Curt Hennig – A “GOAT” show, as Perfect as possible
Watch It All – A consistently good show worth watching in its entirety
Watch It…With Remote in Hand – 3+ above-average ratings with some dips
High Risk Maneuver – Mostly filler, inessential, but 1-2 matches worth seeing
DUDleyville – Zero redeeming qualities, chore to watch
Payback 2014 - June 2014
Chicago, Illinois
CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into tonight's show, Daniel Bryan was the recognized WWE World Heavyweight Champion, Bad News Barrett held the Intercontinental Championship, Sheamus was the new United States Champion, and Paige was the Divas Champion. The Tag Team Titles were held by The Usos.
Kicking things off on the pre-show was the Hair vs. Mask match between El Torito and Hornswoggle. Early on, the crowd chanted for tables, obviously a little cynical about whether or not this match could top the WeeLC we saw at Extreme Rules. To make up for it, we get a sizeable number of planchas, crossbodies, etc. to the outside performed by both competitors (as well as their respective posses). The finish wasn’t original, but it was well executed. I don’t think anything here warranted the “This is Awesome” chant that the Chicago crowd gave it, but it was a fun opener. (3/5)
The US Title Match was next. Sheamus arrived first, followed by Paul Heyman, who cut a good promo that referenced CM Punk and Brock Lesnar before introducing Sheamus’ actual opponent tonight, Cesaro. These two have great chemistry and provided the audience with a nice, physical contest. Unfortunately, the match only ran 11-12 minutes when I don’t think anyone would’ve complained with something twice that long. While what we did get was above average, I felt like they left something in the tank. In fact, I agree with the sentiment that this was underwhelming simply because it matched but didn’t really top anything they’ve done on TV this month. (3.5/5)
Rybaxel took on The Rhodes Brothers next. The post-match happenings will likely get the most “play” coming out of the show, but the match itself was quite good with a particularly strong closing few minutes featuring nice transitions between finishers. I’ve been going through WCW 92’ and considering his latest work alongside Cody and what he accomplished back then with Barry Windham (not to mention his run with Booker T in the post-Attitude Era), Dustin Rhodes might be a contender for top 5 tag wrestlers of the past 25 years. His latest run only adds more firepower to that argument. (3/5)
Former Intercontinental Champion Big E took on Rusev next. The winner here was never in question. Langston’s had a strong record since WrestleMania, but you wouldn’t know that unless you were a very dedicated viewer – for those of us that don’t catch RAW and SmackDown every week, Big E’s last important match was a loss at Extreme Rules. Had Big E been on more of a roll going in, this match would've seemed bigger. They didn’t get much time, but there were two great spots that made this match stand out. (2.5/5)
Bo Dallas vs. Kofi Kingston was our next scheduled match, but what we ended up getting was a Kane run-in and another look at the motivational-speaking Bo Dallas character. Nothing else to say here – this was the definition of inconsequential filler. If you want me to care about Bo Dallas as a PPV-level personality, I’m going to need more than what was presented here. (0/5)
Fortunately, our next match had more meat on its bones. Rob Van Dam challenged Wade Barrett for his Intercontinental Championship and, unsurprisingly, the Chicago crowd was split between the two sides. I’ll be the first to criticize Van Dam’s stale look, moveset, and overall presentation in 2014, but some critics have gone overboard with the hate. He still holds his own but rarely pushes his opponents to anything above good. This one was straightforward and average, but earned an extra half-point thanks to the rowdy crowd that really carried it feeling more important than it was. (3/5)
From here, Stephanie McMahon arrived, followed by Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella. There were some really good lines in this promo, including McMahon calling CM Punk a “quitter” when the crowd started chanting his name. Brie Bella is obviously not the best actress in the Divas locker room, but I’m not going to complain too much about her involvement in the storyline, especially this particular angle, as the notion of Bryan being forced to choose between the title and his wife is a nice way to pull at heartstrings and pivot away from anything having to do with Kane. I expect a Bryan & Brie vs. Triple H & Stephanie match down the line, though I doubt even Bryan and Triple H could make it watchable Hopefully, Creative is smart enough not to book something likely to be so terrible. Keep this feud on the mics with only teases of “catfights” between the female leads and I’ll be happy. This segment got it right. (3.5/5)
Onto the Last Man Standing match between John Cena and Bray Wyatt. Say what you will about the build-up and finishes of the Cena and Wyatt matches, but I respect the pace they’ve cut in each one. Each bout has held my attention as well as that of the live audiences. Going into this one, I was admittedly concerned with the WWE’s ability to top its last couple Last Man Standings, the PG Era fan’s recurring fear that, without blood or chair shots to the head, a Last Man Standing match won’t be hardcore enough. Fortunately, Cena, Wyatt, and whoever else helped laid out this match did a nice job of thinking up big, meaningful spots. Though not as great or hardcore as the 6-man tag from Extreme Rules, this was still a very engaging contest and benefitted from the inclusion of the uber-over Uso Brothers. Plus, compared to the finish of their cage match last month, this one stayed within the realm of pro-wrestling instead of cannonballing into the B-movie shlock pool. (4/5)
Paige defended the Divas Championship against Alicia Fox in the next match. I’ve been a big fan of Fox since her character took off a few weeks ago and I've always enjoyed her matches – not because she is a great worker, but largely because, especially in her first years, she was so sloppy it looked like she was legit hurting her opponents. This adds a level of danger to her matches that is rare in the divas division, kinda like when Vader would be potatoing dudes in early 90’s WCW. Fox has tightened up her in-ring skills since then, but she also just looks much more comfortable too, her natural charisma no longer hidden behind insecurity and botched scissor kicks. Paige continues to impress me as well, especially when you consider her age. I would've liked to see Fox win the gold as her character is considerably stronger than Paige's, but I wasn’t too disappointed with the finish. As good or better than the previous month's Paige/Tamina match, which is no insult. (3/5)
Main event time, folks – The Shield vs. Evolution! The crowd was very alive for this and they had plenty to live up to after having the best match on the solid Extreme Rules card last month. That match-up earned a strong “4.5” rating from me – the kind of score that is almost impossible to beat unless we’re talking about an all-time great, Match of the Decade candidate-level contest. While I thought this rematch was really good, it fell just a notch below their previous brawl. Simply put, I’m not sure we saw anything new here except Triple H working even harder to put over the young talent. While I absolutely loved the kendo stick spots and felt that Orton looked particularly stronger here than in the last match, whatever shine was left on Batista since his much ballyhooed return has clearly left and, though he was definitely the all star for his team, it may be time for Triple H to step aside from competition lest he also lose the “glow” he had after months of not competing. As for the Shield, well, what else can be written about this trio of future main eventers? Their work here was tremendous and yet another feather in the cap for the best stable the WWE has had in many years. (4/5)
With an average match/segment rating of 2.95-out-of-5, this show was a significant dip from Extreme Rules’ 3.3 average. The biggest factor might be the blemish of the Bo Dallas/Kofi/Kane act, which didn’t accomplish anything for anyone, including Bo Dallas. With only two matches that I would consider truly “worth viewing” (Sheamus/Cesaro was above average, but not the best match they’ve had or could have), this show fits rather snuggly in the underwhelming category of….
FINAL RATING - High Risk Maneuver
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