There were not too many fans with high expectations for WWE’s Payback PPV. The consistent opinion was that the event was predictable and the only real hook was the main event for the title. Yet, the WWE roster seemed to have extra motivation to put on a good show and leave everything out there. Still in the end the show fell short of advancing or developing any relevant story lines that would help make Raw important the next night or reenergize the company.
Since WM31 the ratings for Raw have been low, so for WWE it was important to start generating some buzz around their product. Extreme Rules was a decent, but mostly flat show that seemed to be going through the motions. Payback did not promise to be that much better, but the WWE created a lot of intrigue around their main event fatal four way for the title. Let’s not get it confused though, the intrigue was not enhanced by what Kane was going to decide. Instead this seemed like a legit opportunity for something to happen that could push the fans in a new direction.
The pre-show was flat with an unannounced R-Truth vs. Stardust match and the Mega Powers 2.0 vs. the Ascension. The first match was utterly pointless and just filler. The second match had promise, but the WWE seemed to rush the match just as they seem to want to rush through this Mega Powers gimmick. The WWE refuses to allow this gimmick to breathe. If they don’t care why should the fans?
The show opened with Ziggler and Sheamus in what was a hard hitting well booked match. It seemed plainly obvious that Sheamus was going over after losing the prior month, but the in ring action here was very strong and they told a wonderful story of Ziggler having toughness, but Sheamus being too much in the end. The in ring action made up for the predictable ending, but it would appear they will have one more match like it or not.
The next match was probably the second best match of the night, Kidd/Cesaro vs. the New Day for the Tag Team Championships. The New Day have developed their gimmick nicely and are actually just outshining the former champs as deserving of the top spot. Again this was an extremely well worked match and had a ton of great interchange between the two teams. The New Day winning dirty was perfect for their gimmick. The only question the audience was left wondering was if this feud was over or not. It’s highly likely that Kidd/Cesaro will be in the Elimination Chamber match. That might be a good spot for them to shine and get their titles back.
Ryback vs. Bray Wyatt was the match that most people were not looking forward too. Usually when two bigger guys lock up the results are not too good, but these two outdid themselves. This match was a major surprise. They worked a quick pace and executed some great moves. The Ryback splash off the top was the spot of the match. Bray also executed a dive from the ring to the outside that could have legit hurt Ryback, which was something he sold the rest of the match to protect himself. The finish was solid with Bray going over. This feud had a bad build, but delivered a solid in ring match that no one can question, but let’s hope the feud is over.
Cena and Rusev had their “I Quit” match next. This feud probably had gone one match too far and many had extremely low expectations for this match. That being said the match was very entertaining. They performed many really strong spots and did botch a few things along the way, but the drama was there. Rusev interacting with the crowd and playing up the Lana stuff really had everyone going. Lana was excellent in her subservient role. The intended ending seemed to be that Rusev quit in Russian, but Lana had to enter the ring because no one could understand him and announce it. It was the job of the announce team to suggest this and the segment that happened between Lana and Rusev later was supposed to do that as well. Neither segment did and it honestly hurt the match outcome a little and left fans a bit confused.
What was certain was that at long last another over done feud has come to an end. The WWE’s belief that they can have multiple matches with the same guys for months is something they really need to rethink. It at times can work, but it takes stronger story lines and better overall booking to make happen.
Next up was the Bella Twins took on Naomi and Tamina. This match had low expectations, and just barely got over them. Naomi has developed a solid gimmick, but the Bellas have lost all their heat. They flipped back to being faces without really doing anything other than acting like faces. That’s a recipe for disaster and that’s what the Divas division has become… a disaster. It was good that Naomi got the win, but once again the finish of the match, as many Diva’s one’s are, was weak. Naomi simply knocked Nikki off the top rope and rolled her up. This ended wouldn’t work for the guys and suggesting it does for the women is just wrong.
The WWE has so messed up their Divas division that it will take a complete overhaul of talent to revitalize it. Charlotte Flair on her own cannot save this group of women because so many of them have been tortured by bad angles and a complete lack of mic time. If the WWE wants to get something over with this group then they are going to have to let the Diva’s speak and say something relevant. Otherwise they will continue to have pallet cleanser matches that just get us to the main event.
King Barrett took on Neville in the last undercard match of the night. This was the match that had both guys in a bad spot. Barrett just finished a disastrous run as IC Champ and has really been piling up losses lately including one to Neville at the last PPV. His win of the KOTR was big for him, but on the flips side Neville has been a big fan favorite since arriving on the main roster. He has regularly been in the best match of the night. How many losses can Neville afford to take?
With that being said the WWE had painted themselves into a corner with this match and they seemed to realize it with the shaky count out finish for Neville to get the win. The scary part was they suggested that perhaps there will be one more match. For both competitors sakes let’s hope not. By WWE standards this was an ok match with a few botches, but by regular standards this was a really poor effort by both guys.
So we get to our fatal four way main event for the WWE Title with Seth Rollins defending against Roman Reigns, Randy Orton, and Dean Ambrose. This match was perfectly setup with the prior two matches being not as impressive as the first four. The crowd was ready for this. The spots in this match were a lot of fun. Really early on Kane established that he was 100% behind Rollins. This came as a mini surprise, maybe not so much that he would support Rollins, but that he started helping so early in the match. With the Kane situation somewhat determined the belief that something interesting could happen was higher than before the match started. Possibly Reigns turning and winning the title with assistance from HHH? Yet, none of that occurred. Fans were treated to a very minor Shield reunion that rightfully so did not last long.
Kane took out Ambrose and Reigns to setup the finish between Rollins and Orton. Kane also entered the ring to give a direct assist or at worst to distract Orton, which lead to Rollins hitting the Pedigree on Orton and getting the win. So it instantly became obvious that the point of this match was to make Rollins look strong and not to move the belt. HHH came out and celebrated with Rollins. This was done to enhance Rollins as a legit Champion that will likely be defending at SummerSlam against Lesnar.
The problem here is that the match didn’t do enough to put Rollins over and in truth the WWE has done too much damage to him over the last few months for him to have enough Heat to really draw money. Also the booking of this match did little to help him out. He was again made to look like a fool trusting his old Shield teammates only to get tossed through a table. He needed the help of not only Kane, but J&J Security at various points in the match. There were three guys helping Rollins who interfered more than the Four Horsemen ever did in a classic Ric Flair match. That makes him look weak.
If WWE really wanted to get Rollins over then Kane should have tossed J&J Security out early and made the match a legit four-way. He also should not have been involved physically in the match, which would have fit the angle between Rollins and Kane nicely. They should have worked many of the spots they did, but in the end executed the finish simply by having Orton take out Ambrose and Reigns then toss a lifeless Rollins into the ring. After an exchange Orton gets hit with the Pedigree and Rollins gets a very gutsy win. Kane not helping would have made Rollins look even stronger and could further their feud a little bit. That would have moved the dial for Rollins a whole bunch more without really hurting anyone.
Yet, the WWE continues to make Rollins look lucky and they keep promoting Kane as an important figure that fans have grown tired of. The question is how much lower can the ratings go before they really react to this? That’s the real question the rest of this summer because there is very little mystery and intrigue in the WWE otherwise.
The Payback PPV started with four very solid matches. Then they had two matches that slowed things down so that the final match was allowed to steal the show. It did in some ways, but fell flat in many others and probably wasn’t the best match of the night, but the other matches fall by the wayside because of the lack of good story around them with perhaps the tag team feud being the exception.
WWE simply does not have very many compelling unpredictable angles going right now. Typically the Raw after a PPV is very good, but the lack of energized story lines has this build up being pretty low key. It’s almost certain that Lesnar’s coming back and he will draw attention, but knowing that it will be the entire summer before he gets his shot at the belt is a bit deflating.
At Payback the WWE had a chance to make a splash in two ways. The first would have been to give Ambrose the surprise victory. Even if his run ended in a month or two it would have caused quite a stir and revitalized fan hope that the WWE isn’t as predictable. What probably would have really energized the company though would have been a Reigns turn and title win.
With Kane helping Rollins the stage was set for this to be really shocking. All HHH had to come down and do was help Reigns. Kane could have been fired the next night and the Authority could have been reborn behind every fans favorite guy to hate Reigns. Now the WWE has really taken the shine off Reigns and perhaps coming out of this he has paid the highest price of all.
It’s unclear if WWE will make Rollins defend at Elimination Chamber, although his face is on many of the promos for the event. They are treating it as a pure network special, which means they don’t have to have high standards, but if he does it might be the WWE’s last chance to flip Reigns, which could really draw money for the company the rest of the year.