A few pre-show notes beforehand.
– I didn’t watch the pre-show matches, but I saw that the winners were Kallisto and Dolph Ziggler. Now, Kallisto winning doesn’t do anything for me. I suppose it’s a better alternative to having Ryback win the belt, but Ryback dropping two straight to Kallisto, on the pre-show no less hurts him greatly. His direction in WWE, I think, is getting more and more compromised by the day.
– Dolph Ziggler won a roll-up vs. Baron Corbin, and to be honest, I really don’t care at this point. I said that I was high on Corbin, but WWE’s booking leads me to believe he doesn’t really have a great future. I suppose that no one will remember this because it was bumped to the pre-show and it was a roll-up, but I don’t like Corbin losing his first PPV match to Twerk Boy. I just don’t get what the pint is giving Ziggler the victory here. Very head-scratching.
The Vaudevillans vs. Enzo Amore and Collin Cassidy
Man, I think WWE is under some curse or something. In all seriousness, let’s all just hope for the best on Amore. Initially, it didn’t look bad and I thought it was a work, but seeing it after the replay just made me cringe so bad. That did not look good at all. I had nightmare flashbacks about Perro Agauyo. Injuries to the neck and head area to the ropes, especially at the force with which he was going isn’t something to take lightly. Cole informed us later on that he was moving and talking, so that is already good. My mind is so clouded, because it looked like he was, dare I say, dead for a while. Never take what these WWE superstars do for granted folks. One simple move can be it just like that for them.
Kevin Owens def. Sami Zayn
So can these two fight for, like, forever? These two never fail to disappoint. In the early portions of the match, my mind was too clouded and heavy with what we all just watched, and it was incredibly awkward for them to go out after something serious as that. Nonetheless, these two performed like we all know they can. WWE did not a nice job of making this match feels like it was one that mattered. So often WWE throws around the term “heated rivalry” and “personal” a lot, but never book it as such. Kevin Owens and Sami have an actual history, and WWE did a wonderful job of making this match have some sort of anticipation. These two really just let it all out there. From KO taking a nasty back body drop to the ring apron to Kevin Owens’ multiple flips to Sami in the corner, this was an incredible back and forth matchup. Now I thought Sami would get some sort of roll-up victory here or that the match would end in a no-contest ending their feud in a barbaric stipulated match at Extreme Rules, but I can definitely take a Kevin Owens victory on PPV. Sami is taking a considerable amount of losses, and it concerns me a little, so we will see how WWE books Zayn moving forward. But this match did a great job of clearing my mind on the tag match and it was a fun match to get the crowd pumped up. Bravo. ****1/4
And to top it off, we get a post match promo and Kevin Owens owning Byron Saxton and Michael Cole on commentary again. Christmas come early.
The Miz (C) w/Maryse def. Cesaro – Intercontinental Championship
Dean Ambrose def. Chris Jericho
Charlotte (C) w/Ric Flair def. Natayla w/Bret Hart – Women’s Championship
So now we get Vince coming out with Stephanie and Shane and I am just sitting here wondering why this wasn’t on RAW if it was going to be this long. Vince said something about Shane and Stephanie, um, disemboweling each other and made us all wait just to give control to both of them. When Vince says he doesn’t care, do you know think he means it?
Roman Reigns (C) def. AJ Styles – WWE World Heavyweight Championship
Conclusion:
Now I know a great deal of people are upset that Cesaro and AJ Styles didn’t walk away with the gold and while I admit that the finishes were lousy to those matches, the show, as a whole, at least for me, was a fun night. Payback has always been one of those safe PPV’s, because I have yet to have had a bad experience as a whole show, and Payback did it again this year. Kevin Owens in particular had himself quite a night, getting a victory, a post match beat down and attack on Zayn and great commentary as usual. There were solid matches throughout, Cesaro/Miz was a great surprise and while the booking was questionable, as usual, I think it was a good show, and that’s considering that there was only five matches on the main card. Sometimes, less is more. Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn is certainly worth checking out though, if you want to make a special effort for that. Thumbs up. Until next time. Get well soon, Enzo.