WWE News: Kickoff Show match is set for Backlash this Sunday
What's the story?
The WWE has announced via their website and social media platforms the match for the Backlash Kickoff Show this Sunday. It will be Ruby Riott from the Riott Squad taking on Bayley.
In case you didn't know...
Ruby Riott along with Sarah Logan and Liv Morgan were moved from SmackDown Live to Monday Night Raw during the Superstar Shakeup a couple of weeks ago. The Riott Squad made their main roster debut on SmackDown this past November as they attacked some top female stars such as Naomi and Becky Lynch.
The heart of the matter
The addition of Riott and Bayley brings the total of women's matches to the first co-branded pay per view of the current brand split era to three.
The other matches will be for each brand's respective championships when Carmella defends her WWE SmackDown Women's Championship against Charlotte Flair and Nia Jax defends her WWE Raw Women's Championship against Alexa Bliss.
Backlash also includes a couple of good match-ups for the WWE's secondary titles. Jeff Hardy defends his WWE United States Championship against Randy Orton, and Seth Rollins defends his WWE Intercontinental Championship against The Miz.
The pay per view will be headlined by AJ Styles against Shinsuke Nakamura for the WWE Championship.
What's next?
Backlash is just a little over 48 hours away when it airs live this Sunday on the WWE Network. The pay per view takes place from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
Author's take
This should be a very good women's match to kick off the pay per view. Riott and Sasha Banks had a really good match this week on Monday Night Raw, and this one with Bayley should be no exception.
Now that the pay per views are co-branded, I think it wouldn't be a bad idea to squeeze in a second match into the Kickoff Show to get more talent on the show. Considering the Kickoff Show is an hour long, it can easily be done.
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