The WWE Payback match card is already coming together. What is taking place and which Superstars could join the show?
WWE Payback will take place on Sunday, Apr. 30, and be a Raw brand show. It’s the first pay-per-view after WrestleMania 33, and should feature feuds that play off the event’s fallout.
So far, only one match is confirmed for Payback, as Kevin Owens will defend the United States Championship against Chris Jericho. Owens won the belt from Jericho at WrestleMania.
This isn’t close to the end of the build, however. There will be more matches made, including whatever becomes of the main event. Who could be involved?
Now, let’s dive into the potential WWE Payback match card and speculation. What might we see later in April?
Charlotte vs. Nia Jax
On Raw, Charlotte, Jax and Emma teamed to face Bayley, Sasha Banks and Dana Brooke in a six-woman tag match. This led to the latter trio winning, sending the heels into a state of disarray, mostly with an angry Nature Girl. So, we ended up seeing her and Jax have a mini-brawl, leaving the possibility we’re getting a feud between them.
The interesting dynamic is Jax as a babyface. She fended off Charlotte’s attack and walked away like a dominate anti-hero, in a way. The crowd didn’t know how to react, because it didn’t come off perfectly, but that should be ironed out as we approach WWE Payback.
With WWE usually placing two women’s matches on brand-exclusive PPVs, expect Charlotte vs. Jax to get a spot on the card. It’s something fresh and unique for a Women’s division that hasn’t had much of that.
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Finn Balor vs. Bray Wyatt
Finn Balor made his long-awaited WWE return on the Raw after WrestleMania 33, becoming Seth Rollins’ tag partner. They faced and defeated Kevin Owens and Samoa Joe in the main event.
Coming out of the show, it didn’t seem like WWE built a feud for him. There’s time for that to happen, as WWE Payback is still a while away. So, if Bray Wyatt is his potential opponent, how will we get there?
During Raw, Vince McMahon announced a “Superstar Shake-Up,” meaning stars from Raw and SmackDown Live will swap brands. Who will that include? Well, we don’t know yet, but a candidate could be Bray Wyatt. He lost the WWE Championship to Randy Orton at WrestleMania 33, and AJ Styles defeating Shane McMahon may put him in the title hunt.
It may be best for Wyatt to get away from Orton and Luke Harper, too. He can branch off on Raw and do his own thing, which includes facing a fresh crop of Superstars. One of them can be Balor, a one-on-one we haven’t seen before. It can take us through the next one or two months of WWE programming and be a quality undercard program at WWE Payback.
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Samoa Joe vs. Seth Rollins
It looked like Samoa Joe vs. Seth Rollins had a place at WWE Fastlane, until the latter suffered another knee injury. It kept him out of the ring for two months, before facing Triple H at WrestleMania 33. Rollins won and will move on to something else.
While it didn’t get teased on the Raw after WrestleMania 33, potentially look for Rollins and Joe to go head-to-head at WWE Payback. It’s a first-time matchup for them in WWE — a battle of two former NXT Champions.
This should get a spot on the Payback undercard, maybe as a show opener. No title will be on the line, so the stakes aren’t incredibly high, but they are both talented enough to put on something fun to open Raw‘s next PPV.
Could Triple H get in the middle of this? He’s had a loose alliance with Joe and Owens for the past two months, but never anything confirmed. With some time away, that may change for the Cerebral Assasin, officially putting the pieces together on Apr. 30 and making whatever this new group would be called.
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Raw Tag Team Championship Match
The Hardys (c) vs. Cesaro and Sheamus
At WrestleMania 33, Matt and Jeff Hardy returned to the WWE after seven-plus years away. Upon arrival, they won the Raw Tag Team Championship and received a moment at the Show of Shows long in the making. The question would be, what’s next for the future WWE Hall of Famers?
On the following episode of Raw, the Hardys successfully defended the belts against Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows. So, instead of a feud extending to WWE Payback, we had new challengers step up.
In a No. 1 Contender’s match for the Raw Tag Team Championship, Cesaro and Sheamus defeated Enzo Amore and Big Cass. While WWE did not announce when they would face the Hardys, the April PPV seems like a good spot for it, despite three episode of Raw remaining.
Team Swiss and Irish vs. Team XTreme is another fresh matchup for Payback. It provides us with two entertaining teams going head-to-head in a match that has show-stealing potential. This may not result in a title change, but this should be something fun for the fans.
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WWE United States Championship Match
Kevin Owens (c) vs. Chris Jericho
In a feud that started with the Festival of Friendship, it led to a WrestleMania 33 match between Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho for the WWE United States Championship. After a 16-minute bout, Owens won his first U.S. Title, defeating his former best friend.
Of course, when it comes to most WWE feuds, the Superstar who drops the title gets a rematch. Expect Y2J to get this treatment before he leaves for a Fozzy tour.
With Jericho out the door soon, there’s little reason for Owens to drop the title at WWE Payback. If he does, it would mean WWE plans on the 46-year-old staying for a while longer, but even that would be a surprise. So, don’t expect something out of the ordinary with the match finish.
However, if WrestleMania 33 was any indication, these two work well together. They can put on something that either goes in the middle of the show or to open it, closing the heated tensions and having them move on to other things. That mostly goes for Owens, who could have his next program determined right after this match.
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Raw Women’s Championship Match
Bayley (c) vs. Emma
The Raw Women’s Division has had a difficult time staying fresh. With Bayley, Charlotte, Nia Jax and Sasha Banks being the only four Superstars featured for the majority of the brand split, it overexposed them and led to the regurgitation of a handful of matchups. We’ve seen Bayley vs. Charlotte, Banks vs. Charlotte and Banks vs. Jax too many times, so it wouldn’t be a bad thing to see someone new enter the mix.
Well, that may have happened on Raw, as Emma returned from two “transformations.” She teamed with Charlotte and Nia Jax in a six-woman tag match, losing to Bayley, Banks and Dana Brooke.
After the match, we saw things break down with Jax and Charlotte, potentially sending them into a feud. The Boss didn’t turn on Bayley like many predicted, either. So, that leaves Emma with nothing to do and being fresh off a return. Could that mean WWE pairs her with the Huggable One at WWE Payback?
For the main roster, Bayley vs. Emma is a fresh matchup. They faced off in NXT, but not for well over a year. It’s a small audience watching that too, so plenty of WWE fans may not have seen them wrestle each other.
On a brand-exclusive show where WWE can get away with testing new matchups, Bayley vs. Emma could be one of them. Will WWE book this?
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WWE Universal Championship Match
Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Braun Strowman and/or Roman Reigns
Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman called out Roman Reigns during the Raw after WrestleMania 33, but didn’t get him. This came on the heels of Lesnar defeating Goldberg for the belt on Sunday night, and Reigns defeating the Undertaker in the main event of the same show.
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Well, it turned out to be Braun Strowman confronting Lesnar. This came after Strowman took part in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, getting eliminated just minutes in. He lost to Reigns at Fastlane too, so the timing is interesting. However, it’s a fresh matchup between two monstrous Superstars.
Strowman vs. Lesnar has a lighter feel to what was seen with Goldberg. It will probably be a longer match, but it’s something that could be hard-hitting and fun to main event WWE Payback.
The size and power dynamics make this intriguing, with both Superstars being country strong. So, we’ll see plenty of suplexes, F-5’s, strongman moves to give this that MMA fight feel again, except with Strowman not exactly being a “fighter.”
However, despite Reigns not showing up with these two, expect him to make his way into the fold. WWE wouldn’t leave him off the show after ending the Undertaker’s career at WrestleMania, right?
This WWE Payback match card will come together over the coming days and weeks. Title bouts and other one-on-ones will be made to create a fun post-WrestleMania show. What do you think gets added to this PPV?