With a name like “Payback”, it’s implied that WWE’s superstars are looking for a certain level of revenge and to put themselves up on a higher pedestal. This is inherently no different than any other show, but hey, who’s counting?
While some of the talent pool won’t get that opportunity at this event, every show starts off with the intentions from WWE’s creative team to be focused around a number of individuals who will not only sell the card to the audience in advance, but also look better by the end of the night in the eyes of the fans. There will always be winners and losers, and not everybody can be the best all the time.
So when it comes to Payback, who are the people that will likely be valued above the rest by the end of the night? In no particular order, let’s take a look at some of the names.
The (Whatever) Club
There’s no way in hell Payback goes down without something cementing the status of Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows as part of a stable or definitively not aligned with anybody else. We have plenty of options for how this could end up and depending on WWE’s decision, one or two other people might be in the same spotlight as Anderson and Gallows.
First off, the easy route for WWE to go is to just to say AJ Styles was lying to Roman Reigns and the suspicions are true: he’s partnered up with the duo. This would effectively turn Styles heel, but since he’d be doing so against a babyface who gets booed more than most of the so-called “bad guys” on the roster, I doubt we’ll see Styles vilified.
Alternatively, if there’s someone else pulling the strings who will balance out Anderson and Gallows and make it a trio, the most likely candidate is Finn Balor. He’s teased a partnership for months with The Balor Club tweets, dropped the NXT Championship (meaning he has nothing holding him back from a main roster debut) and has ties to them from the past.
Then again, if WWE wishes to keep things simple, it could just be Anderson and Gallows working on their own, staying as a duo and not having anybody else working alongside them. Perhaps they go with the Bulletproof name to allude to their past while giving WWE a name they can trademark. A two-person team isn’t really a club, is it?
Roman Reigns
Duh. I don’t think I really need to elaborate on this much other than to say unless there is a swerve where AJ Styles is working with Anderson and Gallows to help him win the championship, Roman Reigns will be walking out with the title still in his possession.
Considering how his last two title runs were so short and how much money the company has invested in Reigns, I highly doubt the championship will change hands, so in the end, Roman will be victorious and still the top dog.
Dean Ambrose
Despite having a record of losing every single important match over the course of two years, Dean Ambrose just can’t be kept down. He came up short against Brock Lesnar—a match I argue he should have been victorious in—but his luck should be different with Payback.
Chris Jericho’s win over AJ Styles will help balance out a loss to Ambrose here, just the same as a win for Ambrose will help undo some of the damage done by his failed attempt at WrestleMania. The company protects Lesnar much more than Jericho, and I’m sure Y2J will have no problem being the one that takes the fall this time around to help out a guy who will be one of the biggest players in the whole company for 2016.
Sami Zayn / Kevin Owens
While there are more important matches on the card as far as championships go, there’s a very good opportunity for Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens to steal the show when it comes to entertainment purposes. These two have great chemistry together and a storyline that has had months upon months of build. Both men play their parts perfectly as Zayn is perpetually the underdog and Owens is one of the few heels in the company that knows how to show off how much of a douche his character can be while still being fun to watch.
Given enough time to showcase their talents, both men could upstage every other match on the card. Come Monday Night Raw, the big storylines are going to be about the title situation and the McMahon Family struggle for power, but fans could be looking back on the pay-per-view thinking the best overall match was between Zayn and Owens.
The Miz and Maryse
The Cesaro Section is no doubt rooting for The Swiss Superman to take the Intercontinental Championship away from The Miz, but I have my reservations about that happening. I can’t imagine WWE planned to have Zack Ryder win the title at WrestleMania just to drop it the next night to The Miz with the help of Maryse being brought back onto television just to turn right back around and at the next pay-per-view, have The Miz drop the title to someone else.
That’s not the craziest thing to ever happen, sure, but why go through all the effort? Why not just have The Miz win at WrestleMania or better yet, have Cesaro show up as a surprise new entrant in the ladder match and have him win the belt there?
I expect Maryse to be the deciding factor in how The Miz is able to retain the title, even though Cesaro will look like the man who should have won. Following his retention, The Miz will gloat like all hell on Monday Night Raw about how he and Maryse are THE power couple.
Bret Hart
You can’t have a legend like Bret Hart make an appearance without him getting some attention. Ric Flair has been a regular on television for a long enough time recently that it’s no longer exciting to see him pop up, but The Hitman only gets on screen every now and again. It’s a rarity, so even though he won’t have to do anything and Natalya won’t win her match, his mere presence will be a talking point.
The Vaudevillains
Enzo and Big Cass are so over with the crowd, which makes me happy as I’m a big fan of them, but if my crystal ball is correct, The Vaudevillains will be the new #1 contenders to The New Day’s Tag Team Championship. It makes more sense for them to win as they’re the heels, and there’s a built-in means for cheating to come into play to allow this to happen.
The Dudley Boyz have unfinished business with Enzo and Cass, so their interference is damn near certain. The fan favorites will look like the rightful winners who got screwed, but make no mistakes, Simon Gotch and Aiden English will go down in the record books as the ones who earned the title shot, and in a kayfabe sense, that’s the bigger deal that truly matters.
Baron Corbin
Don’t sleep on Baron Corbin. This guy has improved dramatically in 2015 and continues to get better and better, so when he’s paired up with perhaps the best in-ring technician in WWE today—a guy who loves to sell for people his size, let alone those who are bigger than him—there could be a ton of fun to watching this match.
When it comes to the victor, Corbin is the obvious choice. He’s the young gun who needs the push while Ziggler will do the favors in order to sell him to the crowd so he can look like a more menacing wrestler in general going forward. It would do no good for Dolph to win, so it would be a mistake for WWE to make that call. I have faith that Corbin will not fully squash The Showoff, but will indeed look dominant and stand tall.
Who do you think will be the standout stars of the night? Is this going to be Ryback’s time to win the United States Championship? Will all of the matches be overshadowed by the McMahon Family saga? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!
