WWE Backlash had a wild crowd courtesy of Lyon, France, but it also marked the end of an unbelievable streak with the WWE Undisputed Universal Championship.
Cody Rhodes put that very championship on the line against AJ Styles on Saturday and the battle became memorable in more ways than one. Not only did ‘The American Nightmare’ get a tremendous pop from the French crowd, but Rhodes actually retained his title by defeating ‘The Phenomenal One.’
However, Punk from the Burial Squad was able to dig up an insane statistic about Rhodes’ successful title defense. Backlash happened to mark the first time that specific championship was successfully defended on television without any outside interference in almost two years. The last time the title was defended without any interference had Roman Reigns beating Matt Riddle on the June 17, 2022 episode of WWE SmackDown.
Reigns’ reign became notorious for having constant interference in his title fights. While the tactic was certainly frustrating for fans (and his opponents), it did create for some memorable moments. Solo Sikoa made his main roster debut by interfering in his cousin Roman’s defense against Drew McIntyre at Clash At The Castle. Jimmy Uso also happened to stab his brother Jey in the back at WWE SummerSlam, allowing Roman to retain his gold.
Rhodes vs. Styles at Backlash also marked a new moment in WWE history. Their main event fight also happened to be the first WWE Undisputed Title match on PLE that was officiated by a female. Jessika Carr donned the zebra stripes for the battle between Cody and AJ.
