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| By the way, nice edit on that yellow poster, WWE! There was definitely nothing under "When it Reigns", and it certainly wasn't "It Bores". |
Well, Payback is in the books (in the pocket, out of sight) and it was definitely...a show. Yeah...it was just a show. Here are my thoughts on Payback last night.
Pre-Show
Dolph Ziggler def. Baron Corbin
"Hey, how do you build a new guy up to be a star?" Simple, by making him lose clean his first pay-per-view singles match. Even better, you bump his match to the pre-show. That'll get people interested! Corbin battered Ziggler for the majority of the match, including an alley-oop into the ring post on the outside. However, Ziggler ended up rolling up Corbin for the win. This makes no sense whatsoever. Why have the new guy who could very well be one of the next top heels on the main roster do the job in his first pay-per-view singles match to arguably the most directionless wrestler WWE has right now in Dolph Ziggler. I fully expect Corbin to get his win back tonight on RAW.
Kalisto def. Ryback to retain the United States Championship
Well, I didn't see this one coming. In a match I don't think anyone was interested in, Ryback and Kalisto tore the house down with a surprisingly great match. We all know Kalisto is great, but Ryback went next level here, really bringing his A game. Ryback's entrance was especially great, mocking CM Punk in front of the Chicago crowd, along with his "Pre-Show Stopper" weight lifting belt. Some of the best spots in the match were Kalisto's great tornado DDT reversal, his springboard DDT onto the ring apron, and Ryback's top rope gorilla press slam. In the end, Kalisto avoided a frog splash and hit the Salida Del Sol for the win. Wasn't expecting Kalisto to win, but still a great match, these two have such great chemistry together.
Main Show
Enzo Amore & Colin Cassady vs The Vaudevillains ended in a no contest
Unfortunatley, not much to talk about in the opening match. Early in the match, Enzo took a nasty bump into the ropes, which knocked him out cold. It was truly a scary sight, and luckily Enzo only had a concussion and was able to leave the hospital that night. Wishing for a speedy recovery for Enzo. But lets focus on some of the positive stuff that happened before that. For starters, the New Day's opening promo, with Xavier Woods telling Beyonce to slide in his DMs to get one back on Jay-Z. And of course, Enzo and Cass' promos are always great, especially Big Cass dropping Hey Arnold references. "You should have never stepped off your stoop". Perfect. It's so great to see Enzo & Cass get such a great reaction from the crowd. And finally, the New Day just sitting at ringside being the New Day, eating pizza and taking selfies.
Kevin Owens def. Sami Zayn
Easily the match of the night. Zayn and Owens have such natural chemistry that I don't think there are two people on the roster who work better together than these two. In a back and forth match all the way through, Owens cut off Zayn's Helluva Kick attempt with a superkick, and followed it up with a Pop Up Powerbomb for the win. After the match, Owens tosses Zayn from the ring and makes Byron Saxton interview him. He says he is better than Zayn and is going to get back the Intercontinental Championship. He will also do commentary for the next match, which is always a plus.
The Miz def. Cesaro to retain the Intercontinental Championship
First off:
Second, Owens is fantastic on commentary. Usually a guest commentator doesn't do much to help the commentary, but Owens always makes listening better. Third, Cesaro. Jesus Christ: Cesaro. I don't think there's a more impressive wrestler than Cesaro in WWE right now, aside from maybe Nakamura. Some of his feats of strength are just unbelievable, like the apron superplex and reversing a sleeper hold into another suplex. And you can't ignore his non-strength moves, like the springboard corkscrew uppercut that he gets so much air on. In a incredibly wacky finish, Sami Zayn makes like an RKO and shows up out of nowhere and attacks Owens at the commentary table and the two brawl at ringside. At this time, Cesaro swings Miz and locks in the crossface in the center of the ring. Owens and Zayn fight onto the ring apron, distracting the referee as Cesaro gets the visual win as Miz taps out. Cesaro lets go of the hold and knocks Owens and Zayn off the apron, allowing Miz to roll up Cesaro for the win. After the match, Cesaro hits the Neutralizer on Miz (which he takes like a bitch with his knees)
That's a dirty Kane bump right there. Owens follows this up with a superkick on Cesaro and a Pop Up Powerbomb on Zayn. Owens goes for another on Miz, but Maryse makes the save. Owens holds up the Intercontinental Championship to end the segment. Good match, but the f*ck finish really hurt it.
Dean Ambrose def. Chris Jericho
Just remember everyone...this feud is about a talk show segment that takes up about 15 minutes of a 3 hour show. Just saying. In another back and forth match up, Jericho and Ambrose put on another good match on the card. The match ended after a long struggle between Ambrose and Jericho before Ambrose planted Jericho with Dirty Deeds to get the win.
Charlotte def. Natalya via Bullsh*t to retain the Women's Championship
Why is it that every time it looks like WWE is taking women's wrestling seriously, they do something like this and completely negate whatever they just did. Look, the match between Charlotte and Natalya was great like everyone expected it to be, but the finish was just...ugggghhh. In one of the most overused finishes in wrestling history, Charlotte locks in the Sharpshooter on Natalya and the referee Charles Robinson (aka Lil Naitch) calls for the bell with out Nattie tapping out. IT'S A THROWBACK TO THE MONTREAL SCREWJOB! THAT'S NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE! Well except at:
Survivor Series 1998
Starrcade 1999
Slammiversary 2006
Shawn Michaels vs Shane McMahon on Saturday Night's Main Event in 2006
Breaking Point 2009
Money in the Bank 2011
AJ Styles vs Kurt Angle on Impact Wrestling in 2011
And probably countless others I can't remember. This finish makes no sense whatsoever. Is Lil Naitch suddenly on the Flair's side again? How much you bet they never address this again? That's probably what's going to happen. The segment ended with Natalya & Bret Hart locking in dual Sharpshooters on the Flairs, which you easily could have done without doing the screwjob finish. Good match, ruined by a crap ending.
Oh, and by the way...
Totally called it.
Who's running RAW?
One of the biggest questions heading into Payback was whose going to run RAW, Shane or Stephanie. Well, Vince made his decision...I regret waiting two hours for that decision. In the choice nobody saw coming, Vince decided that both Shane and Stephanie would run RAW...wait, what? Why? What does that progress? Nothing. Now we get bickering GMs for the next few months. Great...two hours for that. But whatever, it's time for the main event.
Roman Reigns def. AJ Styles to retain the WWE Championship
This company makes no sense. This wasn't a bad match, it was just...nothing happened. At all. There were a couple of great moments, specifically the Phenomenal Forearm through the announce table, but again, what did this progress? There was no answer as to if Styles and Gallows & Anderson are on the same side, and we didn't get any kind of surprise. It kind of matched the whole pay-per-view: It was good, but it didn't have a purpose. It's like Clerks 2, it didn't really matter, but I'm not upset I watched it. In the end, I do have one complaint: Roman Reigns. I know, I know, complaining about Reigns at this point is basically the equivalent of beating a dead horse with another dead horse, but this needs to be said. Reigns took so many finishers, so many big moves, and even interference from the Bullet Club and still kicked out of everything, and all it took was one spear to beat AJ Styles. That's some Super Cena sh*t right there. Whenever I hear Cole say that Reigns is the leader of the New Era, it kind of reminds me of how Diesel was the leader of the New Generation. Remember how well that worked out? Not so well.
And those are my thoughts on Payback. The wrestling was good, but nothing that happened n the show really mattered. If I had to rank the matches from favorite to least favorite, it'd go like this
- Sami Zayn vs Kevin Owens
- Kalisto vs Ryback
- Roman Reigns vs AJ Styles
- The Miz vs Cesaro
- Charlotte vs Natalya
- Dean Ambrose vs Chris Jericho
- Dolph Ziggler vs Baron Corbin
Thanks for reading. Be sure to share if you enjoyed.
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