In addition, a featured bout was scheduled on the undercard, in which Shawn Michaels defeated Batista in a standard match.

It was scheduled to take place on April 27, 2008, at the 1st Mariner Arena in Baltimore, Maryland and featured wrestlers from the Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brands.

Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brands, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw, Friday Night SmackDown, and ECW.

[6][7] Wrestlers from Raw were featured in the main event at Backlash: a fatal four-way elimination match for the WWE Championship, featuring the champion, Randy Orton, defending against Triple H, John Cena, and John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL).

But JBL had other ideas, telling Orton that he deserved a title match as a reward for proving that he was the toughest Superstar on Raw in his Belfast Brawl victory over Finlay also at WrestleMania.

On the following week's episode of Raw, Orton began the night believing he would go one-on-one with JBL at Backlash, but the tide quickly turned on him.

On the following week's episode of Raw, after his victory over Regal, Orton felt compelled to meddle in the bout between Triple H and JBL.

As Orton was set to punt Triple H again, however, JBL turned on him and laid him out with a vicious Clothesline From Hell.

The main feud heading into Backlash on the SmackDown brand was between The Undertaker and Edge, over the World Heavyweight Championship.

In February, at No Way Out, Undertaker won an Elimination Chamber match to become the number one contender to the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XXIV.

[10] The secondary feud for SmackDown heading into Backlash was between Matt Hardy and Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP).

after failing to regain the WWE Tag Team Championship from John Morrison and The Miz, MVP attacked Hardy targeting and injuring his knee.

Before WrestleMania XXIV aired live on pay-per-view, Kane won a 24-Man Battle Royal to earn an ECW Championship match against Guerrero later that night.

General Manager Vickie Guerrero booked Kane to defend the ECW Championship against Chavo at Backlash.

[10] The feud intensified on the April 8 episode of ECW, where during a contract signing for Backlash, Guerrero, with assistance from Bam Neely, Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder, delivered a Frog splash on Kane through a table.

Before the event began and aired live on pay-per-view, a dark match was featured in which WWE Tag Team Champions John Morrison and The Miz defeated Jimmy Wang Yang and Shannon Moore.

[13] The actual pay-per-view began with Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) defending the United States Championship against Matt Hardy.

[14][5] The second bout was a standard match for the ECW Championship, in which the champion, Kane, defended his title against Chavo Guerrero, who was accompanied by Bam Neely.

The end of the match came when Beth Phoenix performed a fisherman suplex on Ashley, and then covered her for a successful pin, giving her team the victory.

Curt Hawkins then struck The Undertaker with the World Heavyweight Championship belt, which was followed by an unsuccessful cover by Edge.

Canadian Online Explorer's professional wrestling section rated the entire event a 6 out of 10 stars.

[19][20] On the May 2 episode of SmackDown, Vickie Guerrero cancelled a scheduled World Title match between Undertaker and The Great Khali and stripped The Undertaker of the World Heavyweight Championship, and Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder stole the physical belt and handed it to Guerrero.

Batista originally won, but his victory was cut short after Guerrero came out and announced that Edge had been medically cleared and would be able to compete.

The alliance between Phoenix and Melina ended a week later, and the two Divas would face James at Judgment Day for the title.