Friday 12 May 2017

WWE Payback 2017 Review

WWE Payback took place at the SAP Center in San Jose on Sunday 30th April. Due to the Superstar Shake Up, we have a couple of matches that we wouldn't normally have. Anyway, let's take a look.

The match on the Kick Off Show is Enzo and Big Cass versus Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. Gallows and Andersno focus on Enzo's arm and stop him tagging in Cass a couple of times. Enzo does manage to tag in Cass and, after Enzo tags back in, they get the win after Cass stops the Magic Killer and Enzo puts Gallows in a small package. The match was ok and whilst it was a good ending, it seemed to come out of nowhere.
Winners: Enzo and Big Cass (1 for 1)

After an enjoyable segment of MizTV with Finn Balor, we get the first match of the event which is The Gift of Jericho challenging Kevin Owens for the United States Championship. Owens gets the advantage after stopping a springboard dropkick and focuses on the head and neck. Jericho makes his comeback, chopping the fuck out of Owens. Jericho applies the Walls of Jericho but Owens gets one finger on the ropes. Jericho doesn't take that well and attacks the hand. Owens tries for the Pop-Up Powerbomb but he can't because of his hand. Jericho then puts on the Walls of Jericho again to make Owens submit and become the United States Champion.

This was a really good match and it was a great way to start the event. I was surprised that Jericho won and I was worried if Owens' Face of America gimmick would work without the Championship. However, Owens regained the Championship two days later so I'm not that worried.
Winner: Chris Jericho (1 for 2)

Next is Austin Aries challenging King Neville of the Cruiserweights for the Cruiserweight Championship. Aries keeps Neville off balance with arm drags before Neville stops a 450 splash to get the advantage. Aries does his comeback and hit a sunset flip powerbomb into a Last Chancery. However, Neville assaults the referee to get himself disqualified.This was a good match and based on the ending, I'm assuming we will get them again soon.
Winner: Austin Aries (1 for3)

Next is Cesaro and Sheamus challenging The Hardy Boyz for the RAW Tag Team Championship. Jeff was beaten down by Cesaro and Sheamus, including an impressive leg drop by Cesaro. Eventually, Matt gets tagged in and we get some back and forth. Sheamus hits Matt with a power slam but he doesn't realise that Jeff is the legal man and he hits a Swanton Bomb to get the win. Afterwards, Cesaro and Sheamus attack the Hardys. This was a good match that went back and forth. I was surprised by Cesaro and Sheamus turning heel but I'm interested to see where they go with it.
Winners: The Hardy Boyz (2 for 4)

We now get the RAW Women's Championship as Alexa Bliss challenges Bayley.  Bliss gets the advantage after a brutal elbow to the face. Bliss' taunting gets the best of her as Bayley uses it to mount her comeback. However, it was in vain as Bliss gets out of a small package and hits a DDT to get the win. Holy shit, I honestly didn't see that coming. I should have expected it as WWE have a tendency to book their hometown wrestler to lose. Despite that, I was surprised that Bliss won. She is currently one of my favourite wrestlers at the minute as her character is brilliant and I think that she will do well as the RAW Women's Champion.  
Winner: Alexa Bliss (2 for 5)

The next match is the House of Horrors Match between Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton, which is not for the WWE Championship because Wyatt is a fucking moron. The match starts with Orton arriving at the house in a limo. Orton, while fighting Wyatt, has to deal with shitty jumpscares, a driverless tractor and toys hanging from a ceiling. Eventually, Wyatt pulls a fridge on top of Orton, leaves the house and gets in Orton's limo, which is nice enough to stay around, to go back to the arena. Ok, because of the rule that the match has to end in the ring, we'll continue this later on.

While Wyatt makes his way back to the arena, we get Seth Rollins versus Samoa Joe. Joe attacks the knee that he injured earlier in the night and he gets the advantage with a dragon screw against the ropes. Joe continues on the knee with a senton and a kneebar. Rollins makes his comeback after a sling blade and goes on to get the win after getting out of a sleeper and doing a fireman's carry into a pin. The match was pretty good but it's bookended by the House of Horrors Match so the fans didn't really seem that into it. Also, I thought the ending was a bit abrupt.
Winner: Seth Rollins (2 for 6)

We now return to the House of Horrors Match as Wyatt comes back in the arena. Even though the match is technically still going on, Wyatt still does his entrance. When Wyatt finishes his entrance, Orton appears out of fucking nowhere and goes on to beat the fuck out of Wyatt. When Orton goes for the RKO, The Bollywood Boyz Singh Brothers and Jinder Mahal interfere and Wyatt hits the Sister Abigail to get the win. That means that Wyatt is the new WWE Cha- oh wait, sorry. I forgot it's a non-title match so Wyatt wins by interference in his own gimmick match. Fuck's sake.

This match was fucking terrible and it looked like a fucked up horror movie that wasn't scary. I could list a lot of things that I hated about this but I can't be bothered. The worst match of the year by fucking miles.
Winner: Bray Wyatt (2 for 7)

The main event is Roman Reigns taking on Braun Strowman. Reigns, who has a taped up shoulder due to thrown round like a ragdoll over the last month, tries to win the match early. However, Strowman gets the advantage and after 2 running powerslams, gets the win. Afterwards, Strowman fucks Reigns up with the steel steps. The match wasn't too bad and it's nice to see Strowman win.
Winner: Braun Strowman (2 for 8)

Like the last few PPVs, I thought that Payback was a mixed bag, There were some good matches with some surprising results. However, it has the fore runner for the worst match of the year. Hopefully, Backlash and Extreme Rules will be better. 

 

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