The smell of panic in the air
Jim Ross recently sounded off on the booking for Backlash. When the voice of a generation tells you the creative direction is flawed, you sit down and listen. The upcoming clash between Roman Reigns and Jacob Fatu is not sitting right with the legend, and frankly, I am right there with him in the cheap seats.
We are two days out from the show, and this pairing feels like the ultimate Band-Aid fix. It is the wrestling equivalent of deciding to build a skyscraper on a swamp five minutes before the grand opening ceremony. You do not just toss two heavy hitters together without a slow-burn build because the numbers on the weekly ratings graph look like a flatline.
Ross correctly identifies that this lacks the seasoning of a true mega-match. It is a spectacle, sure, but spectacle needs a heartbeat. Without the weeks of tension-filled promos or a string of interference-heavy disqualifications, it just feels hollow.
The Bloodline fatigue is real
We have all spent years watching the Bloodline saga evolve. It went from a compelling Mafia-style drama to that confusing, bloated mess we saw over the last eighteen months. Bringing Fatu in to face Roman now isn't a fresh infusion of ideas; it’s a desperate attempt to recapture the lightning in a bottle they lost two cycles ago.
Remember when we had real stakes in these matches? The 2011 Summer of Punk had air, space, and a narrative that needed to breathe. When you rush a match like Roman versus Fatu, you rob the fans of the anticipation. You are basically serving a five-course meal in three minutes, and expecting everyone to pretend it is a Michelin-star experience.
Even worse, this move reeks of reactionary booking. If the creative team felt like they needed something big to pop the crowd in France, maybe they should have spent some of that time they spent worrying about troubling trademark issues for their new recruits and actually written a script that didn't feel like a last-minute scramble.
Missing the mark on star power
Jacob Fatu is a monster in the ring. His work in the indies established him as one of the most agile big men working today, but he needs to be presented with gravity. Slamming him into the main event with Roman Reigns before the general audience knows his backstory—or worse, before they have a reason to fear him—is a massive oversight.
There is a lesson here from the past, though it seems lost on the current regime. Remember how long it took to build up the Goldberg streak? They didn't just throw him in with Hulk Hogan on a two-week notice. They let the lore create the demand. Fatu is being force-fed to the audience when a slow, steady build-up of his brutality would have made him an actual threat to Roman’s position.
I am not saying the match won't be technically sound. They are two of the best workers on the roster. But greatness in wrestling rarely comes from move-sets alone. It comes from the ‘why.’ If the ‘why’ is simply ‘we needed a main event because ratings are stagnating,’ then the finish is going to feel as flat as a day-old soda.
The structural collapse of modern storylines
Look at the way Teddy Long’s career almost took a turn for the worse during his days in the ring. It serves as a reminder that these guys put their bodies on theline for us to be entertained. When management throws them into a high-stakes match without a runway, they aren't just disrespecting the story—they are disrespecting the performers.
If this match was meant to be the next big chapter, it should have been the focus of the last four weeks of programming. Instead, it feels like an afterthought. It is a classic move from the playbook of ‘don’t worry, they’ll cheer because they know the names.’ We are smarter than that. We deserve more than just a name-value matchup.
I’m putting the over-under on interference at 100 percent. It’s the classic booking crutch when you have written yourselves into a corner. Either Roman takes a cheap win to protect his aura, or Fatu takes a fluke loss that stalls his momentum the minute he finally gets his spotlight.
The bottom line
This whole ordeal highlights a worrying lack of foresight in the creative room. We are in May of 2026, and the industry standard for storytelling is higher than it has ever been. Fans are watching hours of content every week. We remember what happened in January. We know when a story is being phoned in.
If you aren't going to craft a compelling arc, stop insulting our intelligence. Give us the technical matches, give us the character development, and stop acting like a marquee name on a poster is enough to sustain our interest. Roman deserves better opponents, and Fatu deserves a better debut to the global audience than a rushed, frantic, poorly-structured gimmick match.
I’ll be watching on Saturday, and I’ll be praying I’m wrong. But if the opening bell rings and the crowd isn't white-hot with genuine investment, turn to your buddies and say one name: Jim Ross. He warned us, and we should have listened to the man who called the greatest matches in history.
