Thursday 3 May 2018 10:14, UK
The fall-out from The Greatest Royal Rumble dominated this week's episodes of both Raw and SmackDown as the company also built up to Backlash, which is being promoted as the first pay-per-view of the new era for WWE.
The matches have all now been announced for Backlash and it appears that whilst there are a number of superstars taking advantage of their new positions following the Superstar Shakeup, there are still many stars who are being overlooked despite their recent moves.
Good Week
Seth Rollins (Raw)
Seth Rollins successfully defended his Intercontinental Championship in a fatal four-way ladder match at The Greatest Royal Rumble, before he was once again forced to defend his title against Finn Balor in the main event of Monday Night Raw.
Balor and Rollins put on an incredible match but it was Rollins who was once again able to retain the championship he first picked up at WrestleMania.
Rollins now heads into a match with The Miz at Backlash on Sunday night knowing that he has already successfully defended his Championship three times in the last month and the odds will now definitely be in his favour.
Randy Orton (SmackDown)
Randy Orton was forced to work for his rematch for the United States Championship after he lost it to Jinder Mahal at WrestleMania, but he will be given that title shot this Sunday at Backlash when he takes on Jeff Hardy.
The Miz attempted to come between the two stars this week on Miz TV but the duo were able to co-exist enough to win a match against Shelton Benjamin and the former Intercontinental champion until Orton decided to send his opponent a message.
The Viper struck as he once again delivered an RKO out of nowhere to ensure that Hardy knows that he's coming for that title in just three days' time.
Bianca Belair (NXT)
The EST of NXT secured one of the biggest wins of her career this week when she defeated Candice LeRae in the former Indy star's second NXT match.
LeRae wasn't in any state to wrestle after witnessing the assault that Tommaso Ciampa subjected her husband to last week, but Belair took full advantage of LeRae being off her game and picked up the win with her Alley Oop.
Belair has been making waves in NXT over the past few weeks and is arguably one of the best pure athletes currently in the WWE women's division, which means it won't be long until she comes for that NXT title.
It feels as though Bianca is the only woman who could match current champion Shayna Baszler pound for pound which could lead to an interesting showdown in the near future.
Bad Week
Roman Reigns (Raw)
Roman Reigns just can't catch a break. The former world champion has lost to Brock Lesnar twice in the space of a month after his most recent loss to The Beast at The Greatest Royal Rumble, despite actually winning the match.
The referee apologised for making the wrong call, but that doesn't help Reigns, who now heads into his match against Samoa Joe this Sunday night empty-handed.
Reigns was booed out of Canada on Monday as he opened Raw and it appeared that the WWE universe is still not warming to the thought of the former Shield member as the face of the brand.
Joe is a huge obstacle in Reigns' way if he wants another shot at the Universal Championship and it doesn't look as though he will be an easy one to bypass this weekend.
Peyton Royce (SmackDown)
Peyton Royce and Billie Kay were promoted to SmackDown following this year's WrestleMania and played their part in helping Carmella to become the new champion three weeks ago.
The Aussie pair have been pushing the fact that they are better than Charlotte and Asuka in recent weeks but this all came to an end on Tuesday night when Asuka forced Royce to tap out.
Royce and Kay are not even on the card for Backlash this weekend, which shows that The IIconics haven't been able to have the impact they hoped they would following their promotion. They are the future of the women's division but if WWE uses them incorrectly, they could be lost amongst the shuffle on SmackDown in the coming months.
Undisputed Era (NXT)
Undisputed Era hasn't been making a lot of friends lately and their enemies are stacking up. This week on NXT Roderick Strong was hoping to settle some business with his former friend Pete Dunne and when it looked as though the United Kingdom Champion was about to pick up the win, Adam Cole and Kyle O'Reilly invaded the match and attacked their long time foe.
The three on one attack didn't last for long before Danny Burch and Oney Lorcan made the save as a way to extract revenge for their attack at the hands of Undisputed Era last week.
The enemies could have formed their own team moving forward, which means the numbers game won't be much of an advantage to the tag team champions any longer so the group will now have to come together and devise a new strategy if they hope to keep hold of all of their gold.
