Payback Live (Spoilers)

Sheamus has beaten Dolph in a brilliant opening match to the show.

New Day retain in an expected brilliant match. Slight racism by the ref in the ending to the match.

Brilliant tag match. Inventive finish (I don't want to make the joke that will be made about the switcharoo!)

Cesaro did very well to make the botch forgettable with the flying European

Racist version of twin magic?

That promo for Wyatt vs Ryback has actually made this match interesting.

Surprised how good these two are working together...waiting for the lights to go out though...I want the Wyatt's back!

Yeah i was waiting for Rowan and Harper to come out. Good match and the rightful winner.

Heyman on Austins podcast ... Should be decent!

Lana to throw in the towel for Rusev or do you see us getting a real ending?

I hate I QUIT matches.

The most ridiculous thing is the fact that Rusev had Cena down multiple times where he could have put the accolade on him but never...

I'm waiting for the flag to be thrown in...

Imagine the push Rusev would get if Cena actually quit...never going to happen though

STF incoming...

Cena wins. Rusev obviously going to fire Lana tomorrow night on Raw.

Who is Cena's next feud going to be against? Kevin Owens?

Byron Saxton with some banter there.

How boring.

My laptop died just long enough to miss the diva match and came back for the Swerved trailer...

Come on Ambrose!

Brilliant haha

Great match. Rubbish ending.

Steph's Pedigree is better than Seth's

Marked out for the Shield moment and I think Seth using the Pedigree is awesome as long as he can start hitting it better...it gives off the impression that HHH really believes that he is the future

Sadly, when Rollins loses the title it will probably set up a match between HHH and Rollins over the use of the move.

The only downside imo was they put too much emphasis on Kane and not enough of the former shield guys all being in the same ring at once. The triple powerbomb was hilarious though. Loved Rollins attempt at the shield fist bump.

NickisBHAFC wrote:Cena wins. Rusev obviously going to fire Lana tomorrow night on Raw.

Who is Cena's next feud going to be against? Kevin Owens?

Kevin Owens did the five knuckle shuffle on a house show at the weekend.
The Internet then also did the five knuckle shuffle whilst watching it.

I've become a big fan of The New Day. Their celebration afterwards was great!

Owens to accept Cena's US Title challenge tonight on Raw?

Didn't mention is before but I honestly think Cesaro showed once again just how good and just how over he can be...still one of my favourite wrestlers on the entire roster!

@NoelleFoley
I am everything @WWEBigE just listed. Thank goodness I think positive and I like to clap

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What part of your body is clapping? Just curious...

I've only got as far as the pre-show so far.

Bonus match of R-Truth vs Stardust. I know that fans were still coming into the arena, but the silence for Stardust is deafening. I've seen this all before and now I've seen it again on a pre-show match. 1.5*

Mega Powers vs The Ascension. The entrance music for the comedy pair got the crowd alive. It's a bit odd that now JBL and co are trying to get the Ascension over after they buried them when they first came up and there's a lot of work to do to rehabilitate them. 1.5*

Another excellent PPV despite the build up. I can only pick out a couple of negatives.

I agree with Nadeem about Kane, it was too much focus on him throughout the match and the build up, it was still my Match of the Night though, excellent Fatal Four Way - I'll get back to it.

Sheamus vs Ziggler was a good opening match, good story told after Ziggler busted himself open, looked pretty severe, would like to see how bad a cut it was. They cleaned the ring pretty quick.

I wish they let New Day use the freebird rule between falls. It could have sold a much better story that Kidd and Cesaro are both too beat up and New Day keep swapping in a fresh man too give themselves the advantage. Shout out to Kidd, he's come on leaps and bounds since his time in NXT.

Despite having no prior interest in this match, Ryback and Wyatt put on a really decent match, even if it was essentially an exhibition match. Both worked well together, which is a surprise.

How can Rusev not win if Cena cant say 'I Quit' but he can lose if he doesnt? Silly. I dont think Rusev lost much here, he looked awesome and withstood alot of attacks from Cena. Hopefully Cena drops the US title soon though, put over someone like Neville.

Didnt watch the Diva's match, Was going to until I saw Naomi's boots dont light up anymore and that was the only thing keeping me interested in this feud.

Wasnt a fan of the count out ending in the Neville/BNB match. It was a good match but the crowd were disinterested and the commentators were more interesting in chatting pish to each other - probably my biggest bug bear about WWE right now. Neville was the right choice to win, but a count out victory does nothing for him, even if he did hit the Red Arrow post match.

Despite the build up focusing on Kane and Rollins instead of the WWE title, this was still an excellent match. I loved the Shield mini reunion. Ambrose and Reigns have excellent chemistry together, Ambrose could really get the best out of Reigns in a singles match. With a decent build that can be a compelling PPV match. I thought my Facebook had ruined it by telling me in the 'trending now' bit that 'New WWE World Heavyweight Champion named at Payback' so I spent the whole match worried Orton was going to win. I think Rollins is the right Champion for now, but I got really invested in this match I honestly thought Ambrose or Reigns were going to win at one point. Again, a simply excellent Fatal Four Way match. Might not be Match of the Year, but its not far off.

Seems like Samo is a few minutes ahead of me watching this, or at least writing it up.  Because as I look through his review I can see so many of the points mirrored in what I was writing.  Anyway, here's my review of what was a PPV that exceeded the low expectations it had set for itself going in.  

Sheamus vs Ziggler.  Setting aside the Kiss Me Arse stuff, Ziggler is always a good start to a PPV for the crowd and he earned his pay.  I enjoyed this.  Wonder if they changed the ending after the headbutt, because they were looking like this could be a really, really strong match then they finished it so quickly after that injury.  3*

The New Day vs Kidd & Cesaro.  I’ve been saying for a while how much I enjoy Big E and he’s getting better and better.  Great spots, enjoyable story, really good work all round.  It’s a shame they still can’t find a better way to put Cesaro over on commentary than ‘he’s stronger than he looks’.  And lucky he is so strong because there was a time I thought Big E was going down on his head.  Much like the Wyatts vs the Shield these guys could main event a PPV.  4*

Wyatt vs Ryback.  Rather hilariously on the pre-show they were saying they didn’t have a clue why Wyatt is gunning for Ryback.  I think the intention was to make it all rather unpredictably dangerous, but it does come over as an admission that this is all somewhat random.  And I don’t feel that Wyatt is working this match psychologically well enough to sell that story.  But it was hard-hitting and both guys delivered much more than I expected.   I’d have actually also taken a count-out ending here and looked forward to a re-match.  3*

Cena vs Rusev.  I don’t like anything about how this story has progressed, the Lana and Rusev changed dynamic, the seemingly endless series of matches between the two wrestlers.  I was looking for it all to come together and make sense here, it didn’t.  I respect the live crowd was into this much more than I was.  One of the interesting factors of wrestling is false finishes or getting out of submission holds and the question of who will win, these brawl in the crowd and wrestle the other guy to a standstill using all the ringside equipment and pyro do so little for me.  Rusev did some great work in this match, but if he can’t go over Cena then it’s all for nought and it doesn’t matter how many times you put Cena down, he can jump up, run round, lift you cleanly up and put you down.  What a horrible looking STF at the end.  2*

Bella Twins vs Naomi & Tamina.  I watched a couple of minutes, didn’t see anything I liked and then fast-forwarded the rest.  

Barrett vs Neville.  I didn’t see why this was special enough for a PPV and I think they’ve had better matches on TV.  Neville is always going to be over because of his move set.  But if WWE also want fans to take him seriously he has to get some wins, otherwise he’ll be over like R-Truth and Kofi Kingston, but not a Daniel Bryan.  In a PPV of over-written finishes, this certainly had one and what happened after the countout was nearly more enjoyable than the match.  2.5*

Rollins vs Ambrose vs Reigns vs Orton.  Obviously this was hugely overbooked, but it was also hugely enjoyable.  For every bit I disliked the interference or two men being laid out forever while the other two go at it in the ring, there were spots that I hugely enjoyed such as the Shield reunion and Orton at the end.  If they book the inevitable Shield triple threat correctly when we get there it could be WWE’s match of the year.  4*

I had just finished watching when I put my review up. I agree, a Shield Triple threat could easily be Match of the Year. It'll need to happen before Summerslam, because Im pretty sure that when Brock will be back.

I was so into the match, that I forgot to take a half mark off for the really bad Pedigree at the end. I wonder if there was a late decision to move on to that as Ambrose was going to use the Dirty Deeds earlier, and Rollins' finisher just looks too much like it. For me it was a PPV full of bad endings one way or the other. But it was still enjoyable.

The announcement of the Elimination Chamber event this month had me re-subscribing. And I actually feel I've pretty much got my money's worth with that event and the NXT one still to go.

The "I quit" match ending. Okay, I see what WWE are doing here, using Lana quitting on Rusev's behalf to put a wedge between the two and also using that as a means that Rusev didn't quit (and god forbid asks for another match in this series).

But that just doesn't work for me. In 2 months time we'll all be saying that Rusev lost this series of matches 3-1 to Cena. We might put the caveat in after that Lana quit on his behalf, but it will become the stated case that this was a comprehensive Cena win.

And Cena was in full control when he won. So, whether Rusev was tapping or not, it looked like Cena was winning. An entirely different ending would have been a Montral screw-job type finish, with Lana throwing in the towel when Rusev had just been put in a submission hold. Or, even if both wrestlers had the other in a submission hold of sorts and it looked even.

Rusev looks like a great wrestler. They call him a super athlete and he really showed that here. So, it's not that all is lost for him, because he has quality that can be rebuilt. But, I think WWE sure did make it harder and knocked Rusev back severely by having him go down to Cena three times in a row.

I don't think it hurt him. I really don't. He was fantastic, the ending was completely logical, the title is better on Cena and I don't know a single wrestling fan who talks about wrestling that makes sure the tallies of wins in series are important.

Can I just say that I thought Stone Colds podcast was worse than JRs.

The one I listened to started with 20 minutes of chat about his waste disposal system in his kitchen. He talks to fast and over his guests.

Adam D wrote:Can I just say that I thought Stone Colds podcast was worse than JRs.

You can say anything you like. But we are all going to be wondering what that has to do with last night's PPV. Do you also decide who Bray Wyatt feuds with

The question the ref kept asking Cena and Rusev was one I kept asking whilst I was watching the match.

Outside of the Royal Rumble, this was my least favourite WWE pay per view of the year. I didn't think there was anything particularly bad about the show. My main issues were none of the rematches were better than the previous encounters.

Sheamus vs Ziggler came close to their meeting at Extreme Rules as did the tag title match, but neither surpassed the past match.

Another nit-pick on the Tag title match was the length. I don't think they were allowed any more time then they had at Extreme Rules. I think it's a shame they weren't given an extra 5-7 minutes. On the positive side, Xavier Woods is fast becoming one of my favourite acts in the company.

Ryback vs Wyatt had no heat. like Samo said, the angle hasn't really taken off, so I found it hard to be interested in the match.

Like Prometheus, I had a problem with the ending of Cena/Rusev. I didn't mind Lana interfering, as it did keep Rusev strong. The booking of Cena passing out in the Accolade, then ten seconds after being revived being able to lock in the STF was Super Cena at its worst.

Didn't enjoy the Bella - Tamina/Naomi match. Only Nikki Bella is a consistently decent worker out of the four. Naomi frustrates me, as she's a really good athlete, but her in-ring work is patchy at best.

Neville/Barrett was the most disappointing match of the evening for me. The ending was bizarre. They've had so many matches that this should have had a decisive winner. This feud is stuck in neutral.

The title match was the best of the evening, and the fourth PPV in a row where Roman Reigns  has been involved in the match of the night. It picked up once The Shield 'reunited'. Rollins continues to impress as a smarmy heel.His facials were brilliant when he tried to get Ambrose and Reigns to do The Shield pose.

Disagree with Samo that the Shield triple threat should happen before Summerslam. I personally think they should battle at one of the traditional big four Pay Per Views. I get that Rollins will probably face Lesnar at Summerslam, but if booked correctly they could bounce the title between the two of them in order for the Shield match to be held off until Royal Rumble or WrestleMania.

I did have a random thought that with Rollins now using the pedigree, he'll feud with Triple H down the line.

Hero wrote:The question the ref kept asking Cena and Rusev was one I kept asking whilst I was watching the match.

What did you so dislike about it? I'm interested to know as I came close to giving this 1 star, but then I talked myself up to 2 as they really put so many physical spots in and Rusev showed some real athleticism that I thought they deserved more. But I was close.

Havent seen the ppv yet but wwe need to get rusev right now that the angle with cena is through. They cant afford for him to get lost in a mid card mash up burying guys like swagger each week

Obviously we're gonna have the split with Lana, I imagine tonight or next week on Raw he'll be 'bullying' Lana in the ring and somebodies music will hit.....but who do you feud with after youve just feuded with cena? Ambrose or Reigns maybe, or will WWE look to move Orton away from the title picture?

If I were serious about rehabbing Rusev, I'd stick him in the Elimination Chamber IC match and have him look strong in that. Not necessarily winning, but really looking like a force.

What I really don't understand is IMO WWE is short of top heels, they really had a chance to promote Rusev by having him go over Cena.

Prometheus wrote:

Hero wrote:The question the ref kept asking Cena and Rusev was one I kept asking whilst I was watching the match.

What did you so dislike about it?  I'm interested to know as I came close to giving this 1 star, but then I talked myself up to 2 as they really put so many physical spots in and Rusev showed some real athleticism that I thought they deserved more.  But I was close.

The stip, the referee just asking if they quit every minute which just sapped all momentum from the match, the way Cena recovered.

I think they've got Rusev into a good position now, a really good one, so its better to have Cena beat him and build up for someone else to get a moment and momentum by going over Cena

Just watching the main event, whilst Ambrose hadn't been built as main event over the past few months I have to disagree with Crimey over the others not being main event material, Ambrose himself has appeared in PPV main events (against Rollins not too long ago too) so it's clear all three ex Shield members are being built to rule the roost over the coming years. The fact that the Shield tease and then the beat down on Rollins got the biggest reaction from the crowd of the night shows these three are main event for many years to come.

Rusev will be Intercontinental champ at Elimination Chamber.

Reigns looks like hes enjoying himself a lot more recently too

He looked to be loving it, great interaction between him and Ambrose after they'd cleaned house.

Reigns has now been in 4 consecutive PPV best matches.
Rollins showed his main event status in the triple threat at the Rumble.
Ambrose has been handed some poor stuff to work with in the last year (exploding TVs, hot dog stands) but he's such a good worker and tells a story so well he seems to slide seamlessly from mid-card to main event, though I'm not sure he'd make a credible champ at the moment.

I expect Ambrose to get the MITB briefcase this year and win the title at Summerslam after a Lesnar beat down of Rollins.