WWE Backlash is a professional wrestling event produced by WWE, the world’s largest professional wrestling promotion. The event has been broadcast live on pay-per-view (PPV) since its debut in 1999 and has also been available via livestreaming since 2016. Twenty events have been held through 2025, with the 20th edition taking place on May 10, 2025, at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri. With the exception of the 2016–2020 shows, Backlash is built around the concept of “backlash” from WWE’s flagship event, WrestleMania.
Early years (1999–2009)
The inaugural Backlash was held on April 25, 1999, at the Providence Civic Center in Providence, Rhode Island, following WrestleMania XV. It was originally advertised as an In Your House show—the monthly PPVs that bridged WWE’s “Big Five” events (Royal Rumble, WrestleMania, King of the Ring, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series)—but the In Your House branding was quietly dropped before the event. Backlash immediately replaced In Your House as the permanent post-WrestleMania PPV.
The second event followed WrestleMania 2000, establishing Backlash as an annual April PPV. It remained in that slot every year through 2009, except for the 2005 edition, which was held in May. After the 2009 event, WWE discontinued Backlash and replaced it with Extreme Rules in 2010.
Brand extension era
The 2002 Backlash was WWE’s first PPV after the original brand extension that split the roster between Raw and SmackDown. That year and 2003 featured wrestlers from both brands. From 2004 through 2006, the event became exclusive to Raw. After WrestleMania 23 in 2007, brand-exclusive PPVs ended, so the 2007–2009 events included talent from Raw, SmackDown, and the newly introduced ECW brand (which was disbanded in 2010). The full brand extension itself was dissolved in 2011.
Hiatus and revival (2016–present)
Backlash returned in 2016 after a seven-year absence. Due to the reintroduction of the brand split that year, the 2016 event was held exclusively for SmackDown and became the first brand-exclusive PPV of the new split. It was positioned after SummerSlam rather than WrestleMania, breaking its original tradition.
The 2017 event moved back to May and remained SmackDown-exclusive, while the 2018 event was originally planned as Raw-exclusive but became interbrand after WWE ended brand-exclusive PPVs following WrestleMania 34. A 2019 Backlash was scheduled for June but was canceled and replaced by the one-off Stomping Grounds event.
Backlash resumed in 2020 and was held in June at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando. The 2021 event was moved to May and held inside the WWE ThunderDome at the Yuengling Center in Tampa, Florida. It was the first Backlash since 2009 to serve as the post-WrestleMania PPV and was retitled WrestleMania Backlash. The 2022 event kept the WrestleMania Backlash name. In 2023, WWE reverted to the original Backlash title while keeping the post-WrestleMania theme; that year’s show was held in San Juan, Puerto Rico—the first WWE event there since 2005.
In 2024, Backlash was held on May 4 at the LDLC Arena in the Lyon suburb of Décines-Charpieu, France. It marked WWE’s first PPV and livestreaming event in France and the first Backlash held outside North America. The 2025 edition returned to the United States in St. Louis, maintaining the post-WrestleMania positioning.
The 2026 event, promoted as Backlash Tampa, is scheduled for Saturday, May 9, 2026, at the Benchmark International Arena in Tampa, Florida. It will be the 21st Backlash and WWE’s first premium live event following WrestleMania 42.
Throughout its history, Backlash has evolved from a straightforward post-WrestleMania follow-up into a flexible annual event that has adapted to brand splits, scheduling shifts, and global expansion while remaining one of WWE’s longstanding PPV brands.
