Follow along with our review of Sunday night’s WWE Payback pay-per-view.
On Sunday night, the WWE Payback pay-per-view will be here. It’s taking place at the SAP Center in San Jose, CA, and is a Raw-exclusive show. This isn’t quite owned by one brand, as two SmackDown Live stars will be playing.
The main event of Payback hasn’t been announced, but it could come down to two matches: Braun Strowman vs. Roman Reigns or Bray Wyatt vs. Randy Orton. Both aren’t for titles and one has a stipulation unlike anything seen before.
Strowman vs. Reigns has happened before, taking place at Fastlane and on Raw. There’s no stipulation for this match, so it won’t look different than their previous encounters. However, the winner of this could move into the Universal Championship picture, a title that’s absent from Payback.
Wyatt vs. Orton is a House of Horrors match. We don’t know what that entails, but all the answers will be found out in the potential main event of the evening.
Must Read: 5 Must-See Payback Matches in PPV's History
In the top title match of the night, Bayley will defend the Raw Women’s Championship against Alexa Bliss. Bliss became the No. 1 Contender after winning a match over Sasha Banks, Nia Jax and Mickie James. Will the Huggable One lose the title in her hometown?
Below is the full match card for Payback. This doesn’t include what’s scheduled for the Kickoff Show.
House of Horrors Match
Bray Wyatt vs. Randy Orton
Raw Women’s Championship Match
Bayley (c) vs. Alexa Bliss
Raw Tag Team Championship Match
The Hardys (c) vs. Cesaro and Sheamus
WWE United States Championship Match
Kevin Owens (c) vs. Chris Jericho
WWE Cruiserweight Championship Match
Neville (c) vs. Austin Aries
Braun Strowman vs. Roman Reigns
Seth Rollins vs. Samoa Joe
Next: All 26 Champions in NXT History, Ranked
Follow along with our coverage of WWE Payback at 7:00 p.m. ET. We’ll go into the results and grade every match as it goes.
credit: WWE.com
Enzo Amore and Big Cass vs. Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows
Result: Enzo Amore and Big Cass defeated Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows via pinfall.
Rating: 2.0 out of 5 stars
A bit of a meaningless match here, one that came about during a pre-match beatdown on Raw. It gives two teams something to do, both of whom haven’t done anything since WrestleMania 33. Maybe it’s a way of getting someone in contention for the Raw Tag Team Championship?
This was your basic tag team match from Raw, with Amore playing the babyface in peril, getting the hot tag to Cass. He did his usual thing, had a moment of doubt, and led Amore getting the pinfall. That’s not something you see everyday, especially when it’s his splash from the top rope.
Michael Cole played up Amore and Cass being back in the race in the tag team division. That may mean they linger around the tag titles, depending on how things go between the Hardys vs. Cesaro and Sheamus. However, with the Golden Truth also saying they want in the title hunt, maybe that changes things?
As for Anderson and Gallows, it’s more of the same for them. This loss doesn’t do anything for them, as they’ll keep their middle-of-the-pack tag team role in play.
Next is Miz TV. He’ll have Finn Balor as his guest.
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Miz TV with Finn Balor
The Miz welcomes everyone to Miz TV and quickly brings out Finn Balor. Commentary played him up as “James Dean-cool.” This feels like the second time this has been said since Balor’s return.
Miz mocks Balor’s entrance and says he should be in the Balor Club. Balor says that can’t happen. The fans cheered for Maryse being in it, though, a group that’s mostly men.
After going through what’s happened these past 12 months, Miz asks if Balor is a failure. Balor says no, and the A-lister continues to mock him for size.
The Demon King is asked what’s next, and says he’ll get his title back. Miz laughs and says it’s Brock Lesnar. Balor disregards Lesnar’s size and challenges Miz to a fight. Miz puts Maryse in front of him to prevent a fight, leading to Balor saying he’s not worth it.
To finish things off, Miz calls out the venue for playing Balor’s music, leading to him being hit with a slingblade and dropkick.
This could be a one-off before Balor starts something with Wyatt, who called him out weeks ago. However, why wouldn’t the Miz want his retribution after this? Expect this to play out on Monday’s episode of Raw.
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WWE United States Championship Match
Kevin Owens (c) vs. Chris Jericho
Result: Chris Jericho defeats Kevin Owens via pinfall to win the WWE United States Championship.
Rating: 3.25 out of 5 stars
The SAP Center loved Jericho from the start. He got a huge ovation to kick off the show, which is fitting as it may be the last time we see him for a while.
They’re taking the Face of America thing to another level, going with the red, white and blue “KO” logo for Owens. It’s worked well, so far, on SmackDown Live.
Owens vs. Jericho begins the theme of rematches for WWE Payback. It’s full of them from top to bottom, with few in between being something fresh (Bayley vs. Alexa Bliss, Hardys vs. Cesaro and Sheamus). This isn’t the worst thing, but it doesn’t provide a fresh look for a show that doesn’t have much hype around it.
A great bit of continuity with Owens using his finger break of a submission hold. This led to Jericho being enraged, slamming Owens’ finger in between the ring steps. It bit Owens at the end of the match, and he tapped out to give Y2J the win.
Maybe Jericho isn’t going away yet? He’s going to be a champion on SmackDown Live, adding a new face to the upper midcard scene. Still, it’s surprising to see this after it was assumed he was going away to tour with Fozzy. If that changed, or if Jericho is able to balance both, then we may see more of him in 2017.
As for the former NXT Champion, his reign as U.S. Champion ends after just a few weeks. It’s odd, after all that had been put into him being the “Face of America.” Is that going to continue? I think it will, and we’ll get some shenanigans on SmackDown Live.
credit: WWE.com
WWE Cruiserweight Championship Match
Neville (c) vs. Austin Aries
Result: Austin Aries defeats Neville via disqualification. However, Neville retains the WWE Cruiserweight Championship.
Rating: 3.25 out of 5 stars
Our second consecutive rematch from WrestleMania 33. Neville retained his belt then, but would he do so the second time around?
Aries and Neville put on a solid second showing, displaying the chemistry that was seen at WrestleMania. They had the crowd into this, with every wild elbow and the sunset flip powerbomb, which Aries transitioned right into Lance Chancery. An awesome sequence.
However, this led to a disqualification because Neville used the referee to break the count. This led to the King of the Cruiserweights keeping his belt.
We were close to a new champion, but Neville snuck it out. A third round should be in these two’s futures, maybe on 205 Live instead of a PPV.
It’s a disappointing finish to on a show with not much hype to begin with. Things like this will stall the event’s momentum, unless it’s covered up by other matches.
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Raw Tag Team Championship Match
The Hardys (c) vs. Cesaro and Sheamus
Result: The Hardys defeat Cesaro and Sheamus via pinfall to retain the Raw Tag Team Championship.
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
The fans want to chant “delete” and anything related to it. The Hardys clearly want to go along with it, but are unable to, with the ongoing legal troubles with Anthem. Maybe one day, we’ll see things being “broken,” but that won’t be anytime soon.
Jeff Hardy became the early star of the match, selling offense like a champion. It looked like he even lost a tooth in the process.
Then came Matt, who got the hot tag and let out a big “delete” from the second turnbuckle. He missed a big moonsault, too, which opened things up for the challengers.
It looked like Jeff had to be told to go to the other corner near the end of the match, as he stood on one side to wait for a tag. This led to the finish of the match, with Jeff getting tagged in to hit the Swanton.
The result here isn’t surprising, as the Hardys only won the belts just four weeks ago in their return match. They aren’t dropping them anytime, but what happened afterward may have set something up.
After shaking the Hardys hands, Cesaro and Sheamus went back to the ring to viciously assault the champs. It turned the tweeners heels, putting the Celtic Warrior in a role he’s used to. For the Swiss Superman, this moves him out of the fan-favorite role he’s been in for a few years. This seems like a way of filling in for the Revival, who will be out into the summer.
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Raw Women’s Championship Match
Bayley (c) vs. Alexa Bliss
Result: Alexa Bliss defeats Bayley via pinfall to win the Raw Women’s Championship.
Rating: 3.25 out of 5 stars
This is Bayley’s Raw homecoming, as she’s from San Jose, CA. She received the big reaction from the SAP Center, performing in front of 25 members of her family and friends.
Bliss looked like the star of this match from the beginning. It’s not her in-ring work, but character and presence that stands out. She manages to do this at five-foot, something difficult to pull off. However, everything that Bliss does make her stand out and draw the ire of the crowd.
All of this leads to the satisfying babyface comeback, which makes you want to see Bayley get her in-match revenge.
The match got stiff as it went on. Bayley hit a hard running knee to Bliss, which came after a big sunset flip powerbomb from the challenger. The Macho Man elbow was even hit.
After knocking Bayley’s face into the steel post, Bliss hit a big DDT to win the Raw Women’s Championship. She became the first Superstar to win this title on Raw and SmackDown Live.
This continues Vince McMahon’s desire for Superstars to not win in their hometown. It happened with Sasha Banks at Hell in a Cell and Charlotte Flair on Raw. Now, it’s Bayley’s turn with the Raw Women’s Championship, endng her reign at nearly three months.
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House of Horrors Match: Part I
Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt
Well, we received our answers to the House of Horrors match. It had mostly been in doubt since its announcement earlier this month.
Orton pulled up to a creepy looking house in a limousine, watching as a tractor was moving on the front lawn of this property. He breaks into the house and is attacked from behind by Wyatt, who throws him around what looked like a living room.
Orton stepped into a room with dolls hanging from the ceiling. Weird, creepy and something that seems straight out of your typical horror movie. It looked like Wyatt got insulted by this, as he had another attack from behind.
They eventually fight in a kitchen, with Orton throwing at least two dozen punches to Wyatt’s head. The Eater of Worlds then got up and pushed a fridge on top of Orton. After editing, it looked like Orton wasn’t even underneath it (safety reasons).
Then the house turned red. Why? Well, who knows. It happened after Wyatt screamed, “Follow the buzzards.” He stole the limo and left Orton at the house.
It looks like this is a two-part match. We’ll reevaluate later on.
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Samoa Joe vs. Seth Rollins
Result: Seth Rollins defeats Samoa Joe via pinfall.
Rating: 3.25 out of 5 stars
After two months and one big injury, we finally had Joe and Rolins go head-to-head. It was a fight for revenge, even though Triple H is off WWE TV and Kevin Owens, the ally to Joe, is on SmackDown Live.
This match’s storyline went straight to Rollins’ bad knee, which Joe targetted throughout. All different kinds of attacks to the injured body part were used, with Rollins barely sneaking in his own offense.
Anything Rollins tried to do saw him grab the knee. It’s a little much, but something that will likely continue as an in-match story for the next month or so. There were still impressive feats of strength, though, like with the Falcon Arrow. He even hit a splash.
Rollins snuck in the successful pin when Joe had a submission hold locked in. He pressed the Samoan Submission Machine’s shoulders down to get the pin. It leaves both “protected” with neither having to take a finisher for a successful fall. That may mean we’re getting a second part to this.
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House of Horrors: Part II
Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt
Result: Bray Wyatt defeats Randy Orton via pinfall.
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
As Wyatt entered the ring, Orton appeared from behind and attacked him. How did he get out from underneath the fridge? What method of transportation did he use to get to the venue? Plot holes, man. Plot holes.
As Orton attacked Wyatt, the Singh Brothers attacked the Viper. Then, Jinder Mahal hit Orton from behind with the WWE Championship that he stole on SmackDown Live. That led to Wyatt picking up the win.
The part inside the house was fun. The in-ring action was average and short, much like the WrestleMania 33 match between Orton and Wyatt.
The interference from Mahal and the Singh Brothers pushed the narrative on the Backlash feud with Orton. It made sense to bring them in, especially with the No Disqualifications stipulation. These three still have the WWE Championship, too.
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Braun Strowman vs. Roman Reigns
Result: Braun Strowman defeats Roman Reigns via pinfall.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Payback became the first time we saw Reigns in a WWE ring on TV since the night after WrestleMania 33. This was when Reigns said it’s “my yard now.” Strowman attacked him later in the month, leading to the Big Dog being off Raw until WWE Payback.
This match was hard-hitting from the start, mostly with Strowman assaulting Reigns. He worked on the taped-up shoulder of the former Shield man, picking him apart around the ring. It felt like WWE’s attempt to make us sympathetic for the three-time WrestleMania main-eventer, but that’s never going to work today, tomorrow, next week, next year, or in five years.
It feels like the moment where Reigns draws the biggest negative reaction is when he hits the Superman Punch. This is a weak-looking move from someone who’s supposed to be this powerful Samoan.
After two running poweslams, Strowman took out Reigns with the pinfall. It came clean in the ring, too, giving the former Wyatt Family member his moment.
Following the match, Strowman immediately threw steel steps into the ring and set up an attack on Reigns. He threw Reigns, ribs-first, onto the steps. Could that be another way of removing him off TV?
As Reigns walked away, he received “you deserve it” chants. If you wanted to know how badly some fans hate this Superstar, there you go.
That will do for this WWE Payback pay-per-view. It was a night that lasted two hours, 48 minutes, about five hours fewer than WrestleMania 33. What did you think of this evening?