Backlash 2025 Preview

Kelly: Dirty Dom pulled off a bit of a shocker at WrestleMania by pinning his fellow Judgment Day brother Finn Balor to capture his first Intercontinental Championship.

Dominik followed in the footsteps of his father Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero by adding his name to the legendary history of the Intercontinental Championship.

Penta arrived in January and has taken WWE by storm. Penta has come close to capturing the championship on several occasions. Will this finally be Penta’s time? Will the Judgment Day help Mysterio lie, cheat, and steal his way out of St. Louis?

Kelly: The Ring General has been nothing short of dominate during his entire WWE career, going all the way back to NXT UK.

He has a dominate title run, loses the title, wins another title, and repeat. That being said, McAfee presents a unique deviation to that formula. McAfee is not a WWE Superstar in the traditional sense of the term, he can still go in the ring.

Most of McAfee’s best work was done down in NXT. he has mixed it up a couple of times on the main roster. Gunther might take McAfee for granted and slip up against one of the voices of Monday Night Raw. Can McAfee outsmart the Austrian or will Gunther put him to sleep again?

Kelly: I’ve seen some of McAfee’s highlights on the gridiron and I think he’s gonna be able to punt when need be. Marc has a good point about Michael Cole. Can he stay impartial and at the commentary table? Will Gunther let Cole be a distraction in the match?

Kelly: These two had some great showings down in NXT over the NXT Women’s Championship. This seems to be yet another student vs. teacher/mentor based feud, similar to their previous NXT story.

The interesting part was to have them win the women’s tag titles at WrestleMania only to drop them on Raw the next night.

They lost the titles cleanly, and Becky saved the turn for after the match instead of during it. I think Lynch is helping Valkyria connect more with the audience and make them care more about the Women’s Intercontinental Championship.

Valkyria’s reign started off a bit sluggish compared to Chelsea Green’s Women’s United States Championship reign. The inclusion of Lynch has helped pick up steam for Valkyria.

Lynch admitted on Raw that she was the one who took out Bayley, costing her a WrestleMania match. Will Bayley play into the result?

Will she want to seek revenge on Lynch by helping Valkyria to retain the title? Can Valkyria do it on her own? Will The Man pick up yet another championship for her resume?

Kelly: Shelton might have to call his momma on us. Lynch has always been able to bring the best out in people when it was needed the most.

Valkyria has picked up some momentum and let hope she can sustain it for the long term. It’s one thing to be over with the NXT crowd. Connecting with the weekly changing main roster crowds is a whole different matter all together.

Kelly: What we all witnessed at WrestleMania was indeed historic. Ric Flair’s (WWE recognized) 16 world championships record fell to John Cena.

There is nobody currently active on the roster who could come close to challenging that record, except for Randy Orton. Orton sits at 14 world titles and this match is for #15.

What a better place to go for it but in his hometown of St. Louis. Orton has promised he will punt Cena through the Gateway Arch like he’s Pat McAfee or something in front of all of his family and friends.

Uh oh, did Orton just jinx himself? If you look back at the WWE’s track record with people getting title matches in their hometown in front of their family and friends, he might want to reconsider it.

We don’t need Steiner Math to figure that track record out. Cena is a true legend and the voices in Orton’s head better be telling him to go back to being The Legend Killer. Will Orton become the conquering hometown hero or will Cena be the legend killer?

Kelly: Maybe the voices in Orton’s head are his kids and Cena’s done being the babysitter? You still have to wonder would the roles be reversed had Orton lived up to what WWE wanted him to be before Cena snatched it away and was the face that ran the place?