What's up peoples?! Glad you could make it back with me. This time, I'm posting my review of WWE's recent Payback pay per view this past Sunday. The event took place from Baltimore, which is surprising considering all the very publicized turmoil that the city has been experiencing. Thankfully, everything went off without a hitch. With that being said, on to the matches.
The first match of the evening, post the kickoff show and that God-awful Meta-Maniacs vs. Ascencion crap, was Dolph Ziggler vs. Shaemus. Admittedly, this was a better match than even I anticipated. Ziggler had a great accounting for himself, which isn't unheard of anyways from "The Showoff". The match was definitely a back-and-forth affair, but the turning point came when Dolph delivered a headbutt to Shaemus. The impact badly lacerated Ziggler and he became a bloody mess in seconds. The ref clearly wanted to have the guys wrap the match up so that the doctors and can tend to the deep wound just above the right eye of Ziggler. Shaemus hit the Brogue Kick to put a highly bloodied Ziggler out of his misery and for the win. Doctors and refs tended to Ziggler and escorted him to the back with a blood-stained towel. He ended up with ten stitches, but once again Ziggler showed that he would do what it took to entertain the fans and to win. I can't help but wonder why people feel the need to headbutt Shaemus? Daniel Bryan did it and he took eight stitches and has the scar to show for it. Now, Ziggler did it and has ten. To all future opponents of Shaemus, chill with the headbutts.
Next up was the tag team title match between the challengers of the former champions, Tyson Kidd & Cesaro and the new champs, The New Day, who were represented by Kofi and Big E in a two out of three falls match. Their last encounter was actually pretty good, and this one was even better. As the challengers won the first fall and the champs won the second, the finish came when Kofi switched with Xavier Woods on the outside behind the ref's back and he rolled up Cesaro for the win. Very heelish move, but got The New Day the win.
Next up was Ryback and Bray Wyatt in a one on one match. Truthfully this was a yawn. After two halfway decent matches, this was a bore. Usually any match concerning Ryback is, and this was no exception. During the match, Wyatt executed a running senton splash on Ryback and injured his ribs, perhaps even broke them. I was expecting Luke and Erick to reunite with their leader/brother, but I guess that will be for another time. In any event, Wyatt won with Sister Abigail and put an end to the snooze of a match. Although Ryback doing his version of a frog (or in his case a bullfrog) splash on Wyatt was an entertaining touch for two seconds, it still stunk.
Next was the U.S. title match between the champion John Cena and his more than formidable challenger, Rusev, in an I Quit match. If you were expecting the incredible I Quit match Cena had with Randy Orton or especially his bloodbath of an I Quit match with JBL at Judgement Day of 2005, keep dreaming. What was exhibited, however, was a good to decent fight between a veteran and a young lion who should one day be an even bigger deal than he is right now. This was far from either of the two instant classics I just named, but there was enough brutality to give a few nods of approval. There was that one spot where Cena did his Attitude Adjustment on Rusev through the pyro table that was briefly okay, but still it was whatever because we've seen that spot done more than once. In the end, Cena won with his STF with a piece of ring rope across the face of Rusev and he was saying something in Bulgarian that apparently translated into Lana screaming at the ref Rusev said that he stated that he had quit. Cena is still undefeated in I Quit matches. Needless to say, Rusev likely cussed out Lana in Bulgarian.
Next was the former NXT Tag and World Champion Adrien Neville vs. the 2015 King Of The Ring, King Barrett. This was an average match basically, but all props to "The Man That Gravity Forgot" for showing he can hang with anyone on the main roster. He needed his first pay per view win and he got it, albeit by count out as Barrett got himself deliberately counted out. From there, he assaulted Neville and tried to nail him with the scepter but Neville avoided it and eventually hit him with his astounding Red Arrow finisher.
The Divas tag match was next as the newly babyfaced Bellas (??) faced the new tandem of real life cousins-in-law Naomi and the returning Tamina Snuka. I personally feel very bad for Snuka because she's a hell of an athlete but she lacks personality and mic skills. A little time at NXT might help her a lot. Look what it did for Tyson Kidd's career. In any case, the match was okay at best. It wasn't any better or worse than any of the other matches on the card. Well, if I tell the honest truth, it was still better than Ryback and Wyatt. Naomi and Snuka picked up the definitive win.
Finally, the main event is here. The WWE World Title in a Fatal Four Way match between Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, Randy Orton, and the champion Seth Rollins. It was of no coincidence to me that these four men who were in last year's Payback main event were in this main event for this year's Payback. This was actually the saving grace for this very average event. This was simply fantastic. it was almost like they put us through all that mediocrity for that main event. It was worth it. I'm typically a fan of their multi-participant matches like Fatal Four ways and Triple Threats, and this was one of the best in recent memory in terms of FFWs. A major spot occurred when the former members of The Shield (Ambrose, Rollins, and Reigns) did a Shield-like triple powerbomb on Orton through the announce table. Yes, that was a big mark out moment, as we temporarily had that vision of The Shield reuniting. Didn't last long, but it was awesome regardless. The end came when Rollins delivered a Pedigree (a la his mentor Triple H) onto Orton and picked up the win. Yeah there was a ton of interference from Kane and J&J security, but we knew that was going to happen. It actually didn't take away from the match, in fact it added to the story of The Authority willing to do whatever it took to keep the belt around the waist of the cocky young champion. Plus Kane's job was on the line.
As a whole, this was a 2.5/5 event, but I may put it as a 3 due to the main event. Unfortunately, this will take a hell of a back seat to NXT's Takeover event this week. Expect a preview and prediction of the NXT event later today. Anyways, WWE continues to produce average to below average events while produces excellent events. Within two weeks, the Elimination Chamber pay per view will take place and we'll see how it fares to this bland yet not horrible Payback event.
That's all for now but I'll be back later for the NXT Takeover event slated for tomorrow. Have a great one!
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