wrestling / TV Reports
No Punches Pulled: Payback 2016 Review
Image Credit: WWE
Loading...No Punches Pulled is a hard-hitting, no B.S., call-it-right-down-the-middle, review column dedicated to delivering unbiased thoughts and criticisms from the world of WWE to readers everywhere. Just because professional wrestlers pull their punches, doesn’t mean we have to pull ours.
WWE Payback takes place from the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois in front of a sold-out crowd of 18,211.
Pre Show: Dolph Ziggler vs Baron Corbin
Atmosphere: This match getting the opener of the pre-show treatment didn’t help it but Baron Corbin got a decent amount of heat here. Now that he’s toned down on talking to the audience and more just panders to him, he’s coming across as more of a main roster talent. This match gets a decent boost from the Chicago faithful as they are into it for the most part, especially the sequence on the outside of the ring. The build up to this match lacked anything for people to really sink their teeth into, but not a bad reaction for Corbin’s first big match on the main roster.
Finish: Dolph Ziggler rolls up Baron Corbin to pick up the victory.
PJ: I wasn’t too into this match as I have found myself on the fence about Corbin throughout his young career and I certainly think Ziggler has seen better days both as a performer and a personality, but these two delivered a marginally positive performance. They stuck to basic tried and true heel-babyface dynamics and got their point across. I’m not a huge fan of the Ziggler cheap win even though it makes sense. I feel like there are too many cop-out, roll up wins nowadays. It makes sense to keep heat on a heel and protect a babyface but I am not a fan of it the other way around especially when the heel you’re protecting in this scenario has yet to pick up a big win.
Eric: The crowd was hyped for Ziggler and throughout the match seemed relatively invested. The pace was somewhat slow and the match was hard to get into at times. The story behind the match is easy to get invested in, but the issue is that it’s just so typical of Baron Corbin. The whole “I don’t like you, so I’m going to beat you up” eventually gets old and that is almost all of Corbin’s feuds; Apollo Crews, Austin Aries, Bull Dempsey, Samoa Joe, and now Dolph Ziggler all started that way. Eventually, he will catch bad heat like Bray Wyatt did early on when he kept starting every feud with the same promo and no reason for attacking anyone. WWE really needs to get back to starting personal feuds to really invest the fans in the outcome and draw real reactions. That being said, Corbin did look ok in this match and Ziggler had done a great job at putting him over during this short feud. The roll-up win for Ziggler is likely a sign of the feud continuing.
Rating: 1.5 Stars
Pre Show: Kalisto (c) vs Ryback for the WWE United States Championship
Atmosphere: Not much of a feel to this one. No one really cares about Ryback and not much was done to build the feud or make it feel like a fight. Since their WrestleMania match, the two only had one encounter in a singles match on an episode of Smackdown. The crowd cheered for Kalisto and booed Ryback, but overall the crowd was in and out of it.
Finish: Kalisto hits Salida del Sol for the win. WINNER and STILL WWE United States Champion, Kalisto.
PJ: This was a much better effort than their performance at WrestleMania, and it got much better as the match went on. Admittedly, there were some super sloppy portions of this match, particularly on that corkscrew plancha, and on Kalisto’s comeback. With these two particular performers, and the fact that this match was on the pre-show, I have to say that I preferred the frenetic pace that these cut with the mistakes, over a prodding, Ryback dominated match akin to the first pre-show match. I personally expected Kalisto to take the loss here, so unpredictability added to this match. Finish was slightly abrupt to me, but I think this was a good performance overall and an accurate representation of these two’s skill sets.
Eric: This was a fun match for me. Ryback imitating CM Punk’s entrance and saying “Its Feeding Time” was probably my favorite part of the show. The offense was fun to watch and Kalisto is extremely athletic. Just a slight botch on Kalisto’s dive out of the ring, but a great attempt by Ryback to catch Kalisto and save him from killing himself on the ring apron. My biggest issue with the match was the same as it was at WrestleMania; where is the story? There was literally nothing to be invested in other than your personal feelings for either superstar. Overall, the match was a little sloppy at times, but did its job as a pre show match to warm up the crowd. Sort of disappointing watching the US Title’s plummet from grace as in only less than 12 months its gone from sitting alongside the WWE World Heavyweight Championship on Seth Rollins’ shoulder, to the shoulder of one of the most decorated champions in WWE History in John Cena all the way to being defended in pre show matches at two consecutive PPVs, one of which was WrestleMania. The WWE needs to do something soon to attempt to re establish some sort of importance to the US Title.
Rating: 2.75 Stars
Enzo & Big Cass vs The Vaudevillians (Finals Match to Determine the #1 Contender for the WWE World Tag Team Championships)
Atmosphere: Crowd was hot for Enzo and Big Cass, especially during their promo before the other team came out. They weren’t so much into the Vaudevillians as the crowd was mostly quiet on their entrance. The match itself still felt important since both teams defeated some notable teams to make it to the finals (Zo and Cass beat the Dudley Boyz and The Vaudevillians beat the Usos) and the New Day themselves came out to announce the match. The Tag Titles have been hugely elevated since New Day scooped them up for the second time and its made the tag division feel important with the number of teams vying for a shot.
Finish: Simon Gotch attempted to throw Enzo Amore out of the ring, but Enzo hit the ropes awkwardly and hit his head on the mat, knocking himself out. No Contest. No word yet on who will face New Day for the Titles.
PJ: This was over before it started as Enzo Amore suffered a pretty brutal injury as his head snapped off the rope into the mat and he suffered a concussion. Thoughts out to the realest guy in the room, as hopefully he didn’t sustain a serious head injury. He was discharged from the hospital before the event ended, so that is a great sign. Real sketchy move by Simon Gotch to try and pick him up before it was confirmed the state of Enzo, and I also think they were too close to the ropes to perform the action they tried to. Just dump him over the top. I was curious to see if this would affect the risks the rest of the roster would take tonight.
Eric: I was excited going into this match. I really like both teams and I kept up with them throughout their tenures in NXT. Unfortunately that major botch occurred, injuring Enzo. From what I’ve heard he’s doing all right and it’s just a concussion. Hopefully that’s all it is and he can return to the ring soon. It will be interesting to see how WWE goes about figuring out the #1 contender now. Will they just hand it over to the Vaudevillians or will the Vaudevillians have to wrestle another match to face New Day?
Rating: No Rating
Sami Zayn vs Kevin Owens
Atmosphere: Pretty big fight-feel in this one. Throughout the night, WWE kept playing a video packages highlighting Zayn and Owens’ friendship mentioning Zayn being in Owens wedding and being at the hospital when Kev’s son Owen was born. How they met and grew up together. Then fast forwarding to the events in NXT on Owens’ first night where he attacked Zayn and eventually won the title from him and even to the Royal Rumble and the Ladder match at WrestleMania where the two had their fair share of encounters. As the match began, the two argued and jumped straight into a brawl, heading to the outside early on, really highlighting the bitterness these two now feel for one another.
Finish: Kevin Owens strikes with the Pop-Up Powerbomb for the three count.
PJ: Hell of a match here from these two. Again the crowd who were reacting as if these two were the main event elevated this. It goes without saying that these two gentlemen have chemistry, as they have grown up together and wrestled all over the world with one another. These two didn’t necessarily get the time that I envisioned they would, but to their credit, it didn’t feel short. Offense was the definition of crisp, the psychology carried over from the usual flawless video package perfectly, and the selling was believable. Zayn in particular sells certain moves like he’s in a real fight and really adds to the aura these two set out to deliver. I was pretty surprised by Owens winning clean here, but it’s a result coupled with the aftermath beat down, that opens the door for a rematch of some kind, and the after match promo helped transition into the next match. Great showing here from both men, and they were the right choice to pick this show up from flat on its face.
Eric: Really great match. Kevin Owens is an amazing heel and does an awesome job taunting Sami and getting heat. The match started off quickly and moved outside early, which makes sense in a feud as personal as this. These two were quick to start throwing each other into the barricade and stairs, using the outside as much as possible. The best part was that the crowd really got into it as well with dueling chants for both guys. Another great moment in this match where Owens kicked Zayn in the stomach and put his arms up like he just hit a field goal, taunting Zayn and accumulating more heat. The offense was very clean out of both guys with high-risk moves (Such as Owens hitting the Frog Splash) and insane counters. The only issue with the match was the commentating. Michael Cole is terrible. He called a normal Body Slam the Blue Thunder Bomb and then looked dumb when he had to call the Blue Thunder Bomb immediately after that when Sami hit the real move. I can understand making mistakes on occasion, but to screw up simple moves for a named signature is inexcusable. Other than that this was one of the best matches of the night as the quality and psychology was off the charts.
Rating: 4 Stars
The Miz (c) vs Cesaro for the WWE Intercontinental Championship
Atmosphere: A lot of excitement surrounding this feud with the return of Maryse to help Miz capture the IC Title as well as the return of the fan-favorite Cesaro with his new James Bond gimmick. Miz has been taking his Hollywood Movie Star attitude to the next level, making for some great promos and backstage segments. Once the match got underway, the crowd wasn’t as into it as one would expect, but this was made up for by the decision of Kevin Owens to remain on commentary for the match to torture Byron and Cole as well as provide his insight into each of the competing superstars.
Finish: Miz rolls up Cesaro off of the Sami Zayn-Kevin Owens brawl distraction. WINNER and STILL WWE Intercontinental Champion, The Miz.
PJ: I found myself enjoying this match significantly more than I thought I would. The Miz’ latest incarnation of his character has been his most satisfying since his title reign. I know that isn’t saying much but he hung with Cesaro here and deserves his just due. I feel like Cesaro’s style and high spots all fit in better with a babyface style of performing and even though on paper Miz doesn’t mesh with him, the fact that he had a pure heel to go with really highlighted his growth as a performer. Miz is a great heel because there is nothing redeeming about him. He borrows heavily from Jericho sometimes, but why not? I quite enjoy the part Maryse has played since her return and tonight was no exception. Minimalistic heel tactics. I appreciate heel managers interfering in television matches to harm results, but on Pay Per Views I like to see it play out differently. So I like how she got involved. Zayn and Owens causing the distraction and post match brawl sets up a logical fatal four way (weird), for Extreme Rules and as I mentioned earlier, the roll up made more sense here as Miz just won the belt, and Cesaro just returned, so both men needed a measure of protection, and I think this was about as perfect a finish as it could have been given the circumstances
Eric: Adding Maryse to Miz as a manager has turned out to be a great decision as she has really helped Miz become more relevant. His past few title reigns with the IC Title and the Tag Titles really hadn’t meant much and I don’t think anyone was really invested in either (maybe the tag titles, but more for Mizdow than Miz himself). Since Maryse has come back, Miz has been a little different and he feels more like a superstar and less like an annoying guy on my screen. His promos have been great, especially the one with the cucumbers and Maryse yelling at the staff about the blue M&Ms. His gimmick may actually be reaching its potential and I definitely feel like I pay more attention to Miz than I did before. Cesaro’s return was a surprise and so far he has been great. His new James Bond gimmick is oddly fitting and his detachable suits are actually pretty funny, but cool at the same time. It looks like Cesaro is in line for the push everyone has been clamoring for over the past years. Owens remaining out on commentary turned out to be great because, as stated earlier, the crowd was a little quiet. It looks like this feud will be continuing as well with the way it ended, so hopefully they both keep up the good work.
Rating: 3 Stars
Chris Jericho vs Dean Ambrose
Atmosphere: The crowd is more into this than I figured they would be because the build up has been so weak. I mean think about it; you have a bonafide top guy, feuding with a modern day legend and an all time top performer on the microphone, and they’re feuding over the cancelling of a talk show that was handed down by an authority figure. Seems so 90’s to us. These two could’ve used something more personal to take it over the edge. The crowd stuck with this match even though at times it appeared lethargic. Jericho really was the North Star for this match here focusing on true north, and generating proper heat without overwhelming the match and the crowd really rallied behind Ambrose. They seemed surprised Ambrose got a clean win here, and overall again Chicago provided a big fight boost for a match with not much momentum
Finish: Dean Ambrose lands Dirty Deeds to secure the victory.
PJ: I see some people saying this match was better than the Styles vs Jericho installments and I have to wholeheartedly disagree. While going into it, I thought maybe there would be more chemistry here, there wasn’t. It was a good match that I (maybe wrongly) expected to be great but there were a lot of awkward blips on the radar here including the finish being timed weirdly, which proved too much to overcome. To me, this match had no heat going in and it is a testament to the performers that they got the mileage necessary out of the build up to put in a good match here. I just think when you have two performers as good as these guys, and a history to draw off of dating back to when Jericho was the mystery partner for Ambrose and Reigns, there are better ways to tell a story than the contrived route they took. That being said this match was still more than solid. A good addition to a card, which has steadily gone up since sputtering out of the gate with the horrific Amore injury.
Eric: I have to say I love crybaby Jericho. Listening to him call everyone “Stupid idiots” is great and watching him throw stuff around the arena when things don’t go his way is even better. Both guys looked good in this match and seeing Ambrose come out on top was a nice breath of fresh air after watching him get crushed by Lesnar and H. Jericho’s in ring heelwork was beautiful with him running around the ring to escape Ambrose and hugging the ref for protection. Even the finishing sequence was cool as it saw Ambrose fight to hook in Dirty Deeds. Hopefully we see a continuation of this feud as this, (as well as a couple other feuds on this card) will provide great match quality to see us through the slow months up to SummerSlam.
Rating: 3.25 Stars
Charlotte (c) vs Natalya for the WWE Women’s Championship
Atmosphere: The crowd was happy to see Bret. Good for him, his first WWE appearance since beating cancer. Always good to see the Hitman. It didn’t take long for the “We want Sasha” chants to start however as for a while here it looked the girls were going to lose the audience. To their credit though they went through enough cool sequences where they gained most of the crowd back. They were particularly hot for the submission sequences as Nattie in the figure four got a good rallying cry going for her. The crowd seemed as confused as we were by the finish but came back and popped for the dueling sharpshooters from Natalya and her uncle on the Flair clan.
Finish: A replica of The Montreal Screw Job where Charlotte put Natalya in the Sharpshooter and the ref called for the bell without a submission from Natalya. WINNER and STILL WWE Women’s Champion, Charlotte.
PJ: I really do not want to want to overshadow what these ladies tried to do by bashing the booking decisions, but in order to be true to myself as a reviewer, and to look at things critically I’m probably going to have to. But first let me try to lay out some positives. Charlottes athletic ability was on full display here as that Moonsault was amazing and a lot of her taunting is finally feeling genuine and I think Natalya provided good foil for her. These two have had lights out matches dating back to 2014 and I think this was on it’s way to being a 3 star or above effort had the booking not taken the wheels out from under them. I was so happy Flair wasn’t being a factor and that they were letting these two wrestle as I thought the angle of Bret being there to neutralize as opposed to also interfering was going towards a solid result. They then decide to do the only thing more stupid than having Flair interfere for a 392nd consecutive time, and they rehash the Montreal Screwjob finish nearly 19 years later, with no rhyme, reason, or explanation. Literally none. I detest referee angles so I really hope they don’t go with an angle where Charles Robinson was dirty or paid off. And don’t give me the Lil Naitch explanation, as that was so long ago and so insignificant that I’d wager 90% of the audience wouldn’t get it. The finish defeated the purpose of the match, and they tried to put frosting on a shit cake with the double sharpshooters. We’re not letting it slide though. Yet another piece of shit booking to undermine the WOMEN’s revolution. Terrible. I’m willing to see where it goes, but I’m also entitled to have zero faith in it either.
Eric: To be honest, I was very into this match until the end. Lots of pops throughout the arena early on for Flair and Brett and the match itself was feeding off of that. The offense in this one also looked good and the psychology was great with the two working limbs for their respective submissions. Unfortunately as the match went on, the crowd was in and out. The big fault of this match was the ending. It was just plain dumb. To pull a modern day Montreal Screw Job for completely no reason is devoid of logic. The original screw job occurred due to Brett leaving the company (not to mention it involved Shawn Michaels, Vince McMahon and Bret Hart, and had nothing to do with Ric Flair) while this one had no reason to occur. Charlotte threw Natalya in the Sharpshooter and the ref just called for the bell. No explanation, no reasoning, no nothing. This severely impacted the rating for me as it’s going to take a hell of a lot explaining on Raw to get this to make any real sense.
Rating: 2 Stars
Segment: Vince decides who gets control of Raw
Thoughts: This sucked. It felt like a Raw opener, and the crowd promptly took a shit on it with the CM Punk chants which really didn’t phase Vince much but I appreciate the sentiment. After dragging on far too long, he then says both Shane and Stephanie have control. What a suck ass cop out. This feels like “We don’t really have the balls to split the brands, so here’s this.” Not that I’d be in favor of a brand split, but that would have been about the only thing that would have warranted a pay per view slot for this segment. Waste of time that made me feel like it was a Monday at 8:03 instead of a Pay-Per View before the main event.
Roman Reigns (c) vs AJ Styles for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship
Atmosphere: Crowd is heavily into this, which is what set John Cena’s main event spot into stone, so we fear that by booing Reigns so heavily they are only playing into what WWE wants. That kind of reaction blows no reaction out of the water. That being said, AJ was the beneficiary of all the boos as the crowd was on his side from the second the music hit. As a theme of the night I think the crowd kicked this up a notch as they stuck with it through all of the overbooking. A lot of that credit goes to the performers though. Great mix of psychology and high spots that kept the crowd right where they wanted them. The boos for Reigns didn’t feel awkward this time around as they did against HHH. Him fighting a real babyface just made it seem like they preferred AJ. This match had main event hype, a main event feel, and to WWE’s credit SOME degree of unpredictability even though the odds Reigns was going to lose that quickly into his Reign were slim to none.
Finish: Roman Reigns dodges the Phenomenal Forearm and hits the Spear for the win. WINNER and STILL WWE World Heavyweight Champion, Roman Reigns.
PJ: I loved this match. AJ really rose to the occasion as a believable challenger to Reign’s title. He must have elevated himself in the eyes of the higher ups because even I didn’t think he was capable of this kind of match with Reigns. It was very stiff at times, which I felt it needed. Reigns’ best matches have always been on the rigid side, and this was no exception. It was definitely overbooked what with the two restarts and the two sets of interference. With all the McMahon hoopla I thought it was the year 2000 for Christ sake. But that being said it was an interesting way to kick off the new duel era of Raw by directly trying to play one-upsmanship on the very next match. I think a lot of people will be disappointed that Gallows and Anderson interfered on AJ’s behalf even though their connection hasn’t quite been explained fully. Those who were hoping to see them turn on AJ, or have Finn debut, have to realize the WWE isn’t ready to blow their load on that so soon. Slow burn is good. They definitely did a good job suspending disbelief as even though the prospect of Reigns losing so soon into his reign was basically non-existent. Once that Boot of Doom was hit, the doubt started to creep in. I loved this match. This match needs to detract slightly for the overbooking, but it also needs to be realized that certain measures need to be taken to protect Roman Reigins as a main event performer, and to hide it well, deserves merit.
Eric: A little overbooked for me. The psychology was hurt in this match with the restarts as the reasons they had to occur could have been easily avoided (or twisted to make sense) had a little thought been put in. The whole count-out thing could have been easily avoided had AJ just rolled in and then back out of the ring to reset the count as everyone else does in that situation. Regarding the low blow spot, I’m not sure if that has ever happened before in that manner. No to mention the spot looked bad when Reigns is booked as the heel and here he is upset the match ended like that with him retaining. They way it should have gone down is to have Reigns pissed that Gallows and Anderson interfered and him just hit Styles with a chair deliberately causing the DQ. Then there is a real reason to restart the match with no DQ. Then they could bring the Usos out to equalize, as now with the no DQ stipulation, there is nothing stopping Gallows and Anderson from coming back in. It also would have finally helped Reigns make the complete heel turn since he is already half way there. Its clear to see they did the double restart to show Stephanie and Shane working together, but this could have also been depicted after the hypothetical chair shot if the two came out together and said something along the lines of, “After a short discussion we’ve decided blah blah blah…” Would have made more sense and gotten the point across. Not to mention the scene after the match when they agreed on the rematch and stipulation accomplished the same thing. In theory, you didn’t even need the restarts to show them working together with that scene.
Rating: 4 Stars
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