Payback Review

Hello! It's another Review- I don't think people had high hopes for this PPV but I did think a few matches could surprise people. The build for the majority of the matches was lacklustre to say the least but with the talent on show from an in-ring perspective I thought the PPV would actually deliver to an extent that would make it passable for an actual PPV and not feel like a glorified RAW. So let's find out eh? LET'S GET REVIEWIN'!

Pre-Show: R-Truth v Stardust
There's having no build for a match- then there was this match. I'd forgotten that these two had actually had anything vaguely resembling a build because I'd pushed the "Plastic Spiders" incident to the back of my psyche until I tried to think about on a Scale of 1-Random how Random the match was. The actual match itself wasn't that bad- given the general lack of interest (rightly) from the crowd I thought they did an alright job getting the crowd into the match, both guys are solid in the ring. Stardust is capable of so much more though- and it's annoying me to the point I might do one of my "Adam Rose to Leo Kruger" blogs for Stardust to show how I'd make him relevant again.

Pre-Show: The Ascension v The Minor Powers
For two PPVs in a Row I've convinced myself why the supposed underdogs at least where betting is concerned will win a match in my Predictions and then gone the other way because I think I'm too smart and think there's no way they'd actually do it- even though I've laid out the exact train of thought as to why they would do it. Anyway, enough about me blowing yet more money betting on Wrestling. For me as long as they stop calling them "The Mega Powers" and go back to either "Meta" or as you'll see take my lead and call them "The Minor Powers" (actually that sounds a bit like an under-age sex ring) I don't have any issues with this gimmick. For me there's so many potentially hilarious moments that can come from the dynamic of these two- primarily having Axel do a run-in before dropping the leg on Sandow and forming a new nWo which I pitched on Twitter last night. I do understand why some people may be opposed to this, but for me it's just a bit of fun and not to be taken at anything more than face value. Oh Yeah, The Ascension actually won- they somehow managed to botch their finish though.

Also Axel didn't even commit to his Hogan impression- he forgot the #1 Rule, Never Put Anyone Over.

Sheamus v Dolph Ziggler
I did actually like this match- even with the obvious detraction for it right in the middle. Without actually saying it in my Predictions I did allude to something along the lines of Dolph getting his own back on Sheamus- I just thought it would happen after the match. Taking that out these two will almost always deliver a good match when they're up against each other and last night wasn't an exception. I said it specifically with Mania and Brock but it is definitely true every time that blood means so much more now that you know it's a "hard way"- and blood makes stories go up that extra level which some feuds need to truly get over. I'm not suggesting they go back to Attitude Era/ECW levels of blood but it's something I'd like to see used more on "special occasions".

New Day v KiddSaro- 2 out of 3 Falls
I loved this match, it wasn't a really bold prediction to say this match would be match of the night (again) but never the less it still had to live up to it's billing and for me it more than did. Whether it was the "This is Awesome" chants and Xavier Woods responding "We Know, We are well aware" which had me in hysterics or just Cesaro being an absolute beast as always this match had a little bit of everything and it turned into an amalgamation of the highest order. The more I think about the finish the better it is- they've done it enough times whether it's the Uso's, the Bellas or various others to have it as a Racist type finish, I just found it hilarious with all the stuff that's happened recently in Baltimore they picked that place of all places to do the finish. Even if you had an objection to the finish Xavier screaming "KOFI DID IT" when they were going back down the ramp should have erased those objections from your brain because it was absolute genius.

Bray Wyatt v Ryback
I'll preface this by saying Ryback should have won, and that's coming from possibly the biggest fan of Bray. Unless I've completely misread the build for the match last night Bray had made it his mission to prove Ryback was somewhat of a false idol to the crowd, not too dissimilar to the feud he had with Cena headed into Mania. So when the ring cushion came off I thought Ryback was going to use it to win, which'd give Ryback the Pinfall- but Bray would have won in that he was proven right before he got his win back at Elimination Chamber and then won the feud at the PPV the following month. That said this match did have it's moments- I'm not going to make a CM Punk/Broken Rib joke after the Senton which seemingly injured Ryback I think approximately 72 Billion of them is enough. It'll be interesting to see where they do go with this feud if anywhere now- because they presumably did the Ring Cushion thing so Ryback could get a Rematch.

John Cena v Rusev- I Quit
I think hate is a strong word- so to say I hated this match may be a bit of an overstatement. I respect the hell out of both guys for putting their bodies on the line the way they did, I'll start with that. It's not exactly a secret that Cena isn't the best worker in the ring but what he usually does- sometimes to the point where it's too much is work the psychology aspect of the match. There was no psychology to this match at all- done right I Quit Matches are the perfect storytelling device. This didn't have a story to it- it was just a load of spots, some of which botched happening in a row with Chioda asking if they want to quit every 10 Seconds. It annoys me because believe it or not I genuinely want to like everything WWE does- if you don't approach stuff with an open mind you're starting behind the 8 ball right from the off, but this just simply didn't do it for me- and seeing as this was basically one of two matches they were selling the PPV on it's a huge shame.

Maybe they lost their ability to do a good match when Rusev lost his medal- TOPICAL BANTER!

New Day Backstage Segment
I don't think some people appreciated the genius of this segment, They started out with the usual Heel we're superior stuff in their case it was because they don't Spit, they don't curse and they don't complain. After Saxton said they were defending in the Elimination Chamber Big E spit his milk out, Kofi said what the hell and Xavier said that it wasn't fair. I loved this segment so I thought I'd bring it up when I usually ignore the backstage promos for PPVs. The only thing I wished they would have done was New Day causing havoc backstage doing their weird celebration stuff they did a few weeks back.

Taomi v The Bellas
They did an Advert for NXT during The Bellas Entrance which I found unintentionally hilarious. I always go on Wiki for these PPV Reviews to get the Match times of the match, I generally don't make reference to them but I do it for these types of tangents. Charlotte v Sasha Banks Main Evented one of the NXT Live Events they ran last week- and by all accounts tore the house down. Then you come to the Main Roster Divas who had 6 Minutes Sandwiched between the two "Main Events" of the PPV along with Barrett v Neville. If ever that was an endorsement for NXT and an indictment of the Main Roster Divas this is it. It's not even worth getting into the Match that actually happened, I tell you one match I'll be going in depth with this week- Sasha Banks v Becky Lynch.

Neville v King Barrett
I'm not gonna lie, I'd completely forgotten this match was on the card by the time they actually got around to the match. I said it with Sheamus & Dolph and it's equally applicable here- it's almost impossible for any of the 4 mentioned to have a bad match when they're matched with each other. That said the way the booked this match both in terms of time constraints, positioning on the card and the finish they definitely had a good go. I suppose the main thing from this match was that it left it somewhat opening for Elimination Chamber where Neville will most likely steal the whole planet in the IC Title Chamber.

Seth Rollins v Dean Ambrose v Roman Reigns v Randy Orton- WWEWHC
This was actually a really fun match. In a way the lack of a swerve when it comes to the finish was in a way a swerve. It's not exactly going out there to say the Triple Powerbomb- Shield briefly reuniting was the highlight of the match, and the PPV. But everyone will be talking about that- and most of them will do a better job of it than I would so I won't dwell on that aspect of it much. I don't know if it's worth praising the dynamic of the match, because if they didn't have 3/4 of this match face off with each other at some point it would have been the stupidest decision WWE ever made- bar none. That said this match did work well with said dynamic, Orton did feel like a bit of third wheel for this match and although he was the one to be featured most prominently when it came to the finish of the match he was also featured the least in every other aspect of the match- and rightly because one year on from The Shield's Last Match it was the night for the three (well I suppose two seeing as Roman still thinks he's in the Shield) guys.

Thanks for reading as always, as I've been writing this I got a Retweet from the Artist Formerly Known as Kruger so my Day has pretty much been made already- so if you want a less cynical RAW Live-Tweetings than usual why not join me tonight eh? Anyway thanks again for reading- as always I welcome differing opinions, feedback etc. and let's see what WWE can do with literally two weeks of build for a PPV now.