WWE brought us Payback, their first PPV since WrestleMania 32 and in quite a few ways the show was better than WrestleMania. The show lived up to the hype in most ways even though most of the crowd were let down by Roman Reigns’ victory over AJ Styles.
That match was one of the two matches of the night. The other match being the latest edition of the blood feud between Samy Zayn and Kevin Owens, their first singles match on the main roster. Their fight spilled out onto the Intercontinental Championship match with The Miz taking advantage of a distraction to roll up Cesaro.
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Dean Ambrose also got a much needed win over Chris Jericho, with Jericho probably taking a break from WWE following Payback. The Women’s title match between Natalya and Charlotte was fantastic but marred by a bizarre finish. The two pre-show matches were okay but nothing special.
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WWE should really look to do different with the US title. Just to put things in perspective about how far the US title has fallen, Seth Rollins and John Cena had a title for title match for the US Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship. Vince McMahon also came out to overwhelming CM Punk chants and granted both Shane and Stephanie dual control of Raw. What a cop out.
There was also the scary moment when the tag team match had to get canceled when Enzo Amore got knocked out. Thankfully, Enzo’s doing okay, even though he’s been diagnosed with a concussion. We all hope he gets well soon.
With that being said, here the 5 top twitter reactions to WWE Payback:
5: The Silent Era
There’s something about The Vaudevillians that just isn’t working. It worked in the smaller NXT arenas, but it isn’t working on the main roster. They debuted on the main roster on the SmackDown after Wrestlemania 32, and it’s been quite underwhelming. Their old school mat wrestling style hasn’t gotten over with fans.
Their tag team finisher is also terribly anti-climatic. Their gimmick is original but it sucks the energy out of the the huge live crowds on WWE’s main roster.
@Oatgan hilariously points put how the non-reaction that The Vaudevillains received from the Chicago crowd at Payback, plays along quite well with their whole The Vaudevillains whole silent era gimmick. Sarcasm at its best.
4: Smokey Owens
Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn tore the house down at Payback. They gave each other everything they had and it wasn’t a fight, it was a battle. By the end of it, Owens and Zayn had the crowd, the fans at home and even the commentators in a frenzy before Owens finally powerbombed Zayn for the victory.
After the match, Owens threw Zayn out of the ring and forced Byron Saxton to come and take an impromptu interview about his victory. Then he announced that he would sit at commentary for the Intercontinental Championship match. The camera cut to Owens at the commentary table after the video package with him wearing JBL’s cowboy hat.
@nodqdotcom tweeted a meme pointing out the similarities between Kevin Owens and Smokey The Bear. Even though I’m a huge KO fan, this was really funny.
3: Chicago Screwjob?
The Women’s title match was going so well. It was some of the best mat wrestling WWE’s women’s division has ever seen. Two legends were ringside. Natalya and Charlotte were tearing it up inside the ring. Then the finish happened. I’m still not completely sure what it was.
Charlotte had Natalya in a Sharpshooter when referee Charles Robinson suddenly called for the bell out of nowhere before running out of the ring to retrieve the Women’s Championship bell for Charlotte. In other words, a screwjob. A terrible attempt at a screwjob rather.
@bryanalvarez of Wrestling Observer, tweeted about WWE’s blatant attempt at recreating the Montreal Screwjob between Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart, with Bret famously writing the WCW initials on camera in mid air following the finish. He famously departed for WCW the after, which was the whole reason for the screwjob.
2: Realest guys reunited
WWE Payback started on a really scary moment when Enzo Amore got knocked out early on in the #1 contendership match versus The Vaudevillians. Enzo was treated by doctors at ringside but the impact from him hitting the middle rope face first had left him out cold and the match had to be called off with Enzo being stretchered out.
Later on in the show, Michael Cole informed us that Enzo had been diagnosed with a concussion and all the other tests had come out negative.
What some fans might not know is that @fightowensfight stays with the realest guys in the room in between shows. They’re running buddies. As soon as @fightowensfight finished his part at Payback, he was in the hospital to see his buddy. He tweeted out this picture in Enzo’s hotel room and its so reassuring to see Enzo in good spirits.
Also, Big Cass pulls off a suit so damn well.
1: Now that’s how you draw battle lines
Anderson and Gallows and The Usos interfered in the Payback main event match between AJ Styles and Roman Reigns. The Usos somehow managed to help Reigns retain the title. Even though the match had quite a few interference and restarts, it only added the drama and the match itself was very good.
With all that’s gone on between Reigns and Styles in recent weeks Roman Reigns saw this as a victory for his family. He paid homage to his cousins in his post-match tweet saying that no ‘Club’ could beat his family.
