WWE Payback 2015 review

I didn't have particularly high hopes for Payback. The card was heavy on rematches and had what felt like a squandered opportunity to do something special in the main event. It didn't help that the pre-show got underway with R-Truth beating Stardust. Things didn't get better with The Ascension v Mandow and Axel but when the show proper started I was pleasantly surprised. It wasn't a fantastic show or anything (I knew it wouldn't be that) but it was good more than it was bad and all the matches I'd expected to be good were.

Dolph Ziggler and Sheamus opened the show. Cole claimed that the match had "become" personal. Was it not personal last month when they fought in a Kiss My Arse match? Because that seems like a fairly personal stip to me. Backwards booking of this feud aside the match was good. 'The Show Off' took the early lead. Sheamus turned the tables when he caught a super kick and elbowed Dolph's knee. Ziggler came back with a series of forearms before pulling up his trunks and rubbing his backside into Sheamus's face, retribution (or, if you prefer, payback) for the finish of their Extreme Rules collision. The pair traded finishers and signature moves to ratchet up the tension, Ziggler getting two counts off a Fameasser and a super kick. Sheamus got one of his own wren he trapped Ziggler in a cloverleaf. The match closed with a bleeding Ziggler being Brogue kicked for the three count.

After that Seth Rollins and Kane had an overly rehearsed exchange designed to get everyone up to speed on their grudge. Kane had been told by Triple H that he'd lose his Director of Operations job if Rollins lost the title. Kane told Rollins here that he didn't need that job and explained he still hadn't decided what he'd do in the main event. The segment ended with J&J threatening Kane. As a reminder this was all fine.

Better than fine was New Day's entrance promo. They talked about positivity and trashed a local sports team. It was, as these things go, highly enjoyable.

The first fall of this two-out-of-three falls match saw Cesaro and Kidd dominate Kofi and Big E with double team moves. Particularly impressive was Cesaro. He caught Big E in mid-air (just like last month) and made short work of Kofi with uppercuts and jumping stomps. The challengers got a quick pin after the Big Swing into a drop kick on Kofi. That prompted Xavier Woods to leap onto the apron screaming about the Freebird rule. Natalya pulled him down to the floor where he was wiped out by Tyson. That left Kofi and Big E to compete in the second fall. They got off to a better start here when E grabbed Tyson as he went for a suicide dive and gave him a belly-to-belly suplex on the floor.

The second fall was built around Tyson trying to tag out as he was worked over by New Day. New Day pinned him after E speared Cesaro off the apron and he and Kingston gave hit the double team Big Ending. They stayed on Tyson as the third fall began, still with Big E and Kofi as the legal men. Tyson tagged out almost immediately and Cesaro came in to batter Kofi with uppercuts and hit E with a double underhook power bomb. The uppercuts were incredible. The bomb was botched.

Kofi survived a wild Cesaro uppercut, a backbreaker-elbow drop combo, and a Kidd Sharpshooter before being hit with a pop-up by Kidd and an uppercut from Cesaro for what we were primed to see as the definite finish. Big E broke that up and as the referee busied himself getting him out of the ring Woods slipped into the ring and got a small package on Cesaro. The referee, unable to see Woods' face when he turned around, counted the fall and New Day retained. It was a good finish, one that played into New Day being cheats and kept the feud alive.

Backstage Ryback cut a Warrior-esque promo to Byron Saxton. He told us he's not a lab rat and that he lives his life by the motto "Start full, end hungry." It was entertaining stuff. As it turned out it was more entertaining than the match that followed it. Both Wyatt and Ryback have their strengths as wrestlers but they didn't mesh well here. They included some impressive spots (Ryback taking a DDT on the apron and Wyatt leaping from the ring to the floor with a senton) but overall the match was pretty basic. It got a better reaction than it deserved because both lads are over as characters. Wyatt won after shoving Ryback into an exposed turnbuckle (which just fell off as they tussled with one another, a lazy bit of booking designed to protect 'back) and giving him Sister Abigail.

The Final Confrontation Ever (for now) between John Cena and Rusev followed that. Before Cena was even in the ring the growing divide between Lana and Rusev was being emphasised, the crowd playing their part by chanting for Lana. It was clear Lana was going to play a part in the finish of the match. Rusev offering Cena the chance to quit before the match began didn't fool anyone. It did get amusingly mixed "Yes!" and "No!" chants when referee Mike Chioda asked Cena if he'd accept the offer though.

After Rusev had repositioned Lana on a chair by the commentary table (prompting Lawler to openly admit he'd perv on her as she was so close) the match got underway with some solid big lad action. Cena surprised Rusev with an AA. Rusev responded with some drop kicks and a heel kick then went to have a word with Lana. Moments later he had her pass him the Russian flag so he could wave it about. Cena turn surprised him with a Five Knuckle Shuffle.

Rusev quickly regained control. He threw Cena into ring steps on the outside and whipped him into the on the inside. A piledriver attempt on the steps failed but a sidewalk slam didn't. Cena withstood it, refusing to give up. Because that's his slogan, innit. He then got a desperation AA on the steps and lobbed the steps at Rusev's head after he rolled to ringside. 'The Super Athlete' sidestepped it.

Cena threatened to put Rusev through a crowd barricade if he didn't quit. Rusev refused so Cena did indeed spear him through the barricade. An extended brawl through the crowd followed. They spent several minutes playing around near an incredibly flimsy table before Rusev discovered the pyro tech area. He attempted to their Cehs onto it but Cena countered, giving Rusev a AA on a crash mat several feet away from the pyro shooters. This inexplicably caused some pyro to go off. The commentary didn't even sell it, so what was the point.

Lana ran to the entrance area looking concerned. Rusev refused to give him so Cena hit him with a guard rail. 'The Bulgarian Brute' put the guardrail to use himself by suplexing Cena onto it. Back in the ring Rusev Hulked up, kicked Cena in the face and applied the Accolade. Cena sold it for all of ten seconds before clambering to his feet and smacking Rusev into a turnbuckle. The hold remained locked in and Cena sagged back down to his feet. Cena passed out in the hold and Rusev celebrated like he'd win. When he was told he hadn't he undid the top rope and poorer water on Cena to revive him. His plan was to swing the metal corner piece into Cena's head but Cena ducked and dragged him down into the STF. Rusev started cutting a promo in Bulgarian, prompting Lana to slide into the ring screaming that he quit.

Yes, the finish was predictable but the match as a whole was very enjoyable. They were given plenty of time and a bunch of shortcuts and made the most of both. It was the best entry in their series. This sort of match is Cena's strength. Rusev has looked good in the environment too. If he's kept around the top of the card he could probably develop a pretty mean reputation in these sorts of brawling matches.

The mood was lightened after that, with New Day toasting their title victory by drinking milk. Byron Saxton rocked up and told the trio that they'd be defending their titles in an Elimination Chamber at the EC Network special. New Day weren't impressed. Big E said they were too big to fit in a pod. Kofi was the standout of the segment. He's doing great work as an antagonist.

After a fast-paced tag match pitting Naomi and Tamina against the Bellas, won by the heels after Naomi simply threw Nikki off the top rope, we were shown Lana and Rusev in the back. Rusev wasn't happy, obvs. He ranted in Russian before switching to English to tell Lana to get out. It would be nice if the sword to English was done because Rusev didn't feel Lana warranted Bulgarian or Russian but the reality was that the line needed to be in English to make it clear to viewers that Lana wasn't simply walking out on Rusev.

King Wade Bad News Barrett I versus 'The New Sensation' 'Don't Call Me Adrian' Neville took the pre-main event slot. WWE apparently still feel audiences can't handle two hot matches between headline talents in a row and pack in a lengthy cool down period before a main event. I think they should trust audiences more, to be honest. Better running orders could really benefit a lot of their pay-per-views. They didn't get long but they had a good match for the time they had. The finish was disappointing though: Barrett rolled out of the ring to avoid a Red Arrow and took a count out loss. He roughed Nev up after the match. Neville got the last laugh when he lamped Barrett with the plastic sceptre and launched himself off the top rope with the Red Arrow.

The main event was predictably excellent. Noble and Mercury grabbed Reigns and Ambrose at the start. Within moments Reigns had broken away to hit an impressive Undertaker-like leap over the top rope onto a human crash mat at ringside. Some fluid action followed from all four. Sadly it wasn't long before Kane interfered: he pulled Reigns from the ring as he set up for a spear on Rollins. Team Rollins then attacked Reigns and Orton, leaving Ambrose and Rollins to battle in the ring. They did the great work they always do with each other before Kane interfered again, this time choke slamming 'The Lunatic Fringe' just before he spiked Rollins with Dirty Deeds.

Orton and Reigns finally took care of Kane at ringside before 'The Viper' headed into the ring for his singles stretch with Seth. The highlight here was a high-arcing superplex from Orty. It also lead to the spot of the match: Orton clearing the announce table only to be beaten down and power bombed through it by Rollins, Ambrose and Reigns. Ambrose and Reigns turned on Rollins immediately afterwards and got attacked by Kane. That didn't the well for him. He was power bombed onto Rollins through the Spanish table. Twice, because it didn't break the first time.

Ambrose and Reigns slipped into the ring for a singles stretch opposite one another. Ambrose was easily the more popular, winning out on a yay-boo exchange, but it was Reigns who dominated. Ambrose kicked out of a Superman punch and countered a spear with the knee. Reigns escaped a Dirty Deeds attempt and dropped Ambrose with a spear. Rollins returned to break it up then did a lap around ringside to escape Reigns' wrath. Back in the ring Reigns was dropped with Ambrose's rebound clothesline and Rollins with Dirty Deeds. Kane made the save by pulling Ambrose out then smashed both of them with steel stairs.

Orton knocked Kane into a ring post and then headed into the ring to RKO J&J and catch Rollins with a power slam as the champ leapt off the top rope. 'The Big Red Machine' interfered again, distracting Orton long enough to allow Rollins to sneak in a Pedigree for a successful title defence. His reward for this victory was having his hand raised in the aisle by 'The Game' himself, Triple H. High praise indeed for 'The Future'.

***

Results summary:

Sheamus defeated Dolph Ziggler
New Day defeated Cesaro and Tyson Kidd to retain the tag team championship
Bray Wyatt defeated Ryback
John Cena defeated Rusev to retain the United States championship
Naomi and Tamina defeated the Bellas
Adrian Neville defeated King Barrett
Seth Rollins defeated Randy Orton, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose to retain the WWE championship

WWE Payback 2015 preview

Payback is going to be an historic pay-per-view. In the main event, for the first time on a WWE television show, all three members of The Shield will face off against one another. This isn't like a generic, run-of-the-mill triple threat pitting three guys against each other for no reason. This is a big deal. Because the three have a shared history.

At the time of their split last June The Shield were one of WWE's top acts. They're one of the creative team's biggest successes of the last half decade. They achieved a lot together and were presented as a headline act despite being a faction, rare in WWE. That a match involving all three working against one another wasn't rushed into, instead being saved for later, further emphasises the importance and significance of its first occurrence.

At this point Rollins and Reigns are both bona fide main eventers. Dean Ambrose has cooled off considerably since the second half of last year but he remains popular and talented. It's come at a good time for 'The Lunatic Fringe'. He's there to take the fall but being involved gives him a status boost, something he's in need of after failing to capture the Intercontinental title (because what sort of self-respecting WWE wrestler can't win the IC belt in 2015?). The last few weeks of television have shown that he can still get crowds to react to him when given something to do.

I find myself unable to get as excited about the match as I'd like though. Because it's not the logical three-way that it deserves to be. Instead it's a four-way also involving Randy Orton. What should be a meaningful, memorable, landmark moment in the careers of all three Shield guys is instead something that's happening because Vince is in a bind when it comes to main events. A Reigns versus Orton versus Rollins triple threat was initially decided on via public vote on the April 27 RAW. Ambrose was added a week later when Kane was irked for the umpteenth week in a row by Rollins' arrogance. The reality of the situation is that WWE realised that this would be the third pay-per-view of the last five with a triple threat WWE championship match going on last. With a triple threat also planned for SummerSlam (a 'Mania rematch of Reigns v Rollins v Lesnar) the decision was made to make this a four-way.

The logic behind the switch is sound but it was a situation WWE could have avoided if they planned better and concentrated on elevating a wider variety of talent. They're throwing away one of the few meaningful matches they have access to to salvage a B-level pay-per-view. Technically, yes, they can still go ahead with a Shield triple threat at some point in the future but its appeal will be lessened because we'll have already seen the three at loggerheads here. You only get one chance at a first impression and all that.

Honestly, I'd have preferred Kane in the match in place of Ambrose. It would be far less offensive for him to be in there as the blatant fall fodder and it would have made sense in terms of recent characters directions. A month ago Ambrose wasn't involved with Orton, Rollins or Reigns while Kane and 'The Future' have been sniping at one another since shortly after WrestleMania (and Kane was running interference against Orty before that). His issues with Rollins could have been safely paid off in a four-way saving us the chore of sitting through a Rollins and Kane singles match, and as he's technically a heel his involvement would have made more sense from a ring psychology perspective: it would have been two heels and two faces in one match, instead of the three faces against one heel we're actually getting.

None of this is to say the match won't be good. Reigns has had a number of very good matches recently. Rollins is quite possibly the best active wrestler on the WWE roster. Ambrose and Orton are both reliable and over. Unless something very surprising happens the match will be satisfying. But this doesn't make it any less of a massive waste.

A Rollins win seems painfully obvious.

In the second biggest match of the night John Cena will defend the United States championship against Rusev in an I Quit match. This will be the fourth straight meeting for the pair on pay-per-view. Nothing about their previous three explains why a fourth is necessary. They haven't been bad together but they haven't been anything special either. The win-loss record also makes this a bit of a pointless meeting. After suffering a loss in their first showdown at Fast Lane Cena has dispatched Rusev twice. As we've been told this will be the final entry in their series the best Rusev can do here is draw the feud. That means it's impossible for him to come out of Payback looking like the juggernaut he was shaping up to be before he was sent Cena's way. It would have been better for all involved had WWE cut their losses and split them following Extreme Rules.

Not that that matters much. Cena is going to win this match and keep hold of the US championship so he can continue his run of surprisingly exciting TV matches against mid-carders. Rusev's future isn't clear but the last month of TV has made one thing certain: Lana won't be featuring in it. Not as his manager at least. Lana, you see, has been corrupted by The West, waving at crowds who chant for her and dancing with Fandango. She and 'The Super Athlete' are going to split. Presumably Lana will find someone new to manage and Rusev will take them on.

The obvious finish would be to have Lana quit on Rusev's behalf. She could argue she felt she was doing the right thing, Rusev's shaky claim of only having one definitive loss to his name could be maintained (just), and the desired split could be achieved. I don't want this to happen. Rusev and Lana are a great act and both will suffer for being apart. But what I want and what I think will happen aren't always the same thing when it comes to WWE.

Another fine example of this is the Bray Wyatt versus Ryback match. The idea is that Wyatt, having suffered a high profile loss to The Undertaker at WrestleMania, can be rehabilitated with a few victories over 'The Big Guy'. I can't see it working. I enjoy Ryback's character (especially when he's an anti-internet heel) but he's not on a level where a win over him is enough to make up for a recent loss, especially to someone like 'The Phenom'. He's not even a good enough wrestler to provide 'The New Face of Fear' with a good match.

This said I'm going to go against the grain and pick Ryback as the winner. Every so often WWE goes through a phase where obvious pay-per-view outcomes don't happen. Sting's loss to 'The Game' at 'Mania and Sheamus's loss to Dolph Ziggler at Extreme Rules indicate we're in one of those periods. A Wyatt win seems like the obvious thing but a Ryback win wouldn't alter any major plans so I think they'll go with it. 'The Eater of Worlds' can get his win back in the rematch (there's always a rematch).

Speaking of Shaymo and 'The Show Off', their bout is far more promising, although their feud seems to be running in reverse to booking logic. Instead of starting with a normal match against one another and running through gimmick matches afterwards they started with a gimmick match and have regressed to regular rules. Not that a Kiss My Arse match is a classic gimmick or anything but it's a gimmick nonetheless. They work well together and I expect they'll put out something good here. As Ziggles won at ER it's Sheamus's turn to go over this time.

Another outcome that seems easy to predict is The Ascension's loss to Macho Mandow and Curtis Axel. After four months on the main roster what potential The Ascension had is completely gone. Teaming Mandow with Axel isn't the best use of either man. Mandow has been one of the most popular guys on the roster for over six months now and it's disheartening that in that time WWE have blundered splitting him from Miz and preparing something meaningful for him to do afterwards. But at least they've come up with something. That's better than doing nothing with him, right? Right?

King Barrett v Adrian Neville is another one that seems fairly straightforward to predict. They met on the pre-show of last month's Extreme Rules. Neville won. They met again in the finals of the (shambolic) King of the Ring tournament two nights later. Barrett won. Barrett got himself a new royal gimmick with that win, which means he's the favourite to win again here.

The match I'm most looking forward to at Payback is the tag team title match. Cesaro and Tyson Kidd will challenge New Day for the championships they were cheated out of a month ago. If previous encounters are anything to go by this will be one of the best matches of the night. They also have a well chosen stipulation to work with: two-out-of-three falls. That's a good choice for two good teams anyway, but it's especially good here because New Day are defending their titles under the Freebird rule.

In case you don't know (unlikely as that is, being that you're reading a niche blog about wrestling already) this is a rule that allows any members of a three man unit to defend a two man tag team championship. It's application in a two-out-of-three falls environment could create some amazing heat as New Day swap members in and out on different falls, giving them an advantage in the latter stages of the match. I expect New Day to retain via shady tactics. I expect this to be the best match of the night.

And I expect Payback to end up being the latest forgettable WWE pay-per-view. There are elements of it that are promising, such as the main event, the tag title match, and Ziggler versus Sheamus, but there's not enough to make it look like it'll be worth more than one repeat viewing (if that). There are too any rematches and shoddy booking choices for that. Sadly, this isn't the first time I've expressed that sentiment about a WWE pay-per-view. Even more sadly, I'm yet to be wrong.

***

Predictions summary:

Seth Rollins to retain the WWE championship against Roman Reigns, Randy Orton and Dean Ambrose
John Cena to defeat Rusev after Lana quits on Rusev's behalf
New Day to defeat Cesaro and Tyson Kidd
Ryback to defeat Bray Wyatt
Sheamus to defeat Dolph Ziggler
King Barrett to defeat Adrian Neville
Macho Mandow and Curtis Axel to defeat The Ascension