One of my all time favorites.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Blistering performances.

1) Carlito vs. Chris Masters. Nothing terrible here, but nothing special either. In my opinion, these two are not yet experienced enough to carry a PPV match on their own. **2) Umaga vs. Ric Flair. Not much to say about this one. Umaga is just a Rikishi-style "wrestler", and Flair should have retired about a decade ago. *1/2 3) Trish vs. Mickie (Women's Title). This match begins aggressively, especially on Trish's part, but then she hurts her shoulder for real and we get a quick and cheap DQ ending. Disappointing. *1/24) RVD vs. Shelton Benjamin (Winner Takes All - MITB contract AND the IC title). Now this is what I call a match! An ideal combination of ground wrestling and aerial spots, and an amazing display of athleticism by two of the best wrestlers on the WWE roster. Match of the night. ***1/2 5) Kane vs. Big Show. Incredibly sluggish big-man match, but the "mystical" storyline surrounding it (which was meant to promote Kane's movie "See No Evil", and was completely dropped after a few weeks) is good for a few (unintentional) laughs. **6) The McMahons vs. HBK and "God" (No Holds Barred). I didn't care at all about the Vince-HBK feud, nor am I fan of draggy hardcore brawls. HBK tries to save this match with some high-risk moves, but there is only so much you can do with Vince McMahon and the Spirit Squad in the ring. ** 7) Edge vs. Cena vs. HHH. Triple Threat for the WWE title. The wrestling here is not brilliant by any means, but the dynamics of a triple threat are well-worked-out and (along with a hot crowd) make this enjoyable. ***Footnote: Matt Striker is so good on the mic that he even makes a sketch with Eugene (almost) tolerable.

Backlash 2006 from Lexington, Kentucky seemed on the road to ruin until the final two matches of the evening. The undercard was mediocre to say the least. Carlito defeated The Masterpiece, Chris Masters in a decent opener. Umaga destroyed Ric Flair in a worthless match. Trish Stratus unfortunately suffered a dislocated shoulder in her WrestleMania 22 rematch with Mickie James. This cause the match to be cut short with Trish winning with a cheap disqualification victory. This certainly left the fans in attendance wondering what the hell had just happened. This wouldn't be the first time that night they would feel like that.The Money in the Bank vs the Intercontinental Championship match was up next. I was looking forward to this one and it more than had the potential to be the match of the night. Is it me, or has Rob Van Dam lost a step or two since coming back from injury? His match with Shelton Benjamin was a big disappointment. Maybe this would have been better if they had kept to the Money in the Bank tradition and had this one as a Ladder match too. What good does it do to have RVD become a six time Intercontinental Champion anyway? The booking of WWE lately leaves a lot to be desired.The next match on the card was one of the most awful matches in the history of WWE Pay Per View. Remember, fans in the United Kingdom have to stay up until around four in the morning to watch a WWE Pay Per View event live. Having something like this mess on the card only acts as a heavy dose of sleeping tablets. The Big Show vs Kane was dire and the ending was even worse. It ended in a no contest after the lights went out May 19th was quoted again and again and again for what seemed like an eternity. And I thought their PPV contests back in 1999 were bad. It will take a lot to beat this for worst match of 1999.I may be the only one who has enjoyed Vince McMahon's performances as of late regarding this whole God angle. His hammy, over the top acting went once step further during his introduction of God to Backlash. This was all truly comical stuff. To keep the feud rolling between the McMahon boys and Shawn Michaels it looked certain that this glorified handicap match was going to end up with the McMahon's picking up the victory. The match itself was highly entertaining. It didn't have the same "big time" feel to it that WrestleMania 22 had but it was riveting viewing none the less.The main event was next. WWE Champion John Cena was defending his title against both Triple H and Edge. The match was fantastic back and forth action and although the crowd were solidly behind Triple H I don't think anyone could have been certain about who was going to walk out with the gold. In the end Cena picked up the surprise victory with a pinfall over The King of Kings. However after the match, Triple H destroyed everyone with his trusty sledgehammer and it was him, not Cena, who we saw standing with his hands in the air as Backlash went of the air. This was certainly a sign to Edge and Cena to remind them as to who the real star of the WWE is.Backlash 2006 would have bombed out if it had not been for the last two matches of the night. For the past two years, when it comes to the one brand only Pay Per Views it has been Raw hands down that have been the cream of the crop. With the disaster known as New Years Revolution and now Backlash not proving great, maybe Smackdown's time has finally arrived. Raw may have the stars but without the booking team putting the right men in the right angles, their product will continue to fail. Hopefully we will see an improvement at Vengeance on July 25th.

This PPV didn't disappoint me. In fact, I was very pleased with it. The only bad thing was that Vince McMahon booked himself and his son Shane in a fight against HBK and GOD almighty which I found offensive. Now let me say a few words about the matches on the card:Match #1 - Carlito vs Chris Masters - I really liked the feud that developed between this two young athletes in the past couple of weeks. Some funny promos took place on RAw in that time. The match was really good. Carlito's head took a big bump after he hit a corner pad with his head when Masters performed a powerbomb like move, but it didn't stop Carlito to win this match. He used a backcracker to put down Masters and used his feet on the ropes for leverage for the victory. I've got a feeling that Carlito might be the new 'Dirtiest player in the game'. Crowd loves him even when he does illegal moves. Anyway a really good opener. 7/10Match #2 - Umaga vs Ric Flair - this was basically a squash match where Ric Flair jobbed like never before. In under 4 minutes he falls victim to Umaga who stays undefeated (although in 2002/03 under gimmick of Jamal he got beat on many occasions - but I guess new character means new person ... oh well). I was really sorry to see Nature Boy get beat like this. Maybe it's a sign of his retirement closing. 2/10Match #3 - Mickie James vs Trish Stratus (women championship) - unfortunately it is hard to judge this match because in the opening minutes Trish dislocated her right shoulder and I'm not sure that Trish winning by DQ was supposed to be the ending of this match. Anyway I rate it 5/10 because they are WWE divas - most beautiful women in the world and I have no heart to give them a lower grade.Match #4 - Shelton Benjamin vs Rob Van Dam (intercontintental championship/ Money in the Bank) - both MITB briefcase and intercontinental championship were on the line - after 18 minutes of a great battle RVD hits his Van Daminator to send briefcase right into Shelton's head which he followed by a beautiful 5 star frog splash. Winner and the new Intercontinental champion Rob Van Dam. 9/10Match #5 - Big Show vs Kane - this match went to a no contest because WWE is promoting a movie starring Kane so now Kane hears some voices in his head telling him about May 19th and something that happened on that date. Voices came over the loudspeakers and the lights in the arena went red - Kane fell on the ground holding his head trying to stop the voices - Big Show took a chair and hit Kane in the head with it to 'put him out of his misery' and then walked out. 3/10Match #6 - Vince McMahon & Shane McMahon vs Shawn Michaels & GOD (no holds barred match) - Vince changed the stipulation of the match to 'no holds barred right before it started. Although I hate this mocking of GOD the match had some nice spots - after ramming Shane's head into Backlash sign Shawn used crossbody to take himself and Vince to fall down to a lower meters. Although they landed on soft spot it was very nice because they fell down from some 5 meters of height. (I know it's no fall from the top of the cell but still...). In the end HBK laid out both Vince and Shane down in the ring and set up 20 foot ladder trying to perform the same thing he did at Wrestlemania 22 but unfortunately all 5 members of the Spirit Squad came out and beat on Shawn and slammed him through the table allowing Vince to cover HBK for the win. A very nice match 8/10Match #7 - John Cena vs Edge vs Triple H (WWE championship triple threat) - this was an awesome and brutal match - The first highlight of this match was Cena hoisting up both men on his shoulders at the same time for F-U but he couldn't connect. After that Edge performed his impaler DDT on Triple H on the Spanish announce table (always Spanish ...) and then rammed his head into the steel post which busted HHH open. HHH retaliated with a massive chair shot. Then he went to the ring to attack Cena but he retaliated with the STF-U submission hold but HHH got to the ropes. Cena then tried to use the same submission maneuver on Edge but before he tapped, Triple H stopped his hand and then whacked Cena with the microphone. After some recuperating Cena tried to perform his F-U finisher on Edge on the top rope but HHH came underneath Cena and took both of them down. He then tried to perform Pedigree but Cena reversed it into the jack-knife pin for the victory. Winner and still WWE champion John Cena. A great match 9/10Aftermath - HHH couldn't bear with the fact that he lost so he whacked both Edge and Cena with sledgehammer to finish of this PPV.

This Backlash had so many good points and bad points that it is difficult to sum up.Poor Trish Stratus separated her shoulder in the match with Mickie James and this storyline with James fancying Trish is so out of date. The usage of 'God' in a match is in poor taste and McMahon should not present God as a joke, ie Shane drinking water then it turns to wine is so pathetic for a wrestling organisation.Results from Backlash which was held in Lexington Kentucky are as follows: Carlito defeated Chris Masters with his feet on the ropes. Mickie James defeated Trish Stratus via DQ to retain the Women's title. The Big Show and Kane went to a no contest. Rob Van Dam beat Shelton Benjamin in a thrilling match to win the Intercontinental Championship. Vince McMahon and Shane McMahon defeated Shawn Michaels with help from the Spirit Squad. Umaga defeated Ric Flair in a crap squash. John Cena retained the WWE Championship against Edge and Triple H. After the match Tripper pounded them both with the sledge hammer much to the delight of the crowd! Overall Grade - B-