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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Welcome to the Bust Open Podcast. Along with Justin Labar, I'm Jonathan Hood. And on today's show, we talk about the main event at Backlash. Roman Reigns defending the championship against Jacob Fatu.
Chapter 2: What is the main event at WWE Backlash?
And the fallout afterwards. It's all part of the Bust Open Podcast. This is the Busted Open Podcast.
Chapter 3: How did Roman Reigns retain his title against Jacob Fatu?
Overall, what would your letter grade be for Backlash based on what you saw?
Oh, I'd give it a... Give it a B, B minus. No, look, if you bought your ticket to Backlash... You knew exactly what you're getting into. WWE has been pretty consistent on their one-night PLEs, what you're going to get. Five, six matches at most, plus maybe a talking segment that's advertised. And you know there's going to be some breaks in time in between. It's been discussed.
It's just the nature. They're on two different streaming platforms, ESPN domestically, Netflix internationally. It's just how they have to format things. but they started at 6 p.m. Eastern time.
Chapter 4: What was the overall grade for WWE Backlash?
You were out of there by 9 p.m. Eastern time. If you're there with the family and the kids, you've got time to get home and get to bed at a reasonable hour, and the next day is Sunday. And if you're not there with the kids, if you're there with a few buddies and a few adults, you've still got time to head on out, and the nightlife really hasn't even kicked into full gear in Tampa by 9 p.m.
Eastern. So I thought that it was a good ā for, for what WWE is going to give you, we're not going to get 12 matches that are going to be, you know, AEW formatted per se. I thought for what it was, I don't think you can be disappointed if you're there live for what they, for what and how, and then the order of which they rolled it out.
Wrestling is supposed to be a commitment though. And so if I'm going to a wrestling show, I expect to have a full of a lag because they're a full card. Like, for instance, if we move away from the ESPN to two matches, I got three matches. Think about if you're watching on the app and you just watch the three matches, you got three matches for 30 bucks. That's good value for the WWE.
That's a thing like that. Like to me, there has to be a happy medium between what is it? What are you confused by is three matches on the app? Well, I watched the entire show from the app, so I got five matches on the app. Well, what if you didn't have? If you watched ESPN 2, you had two matches. On the app, you got three.
Why would I do that, though? It just makes it easy. If I have the app, I'm just going to open it up there. To me, the ESPN is for... it's ESPN and ESPN two is a channel that's on every single sports bar in America. So that's there to maybe just get so-and-so who had, it wasn't planning on backlash tonight, but has eaten his chicken wings.
All of a sudden I'm just, this Brom breaker guy's pretty damn intense. And so you just watch and maybe you don't go right over to the app because you're sitting there at the bar, but maybe, uh, You check something out on social later. To me, that's all the ESPN is. It's just, hey, try to maybe grab a laps fan, a new fan, whatever.
Otherwise, everybody else who's planning to watch Backlash, everybody else who's planning to see what's the ending to Roman Reigns and Jacob Batu, everybody's watching on the app. So you're opening the app up.
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Chapter 5: How do streaming platforms affect WWE's event format?
I see no reason to open up, to go to my TV to watch ESPN 2 and then have to go through. Now I got to go to my apps and sign into it. No, I got five matches on the app. I was moving around. Had to do it that way yesterday. I was moving around. I mean, I guess ā let me put it this way. Yes. In my household, we cut the cord a couple years ago. So I have YouTube TV. And it's nice.
It looks just like a channel guide, your traditional channel guide. And because YouTube TV is an app, I can watch YouTube TV from my phone. So, yes, if I was ā let's say if I was traveling ā I could go to YouTube TV on my phone no matter where I'm at, and I could watch ESPN for that first hour. But also, I could just open the ESPN app if I was traveling. So, you know what I mean?
To me, I got five matches on the ESPN app. The whole crossover doesn't make any difference to me. But go ahead. Continue.
I... My thought on it is that there was individual performances that really stood out, and it was the pay-per-view or PLE that advances stories and some that closed. Like, for instance, with Roman Reigns and Jacob Batu. You know, I really liked that matchup, and the build for it was great. We had an understanding of why Jacob Batu wanted the World Heavyweight Championship.
We talked about this last week, and I got clarity to understand why Jacob Batu wants to do this within his family wanting to be the world champion. Who wouldn't want to be the world champion? You got to justify it because even Jey Uso took on Roman Reigns and wanted to be world champion. So this is not the first time that someone in the family says, hey, Roman, I want that.
So the matchup, I believe, delivered. And then it extends afterwards because even though Roman won, it was Jacob Batu that won the battle. And so now we're going to get a little bit more beat on the bone. At first I thought, is this a one-off? And now I think that this can extend into something special.
Yeah, you know, I was pretty sure going into the show that this would be your last match, right? It's your only men's world title match on the show. There's nobody bigger than Roman Reigns. Yes, John Cena's being advertised, but he's advertised to make an announcement.
So unless Cena's going to get attacked physically to start some angle, that was the only way I could see Roman's match not ending the show. That being said, that intrigued me because, okay, if Roman and Jacob are ending the show, you got to end with something, right?
it can't, you know, and I've been very clear here as a bunch of a fan of Jacob Fatu as I am, and I believe you agree with me, Roman Reigns isn't losing at Backlash three weeks after winning the world title in the main event of WrestleMania. So it's like, all right, well, I don't just see Roman, you know, spear, Superman punch, one, two, three. Good night, folks.
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Chapter 6: What were the standout performances at Backlash?
A couple things with that. You know what was cool about that is that it was the one-on-one match, and it wasn't your usual outside interference that you get in WWE matches, especially under this regime. It was just one-on-one, and they told the story by themselves. The other thing is that when Fatu lost, it came across as, wait a minute, And then he gets up and does the damage afterwards.
There was not a lot of pause there. After Batu loses, he kind of looks around and just surprised. Like, wait, I lost? Oh, no, no. No, no, that's not going to ā and now, again, just jumping on Roman Reigns. To me, it's kind of like this guy was down for a three count, but he wasn't down for the count, if that makes sense.
No, and if you watch the finish, the finish was one, two, three. Jacob was up. up and then struggling, leaning against the ropes, picking himself up within the next 10 seconds. Wait a minute now. What happened? So, yeah, I mean, it was a quick, you caught three seconds of lightning in a bottle, Roman Reigns, and then Jacob was up.
You know, going back to what I mentioned a moment ago about how, you know, Jacob warned the Usos, don't come out and interfere in this match or I'll burn this family tree to the ground. I'll be curious. What's the next interaction we see with Roman and the Usos? Because I could even see them saying, look, man, Jacob told us to stay out of it. We don't want to cause bigger problems for the family.
And then Roman saying, yeah, during the match, but the match was over, and this savage was attacking me. Y'all couldn't come help then? And then it brings about questions. Are they scared of Jacob? Again, is their loyalty starting to shift? out of fear or out of seeing the next rising Samoan star. So I think there's, there's a lot of exciting stuff.
You know, people, you know, we've people talk about that would be creative and where things are at now. And Oh, the best thing that they've done in this new Paula Vick era is, you know, the, the culmination of the bloodline of mania, you know, at the mania of the past with Cody and all them. I think we might be seeing the start of the next, you know, next great,
I don't say chapter because a lot of chapters, but the next great book here of the bloodline.
Yeah, no, the pages keep flipping because we got to find out whether or not the company feels strongly that we have a future world champion here and Jacob Fatu. I wonder how they look at it. They look at him as the Samoan werewolf. They know that he's wild. They know that, you know, he's great with the media. He's he's. Checks all the boxes. Now, what's the next step?
And the story that's told, right? That visual that you mentioned, by the way, I just want to put it over more so. That visual you talked about where there is Jacob with the tongue and death grip and you see Adam Pearce and you see other WWE agents and producers pulling at his hair, pulling at him. That's a prison look. Let's get off that inmate. That's what it came across to me as.
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Chapter 7: Why does Jacob Fatu's character matter in WWE?
That doesn't need to be ā I don't need to be out here touting that I'm about to get TKO board money.
these poor people that are paying five dollars at the pump of gas and are paying ridiculous prices like i think just john is just too aware that's just not his style to put his kind of business up so i i did think this is there's got to be something new here whether it's some announcement regarding wrestlemania in the future or some type of uh something with nxt i did think something with nxt not for what we got here but like
some new program. I, I knew it shouldn't have, I was like, I was pretty optimistic. It wasn't going to be the club WWE or anything personal to him. So I guess I'll leave it at, I was intrigued that I was hearing something new for the first time. So at least that, that at least matched up to the, okay, I need to tune in and hear what John Cena is going to say. Cause I haven't heard this yet.
So here's the thoughts here from John Cena. He announces what is being billed as the John Cena classic.
I am so honored tonight to announce to you the John Cena Classic. An entire evening of the best of today competing with the best of tomorrow. An entire event where WWE superstars and NXT superstars get an opportunity to give you all they have in hopes to be crowned a champion. That's right.
We are making history here tonight because we have a brand new event and the debut of a brand new championship in the WWE. And not just any championship. This is an event and this is a championship I am personally putting my name on. So I am going to strive for a certain level of excellence, and I'm also gonna do everything I can to make it special.
I have said time and time again, the biggest superstar in the WWE is the WWE Universe.
So John Cena talking about the John Cena classic. Now we need an explanation. What is the John Cena classic? Listen.
So on top of a new event, on top of a new championship, for the first time in history, your voice will be heard louder than ever before because you, the audience, the fan will vote to crown the champion of the John Cena Classic.
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