Backlash France | |||
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![]() Promotional poster featuring Cody Rhodes | |||
Promotion | WWE | ||
Brand(s) | Raw SmackDown | ||
Date | May 4, 2024 | ||
City | Décines-Charpieu, Metropolis of Lyon, France | ||
Venue | LDLC Arena | ||
Attendance | 11,682[1] | ||
Tagline(s) | "Nightmares Do Come True" | ||
WWE Network event chronology | |||
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Backlash chronology | |||
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WWE in Europe chronology | |||
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Backlash France was a 2024 professional wrestling event produced by the American company WWE. It was the 19th Backlash event and took place on Saturday, May 4, 2024, at the LDLC Arena in Décines-Charpieu in the Metropolis of Lyon, France. The event aired via pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming and was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. This was WWE's first PPV and livestreaming event to be held in France, and the first Backlash held outside of North America. The concept of the event was based around the backlash from WrestleMania XL.
Five matches were contested at the event. In the main event, Cody Rhodes defeated AJ Styles to retain SmackDown's Undisputed WWE Championship. The referee for the match was Jessika Carr, who became the first woman to referee a WWE world title main event. In other prominent matches, Damian Priest defeated Jey Uso to retain Raw's World Heavyweight Championship and Bayley defeated Naomi and Tiffany Stratton in a triple threat match to retain SmackDown's WWE Women's Championship. The event was also notable for the WWE in-ring debut of Tama Tonga, as well as the return of his adopted brother (biological cousin), Tonga Loa, who previously performed in WWE as Camacho from 2009 to 2014.
The event received highly positive reviews, with the main event and the Street Fight being deemed highlights of the night, as well as the strong crowd reactions similar to Backlash from the previous year. WWE reported that the event set the record for the largest arena gate in company history. The main event was awarded a 5-star rating from Dave Meltzer.