Just six days before Backlash, "The Extreme Enigma" Jeff Hardy battled "The Ultimate Underdog" Rey Mysterio for the right to challenge "The Big Red Machine" Kane for the World Heavyweight Championship at Backlash. It was a hard-fought battle, but Jeff Hardy was able to pick up the victory after interference from Kane himself, who took out Mysterio with a Chokeslam. Hardy hadn't realized this, but saw that Mysterio was down, so he capitalized with a Swanton Bomb and scored the three count. Jeff Hardy was unable to win the World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestlemania 25--will he be able to do it at Backlash?
In the finals of the WWE United States Championship Tournament, Tyson Kidd defeated "The Fighting Irishman" Finlay and D.H. Smith to win the tournament and the right to face Dustin Delta for the U.S. Title at Backlash. The victory came after Finlay hit Smith with a Shillelagh, and Kidd Roundhouse Kicked Finlay out of the ring. Kidd hit a Springboard Elbow on his Tag Team Partner and pinned him to win the match.
Speaking of the U.S. Title, we were supposed to witness a battle of former U.S. Champions in Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) vs. Striker "Yank" Boyd, but that didn't happen. Instead, Boyd laid out MVP with not one - but two - Strikeouts before stating that he was going to regain the United States Championship.
In a Backlash Preview Match, Zack Ryder defeated nine other superstars to win a 10-Man Tri-Branded Battle Royal. The last man to be eliminated was Goldberg, who was thrown over the top rope by Ezekiel Jackson. Goldberg had eliminated Jackson minutes earlier, and he thought he eliminated Ryder, but Ryder went through the second rope and not over the top rope, so he wasn't eliminated.
In a huge Main Event Match, John Cena defeated Curt Hawkins & Cody Rhodes in a 2-on-1 Handicap Match after a Double F-U.
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