The road to WWE Backlash 2023 has wound down.
We have arrived.
WWE Backlash 2023 goes down this evening at 7/6c with the Kickoff Show and continues into the main premium live event starting at 8/7c from Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
On tap for tonight’s show is Bad Bunny vs. Damian Priest in a San Juan Street Fight, Cody Rhodes vs. Brock Lesnar, as well as Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens & Matt Riddle vs. The Usos & Solo Sikoa.
Also scheduled for the show this evening is Rhea Ripley vs. Zelina Vega for the SmackDown Women’s title, Seth “Freakin'” Rollins vs. Omos, Bianca Belair vs. Iyo Sky for the Raw Women’s title, as well as Austin Theory vs. Bronson Reed vs. Bobby Lashley for the U.S. title.
Featured below are complete WWE Backlash results from Saturday, May 6, 2023. The following report was written by PWMania.com reporter Matt Boone (@MattBoone0709) as the show aired live from 7p-12a on the WWE Network on Peacock.
WWE BACKLASH RESULTS (5/6/2023)
The “WWE Then. Now. Forever. Together.” opening signature narrated by future WWE Hall of Fame legend John Cena airs to get tonight’s event underway. We then shoot inside the arena in San Juan, Puerto Rico where we get ready for the official pre-show for tonight.
WWE Backlash: Kickoff is now underway on WWE’s social and digital media outlets, as well as via the WWE Network on Peacock. We see the pre-show panelists, led by Jackie Redmond, Matt Camp and Peter Rosenberg.
After the trio of pre-show panelists banter back-and-forth, we shoot to the first video package that shows the events leading up to a given match at tonight’s show. First up, we see what led to tonight’s San Juan Street Fight between Bad Bunny and Damian Priest.
When we return, the panelists give their thoughts and predictions on the bout and then begin talking about the new Raw and SmackDown post-Draft rosters going into affect starting with Raw and SmackDown next Monday and Friday night.
From there, Jackie Redmond switches gears and begins focusing on “The Genius of the Sky” Iyo Sky, as the talk now transitions to the Raw Women’s Championship showdown between the aforementioned Damage CTRL member and reigning, defending champion “The EST of WWE” Bianca Belair.
The talk now moves on to the WWE United States Championship triple-threat match, with Austin Theory defending against Bronson Reed and Bobby Lashley. Peter Rosenberg calls Theory one of the pillars of WWE. Of all the words to use there, DJ Peter!
We shoot to the video package telling the story behind tonight’s Seth “Freakin'” Rollins versus Omos showdown. The panelists weigh in with their thoughts on the bout and give their predictions. They shoot to Wade Barrett, who checks in from the beach with his thoughts on tonight’s show as a whole.
From there, Rosenberg jokes about Barrett getting to chill on the beach in San Juan while he’s stuck in Stamford with Matt Camp. The panelists then shift to focus on the SmackDown Women’s Championship showdown between Rhea Ripley and Zelina Vega.
Now we shoot to a lengthy video package looking at everything that is leading up to tonight’s six-man showdown pitting The Bloodline trio of The Usos and Solo Sikoa against Undisputed WWE Tag-Team Champions Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens, as well as their partner, Matt Riddle.
After that, we get some preamble about the Cody Rhodes vs. Brock Lesnar match for tonight and then we shoot to the elaborate video package telling the story leading up to tonight’s highly-anticipated showdown between “The American Nightmare” and “The Beast Incarnate.”
The panelists wrap up with their thoughts on the Cody-Brock bout, giving their predictions and then closing out the official WWE Backlash 2023 Kickoff Show. Now that the pre-show is over, it’s time for tonight’s main WWE Backlash 2023 show on the WWE Network on Peacock.
Raw Women’s Championship
Bianca Belair (C) vs. Iyo Sky
Now the official WWE Backlash 2023 cold open video package airs to get the main card started for this evening. Once it wraps up, we shoot inside the arena in San Juan, Puerto Rico where fireworks and pyro explodes as Michael Cole welcomes us to the show.
We get a cool Goodfellas kitchen scene style director’s shot of the outside of the venue and in through the ticket windows and hall-ways and merchandise stands, through the nose-bleed seats and down to the ring. We then shoot to Cole and Corey Graves who welcome us to the show.
The two then send things over to the Spanish commentary team, who quickly introduce themselves. They kick it back to Cole and Graves and we hear the familiar sounds of Bianca Belair’s theme song. The Raw Women’s Champion emerges and heads to the ring.
After Belair settles in the ring, her music dies down and then she awaits on the arrival of her opponent. The theme for Iyo Sky hits and out comes “The Genius of the Sky” by herself. Cole and Graves point out on the broadcast that it’s notable she is coming to the ring without Bayley and Dakota Kai.
Both women are settled in the ring and the bell sounds. The ring announcer handles the pre-match ring introductions for the champion and the challenger. The bell sounds again and we’re officially off-and-running with our first bout of the evening.
The crowd is crazy loud coming out of the gate tonight in San Juan. Seems to be a pro-Iyo crowd early on with loud “Let’s go Iyo!” chants as these two lock-up to get this one started. Belair gets a side head lock and takes Sky down and the crowd loudly boos. Definitely a Sky crowd early on.
Sky takes Belair down and the crowd erupts. Belair head-scissors her with her legs and the crowd boos. Iyo Sky cartwheels to her feet and the crowd loudly cheers again. The crowd is insane here in San Juan. Making for an excellent atmosphere on the broadcast. Belair playing to the boos well.
The two trade athletic displays back-and-forth and Sky starts to take over, with Belair selling her arm. Sky hits a wild double stomp for a close near fall. The “Iyo!” chants pretty much haven’t stopped since the opening bell. Very pro-Sky crowd tonight.
Belair hits a back-breaker on Sky that kills her momentum and temporarily quiets the crowd down. Belair keeps selling her arm. The crowd loudly chants “Let’s go Iyo!” as Belair takes over with a comfortable offensive lead.
“The EST of WWE” hits a stalled suplex in a good display of power. The crowd is sh*tting all over her as she connects with anything offensive. Belair military presses Sky with one arm and slams her on her grill. She hits a flip into the ropes and a splash for a close near fall.
“The Genius of the Sky” hits a missile drop kick off a springboard from the ropes that knocks Belair to the floor. Belair recovers and knocks Sky down before ascending to the top rope. She goes for a 450 splash but lands on the knees from Sky. Sky slaps on a cross face and Belair struggles but eventually escapes.
Sky hits X-Pac’s old face-buster finisher for a close near fall attempt on the champ. The crowd is going absolutely bonkers for the Damage CTRL member in San Juan tonight. Sky hits a running double knee smash to Belair in the corner.
She double underhooks her arms and goes for a power bomb but Belair escapes. The two counter each other and Belair hoists Sky up for the K.O.D. Sky ends up countering into an arm-drag that sends Belair to the floor. Sky hits a wild moonsault to Belair on the floor.
Iyo sits Bianca on the top rope as the fans break out in a loud “This is Awesome” chant. Belair kicks Sky over the ropes and out to the floor. Sky recovers and climbs up the ropes. She goes for a hurricanrana but Belair hangs on and hits a super sit-out power bomb from the top rope for a super close near fall. Sky kicks out and the crowd goes insane.
As the two recover, we see Dakota Kai and Bayley from Damage CTRL emerge from the back and head to the ring. They cause a distraction and Sky grabs Belair’s pony-tail. Belair hits her and hoists her up for the K.O.D. Iyo counters it and rolls her up for a super close pin attempt. Belair kicks out. Bayley distracts the ref, Kai blasts Belair with a kick. Sky heads to the top rope backwards.
As she does, Bayley grabs Belair’s pony tail. The ref catches her. Sky misses the moonsault. Belair hits the K.O.D. and the scores the pin fall victory to retain. Unbelievably good opening match with an insane crowd atmosphere. With the win, Belair is the longest reigning women’s champion of the modern WWE era.
Winner and STILL Raw Women’s Champion: Bianca Belair
Bad Bunny, Rey Mysterio & Savio Vega Backstage
We shoot backstage and we see Bad Bunny in his locker room getting ready. We hear the crowd in the background going ape-sh*t. Rey Mysterio knocks and comes in. The two hug and talk in Spanish back-and-forth for a bit.
In walks Savio Vega and the crowd pops so loud that they might literally have to check to see if the roof is still attached. Wow. Bunny gets a Kendo stick and looks happy.
Seth “Freakin'” Rollins vs. Omos
After a quick commercial break, the elaborate video package telling the story leading up to tonight’s Seth “Freakin'” Rollins versus Omos singles showdown airs. It’s time to get back to the ring for our second match of the evening.
When we return from the break, the theme for “The Nigerian Giant” plays and out comes the massive Omos, accompanied by MVP. The two head to the ring and settle inside as their music dies down.
The theme for Seth “Freakin'” Rollins hits and the crowd goes absolutely, positively insane. They loudly do the “whoa-oh-oh” routine as he heads to the ring conducting the orchestra of tens of thousands of members of the WWE Universe in Puerto Rico.
As Rollins does the same once settling in the ring, he is attacked out of nowhere by Omos. The ref restores order and then the bell sounds to officially get this one off-and-running. We see Omos continue to manhandle Rollins from jump street as this one gets underway.
Omos continues to dominate and then stops to taunt the fans, and later Rollins, mocking his conducting the “whoa-oh-oh’s.” He effortlessly uses one hand to launch the much smaller Rollins out to the floor. He goes out to follow-up, but Rollins rams him face-first into the steel ring post.
Rollins re-enters the ring, hits the ropes to build up a full head of steam and then dives through the ropes and splashing on the big man. He re-enters the ring to do it again, but Omos catches him and choke slams him on the hard part of the ring apron. He hoists him up and military presses him back into the ring.
Omos continues to punish him back in the ring, but then Rollins fires up for a comeback. He springboards off the ropes with a big knee to the big man’s dome. He starts blasting him with leg kicks and then he looks to try and Pedigree the enormous man. Omos easily flips Rollins over-head to avoid it.
Seth “Freakin'” Rollins hits a wild tornado DDT to shift the offensive momentum back in his favor soon after that. He heads to the top-rope and connects with a picture-perfect frog splash, but Omos kicks out at the count of one and Rollins looks like he saw a ghost.
Rollins goes for the Stomp but Omos doesn’t budge when Rollins boot smashes down on the back of his head. Omos starts to get back up but Rollins starts firing up again. Everything he tries isn’t working, as Omos continues to survive.
Rollins ends up stomping him when MVP hits the apron to distract the ref. Rollins super kicks MVP off the apron and then runs and hits Omos with another stomp. He covers him but again somehow Omos kicks out.
Again we see Rollins looking terrified like he’s seen a ghost when Omos kicks out. He heads to the top rope and waits for Omos to get up. As he does, Rollins leaps off the top-rope with a super Stomp for the pin fall victory. Very cool match.
Winner: Seth “Freakin'” Rollins
WWE United States Championship
Austin Theory (C) vs. Bobby Lashley vs. Bronson Reed
After some highlights of the WWE Backlash 2023 press conference in Puerto Rico are shown, we return inside the host venue for tonight’s show and the entrance of Bobby Lashley takes place.
“The All Mighty” settles inside the squared circle and awaits the arrival of his two opponents for tonight’s WWE United States Championship triple-threat match, with Austin Theory defending against Lashley and Bronson Reed.
Bronson Reed comes out next. The big man settles inside the squared circle and his music dies down. Now the familiar sounds of the reigning and defending champion plays, as Austin Theory makes his entrance to the ring for our second title bout of the evening.
The bell sounds and we’re officially off-and-running with this one. Early on we see Theory and Reed joining forces, aligning to take out Lashley. Lashley fights back and hits a one-armed slam on Theory. He hits a spear on Reed.
On the floor, Reed comes off the ropes and hits a Vader Bomb onto Lashley on the floor. Cole speculates Lashley may have suffered a shoulder injury on the landing. Reed looks for his Tsunami off the top, but Theory knocks him down.
Lashley goes for the Hurt Lock and applies it to Theory. Reed hits a Tsunami to break it up but when he goes for the pin, Theory breaks that up. We see another series of near falls from each guy.
Reed leaps off the top with a moonsault attempt to Theory, but Theory moves. Lashley hits a spear on Reed. Theory knocks Lashley out to the floor and quickly rushes over and covers Reed for the pin fall victory to retain.
Winner and STILL WWE United States Champion: Austin Theory
SmackDown Women’s Championship
Rhea Ripley (C) vs. Zelina Vega
After a quick commercial break, we return to the video package telling the story leading up to tonight’s scheduled SmackDown Women’s Championship one-on-one contest between reigning champion Rhea Ripley of The Judgment Day and Zelina Vega of the LWO.
On that note, the theme for Rhea Ripley hits and out comes the reigning and defending SmackDown Women’s Champion. She settles inside the squared circle for our next match of the evening and her music dies down.
Now the theme for her opponent, Zelina Vega plays. As the challenger emerges, the crowd in San Juan goes bonkers. She heads to the ring looking ready to achieve her destiny here tonight in Puerto Rico.
She wears a cool giant Puerto Rican flag and soaks in the love from the hometown crowd. She stops and hugs several members of her family who are in attendance at ringside tonight.
The bell sounds and the ring announcer does the formal pre-match ring introductions for the champion and the challenger. Vega gets emotional getting a huge pop. The bell sounds again and we’re officially off-and-running with our third championship contest of the evening here at WWE Backlash.
We see Vega start off well, taking it to Ripley and even stopping to get a flip flop from her mom, which she throws at Ripley. Back in the ring, the SmackDown Women’s Champion slows Vega’s momentum down and starts to take over on offense.
Ripley dominates for a few minutes and then goes for the Rip Tide, but Vega counters with a DDT. She hits a 6-1-9 and then a Meteora for a super close near fall that the crowd was buying into. Seconds later, unfortunately, Ripley kills her momentum and the crowd’s spirit with a Rip-Tide for the pin fall victory.
Ripley leaves after the match and the ring is left to the hometown hero, Zelina Vega, who gets an enormously loud standing ovation followed by some singing and chanting in Spanish. Vega stands in the ring very, very emotional soaking in what will no doubt be one of the highlights of her career no matter what else she goes on to achieve.
Winner and STILL SmackDown Women’s Champion: Rhea Ripley
San Juan Street Fight
Bad Bunny vs. Damian Priest
A lengthy video package looking at the entire history, start all the way through today, of The Judgment Day. We then shoot back inside the show venue for tonight where Michael Cole and Corey Graves inform us it’s time for the first-half of our double main event for tonight.
With that said, the elaborate video package telling the story leading up to the first-ever San Juan Street Fight airs. Bad Bunny of the LWO goes one-on-one against Damian Priest of The Judgment Day next.
When the package wraps up, The Judgment Day theme hits and out comes Damian Priest as Michael Cole informs us that he is wearing the same vest that he wore when he teamed up with Bad Bunny a couple of years ago at WrestleMania.
He settles inside the ring and his music dies down. Priest awaits the arrival of his opponent and the hometown hero in San Juan, Puerto Rico, multiple-time Grammy award winner Bad Bunny. The chants begin as there is a lull between the end of Priest’s theme and start of Bad Bunny’s.
When the music for Bad Bunny finally hits the crowd erupts with a deafening roar. He emerges and the fans loudly sing along with his theme in a scene that would make Chris Jericho jealous. Fireworks and pyro explodes and the crowd noise gets even louder as he heads to the ring.
Bad Bunny stops and walks back to the entrance. He pulls a sheet off a grocery cart and heads to the ring with it filled with chairs, Kendo sticks and trash cans. He looks all business as he makes his way to the squared circle with the fans loudly singing his music.
The bell sounds and we’re officially off-and-running with this one. This has big fight feel all over it. Bad Bunny immediately takes it to Priest coming out the gate, hitting a Michinoku Driver on him for a close near fall. He wears him out with a Kendo stick but then Priest takes over.
Priest manhandles Bad Bunny for a bit and snaps and breaks the Kendo stick over his own knee before again taking it to the much smaller Bad Bunny. Priest continues to dominate, hitting his South of Heaven choke-slam for a near fall attempt. It might have been over there, but Priest pulled Bunny up in favor of beating on him some more.
Damian heads out and pulls out a Kendo stick, stopping to smack it on the steel steps a few times. He heads back in the ring as the commentators joke about Priest “hunting wabbit … be vewy-vewy qwiet.” Priest decides he doesn’t need a weapon, runs and dives through the ropes into a chair shot to the face from Bunny.
Bunny gets a Kendo stick and heads in and starts whacking Priest with it until Priest bull-rushes forward to stop him. Bunny fights back and hits a tornado DDT off the ropes before clotheslining him out to the floor. He soaks in the crowd noise and then heads to the top-rope, where he hits a big splash to the floor.
On the floor, Bad Bunny gets two trash can lids and starts whacking the p*ss out of Priest with both of them. He picks up another Kendo stick and plays to the crowd before heading into the ring and blasting Priest with it over and over again.
Eventually Priest catches it and shucks Bad Bunny to the mat. Bad Bunny runs and jumps on Priest in the corner and then hooks him for a big Falcon Arrow / Broken Arrow for another close near fall attempt.
Damian waves things off and goes to walk away as Graves speculates that his nose might be busted. He flips off the crowd and heads to the back. Bad Bunny grabs a trash can and runs after him, but Priest turns around and big boots it into his face — hard.
He grabs a Kendo stick and begins whacking the hell out of Bad Bunny with it at ringside. Priest throws Bunny over the barricade into the time-keepers area. They fight over to some production equipment where Priest puts Bunny on a giant crate and climbs up after him.
The two trade shots way up there and then Priest hits a Broken Arrow of his own off the crate, with her and Bad Bunny crashing through more production equipment down below as the crowd goes absolutely bonkers and a bunch of replays are shown.
Adam Pearce and other officials rush to the scene and try and call it off, but Damian Priest says Bad Bunny’s not done, because he’s not done. He picks his lifeless body up and carries him back to the ringside area, where he dumps him on the floor and starts taunting him before blasting him with kicks.
Priest ends up missing a big kick and blasts the steel ring post. He points to his ankle / foot to the ref but it doesn’t matter because Bad Bunny is back in the ring whacking it with a Kendo stick.
Priest shucks him off and tries catching him with a big boot but Bad Bunny yanks and twists the leg of Priest. Priest yells out in pain and tells the ref he’s not sure if he’s okay. Bad Bunny wraps it around the steel ring post over and over again.
Bad Bunny pulls out a giant chain. Priest pleads with him as he ties it around his leg on the ring post. He heads over and grabs a steel chair and proceeds to smash it into Priest’s injured leg over and over again.
He heads into the ring with it and Priest begs off. Bunny stops and looks around. He looks down at Priest, who up-kicks him and then gets up and hobbles on one leg with a chair of his own. He can’t use it before Bunny blasts Priest with a blatant low blow, which is legal in this one.
He grabs the chair but out runs The Judgment Day. They beat Bunny down and put the boots to him. Rey Mysterio sprints down to an enormous pop and he hits the ring like a bat out of hell. The Judgment Day end up guzzling him up.
The theme for Carlito plays and the crowd goes absolutely insane as he runs down to the ring and helps Rey Mysterio and Bad Bunny clean house of The Judgment Day crew. He pulls out an apple and takes a big bite as the crowd goes insane.
Dom hits him from behind. Rey hits him with a 6-1-9 and Carlito spits the apple in his face. Rey and Carlito run The Judgment Day off and then Savio Vega’s theme hits and he comes out in his ring gear to a scary, scary loud pop.
The LWO theme hits and they and Savio and Carlito all beat down The Judgment Day, We see a stand off between Finn Balor and Savio Vega in the aisle and the crowd goes nuts as Savio takes it to Finn. Moments later, we see Bad Bunny finish off Priest for the win. The LWO, Carlito and Savio Vega have a big post-match celebration with Bad Bunny as the crowd goes insane. Very cool stuff here.
Winner: Bad Bunny
Solo Sikoa & The Usos vs. Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens & Matt Riddle
We head to a commercial break after the electric San Juan Street Fight and then we shoot to the lengthy video package telling the story leading up to tonight’s featured six-man tag-team co-main event of the evening.
From there, we shoot back inside the show venue for tonight in Puerto Rico and out comes The Bloodline trio of Solo Sikoa and The Usos — Jimmy and Jey Uso. They settle inside the squared circle and their music dies down.
Now Matt Riddle’s theme hits and out comes “The Original BRO.” He stops and waits as Kevin Owens’ theme hits and “The Prize Fighter” emerges. He stops and waits and the catchy-ass entrance tune for Sami Zayn plays and the two Undisputed WWE Tag-Team Champions head to the ring with Riddle.
The bell sounds and we’re officially off-and-running with this one, which again, has an insanely electric crowd atmosphere. Sami Zayn and Jey Uso kick things off for their respective teams as this highly anticipated showdown gets underway.
Zayn fares well early on, taking it to Uso. Things continue like this until finally Solo Sikoa tags in. Once “The Enforcer” of The Bloodline tags in, he single handedly takes over. He slowly leans over to tag in Jimmy as Jimmy turns into a cheerleader for Solo and sings his praises.
Jimmy comes in and delivers some shots and then tags in Jey. Jey picks up where Solo left off. The fans loudly chant “We want Roman!” as Zayn starts to fight back with Jey. Jey and Jimmy double team Zayn. Once again in the match we see Solo tag himself in and take matters into his own hands.
As The Bloodline continue to dominate, we see Zayn get close to a tag but Jey Uso yanks Owens off the ring apron and throws him back-first into the steel steps, where he bashes the back of his head in unprotected fashion as he crashes backwards. Ouch.
Sikoa is the legal man in the ring now and he continues to savagely beat down Zayn, who feels like he’s been in there by himself forever fighting on the defensive. Finally Zayn buys himself some time. Zayn and Solo each make tags. Jey comes in but it is Riddle who comes in off the hot tag, taking it to everyone in sight.
Riddle hits a big back flip, splashing onto all three members of The Bloodline at ringside. Jimmy heads to the top-rope but Riddle heads up to the top with him and connects with a huge super-plex. Owens is finally recovered and he gets the tag from Riddle.
Owens comes in off the top-rope with a huge swanton for a close near fall attempt. Jimmy accidentally takes out Jey. Kevin takes out Solo and hits a pop-up power bomb on Jey for a super close near fall. Uso kicks out and the match continues.
We see Owens go for the top-rope swanton again, but this time Jimmy gets his knees up and Owens crashes onto them. Corey Graves points out that as big as Owens is, even Uso’s knees took a bit of damage on that one.
Jey fights back into the lead after surviving a blue thunder bomb by Zayn. He yells in his face that it’s all Zayn’s fault that his family is fighting. Sikoa tags himself in when Jey was going to finish this one off. Jey then hard tags himself right back in.
As Jey and Solo argue, Zayn hits his kick finisher on Solo in the corner. He follows up with another one on Jey but when he goes for the cover, Solo hits the ring just in time to break the pin attempt up before the count of three.
Solo looks over at Uso and thinks about attacking him. He instead turns and sees Owens and takes him out. He turns around and nearly blasts Uso with a Samoan Spike. Uso yells as Solo holds onto his neck and has his thumb out-stretched.
Zayn hits the scene again. Uso flattens him and goes to the top but Zayn counters and goes for a cover. Uso kicks out and blasts Zayn with a kick. Riddle tags in but walks into a big kick from Uso. Solo tags in as Riddle hits a Bro-Derek on Uso. Solo hits Riddle with a Samoan Spike and gets the pin fall victory.
Once the match wraps up, we see Jey and Solo staring each other down as Jimmy stands in between them. They celebrate and the post-match scene wraps up as we head to another quick commercial break.
Winners: Solo Sikoa & The Usos
Cody Rhodes vs. Brock Lesnar
We see a lengthy video package focusing on WWE Intercontinental Champion GUNTHER and then we shoot to the lengthy video package that tells the story leading up to tonight’s main event of the evening between Cody Rhodes and Brock Lesnar.
After the package wraps up, Cody Rhodes’ theme hits and out comes “The American Nightmare” for our final match of the evening. The former AEW star heads to the ring to a rock star reaction from the crowd in Puerto Rico, who hit his “WHOA!” on his theme on cue.
Rhodes kneels down and kisses the ring upon entering the squared circle. His music dies down and the first note of Brock Lesnar’s infamous theme song plays and “The Beast Incarnate” emerges to an enormous reaction from the San Juan crowd.
Lesnar gets the huge fireworks treatment on the way to the ring as well. He stares down Rhodes the entire walk, while Cody stares him down right back from inside the ring. The commentators do a good job of building this up in the final moments before the bell sounds.
It’s main event time here at WWE Backlash 2023. Before Lesnar even enters the ring, Cody leaps over the ropes and splashes onto “The Beast Incarnate” on the floor at ringside. He whacks him with part of the equipment from the commentary table.
Cody walks over and grabs half of the steel ring steps and picks them up. He rams them into Lesnar’s dome and then grabs a steel chair and begins wearing out Lesnar with it as Cole reminds us on commentary that the match hasn’t even started yet. Graves points out this is all legal until the bell sounds.
In the ring, Cody goes after Lesnar with his hands as the bell sounds to formally get this match started. From there, Lesnar runs Cody across the ring and splashes onto him in the corner. Cody drops down like Dustin Rhodes and tosses up a punch that stuns Lesnar.
We see Rhodes leap off the ropes with a disaster kick. He leaps off the ropes for a Cutter but Lesnar catches him and begins taking him on a one-way trip, all expenses paid, to Suplex City. The fans begin chanting “Suplex City” as Graves says the phrase in Spanish on commentary.
Cody tries fighting back and comes off the top but Lesnar catches him and hits a big fall-away slam. The fans break out in another “Suplex City” chant. Lesnar smiles and then proceeds to return to taking Cody to “Suplex City.”
As the action continues, we see Cody start to fight back. He runs Brock into the exposed metal under the turnbuckle padding in the corner. This busts Brock open hard-way — badly. Cody hits a Cutter and looks to try and finish off “The Beast Incarnate.”
Instead, Lesnar takes back over and while completely covered in blood he traps Cody in his Kimura submission on the mat. Cody ends up rolling over and covering Lesnar while his arm is still trapped in the hold. He gets the three count for the shocking upset victory.
Brock is covered in blood — badly, badly, and looks in disbelief at the outcome. That’s how WWE Backlash 2023 goes off the air. Thanks for joining us!
Winner: Cody Rhodes
