The crowd at WWE’s first Puerto Rican premium live event in over 18 years, Backlash well and truly stole the show and made for an extremely fun night of wrestling.
This was no more evident than in the event’s opening contest which saw Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair defend her title against Damage CTRL’s IYO SKY.
A win for Belair would see her become WWE’s longest reigning women’s champion of the modern era, however, the San Juan crowd had little time for the historical stakes of the match, instead wholeheartedly siding with the underdog challenger SKY.
The incredible reaction would almost drive the Japanese star, however, following ill-advised interference from teammate Bayley, Belair would pick up the win with the KOD, to the disappointment of the audience in attendance.
Despite taking the loss SKY would take time to address the surprising response she received, taking to Twitter to write:
The WWE universe in Puerto Rico seemed to like me a lot.
— IYO SKY (@Iyo_SkyWWE) May 7, 2023
I hope to see you guys again one day.#wwebacklash #PuertoRico @WWE pic.twitter.com/DXIqVyEaht
Despite competing for the Raw Women’s Championship, both Belair and all members of Damage CTRL are set to begin life on Smackdown as of next week.
Given the nature of SKY’s loss, it has been speculated that a breakup for Damage CTRL is on the cards, especially given SKY’s emerging popularity.
The group splitting is something that has been hinted at by WWE however, it is unclear whether Bayley and Dakota Kai will remain a team.
Bayley and Kai defeated current WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Raquel Rodriguez and Liv Morgan on this past Monday’s Raw (May 1), securing a title match on next week’s Smackdown (May 12).
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