Seems that I had a total noob moment. But all is not correct yet. I was using an early version of twrp that had a bunch of updates to fix cache issues, backup and restore etc. Now, with the newest version, (just like the OP said to use) I was able to restore my original back up.
SO now that I am back up and running, I let the back up update itself, and verified that it backed up again. When I go to flash the debloated rom- It skips the md5 check, because it says it doesnt have an md5, then it tries to flash then fails. I tried the original down load and the mirror CA. Both do the same thing for me. So for now, I'm on my backup. Anyone else have this issue?