The 2017 Backlash was the 13th Backlash professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was held exclusively for wrestlers from the promotion's SmackDown brand division. The event took place on May 21, 2017, at the Allstate Arena in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois. It was only the second Backlash event to be held in the Allstate Arena, after the 2001 event.
| Backlash 2017 | |||||||||||||||||
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The official WWE Backlash 2017 Poster
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| Pay-per-view chronology | |||||||||||||||||
| Wrestlemania 33 | Backlash 2017 | Extreme Rules 2017 | |||||||||||||||
| Backlash 2017 chronology | |||||||||||||||||
| Backlash 2016 | Backlash 2017 | Backlash 2018 | |||||||||||||||
Eight matches were contested at the event, including one on the Kickoff pre-show. In the main event, Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Kevin Owens to retain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. In other prominent matches, Roman Reigns defeated Baron Corbin, Samoa Joe defeated Luke Harper to win the WWE Television Championship, AJ Styles defeated Braun Strowman to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship, Naomi defeated Alexa Bliss to retain her Smackdown Women's Championship, and American Alpha defeated The Usos in a 2 out of 3 Falls match to retain the WWE Tag Team Championships.
This would mark the first appearance of the rebranded WWE Tag Team Championships as the previously dubbed Smackdown Tag Team Championships were redesigned and renamed following American Alpha's victory against the Usos at Wrestlemania 33.
Production[]
Background[]
Backlash is a recurring professional wrestling event that was established by WWE in 1999. It was held annually from 1999 to 2009, but was then discontinued until it was reinstated in 2016. The original concept of the event was based around the backlash from WWE's flagship event, WrestleMania, but this theme was dropped with its revival in 2016. Announced on March 6, 2017, the 2017 event was the 13th Backlash and was scheduled to be held on May 21, 2017, at the Allstate Arena in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois, which was the first Backlash to be held in May since the 2005 event, as well as the second Backlash held at this venue after the 2001 event. After the reintroduction of the brand extension in mid-2016, the 2016 event featured wrestlers exclusively from the SmackDown brand, with the 2017 event also being SmackDown-exclusive. The event aired on pay-per-view (PPV) worldwide and was livestreamed on the WWE Network. Tickets went on sale March 18 through Ticketmaster.
Storylines[]
The event comprised eight matches, including one on the Kickoff pre-show, that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the SmackDown brand, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television show, SmackDown Live.
Nakamura vs Owens[]
On the April 18th episode of Thursday Night Smackdown, Kevin Owens defeated Bray Wyatt, Randy Orton, Dolph Ziggler, Kalisto, and Jinder Mahal in a Six Pack Challenge to earn a chance to compete against Shinsuke Nakamura. Owens was coming off the cuffs of defeating former best friend, Chris Jericho in a No Holds Barred match at Wrestlemania 33 and once again in a "Last Man Standing" match at the April 30th, Payback PPV. Similarly, Nakamura would also be coming off two back-to-back victories against the former champion, Brock Lesnar in a Singles Match at Mania 33 and a "Submission" match at Payback. Winning the submission match after causing Brock to pass out from a Triangle Choke. Over the coming weeks before the event, Nakamura and Owens would stack up wins against several opponents and dissing each other in backstage interviews, and even using each others finishers (though Owens used Nakamura's "Landslide" finisher instead of using the "Kinshasa" finisher maneuver). During the May 18th episode of Smackdown, the two would get into a fight following Nakamura's match with Jinder Mahal. Where at the end, Owens would put Shinsuke through a table with his "Pop-up Powerbomb" finisher.
Alpha vs Usos[]
Styles vs Strowman[]
Reigns vs Corbin[]
Joe vs Harper[]
Bliss vs Naomi[]
Jericho vs Ziggler[]
Orton vs Wyatt[]
Event[]
Pre-Show (Ziggler vs Jericho)[]
Preliminary Matches[]
Main Event (Nakamura vs Owens)[]
Reception[]
Results[]
| No, | Results | Stipulation | Times | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1p | Dolph Ziggler defeated Chris Jericho via Pinfall | Singles match | 8:20 | |
| 2 | Bray Wyatt defeated Randy Orton | Wyatt Compound match | 9:00 | |
| 3 | Samoa Joe defeated Luke Harper (c) via Pinfall | Singles match for the WWE Television Championship | 9:15 | |
| 4 | American Alpha (c) defeated The Usos with a 2-1 record | 2 out of 3 Falls match for the WWE Tag Team Championships | 15:50 | |
| 5 | AJ Styles defeated Braun Strowman via Pinfall | Singles match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship | 14:35 | |
| 6 | Roman Reigns defeated Baron Corbin via Pinfall | Singles match | 10:05 | |
| 7 | Naomi (c) defeated Alexa Bliss via Submission | Singles match for the Smackdown Women's Championship | 15:45 | |
| 8 | Shinsuke Nakamura (c) defeated Kevin Owens via Pinfall | Singles Match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship | 21:10 |