April 25, 2003

With Backlash mere days away now, it\'s once again time to look back at previous Backlash events. Backlash, the four year-old pay-per-view, has been regarded as the opening pay-per-view event of the new WWF season, and as such gives fans a pretty good idea of the direction the company will be taking now that the road to Wrestlemania XX has begun.

Here are some of the highlighted facts about Backlash.

• Despite the event only being run for a short amount of time, only two wrestlers, Triple H and the Undertaker, have competed in all four Backlash PPVs. With Undertaker not scheduled for a match this year, Triple H will become the only wrestler to be in all five Backlash PPVs.
  
  
• The Undertaker has the most Backlash victories at 3-1. Billy Gunn and Chris Benoit share the honour of the most wins without a loss at 2-0. It should be noted that both of Gunn\'s matches were tag matches.
  
  
• Jeff Hardy holds the double distinction of most losses and most losses without a win at 0-3. Bubba Ray Dudley, D-Von Dudley and Chris Jericho are next at 0-2.
  
  
• There has only been one women\'s match at Backlash, which featured Jazz beating Trish. With the two ladies being the only two to compete once again this year, they will remain the only two women to compete at Backlash.
  
  
• Despite the implication one might get from reading the title of the pay-per-view, only one WWF championship bout was a return match from \'Mania. That was Rock vs. Austin from the first Backlash PPV.
  
  
• This year\'s Backlash represents the one-year anniversary of the first PPV following the brand extension.
  
  
• Interesting to note that four wrestlers who were call-ups from OVW during the last year are in title matches this year. They are Brock Lesnar, John Cena, Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas.
  
  
• Along with Cena, Benjamin and Haas, Shawn Michaels, Lance Storm, Sean O\'Haire, Chavo Guererro Jr., Rey Mysterio Jr., Goldberg, Ric Flair, Booker T and Kevin Nash will make their Backlash debuts this year.
  
  
• Goldberg joins Brock Lesnar as the only two wrestlers to be in their first WWF match at Backlash.
  
  
• Cena and Lesnar\'s match represents the first time that two wrestlers who made their major federation debuts with the WWF will be competing for the title.
  
  
• Quirky fact: the Hardy Boyz have never competed at Backlash as a team.

Jon Waldman is a freelance writer based in Winnipeg. Jon has been writing for SLAM! Wrestling since 2000.