WWE Payback 2016

Payback 2016

May 2016, Chicago, Illinois

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: In the first major show since WrestleMania 32, Roman Reigns is the reigning WWE Champion, The Miz holds the Intercontinental Championship, The New Day are the WWE World Tag Team Champions, Charlotte is the Women's Champion, and Kalisto holds the United States Championship.

COMMENTATORS: Michael Cole, Byron Saxton, and JBL

Payback 2016 kicks off with a short promo from the New Day. I haven't totally hopped off the New Day bandwagon, but I'll admit to being colder on the act than I was 8 months ago or even 8 weeks ago. I wouldn't call it stale just yet...but if it were a loaf of bread, I don't know how many more sandwiches we'd get out of it.

Enzo and Cass arrived next to a huge reception from the Chicago crowd. Their opponents were The Vaudevillains, another pair of recent NXT grads. Enzo and Gotch started the match with some decent mat wrestling before Aiden English and Big Cass got involved. While Cass has improved considerably since his earlier days, there's still something green about him - particularly his promo skills (he was saddled with some pretty corny Hey Arnold! jokes to deliver before the match began). Before we could get a winner, or even what would've felt like a midpoint in the match, Enzo took a nasty bump into the ropes, seemingly clotheslining himself onto the unforgiving second rope and getting his head snapped back into the mat. To be honest, the slo-mo replay made it seem less impactful than it look in real time because, initially, it looked like he'd nearly decapitated himself on the bottom rope. As the match was stopped before it even really began, it's hard to give this one an actual rating...so I won't.

A video package highlighting the lengthy rivalry between Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens was next. This one featured a fairly straightforward story - Zayn coming in like a ball of fire and getting the early upper hand, Owens retaliating by slowing down the tempo and hitting some high-impact slams, Zayn eventually mounting a big comeback after getting cut off multiple times, and the final moments being an edge-of-your-seat back-and-forth where both guys seemed like they were a move away from sealing victory. The initial "This is Awesome" chant seemed undeserved, but ten minutes later, things had heated up to meet the high expectations fans had for this showdown. Moments of particular quality included Zayn avoiding a pop-up power bomb with a dropkick, Owens connecting on a sick shoulder breaker, and a vicious back body drop spot on the ring apron. Extra half-point for the post-match promo, one that not only helped set the stage and add more intrigue to the next contest, but occurred in such a way, at such a unique time (immediately following a lengthy battle), that it was really different from how the WWE typically produces these sort of segments. I still wouldn't call this a Match of the Year contender, though, as it just seemed less epic than I'd hoped. (3.5/5)

The Intercontinental Championship was on the line next - The Miz (with Maryse) defending the strap against Cesaro. The Chicago crowd was 1000% behind the Swiss Superman, which gave this match a different and arguably better atmosphere than Zayn/Owens (a match where the fans were noticeably cheering for both men). Cesaro dominated this one thoroughly, taking Miz to Uppercut City at one point, but the champ's resilience was respectable, kicking out of some big moves including an absolutely awesome dropkick off the ropes. Having Owens on commentary added even more fun for viewers, while the late-match appearance of Sami Zayn led to a finishing sequence that was just the right amount of screwy. I would've liked to see Maryse more involved throughout the contest, distracting the referee, helping The Miz weasel his way to the ropes, and doing whatever else was necessary to help her man keep the Intercontinental Title because, as far as going "straight up" with Zayn, Owens, and Cesaro, The Miz is just not on their level without some extra help. Anyway, I know some will disagree with me here, but I thought this match was just as good as the one that came before it. (3.5/5)

Dean Amrose vs. Chris Jericho was next. I've been a bit down on both of these guys recently, so I didn't come into this match with much enthusiasm as a viewer. I liked how Ambrose started this match in fully serious mode and Jericho has been trying, to the best of his ability, to bring back the crowd-trolling smarmy heel character that gave him his best run ever in 2008-2009, but things still didn't click for me. That's not to say the participants didn't work hard, but Ambrose's moveset has become painfully predictable and Jericho, while good for some nifty reversals and combinations, relies on his own signature moves too often to make his matches feel special in 2016. In hindsight, when compared to this, his series with AJ comes off as much better than it seemed at the time. Also, despite Y2J's blatant attempts to have the crowd loathe him, he continues to have at least 30% of the audience on his side in every city, an unfortunate reality that comes with being one of the most recognized veteran stars on a roster of relative newcomers, the lone throwback to the Attitude Era still working high profile matches today. Running at least 4-5 minutes beyond necessary, this was just a tedious chore that I can't believe Steve Austin called a "masterpiece" on his podcast. (1.5/5)

At WrestleMania, Charlotte stole the show in her Women's Championship defense against Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch. The prior month, at the WWE's Roadblock Network Special, she had what I remember as the Match of the Night (or close to it) against her opponent on this show - Natalya. While this rematch did not live up to their prior bout, moving a touch slower and featuring just a few more hiccups than one would expect for two women with a track record of smoother matches, it was still solid, a drastic improvement from the kind of women's matches the WWE was producing 12 months ago, let alone 12 years ago. What really crushed this one for me, and for the fans in attendance, was the ridiculously stupid idea to rehash the fully flogged horse corpse of the Montreal Screwjob. Charlotte is good enough to secure clean wins and Natalya is over enough as the veteran/ perennial challenger to suffer a cheap loss. Let's remember, too, that we're talking about Ric Flair's daughter, not Shawn Michaels'. From a storyline perspective, it made little sense to evoke an incident that Flair had absolutely nothing to do with. If one day we do see Vince McMahon's granddaughter step in the ring and take on Natalya, I'd still probably lambast the company for dredging up a twist that they (and WCW and TNA and countless indie promotions) have already beaten their audience to death with, but at least it would make some sense. Uncreative and wholly unnecessary, the finish ruined what was an otherwise good (but not great) match that was wrestled with passion, intensity, and urgency and, as it was going on, had me plenty more captivated than the previous bout. (2/5)

Vince McMahon arrived next, followed by Stephanie McMahon, and then Shane McMahon. They proceeded to go through a lengthy segment that wouldn't have been out of place (or any more tolerable) on an episode of RAW. Absolutely no suspense or pay-off as Shane and Steph tried to reason their way into being named the permanent boss of the WWE flagship. Quick question - who's controlling SmackDown? Shouldn't they be in the running? An exhausting and meandering segment on a show that featured multiple matches that ran long to cover for the time lost with Enzo's injury. Even without the opening contest getting cut short, though, the conclusion of the segment made it pointless filler. (-1)

Main event time - Roman Reigns defending the WWE World Championship against AJ Styles. Easily the match of the night without a single challenge for that spot, AJ Styles proved here why he's worth every penny the WWE spent to bring him in from Japan. Honestly, aside from Kurt Angle or Brock Lesnar, I can't recall a guy coming in from out of the WWE and knocking the ball out of the park in their first legitimate main event match within their first 6 months the way AJ did here. To his credit, Reigns did a phenomenal job (no pun intended) subtly working as a tweener-leaning-towards-heel, hitting all his major spots (and nothing else) but not trying to win the crowd over with them as much as using them as intended - to retain his title. By not seeking crowd approval at every turn, Reigns ended up coming off noticeably cooler. Again, though, AJ was the MVP here, even if I wouldn't go as far as to say Reigns was "carried." AJ's quickness, agility, and high-risk offense (including an absolutely incredible table spot) proved to be the perfect foil for Roman's arguably repetitive-but-effective moveset. The false finishes reeked of overbooking and made the actual finish fairly predictable, but credit goes to both participants for delivering enough twists and turns to make it seem like things could've gone either way, especially when Styles started landing some of his most devastating maneuevers. I've seen some call this a Match of the Year candidate, but won't go that far due to all the shenanigans, which made it a fun watch for its "trolling" factor, but not one that I plan on rewatching any time soon. (4/5)

With an overall score of 2.70-out-of-5, Payback 2016 shouldn't be making anyone's Year End Best Of lists come December, though, Steve Austin did call it one of his favorite shows in a long time on his podcast. To me, only the main event shined, a match that even Reigns' biggest critics will have to admit had more "big match feel" than any other bout on the show, including the Owens/Zayn bout (a match that was certainly above average, but probably the least interesting 20-minutes they've shared on-screen together since they both got to the WWE). The Women's Championship was fine until the bookers decided to get "cute," an otherwise solid title match turned into a lame retread right when a definitive finish would've been deserved. Ambrose/Jericho suffered from the staleness of the characters involved more than being a "bad" match. With only one match really worth watching, this show falls snugly into the category of...

FINAL RATING - High Risk Maneuver