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#1 Heel Roman Reigns climbs back to the top of the mountain at WWE Payback
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The main event to WWE Payback was the Triple Threat No Holds Barred Match for the Universal Championship with "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt defending against Braun Strowman and Roman Reigns. The story for the entire show was whether Roman had signed the contract for this match following his refusal on SmackDown this week. We would not get the answer to this question until minutes into the WWE Payback main event as Roman walked to the ring.
After a brawl between his opponents and a huge superplex which imploded the ring, Roman Reigns walked out with Paul Heyman and a steel chair in hand. Roman signed the WWE Payback main event contract while Heyman held it for him. Paul stood at the stage as Roman entered the ring and tried to take advantage of Bray and Braun. After several steel chair shots, a low blow to The Fiend and a spear to Braun, Roman Reigns became the WWE Universal Champion for the second time in his career.
The Big Dog proved his pre-match guarantee correct by wrecking everyone and leaving WWE Payback as Universal Champion. Roman also proved that his new character would do whatever necessary to get what he wants. His association with Paul Heyman has already paid off, and we now will see what is next for all three competitors in the main event.
Braun Strowman will have to recover from two major losses on WWE's last two PPVs. "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt will have to rebound from being pretty much a transitional champion, losing the title after one week here at WWE Payback. We will also see how he will respond now being the top babyface on SmackDown.
The most interesting of all will be what the future holds for the new WWE Universal Champion. With his new partnership with Paul Heyman and the way he won the title at WWE Payback, this has firmly established Roman Reigns as the top heel on not just SmackDown, but all of WWE.
