Ranking the rumored WWE Backlash 2026 card from worst to best

We haven't even had WrestleMania yet, but here we are

Look, I get it. The internet wrestling community has the patience of a toddler on a sugar bender. We are exactly twenty days away from WrestleMania 41 in Las Vegas, and yet my timeline is completely clogged with leaked run sheets for WWE Backlash.

Backlash isn't until May 9. We have an entire two-night stadium show at Allegiant to get through first. Cody Rhodes still has to survive whatever the Bloodline throws at him. John Cena is gearing up for his massive farewell moments. CM Punk is probably going to bleed buckets in front of eighty thousand people.

But since the dirt sheets insist on dropping the tentative Backlash card right now, we might as well talk about it. Some of this booking is baffling. Some of it is inspired. And some of it makes me want to throw my television into a dumpster.

Let's run down the rumored Backlash 2026 card, ranked from the absolute dregs to the main event we actually want to see.

7. The obligatory midcard multi-man cluster

Sitting firmly at the bottom of the barrel is the rumored United States Championship six-pack challenge. The leak suggests LA Knight defending against Carmelo Hayes, Andrade, Santos Escobar, a returning AJ Styles, and a wild card from NXT.

I am so tired of this match formula. WWE loves to throw six guys in the ring just to get them on a premium live event. It’s lazy booking disguised as action. You know exactly how this goes because we have seen it a hundred times before.

Two guys will wrestle for forty seconds while the other four take naps on the floor outside. Then we get the obligatory Tower of Doom spot out of the corner that takes entirely too long to set up. Everyone hits their finisher in sequence. Knight hits the BFT on Escobar for the pin around the 12:45 mark.

It's pure filler. It's an excuse to sell LA Knight t-shirts on May 9. Carmelo Hayes is far too talented to be playing fifth wheel in a match designed strictly to eat up a fifteen-minute segment.

6. Jade Cargill vs. Bianca Belair (The Never-Ending Story)

According to the rundown, we are getting chapter four of Jade Cargill versus Bianca Belair at Backlash. Why? Seriously, who is asking for this match again?

Their first encounter was special because it had that big fight feel. The second was fine. The third felt like a forced mandate from the boardroom trying to manufacture a classic. Now we are dragging this feud into May of 2026?

Bianca is arguably the best pure athlete the women's division has ever seen. Jade looks like she was carved out of marble by Greek gods. But their chemistry just isn't there right now. The pacing always drags in the middle. We saw it at the Royal Rumble when they completely bumbled through that transition sequence on the ring apron.

Give Bianca something fresh. Turn her heel. Let her run through the roster with a steel chair. Let her actually show some edge instead of just swinging the braid and smiling. Anything is better than watching them try to hit that KOD counter sequence for the tenth time on television. The division has so much depth right now, tying your two biggest stars together for half the year is a total waste of resources.

5. The Wyatt Sicks vs. The Judgment Day

I will admit, I am a sucker for the spooky nonsense. When Uncle Howdy's faction first debuted, I was highly skeptical. Bray Wyatt's original run was magic, and I didn't want anyone touching that legacy. But the Wyatt Sicks have found a weird, violent, grungy groove that actually works on television.

The leak puts them up against whatever is left of the Judgment Day. Finn Balor and JD McDonagh bumping around for Dexter Lumis and Erick Rowan sounds like a perfectly acceptable way to spend fifteen minutes. Balor can make anyone look like a million bucks.

My only problem here is the absolute lack of stakes. There are zero consequences to this match. This feels like a raw television main event that got bumped to a PLE because the card was running short on time. Balor will take a Sister Abigail, the lights will flicker, and the Wyatt Sicks will pose in the smoke.

It’ll be fun, but completely forgettable by the time Monday Night Raw rolls around. At least we get to hear that incredible piano entrance theme echoing through the arena.

4. Gunther's Next Victim

The leaked card simply lists "Gunther vs. TBD". And you know what? That is completely fine by me.

Gunther is the best working professional wrestler on the planet right now. He chops chests into raw hamburger meat. He treats every single match like a legitimate athletic contest. You could put him in the ring with a broomstick and he would get a four-star match out of it.

The speculation is that after WrestleMania 41, Gunther will need a placeholder opponent before the summer build starts. Rumors point to either Sheamus or a newly drafted guy from NXT like Oba Femi. If it's Oba Femi, inject that match directly into my veins.

Two massive men beating the absolute hell out of each other for twenty minutes is exactly what a B-level PLE like Backlash needs. Gunther doesn't need a deep, emotional storyline. He just needs an opponent foolish enough to stand across from him.

3. CM Punk vs. Seth Rollins: The Blood Feud Continues

Now we are getting to the absolute meat of the card. The rumors state that Punk and Rollins are going to tear each other apart at WrestleMania 41 in Vegas, but the finish will be controversial enough to warrant a massive gimmick match at Backlash.

The word on the street? A Last Man Standing match.

I have very mixed feelings about this. On one hand, Punk and Rollins genuinely seem to despise each other in real life, and that bleeds through the television screen in the best way possible. When Punk cuts a promo on Seth, calling him a corporate stooge, you believe every single word.

On the other hand, a Last Man Standing match in 2026 worries me. Punk is pushing fifty years old. His body has betrayed him more than once since he came back to wrestling. Triceps tears, foot injuries, you name it. Do we really need to see him taking a powerbomb through the announce table at his age?

If they keep it psychology-based instead of a stupid stunt show, this could be brilliant. Work the knee. Use the ring steps as a weapon. Keep it gritty and grounded. Just please, keep them both off the lighting rig. We need them healthy for SummerSlam.

2. John Cena's Final Tag Team Victory Lap

WrestleMania 41 is being billed as Cena's massive farewell, but the leaked rundown has him working Backlash in a tag team showcase. The rumor has Cena teaming with a rising star against a veteran heel duo to protect him in the ring.

Honestly? I absolutely love it. This is exactly how you handle the tail end of a retirement tour. You don't have the forty-something veteran try to carry a thirty-minute singles classic every single month on the calendar.

You hide his weaknesses in a tag match. You let the young guy take the heat for ten minutes while the heels cheat behind the referee's back. The crowd gets desperate. The anticipation builds. Then you get the hot tag to Cena.

The arena will blow the roof off. He hits the flying shoulder tackles. He hits the spin-out powerbomb. He hits the Five Knuckle Shuffle. He hits the Attitude Adjustment for the 1-2-3. We all go home happy.

It’s cheap nostalgia, but professional wrestling is built on a foundation of cheap nostalgia. If this is truly the end of the line for Cena, I want to see him play the hits one last time before he rides off to Hollywood for good.

1. Cody Rhodes vs. The Rock

This is it. The big one. The rumored main event that has the entire wrestling timeline in an absolute uproar. Cody Rhodes defending the WWE Championship against The Final Boss himself.

We all know Cody is surviving whatever Roman Reigns has left at WrestleMania. The Bloodline story has to culminate with Roman finally realizing he lost his empire and his family. But The Rock doesn't care about the tribal empire. The Rock cares about the spotlight, the power, and the gold.

Having Rock step up to challenge Cody a month after Mania is a massive flex by WWE. It keeps the incredible momentum rolling right through the usual spring lull. Remember the raw after WrestleMania XL? When Rock held Cody's title and told him their story wasn't over? This is the payoff.

Can Rock go thirty minutes at this point in his life? Probably not. He was blowing up heavily during the tag match in Philly two years ago. But he doesn't need to be Kenny Omega out there. He just needs to be The Rock.

The promos leading up to this will be absolutely nuclear. Cody wearing the tailored suits, trying to play the noble, fighting champion, while Rock just verbally eviscerates him for twenty minutes on SmackDown. It’s a license to print money.

The match itself will be twenty minutes of brawling into the crowd, referee bumps, and stolen finishers. It will be an over-booked, chaotic, beautiful mess, and I am going to watch every single second of it.

If WWE actually pulls the trigger on this leaked card, May 9 is going to be an incredible night of wrestling. Just let us get through Vegas first, okay?