WWE Payback 2015 Review

Seth Rollins finds himself in the biggest predicament in his tenure as the WWE World Heavyweight Champion. He is forced to defend his championship against three of the WWE's best in Randy Orton, Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns. Will he be able to steal another win and leave with the belt still around his waist?

Match 1: Sheamus vs. Dolph Ziggler
After their odd Kiss Me Arse match at Extreme Rules and yes, that really did happen, Dolph Ziggler seeks some revenge over Sheamus. Better effort here than their last match, more intensity and definitely a little more stiff to go along with it. Ziggler managed to get his revenge for Sheamus making him kiss his ass by shoving his own ass into the face of Sheamus. However, Sheamus would later get the last laugh after Ziggler would inadvertently cut himself from a headbutt and get drilled by a Brogue Kick. Nice opener here as Sheamus continues his dominance since his return and once again making his Brogue Kick finisher look like a game changer.
Winner: Sheamus
Rating: ***

Match 2: WWE Tag Team Championships - 2 out of 3 Falls - The New Day (c) vs. Cesaro and Tyson Kidd
Another Extreme Rules rematch sees the two top tag teams of the company in a 2 out of 3 falls match. I have to say it again, The New Day as heels was just phenomenal, loved how they sarcastically teased the Baltimore crowd about having not won a World Series in over 30 years with Adam Jones sitting at ringside. Another solid match for the card with innovative moves from both squads while Xavier Woods hilariously hyped his team up. Cesaro and Tyson Kidd quickly score the first fall before The New Day evened things up. Finally, Woods sneaks into the match and rolls up Kidd to score the win as the referee could not tell the difference between he and Kofi Kingston. Great ending to the match as both teams continue to get over with the fans. Solid start to the show.
Winners: The New Day
Rating: ***3/4

Match 3: Bray Wyatt vs. Ryback
At this point, the hype train for Ryback has officially been derailed. But with that being said, we still got two big guys going at it in a match the crowd just seemingly could not care about. Through that, the action in the ring was enjoyable to watch as Bray Wyatt did not have a simple task in facing Ryback. Ryback got in a good amount of offense but in the end, it was all about Wyatt being too much for Ryback and eventually scoring the win with a Sister Abigail. Basic match for the PPV with Ryback continuing to go down the slide while Wyatt tries to climb back up the ladder on the roster after falling off for a bit. This is a good step.
Winner: Bray Wyatt
Rating: *3/4

Match 4: WWE United States Championship - I Quit - John Cena (c) vs. Rusev
Like Bray Wyatt, the star of Rusev was falling after a couple tough losses to John Cena which made his legitimacy put in question. However, Rusev gets one more crack at both Cena and the United States Championship in a match that Cena has never lost before, an I Quit match. Rusev easily manhandled Cena throughout the match and his constant requests for the referee to ask Cena if he quit was getting tiresome. The fight spilled into the audience where it finally picked up a little with Cena continuing to get his ass beaten and even getting thrown through a table. Cena finally put in some serious offense and was able to hit an Attitude Adjustment on the stage which triggered the pyro to go off, a pretty silly spot that was obvious that Rusev sustained no serious injuries. However, Cena was able to win when he locked Rusev in an STF with the top rope, similar to him doing so against Umaga in 2007. Lana then came in and quit the match for Rusev, Cena pulls off the win as the heat between Rusev and Lana continues to escalate. Another pretty weak offering from the two with this one dragging on for the better part of the match.
Winner: John Cena
Rating: **1/2

Match 5: The Bella Twins vs. Tamina and Naomi
Per usual, we get our Divas match on the card and instead of the Divas Championship being on the line, we have a tag match this time around. Standard match here with the crowd basically sitting on their hands. The Bella Twins were fairly entertaining to watch but their adversaries were just too new for anyone to really care for. Naomi is able to toss a distracted Nikki Bella off the top rope to score the win for her team. Next!
Winners: Tamina and Naomi
Rating: 3/4*

Match 6: King Barrett vs. Neville
Before we roll into the main event, it is The King of Bad News vs. The Man that Gravity Forgot in a King of the Ring rematch. With that crowd still a bit dead from the last match, these two had some trouble trying to get them into the action. This was a fairly short match with Neville getting the upper hand on King Barrett before Barrett decided to basically quit the match and get himself counted out. Afterwards, Barrett tries to beat down Neville before Neville fights back and hits him with a Red Arrow. Nothing fancy here, another filler match for the card as the steam from these two guys begins to die out.
Winner: Neville
Rating: **

Match 7: WWE World Heavyweight Championship - Seth Rollins (c) vs. Randy Orton vs. Dean Ambrose vs. Roman Reigns
Seth Rollins has both Kane and J&J Security on his side as he goes against his WrestleMania opponent and former Shield brothers. While the Kane stuff can be a bit overwhelming at times, they did a great job of incorporating him in the match as he did his best to help Rollins win in order to save his job. The match also did a great job in telling all kinds of stories from The Shield reuniting for a bit to slam Randy Orton through a table before Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns duked it out with the loser buying the beers. Crowd was absolutely eating up the action and everybody played their parts nicely, including the guys trying to help Rollins. Rollins is able to capitalize on the Kane distraction and nailing Orton with a Pedigree to steal another win. Solid main event that really gets Rollins over as a dastardly heel that can't win without some sort of fishy way. The match went on for 20 minutes but I felt like another 5 minutes could have easily taken this one to another level. With that being said, this match was not enough to make this PPV a standout for the year.
Winner: Seth Rollins
Rating: ****

Overall Show Thoughts and Rating:
I might be a bit generous with my score for the show since it basically felt like watching Extreme Rules from the previous month all over again. It just feels like a recycled show with lazy booking. Much of the show felt like watching an edition of Monday Night Raw with the main event really being more of a way to boost a feud between Seth Rollins and Kane. Hard for me to recommend anyone to sit down and give this a viewing.
Rating: 5.75/10