Payback 2016 was meant to serve as a palate cleanser after WrestleMania 32 and the spotlight was on the new superstars like Baron Corbin and Enzo and Cass. New feuds between already established superstars also gave the fans an opportunity to witness the dawn of a new era. Despite a strong show and quality in-ring action that the show provided, some of the events left the fans perplexed. Let’s have a look:
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1. Letting Corbin take the fall against Ziggler
The Lone Wolf debuted on the main roster at WrestleMania 32 and surprisingly won the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. He then decimated Dolph Ziggler on the subsequent Monday Night RAW and went on the defeat Zack Ryder in his Smackdown debut.
His rivalry with Ziggler started because he wanted to show that he belonged to the main roster, as the WWE wants him to take up the mantle of a monster heel in the coming future. However, letting him take the fall, that too due to a rookie mistake on his PPV debut against a man who has been consistently jobbing for NXT talent destroys whatever little momentum he had gathered.
Also, it does nothing to build his credibility as a powerful heel. It’s good to see a talent like Ziggler picking up a PPV win, but seeing him relegated to the kick-off show stings. WWE creative needs to think of better ways to utilize Ziggler’s talent in meaningful feuds. Corbin should be crushing wrestlers in squash matches and preying on current title holders Kalitso and Miz.
2. Letting The Miz retain the Intercontinental title
No doubt Miz and Cesaro put on a good match, but, that is kind of expected if any match has the Swiss Superman in it. However, allowing Miz to pick up a win over Cesaro by distraction does nothing to elevate the belt.
The title needs a much more credible holder than the Miz. A change of title is foreseen at Extreme Rules, but putting the belt on Cesaro and then him being attacked by Owens and then Sami Zayn coming for KO would have set up a mouth-watering triple threat match.
Letting Miz retain the belt will not add any luster to the clash at Extreme Rules and could have been avoided easily as Miz does not need a stolen victory to generate heat from the crowd, his character in itself is annoying enough.
3. Revisiting the Montreal Screwjob
Charlotte and Natalya were putting on a great match and just then the viewers were subjected to an unimaginative ending in the form of a poorer version of the Montreal screwjob. Revisiting the Montreal Screwjob only highlights the lack of ideas with the WWE creative to carry forward this storyline.
Natalya is a phenomenal athlete who has been grossly underutilized by the WWE (Remember her farting gimmick?) and a rigged ending to a title match like this only highlights the facts that how the creative team is heavily reliant on tried and tested formulas and is afraid to try something new in the Divas division.
Moreover, Bret Hart not actively participating in the match defeated the purpose of him being there. The only consolation for the fans was the moment when Bret and Natalya applied sharpshooters to the Flairs. A clean ending to this match would have elevated the level of Payback a few notches higher.
4. Both Shane and Stephanie given charge of Raw
Both Shane and Stephanie running Raw was not something that fans could have imagined and doesn’t look like something that the fans will be enthusiastic about. Most of us know that the siblings will continue the game of one-upmanship and reverse each or modify each other’s decisions like it happened in the main event of Payback.
Vince not announcing a clear winner amongst his children is only a step to stretch this storyline. Obviously everybody knows that Shane is not here forever, but, creative could take this storyline on a much pacier and a greyer route by showing both the Stephanie and Shane trying to plan each other’s exit from the top.
5. Allegiance of Gallows and Anderson still not clear
As expected, Gallows and Anderson did interfere in the match between the match of AJ Styles and Roman Reigns. Their attack on Reigns boosted Style’s chance of winning the match, but, the odds were evened by The Usos who made the save for Reigns.
It is still a mystery why Gallows and Anderson are attacking Reigns and who is ordering these attacks. The audience is still in the dark about the cause Gallows and Anderson are out to accomplish.
WWE could have used this stage to let the former Bullet Club members turn on AJ and further the interests of the WWE Universe in the story. It could be a case that of WWE planning the debut of Finn Balor on the main roster, but Gallows and Anderson attacking Reigns was not a surprise for any fan. Maybe there are answers waiting for the viewers on Monday Night Raw.
Even after a few miscalculations on the part of WWE, Payback was a good PPV. Viewers got high-quality action and some great matches. Had the concussion to Enzo Amore not happened, we would have had a memorable PPV.
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