Major questions heading into WWE Backlash 2017
WWE Backlash 2017 is set for this Sunday, May 21st at the Allstate Arena in Chicago, Illinois.
This is the first SmackDown special to follow not only after WrestleMania but the Superstar Shake-Up as well, so it has major implications on how the rest of 2017 will play out for the blue brand.
One little tweak to the stories being told could have very long lasting effects on the coming months and may even dictate what happens to next year's WrestleMania if the shockwaves stretch that far.
Normally at this point, just a few days before a pay-per-view, we have a pretty good indication of what may happen at the event, but even though this card appears to be set in stone, there are still some questions the WWE Universe should have on their collective minds.
#1 Is Charlotte Flair a heel or a babyface?
For the better part of her career in WWE, Charlotte Flair has been a heel, playing the character of a conceited title-driven and downright nasty woman.
In her time on the main roster, she’s held the Raw Women’s Championship four times, and the moment she was drafted over to SmackDown, it felt that she would be holding that brand’s title as well.
Somewhere down the line, this seems like an inevitability, so since the bulk of her time as champion has been while she was a heel, it feels natural that she would continue that trend.
However, the current storyline puts her in a different light where she’s teaming with Becky Lynch and Naomi in order to fight a common enemy in The Welcoming Committee.
What is strange about this is that the entire feud has revolved around Charlotte making enemies, yet Becky and Naomi are somehow fighting on her side even though they have absolutely no reason to do so.
Charlotte never approached them for help, nor did Naomi and Becky get targeted by Natalya, Tamina and Carmella in order to force a unification to fight a common threat. Instead, Becky and Naomi simply inserted themselves into the conflict and told Charlotte that the three of them needed to bond, but has that really happened?
She still refers to herself as “the queen” and carries herself exactly as she did before. She’s gotten into arguments with her teammates about how they get in each other’s way and tries to show that nothing is her fault.
This stinks of a misdirect where Charlotte has not actually had a change of heart whatsoever, and she’ll either turn on her teammates during or after the match.
Either Charlotte is just as much of a heel as she’s always been and she’s simply using Naomi and Becky for backup protection, or WWE’s creative team and the performers themselves are doing a poor job illustrating that she is now supposed to be a fan favourite.