wrestling / Columns
411’s Roundtable Preview: WWE Payback 2016
The Staff
Kevin Pantoja, WWE NXT Reporter, Wrestling Zone Reviewer
Dino Zee, Wrestling Article Writer
Wyatt Beougher, Wrestling Article Writer, MMA Fact or Fiction Organizer
Rob Stewart, Wrestling Article Writer
Sean Garmer, Wrestling 2 the MAX Podcast Co-Host, WWE Roundtable Organizer, Games Top 5 Organizer, Video Games 2 the MAX Podcast Host,
(Champion) Kalisto vs. Ryback
Pre-Show Kickoff Match: United States Championship Match
Kevin Pantoja: Remember when John Cena made the United States Title the most sought after and important belt in the WWE? Then he dropped it to Alberto Del Rio, who traded it with Kalisto. Since then, Kalisto has competed on two straight Kickoff shows and this will be his third straight. I actually rather like both men involved and they’re managed to have some pretty good matches. This should be right up that alley and I think they’re going to make the switch here. Ryback can’t just keep losing right? Kalisto has been relegated to tag matches and Superstars in recent weeks, so it’s not like they were doing much with him anyway.
Winner: Ryback
Dino Zee: Part of me hopes that they actually keep running with Kalisto, because he’s not quite reached a level of “over” that I’m sure they hoped for, and pulling the leash at this point would only reinforce that, yes, he’s not that good. The win over Ryback at Mania was a bit of a surprise, but he’s going to need to KEEP winning if we’re going to take him seriously. Talk about wins and losses not mattering all you want, but the wins absolutely help tell the audience that it’s okay to invest your time in this guy (like, say, when Daniel Bryan beat Orton repeatedly during the Spring of 2013).
The other part of me, however, hopes Ryback wins, for almost the same reasons I hope Kalisto wins. Both are on shaky ice as far as fan appreciation goes, and another loss to a much smaller guy could really hurt Ryback’s stock as well. And really, that’s what I like about this match (and feud)- each match actually matters, and each loss could really hurt the guy that fell short. I think I’m pulling a little more for Ryback, and so my WWE Spidey Sense says “pick the other guy, then.”
Winner: And STILL US Champion… Kalisto
Wyatt Beougher: Ahhhh, the essence of Backlash Payback at its most pure – a match no one cared about at Wrestlemania, repeated a month or so later with even less build – what could possibly go wrong?!? We keep hearing about how this is finally the time they’re going to pull the trigger on Ryback’s push and try to fix the last four years or so of failed pushes. The only problem? Kalisto, just by existing, moves more merchandise than Ryback did at the peak of his popularity, because lots of people love lucha masks. Let Kalisto win this one to end the feud decisively, and then let Ryback take his rightful place as a Social Outcast. He’s already got the goofy nickname (“The Big Guy”), and I might be in the extreme minority, but I’d love to see a Rybaxel reunion.
Winner and STILL WWE United States champion: Kalisto (Salida del Sol)
Rob Stewart: Is it bad that I’m already completely tired of this feud? There’s just no real chemistry of drama there when these two share the ring. It’s not to say that they’ve put on awful matches, but they have all been eminently forgettable. And boy, the alleged luster that the US Open Invitational Challenge was giving the US Title feels like it was about five years ago at this point. I can’t see the rationale to a Ryback win here, because they could have just done that back at Wrestlemania. I’d like to think this is the continued building of Kallisto, and he is definitely the guy who needs this win more. The ship has sailed on anybody caring if Ryback has gold, and his Intercontinental run last year was negligible at best.
Winner: Kalisto
Sean Garmer: This again? I don’t think I remember them even feuding on TV after Wrestlemania. I care about this even less than I did a month ago. Kalisto will win again because WWE just likes to toy around that they are “pushing” Ryback.
Winner AND STILL US Champion: Kalisto
Dolph Ziggler vs. Baron Corbin
Singles Match
Kevin Pantoja: BIG BANTER! Since seeing him live early last year, Baron Corbin has continued to grow on me. I was really happy when he won the Andre the Giant Battle Royal and hope to see big things from him. Dolph Ziggler has been trending the other way. In late 2014, he was red hot but since then, he has delivered mediocre performance after mediocre performance. I can’t ever recall going from rooting for someone to not caring about them this quickly. Anyway, Baron Corbin should win this. Any other decision would just be dumb. Though, judging by the decisions made at Mania, Ziggler could win in 5 seconds.
Winner: Dolph Ziggler
Dino Zee: I’m a fan of Corbin, and I have stopped being a fan of Dolph’s since his high school feud with Rusev over the summer. I’m hoping this is just a chance for Dolph to show off how well he sells, while hopefully dragging Corbin to a fun little match. No matter the quality of the match, I feel that Corbin needs this way more than Dolph, simply because he’s too new to survive coming in and immediately losing. Especially when the loss would be to the guy that loses quite a bit himself.
Winner: Baron Corbin
Wyatt Beougher: Baron Corbin is one of the few NXT guys who has come to the main roster and not only had his character remain completely intact, but also basically continued the same storyline, as here he’s taking on yet another guy that smart/smark fans love. In NXT, those matches haven’t generally gone in his favor, but because Dolph hasn’t really had any momentum since shortly after Survivor Series 2014 and actually spent most of 2015 involved in the worst love polygon angle ever, I look for this to be a glorified squash, with Dolph using his wonderful selling ability to make the new guy look like a million bucks.
Winner: Baron Corbin (The End of Days)
Rob Stewart: Remember when Tyler Breeze beat Dolph Ziggler on a Pay-Per-View? It’s apropos of nothing here, but… remember that being a thing that happened? Ah well. This could actually be a fun match with Ziggler bumping around like a superball in a stairwell. Corbin is still somewhat limited in the ring, but his character work has become a lot of fun. I don’t expect it to be a particularly long contest because that runs the risk exposing Corbin’s weaknesses, but a match under 6 minutes between these two has potential.
Winner: Baron Corbin
Sean Garmer: Sadly, Dolph has become such an afterthought that it is really hard for me to really care about anything involving him. This should serve as Corbin’s first win on PPV, Dolph will get the crowd behind him, but lose as usual.
Winner: Baron Corbin
Chris Jericho vs. Dean Ambrose
Singles Match
Kevin Pantoja: The WrestleMania match with Brock Lesnar should have been the megastar making performance for Dean Ambrose. It wasn’t booked that way and showed that the company doesn’t really view him in that way. I still don’t understand Jericho’s win over AJ, especially if all it did was lead to this match while AJ gets the WWE Title shot. Booking isn’t that hard people. This feud has been fun and the Ambrose Asylum stuff has been rather entertaining. It’s hard to pick Ambrose to win any PPV match because he’s such a loser of big matches but this one seems winnable.
Winner: Dean Ambrose
Dino Zee: So, do we try to get Dean Ambrose back on the winning track, or do we continue with the Anti-Jericho booking that sees Uncle Rockstar continue to win matches we all expect him to lose? I actually like that Jericho won at Mania, as it did a little to restore the idea that Jericho is there to win, and not simply there to lose to every single guy on the roster in an attempt to “make” them.
I think Dean should absolutely win this, and should win it in a pretty dominant fashion. Unfortunately, that’s not how we do things in WWE, so I expect a highly competitive match, and while I wouldn’t mind seeing another win for Jericho, I’m not going to call it.
Winner: Dean Ambrose
Wyatt Beougher: I should be excited for this match, as Jericho is one of my favorite heels of all time and he’s doing some surprisingly fantastic work here just by acting like a child with lame insults. (If you don’t agree with me, you’re a stupid stupidhead.) And Ambrose is still walking on the right side of the line between “cool, unbalanced weirdo” and “lame guy with a hot dog cart”. The match itself should be fun, but for me, it’s just kinda there, and that’s a shame, especially considering how over Ambrose was when he was feuding with both HHH and Lesnar. I think Jericho pulls off the win here, maybe with a Codebreaker Outta Nowhere.
Winner: Chris Jericho (Codebreaker)
Rob Stewart: I’m cautiously optimistic about this match. Obviously, there is great potential here with the guys involved. But Jericho’s ringwork has not matched his heelwork from the last month+; his battles with AJ Styles of all people have just felt… stunted. And Ambrose, as fun as he is, seems to be just spinning his wheels as the Brooklyn Brawler of the current main event scene. Ultimately, both of these guys had matches at Wrestlemania that weren’t as good as they should have been, and I would imagine they are hungry to remind us what they are capable of. It makes more sense for Ambrose to pick up the W here, but either way, we probably aren’t about to see the end of this feud.
Winner: Dean Ambrose
Sean Garmer: This feud has been based around a damn talk show for goodness sakes. I thought Ambrose did a great job on RAW to make it feel like it meant something and I’ll give him kudos for that. This match could be one of those sneaky good ones that people aren’t putting a lot of stock in because of the build-up, but most of all, Dean Ambrose really needs a bounce back win here.
Winner: Dean Ambrose
Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn
Singles Match
Kevin Pantoja: I fully expect this to be the match of the night. The story and rivalry between Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn is one of the best in all of wrestling. Every single time they see each other, it’s like a war. They just hockey fight and it’s glorious. Their match will most likely follow the formula of two guys who hate each other just wanting to kill one another. They always have good to great matches, so I have no reason to think otherwise about this one. It’s a tough call because both guys have some momentum, but Owens should win here. Sami can afford it as the sympathetic babyface and should have to earn the big win over Kevin in front of the main roster audience.
Winner: Kevin Owens
Dino Zee: Man, this is going to be a dangerous, dangerous match. The history of these two is well known, and they have delivered some absolute brutal classics in the past. You have to expect some injuries. Sami might tweak an ankle while he’s dancing down the ramp. He might blow his shoulder out again pumping on the crowd. He might tweak a finger grabbing the ropes. His shirt might give him a mild fabric burn while he’s pulling it off. Plus, he’s wrestling Kevin Owens, who also has some offensive attacks that could deal damage. Still, Zayn’s worst enemy will always be himself. Let’s go, KO.
Winner: Kevin Owens
Wyatt Beougher: Poor Sami Zayn is going to fight his heart out in this match, but in the end, I think Owens is going to win, because the non-NXT-watching main roster audience hasn’t really gotten a very large dose of these guys yet. Owens has to win these early matches, simply for the fact that Zayn is such a perfect underdog and seeing him finally rise up win the big match is one of the most gratifying experiences a wrestling fan can enjoy. Part of that, admittedly, is because Zayn does “dejected after a loss” so well, but regardless, in order for Zayn to get the huge, feud, defining win, Owens needs to win this first one (and probably the second and third ones as well, with the violence increasing each time).
Winner: Kevin Owens (Lights Out)
Rob Stewart: Well, well, well. If it isn’t the OTHER show-seller match? There’s very little chance this isn’t the best match on the card, unless creative does something beyond foolish and give them, like, 5 minutes to work with. But–and one should never underestimate the foolishness of WWE creative–that seems highly unlikely. These two have probably been planning out how their first WWE pay-per-view match would go for the better part of a decade at this point, so I’ve got my popcorn ready for wherever this falls on the card. Sami has been taking a LOT of losses on WWE TV since he got called up, and he hasn’t collected anything resembling a signature win on the main roster yet. This feels like the time and place for that. Ole, ole ole ole!
Winner: Sami Zayn
Sean Garmer: We’ve been waiting to see on the main roster for a long time, but I think this is just the beginning of a long one. This means Kevin Owens wins to further it into a stipulation match at Extreme Rules.
Winner: Kevin Owens
Enzo & Cass vs. Vaudevillains
WWE Tag Team Championship # 1 Contender’s Tournament Final
Kevin Pantoja: The WWE tag team division is a fun place. The New Day, Enzo and Cass, the Vaudevillains, Anderson and Gallows, the Dudleys, the Lucha Dragons, etc. Lots of good teams. I love tournaments and the two new teams from NXT making the finals was a great move as it helps establish them. Enzo and Cass are already super over, while the Vaudevillains aren’t. However, I fully suspect Enzo and Cass to feud with the Dudley Boyz. The Dudleys get involved, cost Enzo and Cass the match and allow the Vaudevillains to earn the shot. Then, New Day could get past them, while cutting hilarious promos on them.
Winner: The Vaudevillains
Dino Zee: I could see this going either way, and quite easily at that. New Day are faces, so you’d think that cookie cutter booking would give them The Vaudevillains as their next challengers. Plus, with how hot Enzo and Cass have been, it’s almost too easy to pick them for the win. Maybe they get screwed out of the win here, get a feud going with some other team, and then eventually earn that tag title shot. Maybe Doc and Stun Gun ruin this match completely, giving us no real winner. Those are totally valid, but I’m just going to make the markiest call I can, because you can’t teach that.
Winner: Enzo and Cass
Wyatt Beougher: The real winners here are the fans, because you have this generation’s New Age Outlaws taking on a pair of anachronistic gentlemen in a rematch of the match that basically gave Enzo and Cass their recipe for success (with Enzo playing face in peril and Cass eventually sacrificing himself to protect his miniscule running buddy). With the Vaudevillains being former NXT tag champions and Enzo and Cass having never claimed that honor themselves, you would think the Vaudevillains would have the edge in this match, but I don’t necessarily think that’s the case. Enzo and Cass were always more entertainment-based than wrestling-based, making them a less-than-perfect fit for NXT’s tag division. But they’re on the main roster now, and while the Vaudevillains are equally as entertaining in a completely different way, Enzo and Cass’ call-and-response introduction is a huge recipe for success. To that end, I look for them to get the nod here and move on to face our TWO-TIME WWE TAG TEAM CCCHHHHAAAAMMMPPPPIIIIIIOOOOONNNNNSSSS, New Day. Cass will take some kind of punishment that was intended for ‘Zo, which will allow the Smack Talker Skywalker to steal a win with a rollup on a distracted Vaudevillain. As an aside, how awesome is the WWE tag team division right now? Hopefully they get another Elimination Chamber match this year, as that could be bananas.
Winner: Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady (Enzo rollup)
Rob Stewart: Yes, please. This match alone almost sells me on the show, and I am just irrationally excited for it. I’m not expecting a 4-star classic or anything, but I do anticipate a lot of fun to be had. Just the fact that these two teams shot straight to the upper echelon of the tag team division gets me pumped. Ever since they debuted on Raw, Enzo and Cas have been one of the very best parts of the show. Not to be outdone, The Vaudevillains have been their usual entertaining selves, as well. A feud of Enzo and Cas vs New Day has “Money” written all over it, even in spite of New Day’s recent face turn. So between the fact that WWE might want to delay gratification on giving us pairing that right away and the fact that The Vaudevillains fit the face/heel dynamic a little better for New Day, I’m going to say The Vaudevillains become #1 contenders.
Winner: The Vaudevillains
Sean Garmer: WWE would be silly to waste such an entertaining feud like Enzo & Cass vs. New Day on Extreme Rules and beyond. Enzo and Cass should be a Summerslam feud for New Day. I think they go ahead and go with the Vaudevillains here, give you some unique heels to go against. New Day will probably have some funny promos and Vaudevillains may some interesting responses. The jury is still out on if Vaudevillains will really be something, but a nice first feud against the extremely popular champions will be just what the doctor ordered.
Winner: The Vaudevillains
Charlotte w/ Ric Flair vs. Natalya w/ Bret Hart
WWE Women’s Championship Match
Kevin Pantoja: Can this feud be over with already? Both girls are very solid in the ring and their matches are usually good. I expect that again here. However, I am beyond over the Ric Flair stuff and as much as I love Bret, I could do without him. We’ve seen this already, so it feels like a retread. Also, I want more from the characters of these girls. Seriously, is there anything more to them than “our dads used to wrestle”? A small piece of me could see Natalya getting a Zack Ryder moment here, where she wins it for a short time only to drop it right back to Charlotte, but I’m still holding out hope for Sasha to do the dethroning. You know, like she should have at WrestleMania.
Winner: Charlotte
Dino Zee: At least Bret will be there. I don’t see Chic Flair dropping the belt to Natalya. At all. Ever. Natalya will not win the belt at Payback, she will not win it on the following Raw. Our next women’s champion will most likely be named something that rhymes with “Mosha Lanks,” so this one appears to be a slam dunk call.
Winner: And STILL Women’s Champion… Chic Flair (probably with help from her Pop, because that’s what the division is about)
Wyatt Beougher: If you watched the first ever NXT Takeover special (not ArRIVAL, the original Takeover that didn’t have anything after the word “Takeover”), you know that these two are more than capable of having a good to great match, and since they’re both going to have the same men in their corners for this one that they did for the Takeover iteration of it, I’m hoping that the match itself will live up to those lofty standards. Based on the way the story has been booked so far (and really, how Charlotte has been booked since winning the now not-so-dearly departed Divas championship), the payoff should be Bret Hart neutralizing Ric Flair’s interference and allowing Natalya to win. There are three issues with that theory – (a) WWE doesn’t really follow traditional booking philosophies, especially if they make sense, (b) nothing in Natalya’s 8-year (!) main roster career leads me to believe that WWE has any faith in her to be the face of the Women’s division as anything other than a transitional champion, and (c) Charlotte beat Natalya in the aforementioned Takeover match. And while I could see the transitional argument in reason b being used to get Natalya back the win that she gave Charlotte at Takeover, I just can’t believe WWE would sacrifice the build that they’ve been giving Charlotte for anyone other than Sasha Banks (or, potentially, Becky Lynch). Sasha beating Natalya just doesn’t have the same flair (pun fully intended) as if she were to defeat Charlotte to win her first championship on the main roster, so for that reason, I believe Bret will thwart Flair’s interference, but Charlotte will raise to the occasion and beat Natalya on her own.
Winner and STILL WWE Women’s Champion: Charlotte (Figure Eight)
Rob Stewart: This should be the easiest call of the night, right? Charlotte wins to set up an eventual money feud with The Boss. Easy peasy. Natalya is just a segue feud in the meantime. But if there’s one habit I’ve developed as a wrestling fan, it’s the ability to look at a card, announce that one match is the most predictable, and then watching as I am 100% wrong in that regard. I suppose it is possible for Natalya to win here thanks to Bret neutralizing Flair’s attempts at chicanery, only for Charlotte takes the belt back at Extreme Rules. Ah, you know what? I’ve just talked myself into it. Going against myself here after all! Though I’d like to add that I am so tired of old men being the cornerstone of the women’s wrestling division.
Winner: Natalya
Sean Garmer: I would hope if you are going to copy the NXT feud to the hilt, this means you let these two go out there and put on the quality of match we saw there as well. I think the Bret and Ric dynamic can be fun and if used correctly, can add to the match. However, you can’t have them get involved too much or the match becomes about them and not about the two great women wrestlers in the ring. Charlotte should win this again or perhaps Natalya wins by DQ because of Ric’s involvement. This would set up either a NO DQ match or Ric Flair being banned from ringside at Extreme Rules.
Winner AND STILL CHAMPION: Charlotte
(Champion) The Miz w/ Maryse vs. Cesaro
WWE Intercontinental Championship Match
Kevin Pantoja: This might be the toughest match to call. On the one hand, Cesaro has recently returned and is back to putting on good to great matches whenever he steps foot in the ring. On the other hand, the title JUST changed hands twice in April. Maybe keeping it on Miz for at least another PPV is the right move. Extreme Rules is right around the corner, so I get the feeling that Miz cheats to retain thanks to Maryse or some other shenanigans. Cesaro would earn a rematch and take home the title at Extreme Rules, hopefully leading to a reign full of top notch matches.
Winner: The Miz
Dino Zee: So, it’s after the summer of 2011, and The Miz is your Intercontinental Champion. Stop me if you’ve heard this before… No matter how many people talk about what a good company man he is, the fact remains that Miz has treaded water for nearly 5 years now after losing the WWE Title, and it really appears that he’s never going to move above that level.
Meanwhile, Cesaro has shown that he has the fan approval to be moved up the card, along with the ability to have balls-to-the-wall awesome matches against pretty much everyone on the roster. He has an upside, where as Miz is what he is.
Which is why I hope Miz keeps his career achievement trophy, which frees Cesaro to move up the card.
Winner: And STILL Intercontinental Champion… The Miz
The Miz vs. Cesaro (Intercontinental Championship)
Wyatt Beougher: This might be the match that I’m most looking forward to on this entire show, for the simple fact that Cesaro seems to finally, finally be getting his richly deserved push, and, to his credit, Miz has been very, very good of late, especially since being paired with his real-life wife Maryse. Oh yeah, and there’s the fact that the Intercontinental championship is actually being treated like something that people want to fight for, instead of a cursed prop that instantly either injures whoever holds it or makes them incapable of winning a non-title match. Maybe it’s just that WWE isn’t booking 8 non-title losses for the IC champ between each pay-per-view/live special, or maybe the past month of good-to-great RAWs have me feeling unnecessary optimistic. Either way, this is my dark horse to be match of the night, and when was the last time you could realistically say that about a match involving the Miz? I think Miz actually takes the win here, thanks to Maryse interference.
Winner and STILL WWE Intercontinental Champion: The Miz (Skull-Crushing Finale)
Rob Stewart: The Miz is re-emerging as one of the best characters in WWE, and Cesaro is returning from his injury as one of the very best wrestlers; I figure this contest for being a lot of fun with Miz heeling it up and being generally insufferable until Cesaro can get his hands on him and start uppercutting and his face off to the crowd’s delight. I see this as the match where WWE settles the Intercontinental title onto Cesaro’s waist after a few months of hot-shotting it around (as well as after years of fans lamenting Cesaro not feeling as relevant as they want him to be).
Winner: Cesaro
Sean Garmer: You know, normally I don’t care for The Miz, but ever since Maryse has returned, they have been great together. This feud with Cesaro has made the IC Title feel like it means something. The Miz is also underrated in the ring and we know how great Cesaro is in the squared circle. This could be another match that we are talking about when the night is over. That being said, I think Maryse helps Miz pick up the victory and retain.
Winner AND STILL CHAMPION: The Miz
(Champion) Roman Reigns vs. AJ Styles
WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match
Kevin Pantoja: I hate the Bullet Club. I love AJ Styles, I really like Karl Anderson and Finn Balor, but man, I always disliked the Bullet Club. I don’t want to see them rejoin in the WWE but if it get the WWE Title on AJ Styles, I’d be willing to put up with it. That being said, I don’t believe the WWE will put the belt on Styles. Maybe one day, but certainly not here. Roman Reigns literally just spent the fall and winter chasing the WWE Title only to win it twice for two very short periods of time. I can’t see him getting the big Mania moment only to drop it in less than a month. Either Gallows and Anderson join him or AJ rejects their help and it leads to Reigns beating him.
Winner: Roman Reigns
Dino Zee: I wrote about this last week, so I’m not going to betray what I said here. I have Gallows and Anderson joining up with Reigns, allowing him to keep the belt. I believe that Standard WWE Booking will see Reigns win after “miscommunication” between AJ and Gallows/Anderson, and then Gallows/Anderson will attack AJ, so that nothing interesting actually happens. Either way, the World Title isn’t leaving those soulful blue eyes.
Winner: Roman Reigns
Wyatt Beougher: AJ Styles has made a case for being considered the best wrestler in the world for the past three years, and he’s taking on a guy who is capable of being carried to very good matches in spite of some glaring weaknesses in his overall skill set. Sure, this match is likely to end with some kind of run-in by Guns and Gallows and/or Authority-mandated nonsense, but if they book it properly prior to that, it actually has the potential to be a very good main event. If Roman Reigns gets to play the smug prick character that he nails so convincingly, and AJ can be the faster, technically superior underdog who just keeps hitting the WWE World Heavyweight Champion with his best shots, I think WWE could potentially get at least an arena full of people to forget that they hate Roman Reigns for 10-15 minutes. Hopefully they’ve learned at least that much from the nonsense that main evented Wrestlemania, and AJ is a far better opponent to make Reigns look good than HHH was at ‘Mania. As for the finish itself, I don’t know who Anderson and Gallows are going to side with, but that’s part of why I’m excited about this match – traditional booking would ensure that they turn on AJ, but are they doing that to help Reigns, to hurt AJ, to benefit someone we haven’t seen yet, or some combination of the three? Regardless, we know Reigns is walking out of this one the champion, so I’ll say he wins by disqualification when the Bullet Club attack him.
Winner and STILL WWE World Heavyweight Champion: Roman Reigns (Disqualification)
Rob Stewart: If I may go straight into the Bad Pun well, this match is a real styles clash (womp womp). I almost can’t picture these two working together, though Reigns has proven to be an eminently carry-able talent when in there with the right guy. I am curious to see which guy, if either, works the heat in this match; common sense says that it will be Reigns given both his size and what will obviously be the fans’ reactions, but that entails WWE actually allowing people to think of their guy–“THE” guy, if you haven’t gotten absolutely sick of that promo yet–as the villain. Do I really have to pick a winner here? Obviously Reigns leaves Payback as the champion, but this reeks of a likely disqualification finish since there is no chance that Anderson and Gallows don’t get involved. The crystal ball shows me Reigns winning by disqualification when the former Bullet Club members just straight attack him to Styles’ befuddlement.
Winner: Roman Reigns
Sean Garmer: This is going to be interesting. Will we see the Bullet Club reform in WWE? Will Gallows and Anderson join Roman Reigns and form a true “Roman Empire?” or will they do neither? With Finn Balor looking like he’s going to be occupied for a while in NXT, it seems we won’t be seeing him join the fray. The whole point of this story is that Gallows and Anderson keep getting involved in things and AJ really doesn’t want them to do so. I’d imagine this leads to AJ revealing it was all a ploy and turning on Roman. Not so fast though, AJ has been getting some good pops, he sells merchandise, and people like him. Would that affect things if he were to turn heel? WWE does have to consider that. Roman is already getting booed big time. Why not have Gallows and Anderson join him and get some big time heat from fans on them. You can have The Usos question why Roman is doing this and maybe you have some nice six man matches with AJ & The Usos vs. Roman & Guns and Gallows. However, I think WWE will play it safe and we see Bullet Club return. We know Roman is retaining this title either way.
Winner (Via DQ): Roman Reigns
Overall Thoughts & PPV Interest Level (from 1 being the worst to 5 being the best)
Kevin Pantoja: My interest level for this PPV is a 5: For the first time, maybe in history, my interest level is at a full five. This card absolutely annihilates the WrestleMania card. Every single match has potential to be really good and there looks to be no real filler. Even the women’s feud, which I dislike, should produce a good match. Add in the intrigue of the WWE Title picture, where they are actually building drama and suspense and you’ve got a winner.
Dino Zee: My interest level for this PPV is a 5: Yeah, it may not sound like it if you read my match by match breakdown, but I am actually very excited for this event. As I told a friend, “99% of me thinks this won’t be that great, but that 1% is the most excited 1% I’ve ever had.” If they pull triggers in certain places, this show could be amazing, one that is talked about for quite a while afterwards. But we know how they like to play cautious, and so there’s a chance that, at best, we just get some really good matches. Which is hardly anything to gripe about.
Wyatt Beougher: My interest level for this PPV is a 3.5: Because I cranked out a several thousand word show review this week, edited together a Fact or Fiction column and participated in two other ones, I’m just going to copy what I wrote for this week’s Fact or Fiction Wrestling, when I was posed with the same inquiry: “It’s crazy, because I know Payback is going to end the same way WrestleMania did, with Roman Reigns standing triumphant, but I’m still way more excited for this traditionally insignificant PPV/live special than I was for WWE’s flagship one. I mean, look at the card – you’ve got Enzo/Cass vs the Vaudevillains, with New Day likely at ringside and/or on commentary, the Owens/Zayn match we should have gotten at WrestleMania for the Intercontinental Championship, Cesaro taking on the Miz for the aforementioned IC title, a Charlotte vs Natalya match that should at least feature good wrestling even if Stevie Wonder can see the ending coming, Chris Jericho taking on Dean Ambrose in a match that should be as fun as it is unimportant, and WWE continuing to take on the fans by prolonging Roman Reigns’ main event push. And even though the end result of that mach is probably more telegraphed than the Women’s Championship match, there’s the intrigue not only of Guns and Gallows getting involved, but also of seeing just how creatively WWE will try to warp/mask Reigns’ crowd reaction. The icing on the cake is that Reigns and Styles will probably have a fun little match before it devolves into an overbooked mess, but c’est la vie, right?”
Rob Stewart: My interest level for this PPV is a 4, maybe 4.5: On paper, this show has incredible potential. Zayn vs Owens for pure match quality. Miz vs Cesaro for the juxtaposition of charisma vs skill. Enzo and Cas vs The Vaudevillains ushering in a new era of great teams to feud with New Day. Reigns and Styles as an intriguing mystery as to how Gallows and Anderson factor in. Even beyond that, Ambrose vs Jericho and Charlotte vs Natalya have promise. This is far-and-away the most pumped I’ve been for a lower-tier WWE pay-per-view (or live special or whatever they are more appropriately called these days) in as long as I can remember. Now it’s just on WWE to deliver.
Sean Garmer: My interest level for this PPV is a 4: The match lineup here is very intriguing and if the matches are all given time to shine or at least accomplish their goals, you could get a terrific show. The main event and the CONTROL of RAW decision could provide intrigue going into the next night and really start this whole “new era” deal. It could also not live up to expectations if WWE goes with the “play it safe” mode for a lot of these matches. Let’s hope for the former.
Well, that is all for this Roundtable everyone. Don’t forget to leave us your thoughts and predictions below in the comments and we will see you again later this month for WWE Extreme Rules 2016.
Remember to join 411 for our LIVE PPV coverage, starting at 7:00pm ET Sunday night.
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