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I am still working on the PPV Prediction Contest results. They are in progress, and it will not be a week long delay like some shows. They will be ready within a day or two.
Last night was WWE's Payback PPV, a show loaded with rematches, but in the end it will go down as one of WWE's best PPVs of the year. There were reports that the talent in the locker room felt pressure to perform after the NXT crew put on a hell of a show with Takeover this past Thursday night. With the exception of a few throwaway matches, all of the key matches delivered.
- El Torito d Hornwoggle in a Mask vs Hair match on the preshow. Your typical minis match with a lot of comedy spots. Torito is really good and Hornwoggle has gotten better. Hornswoggle ripped off Torito's mask but he had a second mask on. Torito then hit a springboard moonsault for the win. Hornswoggle got shaved after the match.
- Sheamus d Cesaro to retain the United States Championship. A very good opener. Paul Heyman cut a promo before the match saying Punk was at the Blackhawks game. Both men worked extremely hard, and Cesaro hit many of his powerspots which were even more impressive considering how large Sheamus is. Censaro hit the Big Swing (16-17 rotations). As he was picking Sheamus up, Sheamus rolled him up and got the win.
- RYBAXEL d The Rhodes Brothers. A short match that was set up on the app or preshow or something. Cody badly botched a top rope moonsault and looked to knock his head pretty hard. Cody went for the Disaster Kick but was caught and hit with the Shell Shock to get pinned. After the match, Cody told Goldust "Brother, you need to find a better tag team partner than me" and walked away peacefully.
- Rusev d Big E. Some of you want to complain, but Big E is not getting a push, so this match was set up perfectly. Rusev went over clean and strong with the Accolade in the the middle of the ring.
- Bo Dallas NC Kofi Kingston. Right as the match started, Kane came out and destroyed Kofi, apparently because he tweeted something negative about Stephanie (storyline) earlier in the day. Bo then gave Kofi and inspirational speech.
- Wade Barrett d Rob Van Dam to retain the Intercontinental Championship. Nothing great but both men worked hard. RVD's age is really starting to show in his athletic spots. Barrett hurt his elbow but was still able to deliver the Bull Hammer Elbow to get the clean win and retain the title.
- Stephanie McMahon came to the ring for Daniel Bryan's decision. Daniel and Brie came out. Bryan still had the neckbrace on. Stephanie said he was too injured to compete and needed to make the right decision for him, his wife, and the WWE. There were loud CM Punk chants. Stephanie said these people wanted Bryan to quit just like CM Punk did (mentioning him by name). Bryan said he knew was he needed to do. He looked like he was going to handle over the titles, but instead Brie got in Stephanie's face and said she couldn't fire her because she quit, and then she slapped Stephanie. Stephanie was in shock and ran to the back. Bryan and Brie celebrated in the ring. An effective segment.
- John Cena d Bray Wyatt in a Last Man Standing Match. An awesome match, far and away the best match these two have had, and Bray will have a hard time topping this one in his career for a long, long time. The Wyatts and Usos were immediately involved. Both men hit their finishers but couldn't keep the other down. Cena threw the steel ringsteps out of the ring directly into Wyatt's face in a crazy spot but even that didn't keep Bray down. Harper superplexed one of the Usos to the outside through two tables in a crazy spot. The finish saw Bray and Cena fight to the entrance set in the technicians area. Cena hit an AA off a stand putting Wyatt through a box. Cena then stacked another box on top preventing Wyatt from escaping. Bray couldn't answer the 10 count, and Cena got the win. Cena got his expected win to finish this program, but Bray came out of this looking like a star, even with the loss. I wish he would have won at WrestleMania, but in the end, this program really elevated Wyatt despite the silly child cult stuff along the way.
- Paige d Alicia Fox to retain the Divas Championship. The match was nothing special. Paige has no presence out there. Paige won with the Modified Scorpion Crosslock submission. Alicia started to freak out after the match but they were short on time so she just had to run to the back.
- The Shield d Evolution in an Elimination Match. This was a bit weird. It started as a traditional 6 man tag match with guys tagging in, but about halfway through, it broke down into a brawl and tags were no longer required. Anyway, Evolution was in control in the later part of the match. Rollins and Ambrose both took big shots on the concrete and steel chairs near the entrance ramp. Then Evolution went to work on Reigns and caned him repeatedly. Ambrose fought back eventually, and then Rollins came off the Titantron with a huge splash taking out Evolution. This was the turning point of the match. They all got back to the ring. Reigns speared Batista to eliminate him. Ambrose hit the Dirty Deeds on a steel chair on Orton to eliminate him. HHH got a sledge hammer and was fighting off The Shield until Rollins hit his flying knee of the top and then Reigns speared HHH to eliminate him. All three members of The Shield survived and defeated Evolution.
Tonight will be Batista's last night in WWE for a while. He will be back, so we'll see if they leave a cliffhanger, or just write him off for now.
We should also get some new feuds heading into the summer which will be a breath of fresh air. It's very possible we may see another Shield v Wyatts program which I have no problem with.
We can also expect retribution for Daniel Bryan after Brie slapped Stephanie last night. When Bryan does eventually return, unfortunately his first match will be against Kane, likely in a Buried Alive Match.
Money in the Bank is June 29th, so we may have some qualifier matches tonight, though it's a bit early based on WWE booking.
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...looking forward to it tho.
