WWE Payback General Discussion & Reviews

Publish date: 2024-06-03
Dolph Ziggler vs. Baron Corbin - This was a pretty good match but the ending killed it for me. It wasn't so much that Corbin lost, though that itself was a bummer, it's that he was made to look like such an idiot in the process. This ending had Vince's fingerprints all over it in that it just didn't make any sense and I have a feeling that he came up with it all by himself and demanded that it go on. Corbin is brand new to the roster, setting him up as an undefeated badass could sustain his momentum and momentum is something he needed. **1/4

WWE United States Championship - Kalisto vs. Ryback - This was a very entertaining outing, the best we've seen out of Kalisto since his program with Del Rio ended. He utilized a lot more unique offense during the match and gave Ryback a much tougher fight. Ryback himself looked better here than we've seen out of him in quite some time as well. Kalisto retaining was the right call, especially in front of a hot Chicago crowd; now if WWE would just consistently get behind Kalisto as champion, we'd be cookin' with gas. ***1/4

Enzo Amore & Big Cass vs. The Vaudevillains - There's no way to rate this match as Enzo's injury put an end to it quick. I legitimately had a bad feeling about Enzo's spot from the second his head hit the rope and snapped back. I can't recall the wrestler's name off the top of my head, it was a luchadore, but he died during a tag bout against Rey Mysterio last year, I believe, during which his head whiplashed off the ropes. Enzo's head also slammed against the mat so it's little wonder he's concussed. NA

Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens - A helluva match from these two all around. The storytelling, the passion, the crowd investment, the natural chemistry these two have together all just fit together so effortlessly. Owens scoring the win was the right call here as it sets things up for a rematch. Owens' post match comments and sticking around for commentary was a nice touch afterwards. ****1/4

WWE Intercontinental Championship - The Miz vs. Cesaro - An entertaining outing with, again, the crowd being highly invested with both men working hard to put on a strong bout. I thought the booking of this bout was a creative way of keeping the title on the Miz while putting some great heat on him in the process. I would have preferred to have seen something other than the schoolboy roll up as it's the most overly used quick finisher in WWE, but the involvement of Owens & Zayn on the outside makes me wonder if a fourway for the title will be happening at ER and, thereby, the Zayn vs. Owens rematch will be held off for a bit. ***1/2

Dean Ambrose vs. Chris Jericho - While there were a few clunky spots here & there, I thought they gave a hell of an effort and put on an entertaining bout. Jericho is a fun heel to dislike who's had a lot of momentum during his current run in WWE and Ambrose needed the win more. Ambrose looked like a scrappy, gutsy babyface in that he took so much of Jericho's offense, especially being put in the Walls of Jericho twice, and I enjoyed the story the two told in the ring. I enjoyed how they set the ending of the bout up with Ambrose having to pummel Jericho with a series of knees in order to soften him up enough to deliver Dirty Deeds; little things like that give the illusion sometimes that it's more of a fight. ***1/4

WWE Women's Championship - This was an entertaining bout until the the ending. The ending hurt this match and it's one of those endings where I just don't see what the point of it was. I get that it was an homage to the Montreal Screwjob but...what the hell for? There were other ways of having Charlotte retain in a heelish fashion and ending it this way just because Bret Hart was out there isn't reason enough, in my opinion. The match itself was fun, they told a good story with them initially trying to one up the other. The "we want Sasha" chants came about early in the match and quickly died out, I think they came about mostly because most everyone figured that Natalya wasn't going to win but, even so, I think that sort of behavior from smarks is a good example of how their attitude is hurting wrestling as a whole. ***

The Decision - The decision of Vince McMahon as to who would "run" Raw, either Stephanie or Shane, came down to exactly what I figured: both of them will run Raw and it'll be done as sort of a competition of sorts. I think that this leads up to a bout between Shane and Triple H, with Trips representing the Authority, at SummerSlam, in which the winner "runs" Raw and we'll probably see the end of the Authority. As a whole, however, I thought this segment was one huge waste of time; it was a 20+ minute promo segment in front of a hot crowd in what's been a fun, energetic show and Vince blowing hot air just sucked the energy right out of the room. There was no need for this segment to run as long as it did but Vince just can't seem to help himself in that he feels every time he's out there, it's supposed to be some sort of big happening. NA

WWE World Heavyweight Championship - Roman Reigns vs. AJ Styles - This was an engaging match that had the live crowd invested from the opening bell. I was initially a little put off by the storytelling in that it looked as though they were painting Reigns to be this incredible powerhouse who's offense was about 10 times stronger than normal given how Styles was selling everything. However, they did eventually move from that and it became a much more even outing. The false finishes incorporating Shane & Stephanie into things were a nice touch, they didn't go too over the top with their decision making. Gallows and Anderson did interfere a bit after the bout was made no disqualification and I was glad to see that Reigns didn't go all Superman on them. There were some strong near falls scattered through the match and I thought Reigns did a very good job of selling Styles' offense and, ultimately, Styles looked very strong in defeat. The commentators sold the match as though it was going to come down to who hit one last, big offensive move effectively and that's the feeling that I had as they were coming down to the wire. ***1/4

Final Thoughts - Overall, Payback was a very good 3 hour wrestling program, even the kickoff show was much better than I was expecting. There were a few questionable booking decisions made during the show that I thought dampened things a bit: Baron Corbin lost and looked like an idiot while doing it and the homage to the Montreal Screwjob were both just unnecessary. The 20+ minute promo segment also put a damper on things, much more so than anything else as it just sucked the energy out of the place. It was also lousy that Enzo was injured, which we'd eventually find out was a concussion, as the team is so fresh and energetic but it's nobody's fault as it's just one of those freak things. More than anything, as I alluded to, the promo segment took away from the event as it felt like an absolute waste of time, it was something that could've been done within less than 10 minutes or, better yet, this could've taken place on the kickoff show.

Grade: B+

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