Backlash (2025)
| Backlash | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Promotional poster | |||
| Promotion | WWE | ||
| Brand(s) | Raw SmackDown | ||
| Date | May 10, 2025 | ||
| City | St. Louis, Missouri | ||
| Venue | Enterprise Center | ||
| WWE Network event chronology | |||
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| Backlash chronology | |||
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The 2025 Backlash, also promoted as Backlash St. Louis, is an upcoming professional wrestling event produced by WWE. It will be the 20th Backlash event and will take place on Saturday, May 10, 2025, at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri. The event will air via pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming and will feature wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. The concept of the event is based around the backlash from WrestleMania 41.
The event will feature John Cena's first appearance at a Backlash event since 2009. It will also be Cena's last Backlash appearance due to his retirement from professional wrestling at the end of 2025.
Production
[edit]Background
[edit]
Backlash is a recurring professional wrestling event that was established by WWE in 1999.[1] It was held annually from 1999 to 2009, but was then discontinued until it was reinstated in 2016 and has been held every year since, except in 2019. The original concept of the event was based around the aftermath from WWE's flagship event, WrestleMania. The events between 2016 and 2020 did not carry this theme; however, the 2021 show returned the event to its original concept.[2]
On March 14, 2025, WWE announced that the 20th Backlash, promoted as "Backlash St. Louis", would take place on May 10, 2025, at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri, and feature wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brand divisions.[3] In addition to airing on traditional pay-per-view (PPV) worldwide and via livestreaming on Peacock in the United States, the event will also be available to livestream on Netflix in most international markets and the WWE Network in any remaining countries that have not yet transferred to Netflix due to pre-existing contracts. This marks the first Backlash to livestream on Netflix following the WWE Network's merger under the service in January 2025 in those areas.[4] Tickets will go on sale on March 21 via Ticketmaster.[3]
Storylines
[edit]The event will include matches that result from scripted storylines. Results are predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands,[5][6] while storylines are produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.[7]
References
[edit]- ^ "WWE Backlash". The History of WWE. Archived from the original on February 6, 2010. Retrieved August 23, 2009.
- ^ Lambert, Jeremy (April 11, 2021). "WWE Announces WrestleMania Backlash For May". Fightful. Archived from the original on April 12, 2021. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
- ^ a b Lambert, Jeremy (March 14, 2025). "WWE Backlash Announced For May 10, John Cena To Appear". Fightful. Archived from the original on March 14, 2025. Retrieved March 14, 2025.
- ^ Gibbons, Aidan (January 25, 2024). "WWE Network to be shut down by the end of 2024". Cultaholic. Archived from the original on January 25, 2024. Retrieved January 25, 2024.
- ^ Grabianowski, Ed (January 13, 2006). "How Pro Wrestling Works". HowStuffWorks. Discovery Communications. Archived from the original on November 29, 2013. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
- ^ "Live & Televised Entertainment". WWE. Archived from the original on February 18, 2009. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
- ^ Steinberg, Brian (May 25, 2016). "WWE's 'Smackdown' Will Move To Live Broadcast On USA (Exclusive)". Variety. Archived from the original on May 26, 2016. Retrieved May 25, 2016.