The Big Picture

The post-WrestleMania hangover is real, and the road to Backlash is a remarkably bumpy ride. While the May 1st edition of SmackDown provided a necessary jolt with a major call-up, the rest of the television product is struggling to maintain the momentum from Las Vegas. The stakes are incredibly high, yet the execution on weekly television feels weirdly relaxed.

The creative teams appear to be taking a breath, and the weekly shows are suffering. The next three weeks of programming will dictate whether the summer of 2026 catches fire or fizzles out entirely.

10. The Plodding Midcard Storylines

SmackDown's undercard is running in mud, and the live crowds are losing patience. Coming off the high of WrestleMania 41, the creative direction for the mid-tier titles has hit a brick wall. We spent far too much time on Friday night watching backstage segments that advanced absolutely nothing and resulted in the same tired tropes.

It is a glaring issue when a standard two-hour show feels like a three-hour slog because the booking committee took the week off. Someone needs to inject urgency before the audience checks out completely.

9. AEW's Sluggish Double or Nothing Build

While WWE deals with pacing issues, AEW is fighting the exact same battle. With Double or Nothing scheduled for May 24, the weekly television product feels entirely disconnected from the upcoming pay-per-view.

We are getting technically sound wrestling matches, but the emotional stakes are missing. Tony Khan needs to draw aggressive lines between his top contenders immediately. The current card feels like a random assortment of exhibitions rather than the blood feuds that typically define AEW's tentpole events. The clock is ticking, and the audience needs a reason to buy the broadcast.

8. The Women's Division Television Squeeze

Friday's SmackDown was another frustrating night for the women's roster. Despite boasting the deepest pool of female talent in history, the allocation of television minutes remains bafflingly poor.

Getting a clunky five-minute match stuffed between two commercial breaks does nothing to build new challengers. If the company wants fans to care about the Backlash title picture, they have to let the talent cut a promo that lasts longer than a social media reel. The roster is there, but the platform is failing them week after week. It is a massive oversight that needs immediate correction.

7. The Lingering Ghost of John Cena

It has only been two weeks since Allegiant Stadium, but the void left by John Cena's farewell is undeniable. You can feel the distinct lack of that gravity-shifting star power whenever the main event scene needs a reliable crowd reaction.

The current roster is stacked with athletes, but replacing a once-in-a-generation draw is an awkward transition. The audience is waiting for a new face to command that massive spotlight and take control of the main event picture. So far, the ongoing auditions from the younger talent are coming up noticeably short.

6. The Bloodline's Quiet Regrouping

Roman Reigns and his fractured faction are operating in the shadows, and the television silence is deafening. Following the chaos of WrestleMania 41, the deliberate pacing of their current story arc is a massive risk.

While the slow burn approach has worked for them previously, keeping top merchandise movers out of the primary title picture requires a delicate touch. The fans in the arenas are getting restless. They are openly waiting for the next shoe to drop in this family drama, and making them wait too long risks killing the heat entirely.

5. CM Punk's Unresolved Television Tension

Punk walked out of Las Vegas with a massive spotlight, but the creative follow-up has felt entirely disjointed. He is floating aimlessly between mid-level feuds without a definitive target, which actively wastes his legendary promo ability.

You do not pay a premium for a generational talent like Punk just to have him tread water in the upper midcard. The creative team needs to lock in his Backlash opponent immediately. His current ambiguous television status is draining his momentum by the week. A talent of this caliber requires a clear, defined enemy to push against.

4. Cody Rhodes Discovering the Weight of the Crown

Chasing the belt is always easier than holding it. Cody Rhodes is currently discovering exactly how heavy the WWE Championship is as he navigates his first post-Mania defense.

The target on his back is massive, but his recent television appearances have bordered on complacent. He desperately needs a challenger who physically threatens his reign. Another standard villain designed strictly to eat a finisher will not cut it for a prolonged summer run.

3. The Impending Chaos of the France Crowd

If one thing is keeping the lackluster Backlash build alive, it is the guaranteed chaos of the European crowd. The fans in France are going to completely hijack the show on May 9, and WWE management is lazily leaning into it.

You do not always need a perfectly logical feud if the arena is going to sound like a jet engine for three hours. That electric atmosphere is doing the heavy lifting for an otherwise predictable card, masking the blatant creative deficiencies.

2. The Raw Energy of the Main Event

Despite the flaws in the rest of the May 1st broadcast, the closing segment delivered the frantic panic the show needed. When the final bell rang, the violent breakdown of order in the ring was exactly what primetime wrestling should look like.

It wasn't clean, and it wasn't pretty. It felt dangerously unscripted and completely out of control. We desperately need more of that unpredictable energy and significantly less of the heavily rehearsed promos that plagued the first hour of the broadcast.

1. Ricky Saints Instantly Changing the SmackDown Temperature

This was the exact jolt of pure electricity the company desperately needed. Making his highly anticipated main roster debut on the May 1st edition of SmackDown, Ricky Saints immediately changed the temperature in the building.

You could feel the live crowd recognize that a game-changing piece had just been added to the board. It is rare for a recent call-up to immediately feel like they belong in the main event conversation, but Saints bypassed the midcard entirely. If WWE handles this push correctly, he will be the breakout star of the summer and a massive merchandise mover.

Honorable Mentions

  • The continued reliance on predictable distraction finishes to protect top-tier talent.
  • The tag team division urgently needing a permanent physical split of the titles to create new contenders.
  • The broadcast team actively calling out the genuinely bad officiating on Friday night.