spin
00:14 and thus we've moved a little bit closer to the impending heat death of the universe.
00:18 Fortunately for us fans, a lot of the time those pay-per-views are great
00:22 and unfortunately for us fans, some of the time they are not."
00:25 The pay-per-view immediately following WrestleMania has seen some tremendous highs and some ridiculous lows over the years
00:31 and it's always a coin flip as to which one we're going to get.
00:35 You could see a legacy altering match in the career of a young star
00:38 or you could see a haunted refrigerator.
00:40 Fortunately for PFK fans everywhere, this list has a bit of both.
00:44 I'm Tempest hailing from PartsFunknown and these are the six best and six worst WrestleMania follow-up pay-per-views.
00:51 "Are you feeling sad little Peter?"
00:54 "Uh, what? Uh, no, I just have resting sad face."
00:58 "Are you feeling down in the dumps because you're constantly cast as a humiliated figure of fun?"
01:03 "I mean, well, I'm not down in the dumps about it, I just feel like I have more range, you know?"
01:08 "Do you get sad when you can't watch shows from all over the world?"
01:12 "Frustrated, I guess? What does that have to do with-"
01:15 "Do you call the WAM-bulance when your IP address isn't protected as you surf the web?"
01:20 "What?"
01:21 "Do cybercriminals make you wee yourself at the office and everyone laughs at you as they sing 'Pete Pete, the man who loves to wee himself'?"
01:28 "That is a half-truth, how do you know that? Who are you?"
01:31 "Worry not little Peter, 'cause I'm your friendly neighborhood surf shark. And with surf shark, I can make you cool."
01:39 "I don't want to be cool, I just want to be me, I'm enough. I'm enough."
01:46 "You see, with surf shark, you can be the coolest shark in the sea by staying protected from cybercriminals, protecting your IP address, and watching content from all over the world."
01:56 "Secure your privacy with surf shark now by entering the coupon code 'jamthatjam' for an extra 3 months free using the link in the video description."
02:04 "Please can I go back to normal now? I don't want to be cool anymore."
02:08 "Nonsense Peter, you'll be like this forever. You will be loved and adored by all."
02:17 "Oh god."
02:21 Number 6 worst, In Your House 1.
02:25 Fittingly, we'll begin our list at the beginning. The beginning of WWE's post-Wrestlemania pay-per-views, and the beginning of WWE's monthly pay-per-view model in general.
02:33 1995 was about as low as WWE sank in the 90s, and for better or worse, pay-per-view revenue was needed, and thus we got shows like this.
02:42 The first ever In Your House event on May 14th, 1995 spawned an era of shows many have nostalgia for, but you wouldn't know it from this card.
02:50 Fresh off the equally dog-ass Wrestlemania 11, In Your House 1 features such gems as Mabel vs. Adam Bomb, and Jerry Lawler pinning Bret Hart in 5 minutes.
02:59 Bret may have had a great little opener with Hakuji earlier in the night, but it doesn't come close to offsetting the rest of this card.
03:05 Diesel vs. Sid in the main event ending in DQ? How f*cking dare you?
03:10 Number 6 best, Extreme Rules 2012.
03:13 Despite its faults, Wrestlemania 28 felt like a massive deal between the end of an era that really wasn't the end of anything, and the once-in-a-lifetime match that happened again.
03:22 So WWE felt the need to keep that momentum going by bringing back the Mountain of Man Meat Brock Lesnar.
03:27 Much to the surprise of everyone, Brock's first match came at the Extreme Rules B-Show in a huge match with John Cena, a huge match that would have been a perfect match if Cena would just f*cking lose.
03:37 But still, a great match nonetheless.
03:40 The rest of the show was pretty gosh-darn good as well, with a fun Randy Orton-Kane match to open the show, Sheamus and Daniel Bryan having the match they should have had at Wrestlemania, and CM Punk defending his title in Chicago, which will always be straight scenes.
03:52 There was plenty of bollocks interspersed throughout, Cody's silly nonsense win over Big Show's "uh-oh" face, and two separate Jobber-Squash matches on f*cking Pay-Per-View, but still, this show is best remembered for its hits, and it had plenty of them.
04:05 Number 5 worst, Payback 2017.
04:08 Payback 2017 may not be as thoroughly wretched as many of the other shows on the naughty half of this list, but it is probably the most inconsequential.
04:16 This is the beginning of the absentee champion period of WWE, and thus the main event is just Braun Strowman beating Roman Reigns.
04:23 The WWE title isn't on the line either, as Bray Wyatt decided he'd rather invite Randy Orton over to Luigi's Mansion than get a rematch for the championship he'd just lost, Jericho and Owens hot potato the US title for no reason beyond "no one would expect it", Bayley loses the women's title in her hometown, the show just could have been an email,
04:40 and for the Pay-Per-View that is meant to propel WWE forward into the summer, it just felt like a bunch of matches thrown together because of threads left untied from WrestleMania beforehand, with the exception of like, any of the hottest bits.
04:53 Number 5 best, Backlash 2009.
04:56 I don't think there is a single bigger fan of this show in the world than your boy right here.
05:01 WrestleMania 25 really is a f***ing turd sandwich between two of the best B-Pay-Per-Views WWE has ever done, In No Way Out, and this Backlash show.
05:11 Whereas WrestleMania was tainted by boring top matches, Backlash 2009's top matches are f***ing ace.
05:17 Edge and John Cena have a tremendous last man standing match where Cena loses via exploding, Randy Orton winning the WWE title in a trios match was chock full of story, and the midcard was top notch as well.
05:29 A super underrated opener between the recently returned Christian and Jack Swagger, Chris Jericho and Ricky Steamboat showing that even at age 56, Steamboat was better than most wrestlers could ever dream to be, and the Hardys blew off their feud with a satisfying I Quit match.
05:43 Sure there's a pretty naff Kane vs CM Punk match, and 10 minutes of utter bulls*** with Santina, Beth Phoenix, and The Great Khali, but I will simply ignore it in favor of positivity.
05:53 Number 4 worst, Backlash 2002.
05:56 Triple H vs Hulk Hogan for 22 pissing minutes? No f***ing thank you.
06:01 Backlash 2002 is a difficult time for WWE because The Rock was gone, Steve Austin had grown stale and was mentally burnt out, and Triple H the top babyface was just doing nothing for no one, so the vibes were just off around this time.
06:15 The undercard was still able to shine with Edge and Kurt Angle having a brilliant match, and very fun title changes with Tajiri taking the Cruiserweight title from Billy Kidman, and Eddie Guerrero winning the IC title from Rob Van Dam, but there were just so many duds on this show.
06:29 Scott Hall vs Brad Shaw? Pass.
06:32 Billy and Chuck vs Al Snow and Maven? Nope.
06:35 Austin and Taker, Hogan and Trips, Mania 18 wasn't a great show, and Backlash just further exemplified that the glory years of the Attitude Era were well and truly behind us.
06:45 #4 Best, Backlash 2023
06:48 This show was one of WWE's best of 2023 based purely on vibes. It's funny how that happens when you serve starving pay-per-view markets instead of just cycling through the same 13 US cities.
06:59 This crowd in Puerto Rico was incredible and elevated several matches on the show to even higher heights.
07:05 Bianca Belair vs EO Sky, the Bloodline 6-man tag, and Cody and Brock benefited from the crowd, but nothing comes even close to maybe the best celebrity wrestling match in history between Damian Priest and Bad Bunny.
07:18 Smoke, Mirrors, and Savio Vega. It is impossible to have a bad time watching this match, and the only way you could have a better time is if you were there in that white hot crowd.
07:28 #3 Worst, Money in the Bank 2020
07:30 Right, look, I know it isn't WWE's fault that the pandemic created a world in which we had to watch soulless wrestling matches for a year and a half.
07:38 However, what WWE decided to do with many of those wrestling matches was their fault.
07:42 I'll take nothing away from Drew McIntyre and Seth Rollins having probably the best silent wrestling match of the era, but Braun Strowman facing Mr. Rogers, Bray Wyatt, and his various puppets? F***ing dreadful.
07:54 And I know the Climb the Corporate Ladder, Money in the Bank match might have its fans, but I am not one of them.
07:59 Aleister Black has a food fight. Need I say more? I do?
08:03 Alright, well there's a parade of vile executives making cameos, this f***ing ass Doink the Clown cosplayer, and a joke winner that amounted to precisely jack s*** besides a Tucker Knight heel turn.
08:14 Push Tucker, he deserved better.
08:16 #3 Best, Backlash 2004
08:19 The first pay-per-view of the brand split era to appear on this list, and a very good representation of just how impressive Raw was in 2004.
08:26 There was a bit of faff with Jonathan Coachman facing Tajiri, and Rosie and the Hurricane taking on Rob Conway and Sylvain Grenier, a pay-per-view match if I've ever heard one, but the top matches on this show are truly legendary.
08:38 Baton Noir retains the world title in his hometown in a similarly excellent rematch of his Mania Triple Threat against HBK and Triple H, but when I think of Backlash 2004, my mind will always go to the career-making match of Randy Orton vs. Cactus Jack.
08:52 The match Mick Foley has considered his best, the match most would consider Orton's best, and the match that showed that Orton was more than just a handsome young man earmarked for greatness.
09:02 He was a tough bastard, able to take one hell of a bump in the thumbtacks and make one hell of a face while doing it.
09:08 My friend Kelsey was there for this show, and thus I am jealous, but she's also a Minnesota Vikings fan, so really life finds its own ways of balancing itself out.
09:16 #2 Worst, Backlash 2003
09:19 Now we're reaching the part of this list where we've got arguably the best and worst shows of their respective years.
09:25 Following on from the excellent WrestleMania 19, cough Dan Layton, cough, WWE proceeded to put on the worst show of 2003 by a country mile.
09:34 Backlash featured just one match that could even loosely be described as decent, a 15-minute tag between Los Guerreros and the World's Greatest Tag Team, which went on second, but really first, because the opener was Scott Steiner squashing Rico in two minutes.
09:48 And if that little nugget sounds inspiring, get a load of the rest of this card.
09:51 Shawn O'Hair vs. Rikishi, Big Show killing Rey Mysterio in three minutes, Brock Lesnar having a terrible title defense against a still very much not good John Cena, and Goldberg's debut match against The Rock, which while sounding big time, only served to highlight why WWE's extended main event style was not going to do Gorg any favors.
10:09 This is one of the worst WWE pay-per-views ever, avoid it at all costs.
10:14 #2 Best, Backlash 2007
10:16 From the worst show of the year to the best show of the year, Backlash 2007 built on a very good WrestleMania with an even better follow-up.
10:24 Aside from the lone dud of Vince winning the ECW title, lol sorry Paul Heyman I guess, Backlash '07 features a stacked and compact card of title matches.
10:32 MVP gets another crack at the US title in a fun match, Melina and Mickie James do pretty well with the nine minutes they're given, a step up from most women's matches of the era.
10:40 The Hardys have a very good and underrated opening match with Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch, but this show is best remembered for its two top matches and rightfully so.
10:48 Following their 15 minute titanic clash at WrestleMania, Undertaker and Batista's last man standing match keeps the same intensity, particularly when it ends with them being crushed by the stage.
10:57 But if it's the grapples that you're watching for and not the splody splody boom boom, the main event between Edge, Orton, Cena and Michaels is arguably the best four-way in WWE history.
11:07 And you know just how infuriating it is to watch Cena's limp body get the win if you were hoping for one last reign for the heartbreak kid.
11:15 It's a brilliant show, and one that must be seeked out.
11:18 #1 Worst, Greatest Royal Rumble
11:21 When I began the framework for this script, I was like, "Oh yeah, Backlash 2018 is the worst one, bang, straight in there."
11:27 But then I remembered that not only is Backlash 2018 not the pay-per-view immediately following WrestleMania 34, but the one that is can still take the top spot.
11:36 The very first Saudi Arabia show, and boy did it ever set the f***ing standard.
11:40 Not only does the show move along at the pace of that one kid from Monsters University, not only does it have the longest and most boring Royal Rumble match in history,
11:49 but as a follow-up pay-per-view for WrestleMania, it is the dirt worst of the bunch.
11:55 You have Jinder Mahal losing the US title that he never should have had in the first place in a horrible match,
12:00 Brock Lesnar beating, question mark, Roman Reigns again in one of the worst cage matches you'll ever see,
12:04 AJ and Nakamura going to a double countout, the worst John Cena Triple H match you'll ever see,
12:10 a bizarre casket match where Undertaker buries Rusev softly, brother, the show is just f***ing dreadful.
12:16 And if anyone stuck around after WrestleMania 34 to see what the year of WWE would look like, they surely called it quits here.
12:23 Which is in stark contrast to number one best, Backlash 2000.
12:28 The greatest example of WWE doing WrestleMania itself one month later at Backlash.
12:32 Now listen, is this the best one of these shows from a work rate perspective? Absolutely not.
12:38 Big Show beats Kurt Angle in three minutes, but this show is perhaps the single highest peak of the Attitude Era itself.
12:44 The Rock going one-on-one with Triple H in the match they should have had at WrestleMania remains to this day
12:50 one of the greatest pro wrestling matches WWE has ever produced.
12:54 Not because of the moves or the quality of their technique, but because of the crowd.
12:58 The pop that met the return of Steve Austin is in its own stratosphere and is immediately followed by The Rock winning the title,
13:06 and had this match and moment taken place when it should have a month earlier,
13:10 I think there is a real chance people would look at this as the greatest WrestleMania main event of all time.
13:15 As it stands, it can say it cements Backlash 2000 as the greatest WrestleMania follow-up pay-per-view there has ever, ever been.
13:24 And that's our list. Make sure of course that you like this video, subscribe, and enable notifications to always on so you never miss a list just like it.
13:30 And make sure you check out this clip from last week's list here.
13:33 That just doesn't happen. Maybe they need another shot to get it just right,
13:37 or maybe the hustle and bustle of WrestleMania simply doesn't give them the best opportunity to blow us all away.
13:42 Regardless of the reason, there have been many cases of WrestleMania rematches actually outshining the originals.
13:48 11 of them in fact. And thus we shall discuss.
13:51 The only criteria here is that the match in question has to be composed of the exact same wrestlers, so no added...