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WWE Backlash 2023: Bad Bunny Steals the Show, Zelina Vega Is Overcome, Cody Rhodes Defeats Brock Lesnar in Odd Finish

Photo: WWE

Bad Bunny punctuated his astounding global music career with an exclamation point, continuing to live out his childhood dreams by once again becoming part of the WWE Universe.  During the WWE’s first show in Puerto Rico in more than 18 years, the 2023 Backlash pay-per-view streamed on Peacock and had something for everybody.

Backlash was live from San Juan at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico Jose Miguel Agrelot in front of over 17,000 people, and this wrestling crowd was hot. It turned out to be one of the best in recent memory, which amped up the action even more with their involvement in all the matches through: vocal chants, singing, rooting for those they love, or booing those on their hit list. The sound was deafening and through the roof.  The introduction to the entire live-streamed event featured a narration from San Benito, himself.

Photo: WWE

Bad Bunny vs. Damian Priest

This marked Benito’s return to action in the WWE, fresh off headlining Coachella just a few weeks ago.  Previously, the music superstar appeared at the Royal Rumble, and in a tag team match at Wrestlemania in 2021.  Now, in what should have been the main event of the night (it was billed as part of a ‘Double Main Event” but went on third from last), Bunny would go up against his former friend and wrestling mentor, Judgement Day’s Damian Priest, also from Puerto Rico in a San Juan Street Fight Match.  This moment would mark San Benito’s first solo match and he more than lived up to the challenge.

Photo: WWE

Tell us what other Grammy Award-winning artist would even dare to do this? Bad Bunny and his match was a showstopper. During his entrance to his music, San Benito came to the ring prepared with a shopping cart full of bats, sticks, folding chairs and chains.  As the match wore on, Bad Bunny astounded the crowd with his high-flying maneuvers, ability to take bumps through a table, no less, and his sheer in-ring talent.

Photo: WWE

Towards the end of the street fight (and so Bunny and Priest got a bit of break from beating each other to smithereens), came the runs-in. Judgement Days’s hated Dominik Mysterio and Finn Balor began their interference against Bunny only to be stopped by the LWO (Latino World Order) with Rey Mysterio Jr. and none other than Carlito … apple and all!  After Rey and Carlito cleared the ring, Dominik and Finn ran into Savio Vega on their way to the back, who leveled both of them out for good measure.

Back to the match, after hammering away at Priest’s leg, Bad Bunny put him in a figure-four before following it up with his signature move, “the Bunny Destroyer.”  In the end it was celebration time in San Juan as Bunny and the LWO celebrated his victory in the ring,

Photo: WWE

Bianca Belair vs. Iyo Sky

Current WWE Raw’s women champion Bianca Belair and her challenger, Iyo Sky, put on a ‘match of the year’ candidate in the opening bout of Backlash.  The red-hot crowd was clearly rooting on Sky, not the babyfaced, Belair. This played throughout the entire match as Sky took to the ‘skies’ numerous times showing her sheer athleticism, while Belair reminded us all of her insane power by lifting Iyo with one arm over her head. It seemed no matter how impressive Belair was, Sky had the crowed with her, and the champ was booed. Belair then tried to play into that by becoming a bit more of the aggressor for this match. When interference from Sky’s partners arrived in Damage CTRL (Bayley and Dakota Kai), it ultimately did not work. Bianca ultimately got the victory becoming the longest-reigning Raw champion in women’s division history. Now that Bianca is headed next week to the blue brand and Smackdown, will the creative team decide to have her turn heel after the reaction she received in San Juan? Stay tuned.

Photo: WWE

Cody Rhodes vs. Brock Lesnar

The final match of the night and part two of the billed “Double Main Event” featured ‘The American Nightmare’ and Cody Rhodes against the ‘Beast Incarnate,’ Brock Lesnar in a feud that has yet to be explained as to why it’s happening in the first place.  Why did Lesnar turn on Rhodes several weeks ago when they were about to be tag partners in a redemption match following Wrestlemania 39 against Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa, and beat the crap out of him? If you thought you would get the answer at Backlash, you were wrong.  Instead, we got a head-scratching ending.

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Rhodes went on the attack to beat down Lesnar before the bell rang as retribution for the vicious attack he received from Brock week’s ago. When the bell did ring, the superstars went at it for awhile, with Cody hitting his signature moves the ‘Cody Cutter’ and the “Cross Rhodes” and Brock selling it all.  When Lesnar was thrown across the ring, his head hit an exposed turnbuckle, and he quickly became a bloody mess.  Rhodes wiped some of Lesnar’s blood on his chest for good measure and the match continued.

Photo: WWE

However, because Lesnar was bleeding badly that had to be an unexpected turning point and it seemed like a quick finish was called. When Lesnar locked in the Kimura, all of a sudden, Rhodes rolled him over into a pin to get a quick victory.  Next, the entire pay-per-view ended with Rhodes retreating to the aisle to head to the back, while Lesnar is left in the ring bleeding.  In a video that surfaced after the match, Lesnar received a standing ovation from the crowd for several minutes to chants of ‘suplex city’.  This was a very odd and messy ending to an unexplained feud.

Photo: WWE

Rhea Ripley vs. Zelina Vega

In the emotional highlight of the night, Zelina Vega who hails from Queens, New York but is of Puerto Rican descent, challenged WWE Smackdown women’s champion, Rhea Ripley.  This was to be Ripley’s first title defense since Wrestlemania 39 when she won the belt from Charlotte Flair.

Courtesy/WWE

When Vega made her entrance, she was draped in the Puerto Rican flag and her ring entire was the colors of the flag, as well. Vega’s family was also at ringside including her mother, stepfather and brother. When she was introduced and with the crowd was firmly behind her, Zelina was visibly overcome and moved to tears, making this a real-life moment that elevated Backlash 2023 even further.  WWE announcer, Michael Cole also revealed that Vega was dedicating this match to her late father, making this all the more hankie-inducing.

Ripley was dominating in the ring, and though Vega put on a good show and tried her best, the ‘Eradicator’ proved to be too much for her. The champ scored the pinfall. Afterwards, and alone in the ring, Zelina had one more heart-tugging moment when she was saluted by the fans before making her exit.

In other key moments and match-ups:

When the Usos and Solo Sikoa faced Matt Riddle, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, the breakdown of the ‘Bloodline’ continued, setting up trouble ahead between brothers, Jey Uso and Sikoa. Despite the tensions, Solo pinned Riddle for the victory.

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Seth “Freakin’ Rollins defeated the giant Omos with a massive stomp from the top rope.  Austin Theory retained his United States Championship over Bobby Lashley and Bronson Reed, with a clever finisher, taking advantage of Reed’s botched jump off the top rope, throwing Lashley out of the ring, and then securing the pin over Reed.

Photo: WWE

So, what did you think of the matches at WWE Backlash 2023? What was your favorite moment? What was disappointing? Let us know in the comment section and check out some of the highlights from the night below.

General Hospital

GENERAL HOSPITAL: Nina Confronts Ava for Sabotaging Her Relationship With Sonny and Signs the Divorce Papers

Looks like Nina (Cynthia Watros) and Ava (Maura West) are back to be each other’s sworn enemy number one. By the end of the Monday, April 22nd episode of General Hospital, the women know where they stand with each other after Nina goes in on Ava accusing her of wanting Sonny (Maurice Benard) all to herself, while her marriage has been on the rocks.

In story, at Nina’s office, Ava shows up to see Nina and says she is sorry about what happened with Sonny and that he reacted the way he did, acknowledging that is was over the top, even for Sonny. Ava says she’ll smooth things over, but Nina says she now understands how manipulative and transparent Ava really is.

Given their horrible history, Nina goes in on Ava and how she should never have trusted her. Nina wants to know how long has Ava had this agenda dating all the way back to telling Nina to turn Carly (Laura Wright) and Drew (Cameron Mathison) into the SEC. Ava says she never told her do to that, but Nina wants to know how long Ava has been playing her for a fool.

Courtesy/ABC

Ava says she moved in with Sonny to keep Avery safe and she wants to be on good terms with Avery’s father, Sonny. Nina thinks she likes being in Sonny’s inner circle. Ava tells Nina if she goes to him about her advising Nina to call the SEC on Carly and Drew, it won’t work.  Sonny still considers Nina a traitor and he will think she’s lying because she’s so desperate to win him back. Ava says if Nina would stop blaming everyone else that maybe Sonny would respect her.  Nina says “like he does you?” Ava says Sonny not only respects her, but he also counts on her.

From there, Ava launches into why she and Sonny understand each other, after all, Sonny is a powerful, turbulent, and sometimes violent man. She goes so far to say if Nina wanted someone to just sit by the fire with and play with their grandchildren, she’s got the wrong guy.  Ava then talks about Mike from Nixon Falls (Sonny with amnesia) and how Sonny hid the darkest parts of himself from Nina back then, whereas with Ava they are the same similar creatures, so he doesn’t have to hide anything.

Courtesy/ABC

Nina wants to know just what Ava wants with Sonny? What is her end game? Ava responds that they understand each other, in ways she can’t with Sonny. Nina tells Ava she can go ahead and have it all and signs Sonny’s divorce papers. Ava walks out with the documents, while Nina in tears at her desk, takes off her wedding rings and has her assistant come in so she can messenger the rings back to Sonny’s address.

The episode and these scenes featured great performances by Cynthia Watros and Maura West. You can check some of the scenes below.

Now, let us know, what is Ava’s next move? Is she going to become Mrs. Sonny Corinthos? Do you like Ava and Nina as enemies? Comment below.

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AEW

AEW Dynasty: Swerve Strickland Becomes AEW World Heavyweight Champion, Jack Perry Returns, Will Ospreay Retires Move After Scary Finish

There is no doubt now, who’s house it is in AEW? It’s “Swerve’s House” after his strong showing on Sunday nights AEW Dynasty pay-per-view. In the main event, Swerve Strickland captured the AEW World Heavyweight Championship defeating Samoa Joe in a career-defining moment.

Strickland becomes the first ever Black AEW World Heavyweight Champion in the organizations history.  And it was not loss on Strickland, who spoke about it in the post-Dynasty media scrum, but also knew the moment was upon him from the moment he was going to make his ring entrance in front of a sold-out crowd in St. Louis and those watching around the world on cable outlets or via Bleacher Report.

Swerve Strickland ring entrance showed that he was dressed to impress, in a mask and black and gold spandex attire. As fans caught on , Swerve was paying tribute to the character of Kilmonger, the antagonist of 2018’s Black Panther film from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But that was not all, Prince Nana, Strickland’s manager/sidekick covered Strickland with a robe that belonged to Jimmy Rave. Rave was part of Ring of Honor during the company’s early days and was part of Nana’s stable The Embassy. He has three shots at the ROH title but never won the big prize.

Photo: AEW

AEW Dynasty had three major matches back-to-back to conclude the three hours show.  Strickland in the main event defeating Samoa Joe, and before that The Young Bucks (Matthew and Nicholas Jackson) vs. FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) for the AEW World Tag Team Championships in a brutal ladder match.

Courtesy/AEW

In the deciding moment of the match after Harwood goes to climb up the ladder to reach  for the titles, a masked man runs in and knocks over the ladder. It’s revealed to be none other than the previously suspended, Jack Perry (son of the late 90210 star, Luke Perry). Perry throws up the Elite symbol as security escorts him away. Nicholas Jackson looks pleased by the interference and uses it to take advantage and climb the ladder to get control of the title belts and The Young Bucks become the new AEW tag champs, once again.

The most highly-anticipated match of the night was between two of the greatest wrestlers to ever do it – Bryan Danielson and Will Ospreay and after more than a half-hour of back and forth with high flying moves, technical precision and punches and kicks, Ospreay was able to get the pin, but unfortunately in the last few minutes of the match, Danielson went down after Ospreay delivered the Storm Driver ’91 move. Next, the referee called for medical to check out Danielson, while Will was unaware of that and continued to finish the match.

Photo: AEW

At the post-Dynasty media scrum, an upset Ospreay began by addressing reporters and sharing, “I’m super glad that everybody enjoyed the match. A little bit of a dampener on how it’s all kind of the dust has settled now. I’ve reviewed the footage myself. Seeing Bryan got hurt on the Storm Driver, and I didn’t see the referee call for the doctor and I didn’t see it. So I want to apologize on that.So even though like 90% of the time that moves been absolutely fine, seeing the damage that it’s kind of done, I’m going to retire using the Storm Driver ’91. I don’t think it’s right for me to continue using it after seeing what it did to Bryan, someone that I’ve got huge amounts of respect for, this was kind of my dream match. This is something I’ve wanted since I was a kid. Although I’m happy when everyone enjoyed the match, I’m kind of disappointed in myself. So once again, I apologize to Bryan probably apologize to AEW medics, I apologize to Tony (Khan, CEO/GM AEW).

In one of the best matches in the card, and in the opening bout, for the AEW Continental Championship Match, “Rainmaker” Kazuchika Okada defeated “The Bastard” PAC to retain his title. Meanwhile, Willow Nightingale became the Women’s TBS Champion defeating Julia Hart, only to have Mercedes Mone come to the ring to challenge Willow at Double or Nothing in Vegas at the end of May.

So, what do you think of Swerve Strickland becoming AEW World Champ? Jack Perry’s return? Will Ospreay’s match-up with Bryan Danielson and its ending? Let us know in the comment section below.

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Recaps

THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL: Lauren Gives Deacon an Earful About Sugar

On Friday’s April 19th episode of The Bold and the Beautiful, Lauren (Tracey E. Bregman) and Deacon (Sean Kanan) make a stunning realization, and viewers of the CBS soap opera can also give themselves a round of applause for figuring out the mystery surrounding (Kimberlin Brown) Sheila’s ‘death’, or at least a part of it.

At Il Giardino, Lauren and Deacon are getting into a heated exchange over Sheila. Going over the events that transpired with Lauren, Deacon tells her what he saw in the crematorium when the sheet lifted up revealing that the deceased person had ten toes, not nine as Sheila had.

Then, Deacon asks a freaked out Lauren, what she knows about Sugar? He reveals, “Sheila was texting with her before she went to Steffy’s.” Deacon begs Lauren to tell him. Lauren says the Sugar she knows couldn’t possibly be texting Sheila or anyone else for that matter because she’s in jail.

Photo: JPI

A reluctant Lauren finally tells Deacon what she knows about the sordid backstory of Sheila and Sugar. Lauren begins, “Sheila met her in prison. She was her warden.” She then goes into how they resurfaced in Genoa City and how Sheila was locked up in a mental ward. Confused and trying to follow along, Deacon looks shocked.  That’s when Lauren says he will be blown away by the rest of the story.

As they sit, Lauren explains that all that time she thought it was Sheila who was locked up, she learned that it wasn’t her in the mental institution. That is when we are treated to a flashback. It was there that Sheila admits to Lauren that when she and Sugar escaped the prison, they fled to South America, where Sugar sacrificed her face. Sugar thought she was going in for a facelift, but Sheila was able to buy off corrupt doctors to have Sugar’s face altered to look exactly like Sheila.

Courtesy/CBS

Deacon gulps, “What are you telling me, Lauren?” Lauren says, “That there’s someone out there who looks exactly like Sheila. Someone with ten toes.” Vindicated, Deacon shouts, “I was right. It wasn’t Sheila who got cremated. She’s alive! My, God! Sheila’s alive!”

So, the search will be for Sheila starting with next week’s episodes of B&B. Do you think somehow Sheila will wind up in the orbit of Lauren if she has been in hiding since Steffy ‘killed” her in self-defense?  Is Sheila kidnapped somewhere? Share your thoughts via the comment section, but first, look at the set-up of Deacon learning about Sheila and Sugar’s past from Lauren.

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