WWE Payback 2013 Review

WWE Payback
All State Arena, Chicago, Illinois
Sunday 16th June 2013

Curtis Axel v The Miz v Wade Barrett (c) for the Intercontinental Championship

The announcers put over how Axel was fighting for the IC title on Father's Day and it felt like a babyface push. Early on there was an ECW chant from the crowd that couldn't have been less appropriate with these three in-ring performers. Surely after this, Barrett is due a proper push - he's at his best when he does brutish strength.

Axel is ok in the ring, nothing more, nothing less. He really just needs a character and then they could really start to make him into a star. He has everything else going for him: he's tall, has good genetics, and has all his dad's moves in his locker. The Chicago crowd give a huge pop for the Perfect Plex and this crowd are awesome from the word go. I loved the finish, the steal. The look that Axel gave to his dad up in heaven was worth the match alone. I really hope that he makes this title important again. Cody tried. Punk did it under Heyman with the WWE title, let's hope the Heyman factor works for Axel here.

Kaitlyn (c) v AJ Lee for the Divas Championship

After such great reviews and press for the women's match at that last TNA ppv, you could see that they were trying to put on a good show here. And actually this was very good. I really like AJ, she's nothing special in the ring but she has the character. Kaitlyn, on the other hand, has no charisma but can work. The big spot here was the black widow submission and Kaitlyn's spear that Lee sold like she'd been cut in half.

Afterwards Kaitlyn was booed out of the building and they teased a breakdown. AJ Lee will be a good champion and its hard to believe that given the push they've given her, and how incredibly weak the Divas division is at the moment, that she's never been champion.

Kane v Dean Ambrose (c) for the United States Championship

When Kane came out for this match and it really felt like he was going through the motions. At 46, he's been around in WWE for so long now and mid card ppv matches against up-and-comers are not really anything special for him now. Sadly, this translated into a match that was really nothing special. Kane just isn't the right man to face for anyone on ppv. He produces decent matches but I can't honestly remember the last 4 star match that he had with anyone.

A DQ finish really isn't the finish to give a Chicago crowd, particularly against Kane. This was a dumb finish, too. I'm glad that Ambrose retained, though. He'll be a great US or IC champion in this company but he's destined for great things. I hope to see him with Punk before too long.

Dolph Ziggler (c) v Alberto Del Rio for the World Heavyweight Title

This felt like a double turn. The crowd were great for this one and really made Ziggler feel like a star and the title feel like a big deal. Ziggler took loads of head shots and sold that he was woozy. I thought that they literally just did this with Hunter? They teased that the ref was going to stop the match and Ziggler sold so well that he came across as a sympathetic hero. Ziggler in a role where he has to sell is awesome so they booked this really well.

Del Rio came across as a brutish heel, which is what he is best at. He looks dangerous, foreign and slimy and he smiles at the crowd's boos. You could really see he was a heel here when he went outside, stalking Ziggler and AJ and then he booted the Divas title out of his way.

There were tons of near falls for the finish, like most WWE big card ppv matches these days. The pop at the end for Del Rio's win was probably only for the fact that they saw a title change live. Ziggler was awesome here.
Chris Jericho v CM Punk

It is such a pleasure to see CM Punk back. WWE has missed him and the product has missed him. I've missed his wrestling, his promos, his character, his freshness, his look. He's just the only top guy they have right now who is really worth watching every week.

As these two locked up, there was a great little sly grin from Punk. Heyman was great here: he watched on with his chin aloft, pouting, like a proud father - Punk is his guy; Jericho was his guy. The announcers sold that Punk wasn't "in ring shape" but I got the sense that Punk was selling that and that he was playing up to it. When he hit his runner knee he, with maddening eyes, shot a look to Cole and with a gestured peace sign shouted, "vintage Punk!" God if I was Cole, I'd be so pissed off.

There was a beautiful chain from Jericho putting on the Walls of Jericho into Punk powering out into the Anaconda Vice. Heyman was great again here. Punk teased that he was disappointed in Heyman and it was so great. As Heyman climbed the stairs, Punk looked at him in numb disbelief as if to say "what are you doing". It was perfect.

The first GTS and kick out was almost at WrestleMania Undertaker levels. The crowd by this point were so into it. The second Walls of Jericho really looked like it was it - Punk had nowhere to go but like a good plucky babyface, he found a route out. The finish was really great and felt fresh. I've never seen Punk do it before. Next up has to be a turn on Heyman and take a match with Lesnar at Summerslam. I don't know what they should do with him at MITB, possibly stick him in the Ladder match.

Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns v Daniel Bryan & Randy Orton

Very good match, but with time cut back; it wasn’t as good as many of their television matches. They were in a tough spot, having to follow the previous match, because WWE usually puts a buffer match in that kind of a situation when they feel a match will be blow away. The Chicago crowd was super into Bryan, more than anyone on the show except Punk. You could see they were going relatively short since Orton started doing a lot of his late match spots early, like the powerslam off the ropes and draping DDT. Reigns did this great looking superman punch on Orton outside the ring. They worked over Orton until he made a comeback with an exploder suplex on Rollins into Reigns, hot tagging Bryan.

The finish saw Reigns spear Bryan, but then Orton gave Reigns the RKO. Rollins then gave Bryan a flying curb stomp for the clean pin. The idea was that since Bryan had made Rollins tap out twice on TV in the previous week, in the singles match and trios match, that Rollins needed to be the one who beat Bryan here, and that Bryan would be fine beating Orton the next day. Orton walked out on Bryan after the match. Should be good to see what they do with these two next.

8. John Cena (c) v Ryback in a Three Stages of Hell Match for the WWE Championship

They opened with a lumberjack match. The first time Cena went out of the ring in front of the face lumberjacks, nobody touched him. Then Ryback threw Cena to the heel lumberjacks, who all beat him down and then threw him in. Ryback threw Cena to the heel lumberjacks again. Crowd was chanting “RVD” here. Cena was booed heavily. Cena threw Ryback out of the ring but the heel lumberjacks wouldn’t touch him. Cena went up for a plancha. At first, he slipped off the ropes, but got back up and dove off. It was this awesome scenario because you had 31 guys falling like a set up domino thing. The funny part was that everyone went down almost as a group as the person in front of them went down. Somehow, Titus O’Neil and Sin Cara weren’t touched, so they had to go down from nothing on a delay. The finish saw Cena go for the STF, but Ryback powered out and hit the shell shock for the pin.

Next was the tables match. This was similar to the match they’d been doing at all the shows the last few weeks to get ready. When Ryback hit a spear, there was a loud “Goldberg” chant. Ryback pressed Cena overhead this time. Outside the ring, Ryback threw Cena into the steps. He threw the steps at Cena, who moved, and the steps went through a table. Ryback later threw the steps at Cena a second time, he moved and the steps went through a table set up in the corner. After a spinebuster and meat hook clothesline, Ryback brought in another table. He went for the shell shock, but Cena got out and hit the Attitude Adjustment through the table to win.

The third match, an ambulance match, started with more “Goldberg” chants. Ryback cleared out the American announcing table and power bombed Cena through it. Fans chanted “One more time.” Then came the dueling Cena chants with the girls for Cena drowned out by the “Cena sucks.” They ended up brawling by the ambulance. They destroyed the ambulance. Cena threw Ryback into the back door. Cena opened the back door and pulled out about a dozen crutches. Ryback punched through a gimmicked window. I guess he really did want to be Goldberg. The front door was opened and Cena threw Ryback into it, knocking the front door off its hinges. Cena hit Ryback with the door. Cena tried to push him into the front seat with the broken door but Ryback head-butted Cena. Ryback threw Cena onto the hood. Ryback pulled off part of the fender and hit Cena with it twice. Cena backdropped Ryback on the hood. I think they expected the windshield to break, which it did crack a little. Cena climbed to the roof and hit Ryback with the ambulance siren. They ended up both on the roof. Ryback had a crutch but Cena got it from him, hit him and gave him an Attitude Adjustment on the roof. Ryback went through the roof, meaning he was in the ambulance, for the finish.

A great ppv overall. One of the best this year. Extreme Rules was good but not as top to bottom as this. Great to see where they go next into the summer and MITB and SummerSlam.