WWE Payback 2020 Review

WWE Payback 2020 took place on Sunday 30th August at the Amway...sorry, The WWE Thunderdome. I'm really sorry for being so behind with the Pay-Per-Views. A combination of things have led to me putting WWE on the back burner. Anyway, let's start with the catch up and take a look at the show. 

The match on the Kick Off Show was The Riott Squad taking on The IIonics. Liv Morgan and Ruby Riott struggle to work together during the match and Billie Kay and Peyton Royce take advantage of that. In the end, Kay gets hit with a double knees followed by a Riott Kick to give The Riott Squad the win. The match was quite good and I liked the story that they told in the ring.

Winners: The Riott Squad (1 for 1)

The first match of the event is for the United States Championship as Bobby Lashley challenges Apollo Crews. Lashley gets the win after getting  Crews to submit to a Full Nelson and becomes the new United States Champion. This was a good match between the two.

Winner: Bobby Lashley (2 for 2)

The next match is Big E taking on Sheamus. Sheamus goes for the Brogue Kick but Big E catches him and hits a power bomb followed by The Big Ending to get the win. The match was pretty decent.

Winner: Big E (3 for 3)

Next is King Corbin taking on Matt Riddle. Corbin hits Riddle with a clothesline as soon as he entered the ring. The match was hard hitting at times and after hitting a Bro to Sleep, Riddle hits a Floating Bro to get the win. Corbin doesn't take the loss well and attacks Riddle backstage afterwards. The match was ok.

Winner: Matt Riddle (4 for 4)

We now get our second Championship match as Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax team up to challenge Bayley and Sasha Banks. Despite Bayley and Banks wearing down their opponents for most of the match; Baszler and Jax managed to put their differences aside and Baszler gets Bayley to submit to a Kirifuda Clutch while at the same time, having Banks legs trapped in a cloverleaf. While it seemed slightly similar to the women's tag team match earlier in the night, it was a good match and I really liked how it ended.

Winners: Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax (4 for 5)

Next is Keith Lee taking on Randy Orton. Lee manages to get the win after stopping a RKO amd hitting a Spirit Bomb. The ending did seem a bit out of nowhere as I expected Lee to get the win using the Big Bang Catastrophe. The match was quite good but I really hate Lee's new music.

Winner: Keith Lee (4 for 6)

The penultimate match is Dominik and Rey Mysterio taking on Murphy and "The Monday Night Messiah" Seth Rollins. Murphy tries to kick Rey but accidentally hits Rollins in the head instead. The Mysterios take advantage and Dominik hits a 619 followed by a Frog Splash on Murphy to get the win. I thought this was a fun match to watch. 

Winners: Dominik and Rey Mysterio (5 for 7)

The main event is "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt defending his Universal Championship against Braun Strowman and apparently, Roman Reigns. On the Smackdown beforehand, Reigns refused to sign the match contract and vowed to do it at Payback. During the night, Kayla Braxton asked Reign's new manager Paul Heyman if he had signed it but was not given a definitive answer. So, keep that in mind. Anyway, Strowman doesn't fuck around and attacks Wyatt at the end of his entrance. The bell rings even though Reigns hasn't entered and they go on to beat the fuck out of each other. After a super plex that broke the ring, Reigns makes his appearance, signs the contract and enters the match. He goes on to hit a Spear on Strowman to get the win and become the new Universal Champion.

Erm...right, the match was fine but a lot of the things surrounding it doesn't make sense. First of all, there is no way in hell that Reigns would do what he did regarding the contract. Surely, he would have been given a deadline, right? If Reigns was taking part, why did the referee ring the bell when after Strowman attacked Wyatt? And also, what was the point of Wyatt being the Champion? I understand the need of transitional Champions. However, I didn't see the need for it, especially as it further weakened Wyatt. Anyway, it looks like Reigns is going full heel now and I'm interested to see where that goes.

Winner: Roman Reigns (5 for 8)

I thought Payback was pretty decent with a lot of good matches. However, the story surrounding the main event was dumb and ruined it for me. I've seen bits of Reigns heel run over the last couple of months and it's been ok. Hopefully, WWE won't find a way to fuck it up.