Five new matches added to WWE Payback; IC title match changed

Alberto Del Rio and Dolph Ziggler will face each other for the World Championship

Well, Monday Night RAW was certainly eventful tonight. In total, five brand new matches were added to the upcoming Payback pay-per-view card, likely filling out the remainder of the card. And, as a bonus, four of those five matches are for championships. In case you missed the show, here are the matches announced:

Sheamus vs. Damien Sandow (Pre-show): Despite the fact that WWE has been building to this match for several weeks on Smackdown, with Sandow giving Sheamus a different intellectual challenge every week, for whatever reason, the creative team has decided to relegate this to the WWE.com-only pre-show slot. It’s unfortunate for Sandow, who I still believe will be a break-out star very soon, and surprising for Sheamus, who has been in high-profile PPV matches since winning the World title last year.

WWE Divas Championship-Kaitlyn vs. AJ Lee: This match is a long time coming, and it’s nice to see it’s finally going to take place. AJ announced she was getting her shot after Big E. Langston was revealed to be Kaitlyn’s secret admirer, only to find out it was nothing but a set-up by AJ and Langston to get in Kaitlyn’s head. These two are two of the most improved divas on the roster, and this has the potential to be a very, very good match.

WWE Tag Team Championship -Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins vs. Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton: After Bryan defeated Rollins on RAW, this match was announced. Don’t expect a title change, however. This is more to further Bryan’s “weak link” gimmick, while at the same time it is rumoured to be fuel for Orton’s heel turn, which has been in the works for quite some time.

WWE United States Championship – Dean Ambrose vs. Kane: Kane defeated Ambrose via DQ in a non-title match on RAW, and has thus earned this shot at Ambrose’s US title.

World Championship – Dolph Ziggler vs. Alberto Del Rio: After suffering a very scary concussion just before Extreme Rules, Ziggler has finally been cleared to return to action, and will give ADR his long-awaited rematch for the championship. Originally, these two were supposed to face Jack Swagger in a triple threat at Extreme Rules, but Ziggler was removed due to his injury. The match was changed into a #1 contender’s match between ADR and Swagger (under “I Quit” rules), with ADR emerging victorious.

Speaking of concussions and triple threats, an IC title match was originally announced for Payback with Wade Barrett defending his belt against against former champion The Miz and Fandango. Unfortunately, Fandango was removed from the match as a result of suffering a concussion (the severity is unknown at this time). After the announcement, the match was first changed into a one-on-one between Barrett and Miz, but once again turned into a triple threat when Paul Heyman came out and announced that Vickie Guerrero had informed him that Curtis Axel would be taking Fandango’s spot.