The show kicked off with Becky Lynch vs. Trish Stratus in a steel cage, a match that was promoted as the final fight to end a months-long feud. Both Lynch and Stratus put their bodies on the line with some big moves throughout the contest, including an absolutely devastating superplex that saw Stratus come crashing down all the way from the top of cage. I also really liked several "throwback" spots - Lynch hitting a double legdrop on Stratus as she bent backwards in her signature Matrix pose, Stratus executing Victoria's Widow's Peak finisher - and the fact that these two really utilized the steel cage itself as the match's major "weapon" instead of busting out kendo sticks and chairs and tables to try to get over the violence. A steel cage is enough and they showed how to work it properly here. Zoey Starks involvement was expected but I didn't necessarily "get" the post-match with Stratus as it seems like the audience was more than ready to cheer for Trish and send her off with a "Thank You Trish" chant while Zoey Starks seems like a more natural heel to me moving forward. I wouldn't go as far as Michael Cole went with calling this a Match of the Year contender (even in just the WWE) as there have been some really stellar contests this calendar year, but it might be up there if we're looking at just the Women's Division? A good, above-average match and the best match these two have had against each other, but nothing I'd necessarily consider "must see." (3.5/5)
John Cena came out as the host of Payback and announced he would be serving as the Special Guest Referee for The Miz vs. LA Knight. The Miz came out and tried to stop it and the two had a decent war-of-words before LA Knight made his way down to the ring. This match felt a little long to me and, while I don't think LA Knight is a bad worker or anything, I'm not sure this match played to his in-ring strengths. Also, with John Cena so heavily involved in the pre-match segment and the match itself, it felt like Knight got a bit outshined at times, like Cena had been thrown out there as a crutch because the match itself - which, again, felt at least 3-4 minutes too long - was unlikely to keep the crowd engaged for its duration. The Miz looked great out there and I loved how he milked the opening moments. I thought the finishing stretch was really strong too, even if the middle tended to drag at times. (2.5/5)
Next up - Rey Mysterio Jr. defending his United States Championship against Austin Theory. Austin Theory is one of my least favorite characters in the WWE right now, a guy that has incredible athletic gifts but has yet to really find his footing as a nasty, mean-spirited heel and often comes off as quite generic. Mysterio, meanwhile, continues to impress and execute in the ring, but I'm not a huge fan of the Latino World Order revival, a stable that feels a bit purposeless to me. Like, I get it, they're all Latino, but...is there something more here? Maybe its happening on the weekly TV (that I admittedly don't watch) but I'm still wondering who Escobar and Joaquin Wilde and Cruz Del Toro really are. Anyway, this wasn't a bad match at all, but it felt like filler and I don't think anyone in the arena believed Theory had much of a shot of winning this. (2.5/5)
A Pittsburgh Steel City Street Fight followed as Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn defended the titles against Finn Balor and Damien Priest of the Judgment Day stable. As this was a streetfight, this was chaos from the jump, all four men brawling outside the ring to start things off and wasting very little time busting out the weapons, specifically chairs and kendo sticks. I really liked Finn Balor's heel shtick with the iconic "terrible towel" as it got huge heat from the Steeler fans in attendance (of which there were many). I also dug Kevin Owens rocking a Terry Funk tank and performing a nice tribute spot by putting a trash can over Balor and nailing him with a bunch of kendo stick shots. As someone who hasn't been watching the weekly TV, I had no idea that KO and Zayn's feud had gotten "personal" enough to necessitate a match like this, but then again, who really cares when its a match as fun as this? The attention to detail is what sets a match like this apart from so many matches that are like this. Balor's heel work looked terrific, every swing Damien Priest took with a can or chair looked like it could maim, the "fun-loving" Sami Zayn was nowhere to be found, Kevin Owens sporting jeans and taped fists, the fact that Dom Mysterio didn't show up until too early or too late - and then the ridiculousness of Zayn and Owens transforming into Pittsburgh Penguins (with Owens sporting a crimson mask that I'm not sure was real?) to get one more huge pop out of the crowd, it was all not just well thought-out, but well-executed. When the big spots began to come out - a Blue Thunder Bomb on a bed of chairs, Priest hitting Zayn with an awesome suplex toss onto a bunch of opened chairs, Zayn's somersault senton off the Pre-Show Panel table, Owens launching himself off of the stands to hit a swanton on Dominik through a table (a spot that I'm not sure how Owens walked away from) - this match went from being very good to maybe the wildest match the WWE has seen in a few years. The closing minutes of this match were unreal and featured a well-timed false finish involving JD McDonough, followed by Owens hitting McDonough with a pop-up shove (I wouldn't call it a powerbomb) into the edge of the announce desk that looked like a career killer, and then the arrival of Rhea Ripley, who speared KO through the barricade. Zayn somehow survived a Coup De Gras attempt, connected with a Helluva Kick, but ultimately, a briefcase shot from Dom ended up leading to a victory for the baddies. They don't make wrestling matches much funner than that. My only reason for not going a "full 5" for this is based primarily on it veering a touch too far into "fan service" spotfest realm, which was undoubtedly crowd-pleasing but also a touch too cartoonish for my liking and the kind of thing that I'm not sure will "hold up" the same way a perfect top 1% match does as a timeless masterpiece. (4.5/5)
A Grayson Waller Effect segment followed, with Cody Rhodes appearing as Waller's guest. Cody Rhodes got in some good lines about how generic and predictable these sorts of segments are before shocking the audience by announcing that "Main Event" Jey Uso was back and now a RAW Superstar. I guess if you're heavily invested in the WWE's current storylines, this might've been something of a surprise, but as Waller himself noted, Uso has really only been "gone from the WWE" for around 2 weeks and nobody even believed he was gone from the company when he "quit" 2 weeks ago. As a segment, it was fine, and I prefer variety on my shows so I liked this more than I probably would've liked some filler match. No point awarded or subtracted.
Rhea Ripley defended the Women's World Championship (formerly the SmackDown Women's Championship, but then changed from that because Ripley was part of the RAW brand) against Raquel Rodriguez (or Gonzalez, as Corey Graves referred to her at one point) in the next match. Rodriguez has been mostly used as a tag wrestler since coming up to the main roster from NXT, but I thought she had some really shining moments in the Rumble back in January. Rodriguez didn't look perfect here - there was some noticeable telegraphing of moves and the layout itself featured a couple of transitions that read as "my turn/your turn" to me, but by the end of it, the physicality helped make this match feel like an absolute war even if the finish was never really in doubt. I didn't particularly like the ending as Ripley has been so good that I'm not sure why she'd need Dominik Mysterio's interference to beat someone like Gonzalez at this stage in her career. This match went a touch long to me, but it was still solid overall and no worse than average. (2.5/5)
Backstage, John Cena spoke with the new WWE Unified Tag Team Champions before we got down to our main event - Shinsuke Nakamura challenging Seth Rollins for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. I hate that they refer to Rollins as the "inaugural" World Heavyweight Champion when the company has had so many World titles - including one known as the World Heavyweight Championship (without the WWE in front) - over the years and there is nothing new or special about this one except that it was created out of whole cloth because Roman Reigns can't be toppled. Anyway...Nak was the underdog coming into this match, but there was at least a little speculation that he may capture the title or that the night would end with Damien Priest cashing in the MITB Briefcase and leaving with the gold instead. For the first time in awhile, Nakamura felt like a real main event-level star coming into this show and much of that credit might have to go to the video production department, who did a good job building this up with various hype videos over the past few weeks. Some good chain wrestling to start things off, with Rollins working on Nak's arm. I really liked Nak's taunting in the early going too - rubbing Seth's lower back freakishly before nailing his lower spine with a stiff kick. Rollins fought back, though, regaining control quickly to hit a suicide dive on the outside. Seth went for a pedigree but got back body dropped, which allowed Nakamura to target the lower back even more with strikes. Nak missed a knee strike in the corner and Rollins caught him with a beautiful senton and then another suicide dive to the barricade. I'm so glad that Rollins has seemingly dumped the "multiple dives in a row" spot, which I always found to be wholly lacking in psychology. Rollins went up to the top of the barricade and went for a splash, but Nak tossed him off and into the table instead, Rollins' lower back hitting a monitor real hard. I'm not sure the spot was planned that way, but it looked and sounded brutal. Back in the ring, Nakamura hit the running knee he had gone for earlier (good psychology there) before applying a camel clutch to further attack the champion's lower back. Rollins tried to fire back but got caught with a cool back-breaker-clothesline-type thing and then some "vintage" Nakamura knees. After some pin attempts, Nakamura applying a single-leg crab, but Rollins fought his way out as a portion of the crowd broke out into song to show their support. Up to the top rope they went and it seemed like Rollins was going to hit the superplex-into-a-Falcon-Arrow combo, but hit a top rope hurricanrana instead. After trading blows, Rollins hit a sling blade and then a giant frog splash for 2. Moments later, Rollins hit a great ripcord clothesline - another move I'm not sure I've seen him bust out too many times - for 2. At this point, things got a little sour as Rollins laid the melodrama on super thick, yelling at Nakamura for "making it personal" and "worrying his wife." Rollins missed a Curb Stomp and got locked in a sleeper, but elbowed his way out. Nak then nailed him with a flying knee to the jaw that looked razor sharp. Nak hit a simple-but-effective scoop slam and then a simple-but-effective suplex, continuing to work on Rollins' lower back with the most basic of slams. Nak got a little bit fancier with a snappy German Suplex while Rollins was hung on the 2nd rope, but only got 2 for it. Nak then called for his finisher, the Kinchasa, but Rollins stopped him in his tracks with a huge superkick. Rollins tried to knock Nakamura out, but Rollins applied an armbar and then a triangle choke, but Rollins wouldn't tap out or pass out - eventually powering his way out by lifting Nakamura up and dropping him with a sit-down bomb for 2. A good strike exchange followed, but it almost seemed like the crowd under-reacted to it just because, by this point, I assume most fans believed they were working towards the finish rather than "padding" the match with another minute or two of counters and forearms and enziguiris. Back to the corner they went, where Rollins got caught and then brought back down to the mat with a messy looking something-or-other before nailing him with a Kinchasa that didn't quite get captured by the commentary team. Nakamura looked to be setting up for an additional one, but got pulled back into brawling with Rollins. Nak went for a suplex on the apron, but Rollins countered and eventually got the Pedigree, but couldn't make the cover! Rollins went for a Curb Stomp but Nak caught him and we got another set of nifty counters before Rollins hit his finish for a respectable 3 count. This might be one of the best matches that I've seen from either guy. I liked that Rollins kept the overly flashy stuff to a minimum and that Nakamura controlled the tempo for most of the match, not letting things ever get too fast or too plodding. (4/5)
Overall, Payback 2023 over-delivered in many ways - the main event was arguably the best match that Rollins and Nakamura have had in several years, the Ripley/Rodriguez match was better than I expected considering Rodriguez' relative inexperience as a singles worker on the main roster, and the Unified Tag Team match was an absolute Match of the Year contender for the company. I didn't necessarily love the LA Knight/Miz match, but the live crowd sure did and that's usually what matters most in presenting a live TV show. With a Kwang Score of 3.25-out-of-5, this one sits firmly in the final rating zone of...
FINAL RATING - Watch It
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