WWE Payback 2016: 5 Early predictions for the PPV

With this year’s WWE Payback less than a month away, there isn’t a lot of shape to the storylines. Sure there are a few matches fans can assume will happen: Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens, Roman Reigns vs. AJ Styles for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, Charlotte vs. Natalya for the Women’s Championship, for instance.

But beyond that, the other feuds are in their early stages, and fans have been given no indication what will happen with the company’s other three titles. That said, here are five predictions for what could be seen on May 1 in Chicago, but be forewarned. Because of just how early these are coming, it would be tough to expect all of them to come true.

Intercontinental Championship changes hands

The Miz is now a five-time Intercontinental Champion.

Full disclosure, it would be tough to say exactly what is going on with the Intercontinental Championship. The belt was held by Kevin Owens and Dean Ambrose for several months leading up to WrestleMania, two men booked among the top three or four full-time competitors in the company. Then, of course, Zack Ryder won the belt at WrestleMania and lost it to the Miz the next night.

Perhaps that was just so Owens and Sami Zayn could go off on an epic feud without writers having to worry about the belt and contenders. Regardless, it should come off the Miz at Payback, likely to someone like Cesaro or even Dolph Ziggler.

Seth Rollins returns

Seth Rollins has been out since a knee injury in November.

Seth Rollins is getting close to that 6-9 month window since he injured his knee in November and had to forfeit his WWE World Heavyweight Championship. In fact, Payback will happen right at the very front end of what was projected to be the time Rollins could return.

In recent weeks, though, Rollins was rumored to be training in the ring again. Further, he was announced as one of the stars in a movie scheduled to begin filming last week, and it’s doubtful he’d be doing something even that active if his knee wasn’t getting close. Payback might be the perfect spot for him to make a return as the new face to counter Roman Reigns’ increasingly heel persona.

Wyatts win

Bray Wyatt should be one of the WWE’s most intimidating figures if booked properly.

The booking of Bray Wyatt has been suspect lately, whether due to injury or bad decisions. But that seems to be about to change, much to the relief of most wreslting fans.

The Wyatt Family came out and attacked the League of Nations during Monday’s episode of RAW, and that’s a good sign for several reasons. First of all, that seems to build on the Rock’s message about Bray’s charisma because it sets up the Wyatts as the faces against Sheamus, Alberto Del Rio and Rusev. Since the League beat the New Day at WrestleMania, defeating them lends some credibility back to the Wyatts.

There’s really no reason the Wyatts shouldn’t win that feud to re-establish their dominance as a team.

Ambrose beats Jericho

The tension between Dean Ambrose and Chris Jericho began when they were supposed to be on the same team at last year’s Night of Champions.

So this match hasn’t even really been set up yet, but it seems like a probable one after Chris Jericho and Dean Ambrose exchanged glares on Thursday’s Smackdown. Tension has been simmering between the two men since they partnered with Roman Reigns against the Wyatts at Night of Champions.

Ambrose winning this makes all the sense in the world, mainly because of two nonsensical results from WrestleMania 32. Since Ambrose lost to Brock Lesnar after losing to Triple H and Roman Reigns at the two previous major events, he could use a credible win, and since Jericho beat AJ Styles, beating him would give Ambrose that boost.

Natalya beats Charlotte

Charlotte got the best of Natalya at Roadblock, but it could be different this time.

This one is perhaps the farthest out there, but give it a chance. In reality, it could actually be the most sensible thing to happen here.

Natalya has been one of the most forgotten female performers in the company, which would make it logical that perhaps Ric Flair wouldn’t be on his toes for this matchup. Or perhaps Charlotte decides she wants to win this one on her own. On top of that, Natalya is truly one of the division’s top in-ring performers, and she truly deserves a run with the new Women’s Championship.

From a booking standpoint, this also makes a surprising amount of sense. If Charlotte holds on to the belt until dropping it to Sasha Banks – and then gets her assumed rematch – a lot of matches between this new batch of women would be burned in the process.

Since we’ve already seen that Charlotte, Banks and Becky Lynch can put on a show on the company’s top stage, it would perhaps be best to save the rest of that feud for later and let Natalya get the belt from Charlotte to Sasha without the two having a singles showdown just yet.