Payback 2016 Review

I hadn't been to a WWE show live in more than 7 years, so to be part of one that was not only a PPV, but with a Chicago crowd, I knew I was in for something special. After a historic WrestleMania that fell a little flat on a wrestling standpoint, Payback was here to give us a lot of that quality ring work that we were wishing for at Mania. On top of that, this PPV was marketed with the theme of being the first PPV in a new era of WWE. The younger stars were finally coming up the ranks and at the forefront of the match card. This event could be a huge deal if they played their cards right. And the result was good wrestling, but not much to offer in the realm of storylines. It was obvious most of these matches would get a rematch at Extreme Rules in the end of May, so we weren't going to get a whole bunch of conflict resolution in these matches. But I didn't really mind that when I was sitting in the crowd, enjoying my time. When I got home and re-watched it on PPV with an open mind, that's when the nitpicking started. But again, for the most part, it's just nitpicking. This is still a real good event from beginning to end if you're a fan of quality matches. If you're about the spectacle and the escalation of storylines, this probably isn't the event for you. If you like both, like I do, you'll still have a great time with Payback. So let's see what they got right and wrong at the event.


Baron Corbin vs. Dolph Ziggler

I'm a little concerned at how they're treating Baron Corbin already. Not only was his debut PPV match bumped to the Kickoff show, but it was also a losing effort. That's not the way he should be built up. He dominated the entire buildup, so having Ziggler sneak the victory seemed a bit odd. I mean, I'm not surprised WWE would book it that way, I just wish they wouldn't have. There's way too many NXT guys who have had tainted careers since coming over to the main roster and I don't want Corbin being one of them. He won the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, make something out of him other than a big guy who jobs to the stars. Otherwise, not a bad match and the crowd was really into rooting for Ziggler and booing Corbin.

United States Championship Match: Kalisto vs. Ryback

I was absolutely shocked at how good this match was. You wouldn't think the two styles would mesh, but there's something that just works when they fight each other. Ryback definitely does a few more risks when he's facing off against Kalisto and he had some great heel tactics to piss off the Chicago crowd, including an entrance that completely mocked CM Punk. Kalisto always impresses with his offense and this match was a nice surprise in quality. Although, I do wonder what the plan is for Ryback if they keep having him lose to Kalisto.

Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady vs. The Vaudevillains

I was really looking forward to seeing two of my all-time favorite NXT tag teams go at it in the WWE, but it just wasn't meant to be. The big story with this match is what happened to Enzo Amore. It was beyond scary seeing him suffer that concussion live. When you understood just how legitimately hurt he was, there's part of you that fears the worse. Thankfully, he was able to move and breathe, and was eventually discharged from the hospital. I wish Enzo a speedy recovery and hope to see him back doing what he loves real soon. There's not a whole lot else to critique on the match. The crowd was really behind Enzo and Big Cass, and really lit up when The New Day came out, so it's a shame something with so much buzz had to come to a sudden end like that.

Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn

Since Kevin and Sami are, in my opinion, the two best workers right now in WWE, this had show-stealer written all over it before they even locked up in the ring. The problem early on was that fans were still shaken up about what happened to Enzo, that it took a few minutes to get into their match. But once we were into it, we were hooked. These guys showed why they are two of the brightest stars in this new era and put on a spectacular match. I actually could've seen them fight for another 10 minutes, I was THAT entertained. It's perfect storytelling, with Zayn the underdog we love to root for and Owens being the best heel in the business right now. This match was so good, that we had the contents of its story spill over to the next match when KO decided to stick around and do commentary.

Intercontinental Championship Match: The Miz vs. Cesaro

I was expecting Cesaro to be good here, but I seriously underestimated The Miz here. With Maryse in his corner, Miz has been able to breathe new life into a very stale heel gimmick. They put on a really good match for the IC belt that combined quality wrestling with overbooked shenanigans. When Kevin Owens was on commentary, Sami Zayn came out and attacked him. Their action spilled into the action in the ring, cause The Miz to take advantage and roll up Cesaro to retain his title. This obviously sets things up for a Fatal 4-Way at Extreme Rules and I think the combination works really well with these 4 guys.

Dean Ambrose vs. Chris Jericho

This was a dream match for yours truly. Jericho is one of my all-time favorite performers, definitely in my top 3. And Ambrose has been a favorite all the way back to his Shield days. To see them go at it live was a win-win for me. Whoever won, I was sure the match would be good. And the match was pretty good, but it did drag on a little longer than the crowd would have liked. I'm sure this was the match they had go longer to make up for the incident with Enzo, but something wasn't clicking with the crowd. We weren't enthralled from beginning to end, but were gassed in some sequences in the match. A good effort from both men, but could have used a little fine tuning. Glad to see they let Ambrose get the win here, as he REALLY needs to get some traction going for his character in terms of the win column.

Women's Championship Match: Charlotte vs. Natalya

We've seen this match up quite often in the last few years, even with having Ric Flair and Bret Hart in their respective corners. The crowd went crazy when Bret came out and I'm really glad he got that reception, considering this was his first major WWE appearance since fighting cancer. The ring-work was fine throughout, but this match will be best remembered for the ending. We had a callback to the Montreal Screwjob, and it was clever for them to get Charles "Lil' Naitch" Robinson involved, but that isn't even remotely what people wanted to see happen. I know there's some that say "Charlotte's a heel, so this is what a heel should do, right?" But the big problem is that we're in a state where the Women's division should be putting on the most amazing quality of wrestling matches in the world and an ending like this sucks the life out of the entire effort. Charlotte and Natalya are both better than this and I'm looking forward to a rematch at Extreme Rules, cause there is bound to be some stipulation added to make sure a crap ending like this doesn't happen again.

Mr. McMahon Announces Who is in Control of Monday Night RAW

This segment was in a really bad spot on the show. It had to follow a crappy match ending and was right before a main event match where their golden boy was about to be booed out of the building. On top of that, this was just boring. They talked way too long and the outcome was the worst possible. We were promised a decision was going to be made between Shane and Stephanie, and we were given the compromise of both of them equally running Monday Night RAW. How deflating, right? Do they even know where they're going with this? Shane got a nice pop though, and the crowd loved to hate Stephanie. So at least they got that part right.

WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match: Roman Reigns vs. AJ Styles

I've been a fan of AJ's since 2007 when I first got into wrestling, so it was a dream come true to see him wrestle live. That being said, I didn't have high hopes for this match. With that in mind, this match was amazing. I was really surprised at their chemistry, playing up the big guy vs. little guy theme that had been scattered throughout the show. That spot at the announcer's table was incredible to see. There are only two gripes I have with the match. The first is that they really didn't give us the answers we were looking for with The Bullet Club. The other problem was that Reigns kicked out of nearly everything AJ threw at him, but AJ couldn't kick out of one spear from Reigns. Minor gripes for an otherwise awesome way to end a fun show. The fans have totally embraced that they are going to boo Roman Reigns and the WWE has decided to just go with it and have him beat every one of our favorites until we "have" to like him. The story here is that Reigns retained his belt, but the fans cared more about AJ's performance. I'm excited to see what comes out of this next as they build towards a rematch at Extreme Rules.


Final Thoughts: Payback was a really enjoyable PPV throughout, and that isn't a bias talking. Yes, I saw the event live and in person, but even if I hadn't, I'd give this a Highly Recommended. With the exception of the incident with Enzo Amore, the show was nonstop action. True, there was little long term development that happened, but the wrestling quality made this possibly the best transitional PPV we've had in years. The Chicago crowd always brings out the best in WWE, and this event was no exception. Definitely worth checking out.


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