3 moments that were not supposed to happen at WWE Backlash
WWE Backlash 2025 was the company’s first premium live event after WrestleMania 41. While the St. Louis PLE gave the fans several big moments, it also carried some unintended mishaps.
Here are three moments that didn’t go as planned by Triple H and his creative team.
#3. Drew McIntyre’s injury scare at WWE Backlash
Drew McIntyre competed against Jacob Fatu, LA Knight, and Damian Priest for the United States Championship in a Fatal Four-Way match. The Scottish Psychopath looked poised for the win and had almost pinned The Megastar after a perfect Claymore. However, The Punisher pulled the referee’s leg before he could land the third count on the canvas.
Following this, Drew McIntyre and Damian Priest focused on each other, their fight spilling into the stands where the WWE fans were seated. The duo stood on top of a big box, and The Archer of Infamy delivered a South of the Heaven Chokeslam to the Scotsman, falling onto a table with him. However, The Scottish Psychopath’s head missed the table, landing clean on the floor.
Several WWE medics rushed to both McIntyre and Priest, and neither superstar was seen in the Fatal Four-Way after that. While The Scottish Warrior did hit his head hard, an injury was ruled out after a pretty big scare. Nonetheless, this wasn’t something the Stamford-based promotion expected to happen.
#2. Pat McAfee no-selling massive damage from Gunther
Pat McAfee faced Gunther at WWE Backlash after The Ring General had gone rogue following his World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania 41. The Austrian put his hands on Michael Cole on RAW after ‘Mania after the commentator emphasized that the former champion had tapped out to Jey Uso. McAfee tried to defend his friend but ended up getting caught in a sleeper hold, forced to leave the arena out of breath.
In St. Louis, while McAfee had several good spots, Gunther made it clear that there was no beating him. He put the commentator through several submission holds and chopped at him viciously. However, there was one moment where The Ring General was landing elbows on McAfee, but the commentator forgot to sell them as he looked at Michael Cole outside the ring.
This didn’t look good, but since Pat McAfee isn’t a trained professional wrestler, it didn’t bring him under fire. It left a bad taste in the mouths of several fans, especially since McAfee also tripped on the ropes during the match, which resulted in a total of two misses in his bout with Gunther. Lastly, when he reappeared on WWE RAW a week later, he didn’t have any neck brace or other signs of the punishment he received, which further didn’t go well with some fans.
#1. The delayed table collapse
John Cena and Randy Orton’s match for the Undisputed WWE Championship saw the longtime rivals deliver several big moments to the crowd of St. Louis. The Viper looked unstoppable and had the upper hand for most of the match. When their fight spilled to the ringside, Orton cleared the announce desk and slammed Cena with an Attitude Adjustment on the table.
However, the reinforced table didn’t break. Instead, it slowly collapsed a few seconds after the impact as John Cena lay similarly crumbled near the table. This was yet another unplanned spot, but the rest of the match drew the attention of fans away from it, including an RKO reversal by Randy Orton when the champion delivered an Attitude Adjustment to him.
