Aside from Monday’s stinker, Payback has been a nicely booked show, with great matches to build up anticipation and storylines progressing as they should with possible swerves that leaves the crowd thinking of what will happen this Sunday. Traditionally, Payback has been one of the safer PPV’s WWE has produced since its inception, despite the simple name. By that, I mean, Payback has normally been a good PPV and with the card for this Sunday, there’s no reason to believe why that can’t continue. With that said, here is my predictions and insight for what will happen this Sunday in each match.
Kallisto (C) vs. Ryback – United States Championship (Kickoff)
I forgot the United States Championship existed, so odds are there hasn’t been enough of you to make us care, or the character isn’t resonating, and sadly, I’m fearing that is the case with Kallisto. Considering we all considered throwing a huge party when Del Rio dropped the belt because Kallisto was a better alternative, I’m really not seeing the difference. They both have Mexican/Lucha influence, both can’t cut promos, and their matches aren’t anything memorable. Another bad sign is that this is Kallisto’s third appearance on the pre-show of a PPV since becoming United States Champion, so WWE not putting him on the main card concerns me. It’s like we’ve had the same person since this January. As for Ryback, god bless him, but I don’t know what WWE wants to do with him at this rate. Even if Ryback takes the title to Kallisto, it won’t be doing anything for him. Now, Ryback won a non-title match against Kallisto last week, so WWE booking logic dictates that Kallisto doesn’t lose twice in a row. And I don’t think Ryback has been featured enough to win the belt. I’ll go Kallisto here, but don’t be shocked at a Ryback victory.
Winner: Kallisto
Baron Corbin vs. Dolph Ziggler
Man, I love Baron Corbin’s look. He just looks like a certified, no-nonsense man. It’s just a shame that he is very raw in so many areas that ruins his promise. There’s still time for him to grow though, and as for his mini-feud with Ziggler, I think they’ve done some good with him. While I would have preferred a short squash of Ziggler in his RAW debut, they did get a post match beat-down in him and he has won short matches since then. We all know how this plays out for Twerk Boy. He will be on jobbing duty this Sunday. There is simply nothing going for him and he has no incentive, or better, reason for him to win. As a man who’s won the IC Title, US Title and World Heavyweight Title, as much as I want to say that a victory over Ziggler would be very good for Corbin, Ziggler’s star power has greatly dwindled since 2013, so while beating him now won’t have the same effect that it might have been 3 years ago, this will still be a good start for Corbin (if he does go anywhere), so expect for him to pick up the victory here.
Winner: Baron Corbin
Enzo Amore and Colin Cassidy vs. The Vaudevillians – #1 Contender’s Tag Team Championship Match
One thing that I have been encouraged by Enzo and Cass is that they seem to be getting consistent crowd reactions. Their gimmick is sort of formulaic and can get stale quickly like a lot of others, but Enzo and Cass are dynamic speakers and I think they can make it work for a good while. The Vaudevillians were great workers in NXT, but I’m not sure their gimmick is going to get over greatly on the main roster, and I don’t think WWE has much faith in them in the long term considering their debut was on Smackdown, WWE’s B show. As for who wins this battle in the NXT Tag team alumni match, I’m thinking the Vaudevillians go over here. The New Day is still popular to an extent with the crowd, and I don’t think WWE is going to put them up against another popular tag team in Enzo and Cass. In addition, WWE may look towards putting Enzo and Cass into a feud with the Dudleyz to build them back up. They may even interfere in the match. We shall see. I’m sure they will go the heel-face tag team dynamic here and have The Vaudevillians pick up the victory.
Winner: The Vaudevillians
The Miz (C) w/Maryse vs. Cesaro – Intercontinental Championship
I like The Miz a lot. Why? Because he keeps thing simple. Sure, he can be insufferable, but that’s the point of his character. He keeps things simple, and it works. Now that he has his wife along side him, it makes him all the more unbearable to watch with his movie-star gimmick. He won the belt from Zack Ryder not too long ago, and Cesaro has gotten the upper hand on The Miz while looking weak in the process taking non-title pinfall losses to the two competitors in the main event of Payback, AJ Styles and Roman Reigns. Cesaro’s return is always great because he’s always game for a great match, and the Intercontinental Championship would fit greatly for him, because the belt is traditionally for the work-horse of WWE and Cesaro screams that. However, Sunday will not be his night. He had his way with The Miz on Monday, and I don’t assume he will follow up with a loss giving Cesaro two straight conquests of The Miz. Cesaro’s time may come down the line if their feud continues, but expect Maryse to interfere in some fashion to give The Miz an underhanded victory to keep his title for another day.
Winner: The Miz
Chris Jericho vs. Dean Ambrose
So, I will just get this out of the way right now. Dean Ambrose needs a statement victory in the worst way. Since the start of the year, he’s had signature losses to Triple H, Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns. Sadly for him, Chris Jericho in 2016, doesn’t exactly scream “huge”, because Jericho’s in the phase of his career where he will put just about anyone over, which is ironic considering Jericho actually said he’s going to start burying people, and there’s no reason not to believe him considering he beat AJ Styles in his WrestleMania debut and Sami Zayn on RAW last week. So don’t be shocked if Dean Ambrose is next on his hit list. All of that said, I’m not entirely sure what the point of the feud is supposed to be. Jericho has a heel tells his opponents all the time that he’s the best in the world and Ambrose doesn’t like it, I guess. I think these two can have a very good match if Jericho is motivated, but I won’t hold my breath seeing as how Jericho seems to get winded after about 10 minutes these days. I expect the Lunatic Cringe to go over here, because I’m not sure what they plan on what they do with Jericho going forward here. He’s still a great presence as a heel, but him going over Ambrose on Sunday would hurt more than help. Jericho also explained this past Monday that he elevates anyone he gets in the ring with, which has proven to be true, so if he walks the walk this Sunday, we could be in for a potential four star match. Now if Jericho goes over I won’t feel any way, because I’m a huge Jericho mark, but I expect Ambrose to reign supreme here.
Winner: Dean Ambrose
Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens
This is probably the best booked match of the night. Why? Because this match feels as though there is a lot of meaning behind it. The video package promoting this match gave me Attitude Era like vibes because they have a real history together and not one booked, and more importantly, this feels incredibly personal and a PPV like Payback is a perfect way to have this match take place. Kevin Owens has gotten the better of Sami Zayn when it came to screwing him out of the fatal four way number 1 contender’s match that AJ Styles won and he did attack him last week as well. Basically, KO has had the upper hand in this feud since their start in NXT, so I think WWE will give Sami the victory over Owens here, because Zayn hasn’t had much going for him and Kevin Owens has proven he can take PPV losses well. I do believe this feud will continue onto Extreme Rules where they can have some sort of barbaric final chapter to their feud in the form of, say a Street Fight or a Last Man Standing match. Whatever the situation, I think the safe bet is to go with Zayn getting some sort of surprise roll-up win or something else along those lines.
Winner: Sami Zayn
Charlotte (C) w/Ric Flair vs. Natayla w/Bret Hart – WWE Women’s Championship
Bret Hart has said that he doesn’t care for Payback and is only there for Natayla, so that goes to show how much care has gone into this match. WWE is basically trying to re-create their match from NXT a few years back, but I am actually glad WWE is featuring Natalya once again. She hasn’t gotten a lot of time on RAW in recent years, but she is still one of WWE’s top female workers and she has great chemistry with Charlotte as well. However, she will also come up short in a big match situation once again. I’m inclined to believe that WWE will keep the belt on Charlotte until Summerslam until someone like Sasha Banks or perhaps Bayley takes the belt from her. The point of Hart being in this match was to even the playing field because Flair has interfered in approximately 100 percent of Charlotte’s matches, but sadly, that won’t do a thing because that is how it always goes. Don’t expect Natalya to win this Sunday unless it is in a disqualification fashion.
Winner: Charlotte
Roman Reigns (C) vs. AJ Styles – WWE World Heavyweight Championship
Since the debut of the Bullet Club, there has been a plethora of possibilities of the outcome of this match conceived by so many people. These possibilities have been intensified with Finn Balor’s shocking loss to Samoa Joe at a live event somewhat conveniently one week before Payback. And to make things even more appropriate, Gallows and Anderson doesn’t have a match scheduled, so does that trio come out and make their presence felt? Does Gallows and Anderson straight up help AJ win, thereby turning him heel? Does the duo turn AGAINST AJ and helps Roman win? Does Hulk Hogan come out, leg drop everyone and run away with the title? Does nothing happen at all? Maybe does Seth Rollins make a return? The alternatives to each ending seem endless, but if there’s one thing I am banking on, it is on Roman retaining in some fashion. I believe AJ Styles as WWE Champion will be a thing that happens in the future, but not this Sunday. Roman had just beat Triple H for the title, and him losing the title just as quickly will start to hurt him, because his previous two title reigns were very short, and it will start to raise some serious questions about pegging him as the next face of WWE if he can’t have an extended title reign. AJ Styles straight up won’t beat Roman, but I believe that in some fashion there will be some sort of interference. Maybe there’s a character turn in the process, but I can’t see any scenario that Roman loses the title after winning it just three weeks ago. So, sadly, Roman will retain. But, I think the ending of this match can lead to something much bigger going forward.
Winner: Roman Reigns
I have the match reviews and star ratings after the PPV, so be on the look out for that. Until next time. Deuces. Oh, and I predict Vince will give control of RAW back to the computer. Can someone say, “Can I have your attention please?”
