Payback Preview & Predictions

What's going on folks!  Hope everyone has been enjoying their week and I'm glad you're riding with me again.  This post is about the upcoming WWE Payback pay per view taking place this coming Sunday, exclusively on the WWE Network.  Last year's Payback was a fairly decent event with the main event being Evolution (Triple H, Randy Orton, and Batista) vs. The Shield (Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, and the now WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins).  How ironic is it that most of the same people from last year's main event are participants in the main event of this year's Payback?  Also last year, John Cena was involved in a big time Last Man Standing Match with Bray Wyatt, in a match that saw Wyatt really breakout in a main event-esque role.  This year, Cena will be involved in a struggle against the animalistic Rusev for the U.S. Title in an I Quit Match.  With this little bit being said, let's start with my predictions of the upcoming event. 

WWE World Heavyweight title/Fatal Four Way
Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins (c) vs. Dean Ambrose vs. Randy Orton

This may see to be the most intriguing match of the night but not because of the action necessarily.  I can't help but wonder if the fact that all Shield members are in this match and then there's Orton.  Remember it was last year that all three Shield members were in action against Orton and Hunter.  I can't help but believe that there's a swerve involved here.  It's been rumored that Dean was going to be as big of a major player as Roman and Seth currently are this summer so this could add additional fuel to the fire.  Plus with Kane clearly about to leave The Authority, this could make interesting situations more apparent with turns from Ambrose, Reigns, and Kane that night.

Winner: Seth Rollins

WWE U.S. Heavyweight Title/I Quit
John Cena (c) vs. Rusev w/ Lana

This should be a no-brainer, as the "never give up" mantra of Cena would be totally thrown out the boat should he quit.  Besides, he's undefeated in this match (who can dare forget that vicious bloodbather of an I Quit match at Judgement Day 2005 against JBL? ) and if you think Cena, or as JBL calls him "Big Match John" will take an L here, you can't see me either!

Winner: John Cena

WWE Tag Team Titles/2-3 Falls
Cesaro/Tyson Kidd w/ Natalya vs. The New Day (c)

The New Day, represented by Big E and Kofi Kingston, shocked the world when they defeated Cesaro and Kidd last month at Extreme Rules.  Now fitting in to their roles as obnoxious heels quite comfortably, I look for them to nudge another win to further push their heel run as champs.  Hopefully this will be a pretty good match, if not better than their Extreme Rules encounter.

Winner: The New Day

Ryback vs. Bray Wyatt

In a match where both guys are going nowhere fast, it's been much speculated that The Wyatt Family will be reuniting and now that we've seen Luke and Erick back on the same page, what a better time for them to get back up with their "brother" Bray and cost Ryback the match.  I, for one, gladly welcome them back.

Winner: Bray Wyatt

Dolph Ziggler vs. Shaemus

This comes off the heels of their "Kiss Me Arse" match (shame at the name).  The new (and not improved) Shaemus will have a regular, one on one match with "The Showoff", only this time, I expect Shaemus to pick up the W.

Winner: Shaemus

Neville vs. King Barrett

How exciting is it to see Adrien Neville on the main roster?  The former NXT Tag and NXT Champion has been turning heads since his main roster debut the day after Wrestlemania.  He faces the new King Of The Ring in a rematch from the KOTR finals.  While normally I'm very skeptical about acts from NXT going to the main roster, I think if they let Neville be his incredible high-flying self, he'll be a main eventer in the next couple of years.  In the meantime, I'll give the nod to Barrett simply because he's rumored and favored to have a big time push this year and, if that's the case, his momentum will continue to build.

Winner: King Barrett

Axelmania/Macho Mandow vs. The Ascencion

I really don't care at all about this match, as I'm quite sure you don't either.

Winner: Axelmania/Macho Mandow...but again who cares???

The Bella Twins vs. Naomi/Tamina Snuka

I'm still very curious, when the hell did The Bellas become baby faces??  This is the second time creative has written them to be on the same side, whether as faces or heels, without any build or explanation.  In any event, Naomi has become the talk of the Divas locker room since turning heel (complete with her new theme song that she actually performs herself).  Plus add to the mix the return of Tamina Snuka after months of recovering from a torn ACL, there's very little chance we'll see Naomi and Tamina wind up losing.  Don't be surprised to see a Paige return though.

Winners: Naomi/Tamina Snuka

I'm not really looking incredibly forward to this event and I'm going to wait for Summerslam to be impressed with WWE's product.  What the hell, I'm eagerly awaiting the next NXT Takeover special a lot more than this.  Will be back Monday with my reviews.  Later guys and gals.