In the main event, AJ Styles defeated Dean Ambrose to win the WWE World Championship, making him the first wrestler since Kurt Angle to hold world championships in WWE, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, and New Japan Pro-Wrestling.

Unlike a large majority of WWE pay-per-view events, the 2016 Backlash did not see a DVD or Blu-ray release.

[3] It was held annually from 1999 to 2009, however, in 2010, Backlash was discontinued and replaced by Extreme Rules[4]—in April 2011, the promotion ceased going by its full name of World Wrestling Entertainment, with "WWE" becoming an orphaned initialism.

WWE also brought back brand-exclusive PPVs, and due to the need for more PPV events, on July 25, 2016, Backlash was reinstated to be held exclusively for the SmackDown brand.

[13] At SummerSlam, Dean Ambrose retained the WWE World Championship against Dolph Ziggler, while AJ Styles defeated John Cena.

On the August 23 episode of SmackDown, the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship was unveiled, and a six-pack elimination challenge between Alexa Bliss, Becky Lynch, Carmella, Naomi, Natalya, and Nikki Bella was slated for Backlash to crown the inaugural champion.

[15] Bella had returned from injury two nights before at SummerSlam, when she had joined Natalya and Alexa Bliss to replace the suspended Eva Marie in a winning effort against Becky Lynch, Carmella, and Naomi.

Instead, however, Carmella turned villainous by attacking Nikki during a pre-match interview and again during Talking Smack, SmackDown's aftershow.

Originally scheduled to be a six-team tournament between American Alpha (Chad Gable and Jason Jordan), The Ascension (Konnor and Viktor), Breezango (Tyler Breeze and Fandango), The Hype Bros (Zack Ryder and Mojo Rawley), The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso), and The Vaudevillains (Aiden English and Simon Gotch), Heath Slater, who was still trying to earn a SmackDown contract after being left out of the WWE Draft, was granted entry into the tournament on the condition that he must find a partner and win the tournament to earn a contract.

[15] The following week, The Hype Bros, as well as Slater and Rhyno, would later advance with wins over The Vaudevillains and The Headbangers (Mosh and Thrasher) (who were added to the tournament), respectively.

[17] On the September 6 episode, American Alpha and the team of Slater and Rhyno advanced with wins over The Usos and The Hype Bros, respectively.

[21] The pay-per-view's main card opened with the six-pack elimination challenge to determine the inaugural SmackDown Women's Champion involving Becky Lynch, Alexa Bliss, Carmella, Naomi, Natalya, and Nikki Bella.

In the end, Jimmy forced Ryder to submit to the "Tequila Sunrise" to win the match and qualify for the tournament final against Heath Slater and Rhyno.

[21] Later, Heath Slater and Rhyno faced The Usos to determine the inaugural SmackDown Tag Team Champions.

Rhyno executed a Gore on Jimmy whilst the referee was distracted, with Slater gaining the pinfall, to win the titles.

SmackDown commissioner Shane McMahon would then announce that Styles would defend his title against Cena and Ambrose in a triple threat match at No Mercy.

This rendered him exclusive to the SmackDown brand, and was where Slater and Rhyno would be successful in their first titles defense against The Ascension (Konnor and Viktor).

The Usos then defeated The Hype Bros at Backlash in a second chance tag team match to replace American Alpha in the final.