Jacob Fatu Attacks Roman Reigns: WWE Backlash 2026 Main Event Is Set

Episode 780 of Wrestling Uncensored landed on a loaded Thursday night. SmackDown was live. The Canadiens were bleeding out in overtime. The Yankees were winning again. And somehow there was still time to fit in an AEW Redemption debate, a Roman Reigns character study, and the most overbooked Edge and Christian match since, well, ever. Let’s get into it.

AEW Redemption: Montreal Dreams and Bell Center Reality

The big rumor in wrestling right now — and it’s a genuinely exciting one for those of us in this city — is that AEW is coming to Montreal for a new pay-per-view called Redemption, reportedly targeted for sometime in July. The name alone tells a story. And according to reports from the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer and others circling the same information, the Bell Center is the target venue.

I want to be excited about this. I am excited about this. But let’s be real about the numbers: the last time AEW ran in Montreal, they drew roughly 7,000. The Bell Center holds north of 20,000. That’s an ambitious gap to close. The elimination chamber that WWE ran with Sami Zayn in the main event against Roman Reigns was the biggest wrestling show this city has ever seen — because they had a local draw in the main event of a card that already had Roman Reigns on it. AEW is not that. Not yet, anyway.

What could change the math? Canadian stars. If AEW Redemption can get Edge and Christian, Chris Jericho, and Kenny Omega on the same show and tell a story worth caring about, that moves the needle. My co-host Johnny North threw out the idea that Speedball Mike Bailey could be a factor — he’s local, he’s beloved in Quebec indie wrestling circles — but he’s not exactly at the level where his name alone sells 20,000 tickets in a major arena.

The double-edged sword here is the show length. I love AEW pay-per-views. They deliver. But I went to their TV tapings in Montreal, and I left before they ended both times — not because the wrestling was bad, but because those shows run for an eternity. Their last pay-per-view reportedly started at 8 pm and ended close to 12:30 am. Add a pre-show, and you’re in your seat for five or six hours. That’s a commitment on a Sunday night in a city where people have to work Monday morning.

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That said? I’m in. Four tickets, Tony Khan. You’re welcome. But they need to give me something worth staying awake for in that main event.

Looking ahead at the Double or Nothing card — Okada versus Takeshita, FTR against Edge and Christian in an I Quit Street Fight for the tag titles, probably MJF versus Darby Allen for the world title — those matches alone would sell me tickets if they were happening in my backyard. If Edge and Christian win at Double or Nothing, an Edge and Christian versus the Young Bucks match at Redemption in Montreal might actually be a slam dunk. Montreal fans know their wrestling. They’re picky, but they’ll respond to something real.

AEW Dynamite Recap: Kevin Knight’s Stunning Upset and an Edge & Christian Mess

Johnny North had one word for this week’s Dynamite: weak. I’d go a step further and say it was a tale of two matches with a whole lot of nothing sandwiched in between.

The opener — MJF versus Kevin Knight for an AEW World Title shot — was match of the week, and it wasn’t close. This was a genuinely great back-and-forth contest. I thought MJF was going to win it to position himself as a challenger for Darby Allen, but Kevin Knight was the one who got the nod after MJF tried to cheat and got punched in exactly the wrong place for his troubles. Turnabout is fair play. Knight gets the shot next week on Dynamite, and Darby told MJF flat-out: ” You didn’t win, so you’ve got nothing I want. Cold. I love it.

Darby Allen defending the title against Brody King in the main event was the other highlight of the night. Those were the two bookend matches that justified tuning in. Everything in between? That’s a generous word for what happened in the middle.

For the FIRST TIME EVER, @The_MJF challenged for the TNT Championship against his recent rival, "The Jet" Kevin Knight @Jet2Flyy!

Watch the #AEWDynamite replay RIGHT NOW on @SportsOnMAX! pic.twitter.com/iF6foRKR53

— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) April 30, 2026

The Edge and Christian tag match against Rocky Romero and Trent Perretta was overbooked to the point of being unwatchable. You had FTR at ringside, Orange Cassidy involved for reasons that weren’t entirely clear, a mid-match melee that should have been the finish, and then more match after it. Edge and Christian are supposed to be building toward the tag titles.

Romero and Perretta, with all due respect, are never winning those belts. So why did that match feel like it took forty-five minutes? The finish should have come early. Make Edge and Christian look unstoppable. Build them as the next challengers. That’s it.

The pop-up spear finisher that Edge and Christian hit? Beautiful. That’s the kind of thing that makes you remember why these guys are legends. The rest of the match is something I’m actively trying to forget.

.@SamiZayn has ginger-SNAPPED! pic.twitter.com/BHWCqt5SAn

— WWE (@WWE) May 2, 2026

Elsewhere: Sami Zayn is turning heel, and the vehicle for that turn is somehow a gingerbread man costume. The crowd had started calling him the gingerbread man — a reference to his red hair — and Sami, increasingly unhinged at the loss of crowd support, destroyed the costume in a fit of heel rage.

It’s actually a more compelling Sami Zayn story than it sounds. He’s cutting promos that feel less like in-character work and more like a man genuinely wrestling with the fact that the crowd no longer believes in him. There’s something real underneath that that makes it interesting to watch. Next week, they’re apparently doing a funeral for the gingerbread man, which — I’m not going to say no to that.

Ricochet and his crew beat up Chris Jericho. Rush made one of his once-every-three-months appearances to beat somebody whose name I couldn’t immediately place. The Bayne and Cross team defeated Shida and Thunder Rosa’s team in a match that was, according to Johnny, a little rough around the edges in terms of chemistry. And Joe Hendry? We’ll get to him when we hit Raw.

.@WWERomanReigns isn't ready for @jacobfatu_wwe! 😤 pic.twitter.com/2r4Cn3YlHY

— WWE (@WWE) May 2, 2026

SmackDown: Jacob Fatu Runs Wild, Cody vs. Gunther Is Coming, and the Bloodline Implodes Further

Jacob Fatu Unleashes the Tongan Death Grip on Roman Reigns — WWE Backlash 2026 Is Taking Shape

SmackDown this week was heavy on Bloodline drama. It’s both the most compelling ongoing story in WWE and, at times, a tangled web that requires a flowchart to follow. Let me try to sort it out for you.

The Usos returned and made their presence felt early. They got in Solo Sikoa’s way regarding the Jacob Fatu situation. Solo wants a piece of Fatu because Fatu has been on a tear through the entire Bloodline remnant. The Usos’ position is that Roman Reigns’ business with Jacob Fatu comes first. You don’t get to go to war with him until the Tribal Chief has had his say.

The Usos and Solo/Tama match was the SmackDown main event. Jacob Fatu showed up, laid out Solo, and put Tama through a table. He essentially stood over the carnage, daring anyone to stop him. He didn’t touch the Usos. He just stared them down on his way out. It’s good television. Fatu is being booked like an absolute force of nature right now.

On the Cody Rhodes front: the Undisputed WWE Champion returned to in-ring action and defeated Ricky Saints — formerly Ricky Starks, making his SmackDown debut — in a match that positioned Cody as back and medically cleared. Then Gunther attacked him post-match, and just like that, we have our next feud. There had been speculation about Randy Orton as Cody’s next challenger, but with Orton apparently nursing an injury that may have been exacerbated at WrestleMania, Gunther stepping in makes sense on every level. This is a big match. Cody versus Gunther at Clash in Italy — May 31st, in Europe — feels like the destination, and that’s a pay-per-view worth getting excited about.

Also on SmackDown: Paige and Brie Bella defeated Nia Jax and Lash Legend to retain the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships. Lash Legend’s size advantage was on full display, but those punches aren’t going to fool anyone watching closely. Still, they’re building toward something with Lash as a monster heel, and the visual of her next to Paige — who looks diminutive by comparison — is undeniably striking television.

Raw Was Good This Week — Roman’s Loaded Promo, Fatu Attacks, and Bron Breakker Passes Another Test

I said it during the show, and I’ll say it here: Raw this week was a legitimately good episode of television. A lot happened. A lot of it mattered. Let me walk through it.

Roman Reigns cut a promo about the World Heavyweight Championship that was, on the surface, a classic Roman power speech — I am the greatest, I have elevated this title, no one before me made it relevant. Standard stuff. Except there was something slippery underneath it. Roman was taking thinly veiled shots at everyone who held the belt before him, which inadvertently — or intentionally — included his cousin Jay Uso, who won that very title from Gunther at WrestleMania last year. And then Jay Uso came out on SmackDown two nights later to defend Roman’s honor.

The storytelling tension here is interesting, whether intentional or not. LA Knight was even on SmackDown, reminding the audience that Jay was the champion. Roman is coming off as a guy who says all the right things about family and unity, but can’t quite hide the fact that he still thinks he’s more important than everyone around him. Is he supposed to be fully face? I’m not convinced. That character is not fully reformed — and I think it’s better that way.

Then Jacob Fatu came out. Roman told him: I brought you here. I vouched for you. I changed your life. You’re not ready for a title shot — not yet. And if I give it to you now, it’s just nepotism. Fatu’s response was to put the Tongan Death Grip on Roman Reigns and sell it so convincingly that it looked like Roman was genuinely dying in the middle of the ring. Jacob went nuclear. The match is official: Jacob Fatu versus Roman Reigns for the World Heavyweight Championship at WWE Backlash 2026 — next Saturday.

The Tongan Death Grip is Haku’s move. Tama Tonga’s father’s move. The fact that Jacob is pulling it out against the man who recruited him is a loaded piece of symbolism, and Roman sold it absolutely perfectly. Big fight feel? This one has it.

The other major segment from Raw was the face-off between Bron Breakker and Seth Rollins. Seth Rollins missed significant time due to injury — a match against Breaker was originally planned for WrestleMania before circumstances intervened — and now we’re finally getting it at Backlash. The promo itself was electric. Seth went fully veteran: I made you, I know what you’re capable of before you do, you’re not even number two in your own family. Bron fired right back and called him the best in the world to his number two. “Baby Steiner” was the line. You could hear the crowd eating it up.

Here’s what I believe about Bron Breakker: when you watch him, you believe he believes in himself completely. There is no half-measure with him. He thinks he can run through every single person on that roster, and his eyes and his body and his delivery all say the same thing at the same time. That’s rare. It’s what made early Scott Steiner compelling. It’s what makes Roman compelling. It’s what makes this Backlash match compelling. My concern is that Bron has yet to deliver a match over seven minutes that has truly sustained itself. Seth Rollins is the exact kind of opponent who can pull that twenty-minute performance out of him — if Bron is ready to receive it.

The rest of Raw had plenty going on. Becky Lynch and Io Sky had a match that was more fun than I expected — Becky hit her with some mean lines before they got physical, which is the right formula — and then Asuka showed up to cost Becky the win and set up the Io Sky versus Asuka match at WWE Backlash 2026. I like this. The crowd was genuinely hot for Io, which tells you something about how well she’s been built since making her presence felt on Raw.

Joe Hendry did a concert segment, and I want to be clear: I went in ready to roll my eyes. I came out a partial convert. The man can write a catchy wrestling promo song. The bit where he went after Austin Theory and Logan Paul had the crowd and had me interested.

Logan Paul’s response was loud, over-the-top, and ultimately hurt the segment more than it helped — Johnny described it as torture after a while, and I can’t fully disagree. But Joe Hendry, the performer? I get it now. I finally get it. The Street Profits coming out to make the save was a nice exclamation point. Just don’t give him a song every week, or this burns out fast.

Oba Femi squashed Grayson Waller and announced an open challenge going forward, and this is where my concern lies for one of the most physically impressive WWE superstars in years. When you start your career by defeating Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania, you have a ceiling problem. Who do you fight next that feels like an equal or greater challenge?

Compare this to how Backlash 2025 was built — every match had clear stakes. With Oba, the open-challenge format risks making him feel like a special attraction rather than a world-title contender. The match I want to see? Oba Femi versus Jacob Fatu at SummerSlam. Two unstoppable forces, two men who feel like the future of the main event scene. Let them find out who’s tougher. Give the winner a title shot.

Penta beat Rusev to continue building the Intercontinental title picture involving Ethan Page and Javon Evans. El Grande Americano had a fun backstage exchange with Rey Mysterio. Raw was a complete show. Everything had a purpose.

The Road Ahead: Backlash, Clash in Italy, and a SummerSlam That Starts to Take Shape

WWE Backlash 2026 is next Saturday. It’s a legitimately good card on paper. Roman versus Jacob is the kind of match where the outcome feels slightly inevitable. Roman retains, and Fatu is protected by the shenanigans involved. But the execution matters enormously. If Jacob Fatu looks like a genuine threat and the match has twenty minutes and real drama, this is the kind of debut main event performance that defines careers.

After Backlash, we’ve got Saturday Night’s Main Event in Indiana on May 23rd and then Clash in Italy on May 31st. The Gunther versus Cody Rhodes match feels locked in for Italy — Gunther in Europe is about as natural a fit as exists in WWE right now — and Randy Orton’s mysterious disappearance after WrestleMania adds a wildcard element. He punt-kicked Cody, grabbed the belt, and then… nothing. Either that’s a slow burn with a payoff coming, or Randy is dealing with the back injury that reportedly had him working through pain at Mania.

There’s a lot happening. When Darby Allen shocked Moxley to win the AEW title last year, it opened up a title picture that still hasn’t fully resolved itself — and with Kevin Knight now getting a title shot next week on Dynamite, AEW’s world title scene has genuine unpredictability going for it. Double or Nothing is the next major AEW pay-per-view, and if those three matches I mentioned — Okada/Takeshita, Edge/Christian vs FTR, and MJF/Darby — deliver at the level they should, AEW Redemption in Montreal will have the momentum it needs to feel like a destination event.

And for what it’s worth, I was watching SmackDown on the TV, Yankees on my phone, and the Canadiens game on my laptop all at the same time last night. The Canadiens lost in overtime, Tampa tied the series 3-3, and game seven is Sunday in Tampa. The Yankees won. Again. It’s a good week to love combat sports and baseball, even if your hockey team is putting you through the wringer. We’ll see you for the Backlash preview on Friday, the post-show and UFC 328 watch-along on Saturday, and the full recap next week. It’s a big one. The path to Double or Nothing is already getting interesting — and this Saturday, the path to the top of WWE’s main event scene gets a whole lot clearer.

Make sure to catch the main event: WWE Backlash 2026, featuring Jacob Fatu challenging Roman Reigns for the World Heavyweight Championship!