Thursday, March 28, 2024
EditorialPayback 2016 Review and Match Ratings

Payback 2016 Review and Match Ratings

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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

Initially I thought that Cesaro was sporting new ink when it was actually some tape for his shoulder. I appreciated the fact that they had The Miz working over Cesaro’s shoulder. Because, you know, that’s how psychology in a match works. I had my expectations low, but they exceeded my expectations. Owens’ commentary kept me invested the match. The outside action of Owens and Zayn leads me to believe there is going to be some sort segment between those four tomorrow over the IC Title. In terms of the in-ring action, i was digging it. Cesaro kicking out of The Miz’s Skull Crushing Finale move was also nice a false finish that I bought. Not to mention, Cesaro also got the crowd involved at moments instead of them going in and out of the match, and that is always nice to see with a match in the middle of the card. Wasn’t nearly as good as the match that came before it, but it was a good back and forth for what it was, and that was more than what I bargained for. Pleasantly surprised. ***1/2

Dean Ambrose def. Chris Jericho

I assumed that they would give extra time to this match to compensate for the time lost with the tag match, and the result was an extended slug fest. We had action outside and inside the ring and the action was pretty good, but not the four star match that I wanted. The extra time made it feel much longer than it actually was and they looked kind of winded. Ambrose’s style of wrestling is just too cartoony for my taste. It works at times, but in extended matches, it just seems forced. There were some great moments, with Jericho’s throwing Ambrose over the time keeper’s area and Jericho’s reversals into the Walls of Jericho. I wanted more out of this match in less time, but we got what we got, and what we got was pretty good all things considered. I would say that this is a big win for Jericho since he’s been losing important feuds, but if we’re being honest, a win over Chris Jericho in 2016 doesn’t go for much. A win is a win I suppose, but I don’t think this is anything that’s going to be helping him in any way in the future. ***1/2


Charlotte (C) w/Ric Flair def. Natayla w/Bret Hart – Women’s Championship

I guess Natayla screwed Natayla, as Vince would say. While I did like the old school feel this match had, I felt that their RAW match three weeks ago had a much better pace to it and it was easier to follow along the action. Charlotte did work on Natayla’s left leg to give the match a little bit of psychology but it didn’t really last long. Most of the action down the stretch just sort of felt lethargic, and if it wasn’t a big enough indication that they wanted to replicate a certain incident regarding Hart, look no further than the ending to this match. I thought Bret and Vince settled their differences at WrestleMania 26. I guess some things never change. Nothing really worth seeing here. Kind of a let down considering the type of action that I’ve accustomed to seeing these two putting on in recent years. By the way, Bret Hart said that he didn’t want to be at Payback and his facial expressions said the whole story. He couldn’t care less if Natayla won. All he wanted was to ensure he was getting paid for this. **1/2

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

Well, that was…..something wasn’t it? I wasn’t counting on AJ winning so not one time did I think the title was changing hands. However, I do have a little gripe. AJ hit, by my count, three of his finishers along with a 450 splash and the finisher of The Bullet Club and he kicked out of all of that. 1 Superman punch and spear for Roman, however, and that was it. I really didn’t like that imbalance. Despite that, the match itself was pretty good. I think Roman Reigns tends to work better with smaller, more nimble wrestlers, and it looks like we will be seeing more of them because it was announced after the match that Roman will defend against AJ again in an Extreme Rules match. I also thought the pace of the match was sort of hurt because of the constant interruptions with the count out and the disqualification and the count out but as for the in-ring action as a whole, it was pretty solid. It will be very intriguing to see where WWE moves on from here. This match is high as it gets really because of AJ, because it was painfully clear he was carrying the match, and he did a good job of it. Still, I just don’t like the uneven balance of the finishes. The overbooking in this match hurt it more than it helped it, too. ***1/2

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.

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