WWE Backlash is set for Saturday, May 9, at Benchmark International Arena in Tampa, Florida, and Roman Reigns is coming to defend his newly captured World Heavyweight Championship. Reigns will compete at the annual Premium Live Event for the first time since 2022, with Jacob Fatu agreed as his opponent.
Fatu earned his spot by defeating Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania 42, then stepped up to Reigns on Monday Night Raw after WrestleMania. The Tampa card is already taking shape around several unfinished rivalries, with Seth Rollins set to face Bron Breakker after Breakker returned to action at WrestleMania 42 and hit Rollins with two spears to cost him his match against Gunther.
The event matters because Reigns said he would be sticking around for the summer, and so far he has kept that promise. Backlash now gives WWE a clear follow-up to WrestleMania 42 and a chance to keep its biggest stories moving instead of letting them cool off. That includes Reigns and Fatu, two men who have already met in the wake of the championship change.
Asuka’s story adds another layer to the show. She once considered IYO SKY part of her family, but she has felt betrayed since SKY befriended Rhea Ripley this past year. Asuka has spent months taking her frustrations out on Kairi Sane, and she has promised to end things with SKY by teaching her one final lesson in the ring.
What happens in Tampa may define the next stretch of WWE’s summer, because Backlash 2026 is being built not as a reset, but as a continuation of the fights that came out of WrestleMania 42. The question is no longer whether the rivalries are real enough to fill a card. It is whether Reigns, Rollins and Asuka can settle them in a way that changes where the company goes next.