Repulsion 2025 is on the horizon WWE It will be handed over to the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri on May 10th. WWE is about to bounce back from the divisive WrestleMania 41, but last year’s backlash was about to continue its momentum from the universally beloved WrestleMania 40 event.
It’s interesting to look back at the Backlash 2024 show as WWE heads to Lyon, France to see how WWE worked a year later for its premium live event. We’ll evaluate some of the ways Backlash 2024 is not aged after a year.
AJ Style is the lowest ever
Backlash 2024 suggests that AJ styles are more involved
- Styles had a show steeler on Backlash
- The injury is wrecking his WWE run
- A year later, the style has little momentum
AJ Styles was taking on the challenge at the main event of 2024 Backlash 2024 in front of an audience that was absolutely electric for everything he did for the WWE Championship. Heading towards this year’s backlash, Styles was defeated by Logan Paul in a poor match and is involved in the program with Kallion Cross.
Fans are riding Kross, but they feel that their style lacks momentum and the power of the former stars. Compared to last year, Styles has gone down the cards in WWE and is not treated like a multi-time WWE World Champion.
WWE viewers have turned on Cody Rhodes
Rhodes was on high in the 2024 backlash
- Rhodes just won the indisputable WWE title last year
- Over the past few weeks, fans have begun booing Cody Rhodes.
- He lost the WWE title at WrestleMania
Cody Rhodes is treated like the ultimate hero of WWE in Backlash 2024, with fans enthralled with his defense against AJ style in the classic main event. This came after his great victory at Wrestlemania 40, and after ending the tyranny of Roman rule.
Out of WRESTLEMANIA 41, the WWE audience inexplicably began booing Rhodes, turning to him and cheering for John Cena in the heels who defeated him at WrestleMania. When it comes to Backlash 2025, Rhodes may not even be on the card. It’s sad to see how universally he loved being in the backlash a year ago.
Asuka & Kairi Sane suffers from injuries
Kadami Warious competed in the 2024 backlash
- Damage Ctrl pair lost tag title
- Both women were excluded for injuries
- Neither feature is backlash 2025
Asuka & Kairi Sane are two of WWE’s best wrestlers, but they won’t be featured in Backlash 2025. Despite competing last year, Asuka and Sane attended the event as WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions were ruled out due to injuries.
This is something other than WWE controls, but it’s a shame to see Ctrl reduce the presence that DAMAING CTRL had on WWE TV last year, especially compared to Backlash 2024.
Randy Orton and Kevin Owens did not complete their story.
Orton & Owens teamed up with a backlash
- The pair wrestled with Solokairo and Tonga
- Orton & Owens began a feud later this year
- Owens’ injuries meant their rivalry never completed
Backlash 2024 opened with allies Randy Orton and Kevin Owens ripping their homes apart at the Battle of Street. They continue their alliance against new bloodlines throughout the summer, but in the end Owens turns his heels and betrays Cody Rhodes for an unholy alliance with Roman rule. Owens’ relationship with Orton cracked, leading to a story that lasted several months.
They were ultimately to settle the score at WrestleMania 41… However, a neck injury to Owens ruled out him in the near future, putting the culmination of his rivalry with Orton on hold. In hindsight, seeing their team last year leaves a sour taste to see how their story ultimately turned out to be with Owens’ unfortunate injury.
The new lineage did not have the desired effect
The group began a backlash in 2024
- The street fight opener in the backlash was a lot of fun.
- Boy Tonga & Tush Scouldken Lice Beast
- New pedigrees have declined over the years
Backlash 2024 took up a new lineage with Randy Orton and Kevin Owens, which was a very enjoyable street fight, and seemed to suggest that this new faction would be presented as a deadly and chaotic faction. However, this kind of coincidence did not become a general thing in fact, and they instead settled in the role of being a typical healist.
A year later, the new Bloodline couldn’t hold the tag team title, lost multiple big main events and no longer felt like a big deal in WWE. Jacob Fatu has erupted as a sect-fact star, but the rest of the members remain on the roadside.
Solo Sikoa was a failed main event project
Backlash 2024 started a poor push of cicore
- Wweri tried to make a solo solo
- Fans did not buy Sicore as a potential champion
- Things started well, but soon went downhill
At Backlash 2024, Solo Sikoa was announced as a big deal, taking the crisis of main event pushing at WWE, watching multiple shows in the main event, including the Summerslam show closer with WWE Championship Cody Rhodes and Cody Rhodes.
But whether it’s the case of bad bookings or the lack of sicor thriving under the spotlight, his time as the main event ends with a cry, and a year later he feels like a non-factor of AEW programming.
Bailey’s women’s title reign went downhill after backlash
WWE booked this rule badly
- Bailey’s reign began promisingly with Backlash 2024
- A few months later, no one bothered her feud.
- WWE failed at the top of her time
Bailey rebounded as the new WWE women’s champion in 2024, defending her in a good match against Naomi and Tiffany Stratton. Unfortunately, everything from here went downhill.
Bailey’s reign was booked at a disadvantage, her character was sucked out of her, and the feud between Nia Jacks and Piper Niven never landed. It’s a shame to see her title reign well, as well as falling well from the main event scene a year later.
