With little fan fare and buildup, WWE Payback was not supposed to deliver in that way that it did. It ended up being a solid pay per view several intriguing storylines developing.
In the opening bout, it was Dolph Ziggler looking to extract revenge from Shamues and the “ARSE” kissing that took place last month. Sadly for Ziggler, he lost, but it does set up for a good third match at the MITB show next month. Ziggler continues to be one of the best on the roster that just doesn’t seem to get the push he deserves for one reason or the other.
The Shameus heel push does seem to be getting over well.
The best out of Three tag team title match with the Brass Ring Club and The New Day also delivered. The New Day retained the title by using the Freebird rule perfectly. It is still tough to see Kofi Kingston as a heel, but he is still a great worker in the ring.
Ryback vs Bray Waytt, as sure as the grass is green, Ryback loses at another PPV. No one will take him seriously until this trend finally ends. Bray Wyatt carries another match and should be headed for an eventual World Title.
The John Cena vs Rusev match is an early match of the year a favorite. Sometimes gimmick matches can be tough to pull off, however, this one delivered on the hype and worked past the gimmick nicely. The ended was perfect, with Lana completing her face turn and splitting with Rusev, he also saves his reputation by not saying “I Quit”. Look for huge things out of Lana very soon.
The Divas match was pointless, anytime you have a champion in a non title match you know they will lose. If anything, if the WWE is planning a Paige vs Nikki Bella series of matches, they would have been best having Bella beat Naomi to look strong.
There is no coincidence that the Neville match followed the Daniel Bryan retirement promo, was not a coincidence at all. Neville is as close to Bryan as the WWE has now, and they are set to push him to the moon if need be.
The main event did a good job using all three former members of the Shield to make them shine perfectly. Also, the brief re-union earned pop of the night awards. Look for the title reign of Rollins to roll on through to Summer Slam.
All in all, solid PPV worth 7 of 10 stars.