The fourth edition of the Payback pay-per-view is just a week away and the WWE universe has its sight set on the event that is scheduled to take place on May 1st at Illinois. The event is star-studded and the WWE team is doing the best at their disposal to make this a grand success.
The fact that this was the first PPV after WrestleMania makes this all the more important. This event made its first appearance in 2013 and since then it has been successful in living up to the expectations and this year will not be any different. With all this said, let us have a look at 5 interesting facts about the Payback PPV-
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#5 No Diva has ever competed twice at Payback
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In all the three editions of this PPV held earlier, divas took part in the event and the interesting thing was that no diva made a double appearance at the event. The trend has continued this year as well and a total of 10 divas took part in this event over the span of 4 years.
It all started with AJ Lee and Kaitlyn in 2013, Paige and Alicia Fox in 2014, The Bella Twins and Naomi/Tamina in 2015 and now we have Charlotte and Natalya in 2016. This is good for business and obviously a positive signal for the divas division.
Also, this year the Women’s Championship match is set to impress the WWE universe as two young women fight each other inside the ring with two legends- Ric Flair and Bret Hart standing by their corners.
#4 Variety of matches
Though this PPV is just 3 years old, there are 10 varieties of matches that were fought over the short span. Apart from the obvious singles and tag matches, the WWE universe got the opportunity to witness some of the best matches like 3 Stages of Hell match, Last Man Standing match, Hair vs. Mask match, No Holds Barred match, 2 out of 3 falls match and an I Quit match. The universe always loves it this way and so did the WWE team put efforts in this direction.
Talking about big winners and losers at the event, Cena, Seth Rollins and Sheamus have an impressive 3-0 streak at Payback while Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns are good enough with 2-1. The Apex Predator, Randy Orton hasn't lived up to the expectations at Payback as he had to settle with a 0-3 record at this PPV.
#3 Allstate arena- All the time
Payback 2016 is scheduled to take place at the Allstate arena in Rosemont, Illinois. Do you think this is the first time this has happened? No! In fact, this is the third time Payback is held at this venue. Payback 2015 was held at Baltimore and except that the WWE team is happy to host this PPV at Illinois always.
This was a little interesting as you don't generally see a PPV being held in the same city time and again. At least for the sake of publicity, it is good to change the venue.The initial plans this year were to host this event at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey but later plans changed and this city will host the Extreme Rules PPV.
We don't really know what logic prompted the company to schedule the PPV at the same venue 3/4 times.
#2 Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns- All along the journey
Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns have a very close association with this PPV. Since its inception in 2013, Ambrose and Reigns have been a part of this PPV and this year as well they have a part to play in the event. During the first two years, Ambrose and Roman fought together as they were part of the Shield and last year, they fought each other in a Fatal 4 way match.
This time things were different. Ambrose takes on Jericho at Payback 2016 and Roman Reigns will defend his WWE World Heavyweight Championship against AJ Styles. Both these guys have a winning streak of 2-1 at the event and they would love to improve that.
Sheamus has competed thrice at the PPV and he is the only guy who could equal the most appearances at Payback if he was given a chance to show up at the PPV.
#1 John Cena- The man of the PPV
It was already mentioned above that John Cena has made 3 appearances at the Payback PPV and won all three times. The interesting thing here is that Cena got the opportunity to take part in 3 matches with interesting stipulations.
In 2013, he took on Ryback in a 3 Stages of Hell match and won it 2-1 and this match lasted more than 24 minutes. Add to this that this match is for the WWE Championship. In 2014, he took on Bray Wyatt in a Last Man Standing match and this match too touched the 24 minute mark.
Cena emerged victorious after successfully incapacitating Bray Wyatt for a count of 10. In Payback 2015, Cena took on Rusev in an "I Quit" match and made the challenger tap out. Cena successfully defended his US Championship in a grueling encounter that lasted more than 27 minutes.
Ladies and Gentlemen, That is the 15 time world champion, John Cena for you!
