Backlash: Carmella Pulls off Massive Upset Over Charlotte Flair

Carmella pulled off yet another upset, retaining her SmackDown Women's Championship.

Mere minutes into the match, Carmella was already trying to run away by grabbing her championship from ringside. Flair was quick to stop her.

.@CarmellaWWE can RUN, but she can't HIDE from #TheQueen @MsCharlotteWWE... #WWEBacklash pic.twitter.com/raNP6bCvmN

— WWE (@WWE) May 7, 2018

After a long period of the champion working her opponent down with submission holds, Flair finally got the advantage by hitting a spear. Carmella retaliated with a Code of Silence, but Flair was able to escape. She then went for a moonsault, but Carmella moved out of the way allowing Flair to tweak her knee on the landing.

Carmella saw the opening and rolled Flair up for the win.

The Princess of Staten Island Carmella pins Charlotte Flair 1, 2, 3 in middle of the ring to retain her #SDLive #WomensTitle at #WWEBacklash #WomensChampionship #MellaIsMoney @CarmellaWWE pic.twitter.com/kG1HmYVSli

— 🍦Jeremy🍦 (@Jeremy1P1) May 7, 2018

Sunday marked Carmella's first successful championship defense since she won the title off Flair on the April 10 episode of SmackDown Live. Flair was just two days removed from breaking Asuka's undefeated streak and retaining her title at WrestleMania 34, but was left laying in the ring by the debuting duo of Peyton Royce and Billie Kay. Carmella quickly ran out to the ring and cashed in her Money in the Bank contract, something she had held onto for nearly a year and failed to cash-in multiple times.

Carmella's victory continued the streak of champions successfully retaining inside the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on Sunday night.

Seth Rollins opened the evening with an Intercontinental Championship match with The Miz, and managed to keep the title on Monday Night Raw by beating "The A-Lister" with a Curb Stomp.

Next up was Raw Women's Champion Nia Jax, who defeated her former friend Alexa Bliss in a rematch from WrestleMania 34 with a Samoan Drop.

United States Champion Jeff Hardy and "The Viper" Randy Orton were up next, and "The Charismatic Enigma" managed to avenge a WWE Championship match loss from 2008 by pinning Orton with a Twist of Fate-Swanton Bomb combination.

Matches still to come at Backlash include WWE Champion AJ Styles taking on Shinsuke Nakamura in a No Disqualification match, Braun Strowman and Bobby Lashley vs. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn in tag team action and Samoa Joe vs. Roman Reigns.

Now that Flair has no more guaranteed rematches, the SmackDown Women's Championship picture is now wide open. WWE's next pay-per-view takes place on June 17 in Chicago, Illinois.