There are three misunderstandings in this thread.
1. The reflected power form the transmission line, no mater what causes it, is reflected back up the line to the antenna.
Each time the power makes the trip up or down, the losses stack up from the normal line loses imposed each direction.
In an HF setup with a tuner, the tuner set to a match, the reflected power 'stops' at the tuner and never gets back to the radio. This is the effect of impedance transformation by the tuner and what it is used for.
2. The radio has a detection circuit to cut power above a predetermined ratio detection to protect the radio from the conditions that can exist in #3 below.
3. What happens in the radio is dependent on the reactance affecting the final stage. Capacitive or inductive in sign.
One causes the final to lower it's dynamic operating resistance and drawing more DC power/ higher heat dissipation.
The other sign causes an increase in dynamic resistance with a rise in 'RF' voltages. This risks burn out of the device junctions from voltages higher than it is made to work at.
At VHF and UHF we normally don't use a tuner, so match is important especially if the transmission line is long causing higher losses and the antenna is not at best match. These two items will eat your power from line loses and radio power fold back on top of it.
You can see these effects on a power supply with a current meter by noting the SWR J sign and see what each does to the current drawn by the radio.
Good luck.