Kevin’s WWE Payback 2020 Review

WWE Payback

August 30th, 2020 | Amway Center in Orlando, Florida

Okay, so I’ll preface this review by saying that I’ve had a few, so we’ll see how this goes.

The IIconics vs. The Riott Squad

I really enjoy all four women so I was happy for his Kickoff match. The new matching gear for Liv and Ruby looked fantastic. The main idea here was that The IIconics were a real team but Ruby and Liv had issues. Ruby blind tagged in and even teased another tag before pulling it back. That second part felt out of character for her. Those decisions put her in trouble as she got isolated. I liked the twist on the hot tag being cut off in that Liv stopped Billie from doing it, only to get hit by Peyton from behind. Then, The Iiconics blamed it on Ruby, which pissed off Liv. Although she struggled with it, Liv decided to trust Ruby and make the tag, coming in hot. She did slip on one move off the middle rope. Eventually, a combo capped by the Riott Kick put The IIconics down in 9:02. It had a few sloppy moments and I’m probably the high man on this but I liked the story they told and some of the late drama. [***]

Time for the main show!

WWE United States Championship: Apollo Crews [c] vs. Bobby Lashley

THE HURT BUSINESS, BABY! While MVP has been a highlight of 2020 for Raw, this is what the SummerSlam match should’ve been. Crews was put on the shelf by Lashley in the past, so it made sense that he would get thrown around to start this one. Whenever Crews would get going, there was MVP and Shelton Benjamin to get in his way and put him back on his heels. Once Crews started getting offense in, this became a better match as they traded stuff. Lashley survived a frog splash and hit a huge spinebuster before applying the Full Lashley to win the title in 9:23. Quality match that built to something good. It started a bit slow and kind of ended just as it was seemingly on the road to becoming really strong. [***¼]

Big E vs. Sheamus

BIG MEATY MEN SLAPPING MEAT. I’m all for a Big E push. Give me Big E vs. Roman Reigns at WrestleMania. I do think it’s odd how they’ve acted like Big E is an incompetent singles wrestler at times. Sheamus held serve for most of this and, similar to Lashley, worked things at a methodical pace. Sheamus put the target on his leg and Big E had to bust out his apron spear to really get things going. Big E hit the Big Ending to win in 12:19. It was meant to make him seem resilient but it was too one-sided and kind of dull at points. These two should probably just be throwing bombs at each other given their sides. [**¾]

King Corbin vs. Matt Riddle

Let’s go BIG BANTER! We don’t support Matt Riddle around these parts. Corbin jumped Riddle during his entrance to get the upper hand. I just couldn’t get into this match. Corbin’s offense was pretty dull and nothing about Riddle’s comeback attempts drew me in. He rallied, hit the Bro to Sleep, and won with the Floating Bro in 10:51. Yeah, this wasn’t good. Corbin attacked him backstage, so this will continue and nobody will continue to care [*¼]

WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship: Bayley and Sasha Banks [c] vs. Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler

Three of the best women on the roster and Nia Jax. Shayna’s exchanges with Sasha were a treat to watch. This mostly unfolded the way you’d expect. Shayna and Nia had some issues co-existing while Bayley and Sasha were a well-oiled machine. However, they ultimately got flipped as this proceeded. The challengers started getting on the same page a bit and the champions were rattled. While the action itself was good, this was put over the top by the fantastic finish. Shayna trapped both Sasha and Bayley in simultaneous submissions. Not only did they look great but Shayna also used Sasha’s arm to choke out Bayley, scoring the titles after 10:32. That was a hell of a match and Shayna looked incredible, while it also furthered the Sasha/Bayley angle. [***½]

Keith Lee vs. Randy Orton

With time and a motivated Randy Orton, this could be special. Orton tested Lee early with chops and then got the advantage when Lee’s shoulder was driven into the ring post. That put Orton in the driver’s seat and it seemed like we were gearing up for a lengthy battle with Orton using tons of his usual offense. After the rope hung DDT, Orton wanted the RKO. However, Lee blocked and hit the Spirit Bomb to score a huge win in a mere 6:38. That wasn’t a great match but it more than did what it needed to. Lee beat a top star in less than ten minutes. [**¾]

Dominik Mysterio and Rey Mysterio vs. Murphy and Seth Rollins

Dominik more than proved himself at SummerSlam. Put him in there with Seth, his dad, and Murphy and you’ve got a recipe for success. This was a huge step up from the match on Raw. The match was flat out a lot of fun because you put good people in the ring with a young guy who is clearly doing quite well for himself. Rey moved like it was the late ‘90s and his son continued to shine. Seth is so good in this role and Murphy is great whenever given the opportunity. This featured a ton of great action and was just what I want from a tag match. Dominik used the frog splash to beat Murphy in 15:57. Honestly, I enjoy the Street Profits but find a way to give Rey and Dominik the titles and reap the benefits. The match of the night. [***¾]

WWE Universal Championship: Bray Wyatt [c] vs. Braun Strowman vs. Roman Reigns

All night they had been building up the idea that Roman Reigns didn’t sign the contract. So, when this started, it was just Braun vs. Bray. That’s not interesting to me. They had a goofy No Holds Barred match complete with Bray bringing out the oversized mallet. After a superplex broke the ring (why don’t any other top rope moves have that effect?), Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman appeared. Roman signed the contract (why doesn’t everyone wait until this moment to do so?) and joined the fray. Although Braun and Bray kicked out of stuff at first, a Spear to Braun ended this after 12:27. The only good wrestler in the match has the gold. All is right with the world. This was lame until the BIG DOG saved it. [**½]

6.0

The final score: review Average

The 411

It was a step down from SummerSlam. It moved along nicely and ending the show at 9:30 will never be a bad thing. Quality wrestling though nothing that overly stands out other than Roman’s win, Shayna being a badass, and Dominik being rad.