WWE Payback: General Discussion & Aftermath Thread

[Mitch Henessey]

I think it's safe to say nothing will happen at Payback now. If Triple H had plans of wrestling, something would've been made official on this past Monday's Raw. Love or hate him, Triple H is still one of those guys, who can create a significant amount of buzz, if he decides to step in the ring. So if WWE wanted to boost some more interest in Payback, we would've heard something on Monday, because keeping it a secret, or surprising everyone on the night of the show wouldn't make sense at all.

But for me, this feud with Triple H and Axel has been a chore to sit through. First, we're lead to believe this feud might turn into some major storyline after Triple H collapsed all over the place on Raw a few weeks ago. Then, we see this ridiculous and lame-assed fiasco between Triple H and Vince to kick off Raw, where Axel is awarded a series of meaningless victories. And on top of all that, we had to sit through Stephanie's horrendous acting in each backstage segment. A part of me hopes there's more to this storyline than Triple H and Vince slapping each other on the backs during an awkward group hug. The other part of me wants this to be over, now.

 

[Dagger Dias]

I thought this was a rather good PPV event. I was not sure what to expect going into WWE Payback, but ended up being pleasantly surprised. We got a title match for every championship and were treated to a CM Punk VS Chris Jericho non-title match. It felt like a Night of Champions card. Very well put together show in my opinion. Could have been a bit better in some areas, but it's definitely one of the better efforts the federation has put into a less important PPV in a rather long time.

The opener for the Intercontinental Championship was good and set the pace for the rest of the show. Axel winning make sense. The finish was pretty well done and something I never would have expected. In all the years I've watched wrestling I can't recall ever seeing anything like that before, and being a fan of 20+ years that is saying a lot. I'm glad that AJ is the Divas Champion. She deserves it. Now the question is if she will get a decent reign and the chance to take her rightful place as the future of the division.... I was disappointed by Kane VS Ambrose, it had the potential to be much better and it was lazily booked. At least Dean retained.

Alberto Del Rio VS Dolph Ziggler had an interesting finish. I'm wondering where exactly they are going with this, I support Del Rio being World Heavyweight Champion again although I'm not in the least bit interested in seeing a face Dolph. I'll give it a chance and see what happens. Punk VS Jericho was the MATCH OF THE NIGHT. Wow. What a match. That was a match of the year candidate, it was worth buying the show just to see that. The Shield VS Team RK-No was also rather good. Daniel Bryan did an amazing job and clearly deserves to be the next in line for a title shot. Glad The Shield retained. Cena VS Ryback was also good. I like 3 Stages of Hell matches and this was no different. The spot at the end with the top of the ambulance was not quite what I was expecting, and Cena retains to close the show.

Overall I give it a thumbs up. If this is what we are in for in the future then I do not mind this being added to the PPV lineup on a more permanent basis. If they can come up with a larger variety on the 3 Stages of Hell stipulations, then perhaps this can become that match type's PPV brand home. They really didn't do anything to separate it from other PPV brands though. That was my biggest issue with this show. This could just as easily have been an Over The Limit or even Night of Champions (although the latter is a compliment to this show) card. They need to differentiate PPV brands more concerning the ones that lack an assigned gimmick or do not have the legendary status of the Big 4.

DAGGER'S REVIEW
B+

 

[Fire Marshall Bill]

This actually seemed like it turned out to be a good PPV. Easily my biggest interest coming out of it is where they are going to take the ADR/DZ feud. It almost seems like they used Chicago's smarkiness against them to create a double turn. We will likely know for sure after tonight's Raw.

Everything else was pretty predictable, though that doesn't mean it's bad. Sounds to me like most matches were pretty good, even the Diva's match.

I'm also curious to see who Ryback and Cena are moving on to now. Reports are a possible Cena/DB feud which would be entertaining. Though it's almost a vehicle for Cena to get booed even more now, as DB is the most popular face on the roster right now.

I wonder if they'll have Ryback win MITB. He's not the chicken shit heel type, so I'm not sure that would fit his character.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

WWE Payback - June 16, 2013

1. Wade Barrett vs. The Miz vs. Curtis Axel for the WWE Intercontinental Championship - I didn't have high hopes for this match but it was much, much better than I expected. The match had a good overall pace and all three men worked their asses off to deliver good action and to tell a good story. The hot Chicago crowd definitely didn't hurt things and, frankly, I figured they would have torn into Miz & Axel mercilessly. I thought the ending of the match was really clever. Miz finally succeeds in putting Barrett in the Figure Four and Axel manages to slink back into the ring. He covers Barrett and Barrett is unable to get his shoulders up, nor is he able to use his legs to generate momentum for a kick out because they're all locked up. Simultaneously, Miz has the Figure Four applied and is therefore unable to get out of the move in time to break up the count. Curtis Axel scores the win about the 11 minute mark to become the new WWE Intercontinental Champion. Even though Axel is a heel, it was sort of a feel good moment when you take into account that he gave his father a little salute and that he won the title in which his father is arguably the greatest champion in its history on Father's Day. ***

2. Kaitlyn vs. AJ Lee for the WWE Divas Championship - This was a major surprise on several fronts. The biggest surprise I've seen on a ppv in a while because, basically, WWE gave these gals 10 minutes and told them to go out there and wrestle. The gals did that and delivered the best women's match we've seen in WWE in quite some time. I'm not saying it was the greatest women's match ever or anything, but it was a great effort from these Divas that had physical action and told a really good story. It was also a good mix of AJ's cunning & quickness against Kaitlyn's superior strength. As I alluded to, it was also the most physical women's match I've seen in WWE in a while. About mid-way through the match, Kaitlyn is locked in the Black Widow after AJ countered her attempt at a side slam. I figured that was it but Kaitlyn powered out of it. They went at it for a bit longer until Kaitlyn manages to hit the spear. Rather than go for the pin immediately, she inflicts some more damage but it ultimately gives AJ time to recover. The ending comes about with Kaitlyn charging into the corner, with AJ dodging out of the way. She manages to slap on the Black Widow again and, try as she might, Kaitlyn wasn't able to power out of it this time and was forced to tap at the 10 minute mark. AJ Lee is the new WWE Divas Champion. The crowd was into the match and the ladies worked hard. The Chicago crowd was pretty rough on Kaitlyn with the "you tapped out" chants while she was "crying", but that's Chicago for you. ***

3. Dean Ambrose vs. Kane for the WWE United States Championship - I wasn't blown away by this match, but I did think it was a bit better than the one they had on Raw. The pace seemed too slow at times, but I do give them credit. They did follow to really good, hot matches that came off much better than expected. Some will gripe about the ending, which I agree wasn't the best in the world. Ambrose DDT's Kane on the outside, resulting in Kane being counted out at the 11 minute mark. I'm guessing they're wanting to do at least one more match with these two. At least Ambrose retained and he did retain in a clean manner. **

4. Dolph Ziggler vs. Alberto Del Rio for the World Heavyweight Championship - This was a great match that featured what looks to be a double change with Del Rio going heel once again and Ziggler going babyface. Initially, I wasn't all that crazy about the ending but it makes sense considering Ziggler was out genuinely injured with a concussion. WWE looks to be using this to make Ziggler a sympathetic, gutsy underdog babyface. The match itself, as I said, was really good with a lot of great action, as we've come to expect from most Ziggler matches. I'll ultimately have to see where WWE goes with Ziggler from here but I'm genuinely curious. The ending was something of a surprise as I figured most people expected Ziggler to retain. During the match, Ziggler sells as if he's still having complications from the concussion he suffered, which gives him an out and makes him look sympathetic. Del Rio delivers the super kick that he generally uses to score the clean win at the 14 minute mark. Del Rio played to the Chicago crowd last night and they were booing the shit out of the guy. I don't think I've ever seen Del Rio get that much heat. The live crowd was also really behind Ziggler, especially after he lost. A strong match with a surprise ending. It's a shame to see Ziggler's 2nd run come to nothing as a whole but the legitimate severity of a concussion threw a monkeywrench into things and I'm guessing WWE saw an opportunity to use the angle to give Ziggler a fresh start. ***1/4

5. CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho - This was definitely the match of the night and what had to be, in my opinion, a genuine match of the year candidate. For this match, I didn't really know what to expect. Part of me wondered if WWE would pull something in which Punk didn't show up, if things between Punk & Heyman would break down, if Punk would job out to Jericho, etc. The match also told a great story in which it felt as if Punk sort of morphed over the course of the match. Initially, Punk seemed to be kinda laid back, I suppose, and, as a result, it made me wonder if the story was going to be that Punk simply didn't want to come back and was going to throw the match in order to stick it to Paul Heyman. Then it sort of morphed into me wondering if Heyman or Punk was going to turn on each other. Then it became if Punk was selling or genuinely experiencing a little ring rust before ultimately just boiling down to a great battle between two guys on the same level. There were several great near falls from Jericho that were able to convince me that Punk might actually lose here. The closing moments of the match were extremely well done with Punk really getting fired up and just unloading on Jericho with one shot after another and a couple of GTSs along the way. Punk scores the win at the 22 minute mark. Great work from both men with ultimately the right ending. As with the results of every other match on this card so far, it'll be extremely interesting to see what the follow up for both men happens to be. ****1/2

6. Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns vs. Daniel Bryan & Randy Orton for the WWE Tag Team Championship - This match had a difficult task in following Punk vs. Jericho. Overall, however, I thought it was another strong match on what'd been a strong card altogether. The live crowd was very much behind Daniel Bryan and his reaction was on similar lines with the one CM Punk received. Again, Bryan was able to shine when given the opportunity. Rollins & Reigns continue to function perfectly as heel team with Rollins' athleticism & Reigns' power. The ending to the match worked as it was a subtle way of increasing the tension between Orton & Bryan without either of them going heel. Late in the match, they nearly collide with each other and Orton pushes Bryan away in which he winds up eating a spear. Orton hits Reigns with an RKO just before Rollins knocks Orton outside. Rollins then uses his boot to drive Bryan's face & head into the mat, kinda like a cross between a Curb Stomp and a Fameasser. Rollins scores the pin around the 12.5 minute mark, allowing himself & Reigns to retain the titles. Again, it'll be interesting to see what the follow up here is. ***

7. John Cena vs. Ryback in a Three Stages of Hell match for the WWE Championship - As with several other matches on the card, I enjoyed this one a lot more than I expected. I've read some writers on a couple of sites sort of panning the use of the Ambulance match aspect of the gimmick, which doesn't make sense to me. In a gimmick match, you're supposed to use the actual gimmicks to help tell the story. The Lumberjack stage was fairly quick but enjoyable. Cena sorta screwed up at one point as he tried for a suicide dive. I was surprised to see Ryback score the first fall, cleanly at that. He powers out of the STF and delivers Shellshocked to win the first fall at the 7.5 minute mark. Then came the Tables stage, which got pretty physical with the use of chairs, steps and various high impact moves. Given Cena's lousy history in being put through tables, this is the one we expected him to lose. Ryback goes for Shellshocked again, this time through a table, but Cena is able to slip out and manages to AA Ryback through the table. He tried earlier but Ryback was able to push the table out of the way. Cena wins the second stage a little past the 16 minute mark. The Ambulance stage of the match was also pretty hard hitting & physical. They tore the shit outta the poor Ambulance. It was just sitting there minding its own business. The ending ultimately comes with Cena AAing Ryback through the top of the Ambulance for the win at the 25 minute mark. Cena scored a couple of wins in the more gimmicky aspect of the match but it was surprising to see that Ryback scored a clean pinfall to win the first stage. I think that helped protect Ryback to some degree as Cena has simply not yet pinned Ryback. ***1/2

Final Thoughts - This was, in my opinion, the best ppv of the year thus far. The worse match on the card was Ambrose vs. Kane and it wasn't a downright stinker. It wasn't great, but I've seen FAR worse. When it comes down to the outcome of the matches, there weren't too many surprises but what was surprising was the high quality in them. Barrett vs. Miz vs. Axel was a really good, energy paced match that had the right ending with Axel scoring the win. Kaitlyn vs. AJ was damn sure a surprise given that WWE actually let them have a match, and a damn good one at that. AJ scored a clean win and is the new Divas Champion, which was the right call. As I said, Ambrose vs. Kane wasn't great but it was okay and Ambrose did retain cleanly. Ziggler vs. Del Rio was a great effort and had a surprising double turn, at least that's how it's looking. Ziggler dropped the title, which was also something of a surprise, but this is an opportunity for WWE to give Ziggler a fresh start as a babyface given how suffering a concussion screwed things up for this title run. Punk vs. Jericho was the match of the night and an overall fantastic effort from both men. The tag title match was also a strong effort with Rollins & Reigns retaining and more subtle building of the frustrations between Orton & Bryan. Cena vs. Ryback was also better than expected and delivered another strong, physical match from both men. Generally speaking, I saw little to nothing to complain about on this show. The Chicago crowd was red hot and 6 of the 7 matches on the main card delivered in a great way.

Grade: A-

 

[Ellye]

Surprisingly good PPV, I wasn't expecting much from the card and the storylines.
Even the divas match was good! I would be happy if every diva match had that standard.

Curious to see where ADR vs Ziggler will head to. Double turns are a rare thing, and this setup was really well done.
I'm also curious to what will become of Wade Barrett and Miz. Hopefully they might come out of midcard limbo sometime soon.

 

[LoudClearVoice]

Surprisingly good PPV, I wasn't expecting much from the card and the storylines.
Even the divas match was good! I would be happy if every diva match had that standard.

Curious to see where ADR vs Ziggler will head to. Double turns are a rare thing, and this setup was really well done.
I'm also curious to what will become of Wade Barrett and Miz. Hopefully they might come out of midcard limbo sometime soon.

I'm wondering about ADR-Ziggler too... Is this feud over and does Ziggler need more time off or are we continuing this fued? If Ziggler is completely healthy, then why the title change, simply to do the double turn? Seems dumb to kill Ziggler's title run, just to turn both guys but I guess we'll see.

As for Barrett and Miz, I wonder if one or both will still feud with Axel or if they were just fillers for Axel to get the belt. I'd like to see a Miz-Axel feud but I dunno what WWE is doing with the character right now.

 

[LSN80]

LSN's Hits and Misses for WWE Payback, June 16, 2013. ​

Payback Hits:​

CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho: This is the match I was expecting the double turn in, but it was better off that we got just a straight up wrestling match between the two. Between their two PPV matches last year and their Raw match this year, they're as money as it gets when it comes a wrestling match, discluding Punk/Cena and Punk/Bryan, perhaps. I truly believed Jericho would pull out the win here, and that would lose to Punk's face turn, with Heyman signing him to a match before he wanted to come back. In any case, Jericho got little response at his entrance, as if wrestthe crowd didn't want to boo him, but Punk's entrance almost rivaled that of MITB 2011. Punk showed no signs of ring-rust, and there were several believable near-falls I thought could be the ending. As for the ending, we got three unique ones(more on this later) in one night. The GTS into the ring-post and then Jericho rebounding into a second GTS was awesome. Not quite on par with Punk and Undertaker, but an excellent match between two guys who seem to genuinely like wrestling one another. ****

Alberto Del Rio vs. Dolph Ziggler: I was against the idea of a definitive win for Dolph Ziggler, who I believed 100% would retain here. There had been zero build between the two men. Well, we got our build, angle, and double turn within the same match, and the feud between the two has seemingly just begun. Ziggler showed great heart in kicking out over and over of shots to the head and refusing a rep-stoppage, and while it came across as a heel turn, what's wrong with a competitor(forget heel or face), targeting his opponent's weakness, as Del Rio did? The promo afterwards confirmed a heel turn to the arrogant Del Rio, but I have a problem with going after an opponent's weakness being a "heel turn". The psychology here was good and this was an angle more then a match, but a good match nonetheless with great storytelling. ***.

John Cena vs. Ryback: I've seen arguments that this was the wrong match to close the PPV, as the hometown boy should have, but Cena, without the WWE Championship, closed shows when Punk was WWE Champion. Now Cena is WWE Champion, so to argue that your biggest star with your biggest title not closing the show is a silly argument. As for the match, it was good. Ryback stepped up and looked like a monster, and reversing the AA into shell-shock was impressive. The first fall didn't need a lumberjack match, really. In the same vein, Cena reversing Shell Shock into the AA was a nice reversal of fortunes on Ryback, albeit expected since it was apparent we were going to the Ambulance Match. Ryback looked impressive in the brawl near the ambulance as well, and was protected greatly by the ending. Innovative as well, with Ryback going through the Ambulance, and the right man went over. Ryback simply isn't ready to be WWE Champion, and yet was protected by still yet to have been pinned by Cena, and the 'fluke' ending. ***1/4

Curtis Axel vs. Wade Barrett vs. The Miz: An excellent choice to open the show. I was surprised at the rapid-fire, fast paced nature of this match, as none of these men wrestle that style. Still, it made for an exciting match, and it went against the grain of the triple threat tradition of two men battling while the other sells, as the majority of the match was all three men in the ring. The ending was one I've never seen before, and I loved it, as it showed Paul Heyman's influence on Axel, using smarts to win a match by pinning Barrett before he could submit. An excellent opener, and a nice tribute to Curt Hennig, even if Axel is a heel. ***

The Shield vs. Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton: I went into this match thinking one of two things: Either an Orton heel turn, or Orton and Bryan did what Team Hell No never did, which was beat the Shield for the tag titles. Neither happened, per se, but it seems a slow burn for an RK-Heel turn, as he sacrificed Bryan for his own sake, ultimately costing them the match. This was well-wrestled and fast paced, an enjoyable match with the right outcome, as it's simply too soon for the titles to come off the Shield. **3/4.

Kaitlyn vs. AJ: Again, the absolute correct outcome. Kaitlyn gets the out that she let "emotion" get the best of her, choosing not to pin AJ when she had her beaten, taunting her with a kiss instead. Using the Black Widow as the finish was the right call as well, as it's been AJ's finisher, and having Kaitlyn power out twice would have rendered it useless in the future. Finally, a champion with a character, and a storyline in the Diva's division. **1/2.

Overall Show: WWE was on fire last night. Correct finishes, innovative ones, and quality matches with a surprise double turn. Punk vs. Jericho was the highlight of the show, but it wasn't the only thing that was memorable. Ryback going through the roof of the ambulance was a great visual, the double turn between Del Rio and Ziggler was a nice surprise, as Ziggler comes across sympathetic and tough as nails. The opener was a nice, fast-paced surprise, and if you're pushing Axel, go all the way and give him a title, hopefully making it relevant the way Ambrose has the U.S. title. The Divas Title match was the women going hard and well for ten minutes, with a nice finish that established a storyline and put the title on the Diva with a character, although Kaitlyn is developing one. The tag title match was a nice fast-paced match, and furthered what could possibly be an Orton heel turn, and certainly continued to push an issue and likely a big match between Bryan and Orton coming, with the right result as well. This was a good show with no filler and good wrestling from top to bottom. Nothing truly outstanding, with Jericho vs. Punk coming closest, but mostly nothing terrible either. A-

Payback Misses:​

Kane vs. Dean Ambrose: Like Monday, these two simply didn't click in the ring. The match never got out of first gear, and while Ambrose retaining was the proper move, Kane needs no protection. He's a veteran there to put others over, and not by countout. Between the in-ring action, which was slow and plodding, and the finish, this was an utter miss. *1/2.

HHH, Curtis Axel, and Vince McMahon: A minor thing, as Curtis Axel winning the IC title is a much bigger deal then any problem this can create, but this simply pushed Axel and his victory into the periphery. McMahon family drama is an unnecessary thing at all in 2013, and simply not right after Axel won the IC title, and is celebrating. A bad angle with worse timing.

 

[MCMG]

It was an enjoyable show. The triple threat, Divas Championship and The Three Stages of Hell were all good matches. AJ/Kaitylin surprised me with the quality of match and it was great. I loved the ending to Cena/Ryabck and the match itself had exactly what it needed - various spots.

Punk/Jericho was slightly disappointing. I was expecting a classic but it wasn't at that level - perhaps Punk was rusty, I'm not sure. The tag-team match was solid, Kane/Ambrose was poor. For two guys with such quality it should have been much better.

Ziggler losing the belt was a shock and the match itself was decent. I liked how they somewhat foreshadowed a Del Rio heel turn.

The highlight of the show was undoubtedly the news that RVD is returning.

 

[The Eighties]

Payback was a good PPV that was really well booked, providing good in-ring action and actual logical storyline development.

The opener was much better than I expected, plenty of action and pace, Curtis Axel was the most over of the 3 (by default I think) and rightfully went over. He's a very good worker already and they can build the IC belt on him from here.

AJ vs Kaitlyn, I'll take that over the Ultimate X nonsense at Slammiversary. Proper story that was well worked by both women, AJ was on all night between her heel work here and her tears for Ziggler. Kaityln losing because she was too emotional played off the build up well and AJ's Black Widow is a great finisher.

Ambrose vs Kane was the poorest match of the night, they just do not click at all. Ambrose tried to do Oldschool and also did Taker's throat cut thing, clearly Taker is going to work The Shield in some form at Summerslam, the count-out finish worked well enough..

Dolph vs Del Rio surprised me in a good way. I expected the standard good match with Dolph cheating to win, instead WWE pulled a double turn which is the smart move as Del Rio has never been over as a face and the crowd want to cheer Dolph. AJ's tears and the crowd chants really sold Dolph's turn. They are taking his real concussion and using it as a storyline the same way they did with HBK in 1995.

Punk vs Jericho was a good match and the pop for Punk was insane as was the continuous thundering chants throughout. He basically worked as a face and they dropped the first seed of the full turn when Heyman got on the apron as Punk countered Jericho, Punk stopped and said "What are you doing Paul?" and almost lost to a roll up. Punk looked rusty at first but the match built up well to the finish. Their best match is still the one from Raw just before this years Elimination Chamber though.

The tag title match was good as you'd expect, Bryan was crazy over and thankfully no heel turn. The way they did it means Orton can turn on Bryan tonight or they'll feud as bickering faces and have a match at MITB.

The 3 Stages of Hell match was a pretty decent main event IMO. Ryback winning the first fall was surprising and good for him. The table fall was really well worked, even though you knew Cena would win the fall they teased the table spot really well with the near misses. The fact Ryback got straight up after being put through table as Cena crawled made him look like The Terminator. The final fall with the ambulance was a bit cheesy as you could see it was gimmicked the way things just peeled off with ease. Ryback going through the roof off an AA was a good finish though and I think both guys came out of it looking strong.

 

[This is the return of WTM]

Well it has been awhile since I logged in here and I just finished writing my review of the show.

If I should put this into its own thread, please let me know.

United States Championship

Dean Ambrose (c.) vs. Kane

I looked forward to this match so much because Kane knows how to work with everyone. And this match was great…until the finish. A ddt outside the ring. really? that’s just stupid. Aside from that, this match had everything going for it.

Winner and STILL US Champion: Dean Ambrose

Match rating: 2.5 out of 5.

World Heavyweight Championship

“The Showoff” Dolph ZIggler vs. Alberto Del Rio

Wow. With the E having a wave of concussions throughout the spring, this was such a good way to book an injury into a great match. All throughout it, Alberto went for every enziguri imaginable to Dolph while using his standard moveset, with the exception of the cross armbreaker. But even better was how well executed the double turn is. Right now the E is sitting on a great feud to carry them through the summer and maybe the fall. But I will explain that later.

Winner and NEW World Heavyweight Champion: Alberto Del Rio

Be sure to read the rest here.

All in all, I felt that this was a good ppv, not as good as Extreme Rules but pretty close to it in terms of in ring quality.

 

[#TheSkipper]

OSW Review - Old School WWF *Video* Reviews
WWE PAYBACK. 16th June, 2013, from Chicago, IL, announced attendance 14,623.

Despite having little buzz generated over the last few weeks, WWE exercised some logical and sometimes also unexpected developments, delivering a very solid card top to bottom. They freshened up a few characters, leaving the future of WWE being brighter than it was beforehand.

Sheamus def. Damien Sandow in the Pre-Show
How about that, a former 3-time WWE/world champion doesn't make the card. Surprising, since this feud has been featured on both RAW & Smackdown for weeks now.

Curtis Axel def. Wade Barrett (c) and The Miz to win the IC title
Amazing hot crowd - easily Axel's best response. They popped big for his perfectplex. They made sense of the traditional one-in-one-out booking of triple threats, as Heyman would coach Axel throughout the night to pick his moment. Impressive interesting finish as Axel pinned Barrett, who was in Miz's Figure 4. The match was definitely brought up by the crowd but I thought the three were quite fluid together. Interesting how the members of the Heenan Family would interact, but Heyman's wrestlers are kept completely separate.

AJ def Kaitlyn (c) to become the new Diva's champion
AJ showed some nice transitions into her finisher but overall, not a noteworthy match. No real mistakes but generally a slow pace. AJ used her belt (that Kaitlyn stripped off her) and after Kaitlyn a few missed opportunities, AJ won with her octopus submission on the second attempt. Not sure why, but Layla got booed for coming to console a crying Kaitlyn. I thought WWE would delay the title change another month to keep the story going, but they pulled the trigger tonight.

Dean Ambrose retained his US title via count-out against Kane
A short and generally unremarkable match that was more of a formality, to have both on the PPV but maintain the status quo. The belt is better used with Ambrose, Kane winning the belt would distract from his current storyline with Bryan & Orton. Disappointingly short but I didn't mind.

Alberto Del Rio pinned Dolph Ziggler to win the WHC
This was a shocker. I didn't expect Ziggler, having just returned from his concussion, to end his title reign (won 2 1/2 months ago). He lost it at his first PPV title defense. Del Rio looked quite pasty. I really enjoyed seeing Del Rio's out-of-nowhere nasty heel turn, viciously kicking Dolph in the head in order to secure his title win. It also puts Ziggler over as a valiant babyface who fought on and lost. I was surprised Del Rio was over as he was, since his face turn was quite laboured, but I think he'll do better as a heel. He gloated after the match to cement his new heel nature. AJ sold it well, with her new title, crying as her boyfriend lost his title. Going forward I really hope they don't turn Dolph into the smiling generic good guy WWE seem to push

It was very odd to see Big Show acting as host with the pre-show analysts, Cody Rhodes and R-Truth. He sounded like he really wants this as his new job! He also looked taller - maybe like Andre the Giant, he stood on a box to make him even taller!

CM Punk def. Chris Jericho
Punk was a God in Chicago. I wonder if WWE hyping the fact that it was in Chicago, gave the crowd the 'responsibility' to be loud and passionate. It's fantastic to hear and makes watching wrestling so much easier. As opposed to their Mania match, Punk/Jericho did a lot of brawling, kicking out of finishers : it's a match style telling you it's not their first matchup, and more of a blow-off. Jericho's babyface act since returning at the Rumble has been surprisingly tepid. His segments with Heyman fell very flat. That said, he hasn't had much to work with, since Punk wasn't actually at RAW. As expected, the two had a highly enjoyable match, that was a bit slow starting off. The crowd were really invested in the matchup. It's so great to have Punk back - RAW has been really rough since his April departure. The commentators played up Punk being face in Chicago. Anyway, after two GTS's in quick succession, Punk secures the win in his hometown. Heyman actually getting in Punk's way (looking like a deer in headlights) and their quite telling unhappy post-match chat was a great bit of silent storytelling. I love how WWE soak in the gravity of the win, and stayed with Punk after the win.

SHIELD (Reigns/Rollins) retain their tag titles against Bryan/Orton
It's nothing new, but Daniel Bryan is an excellent wrestler, and must be one of the few wrestlers in WWE to completely get the intended response : everyone cheers him. He perfectly plays the insecure babyface, determined to prove his worth. Although we've seen variations of this match a lot over the last two months, it's played differently as Randy Orton sells for an unusual amount of time. As expected, the match was extremely solid. SHIELD successfully deny Orton's usual flurry into the finish, by pushing him into Bryan and dumping him to the outside, allowing Rollins to deliver a jumping curb-stomp to Bryan. If he did it from the top rope it'd be the Van Garvinator! Enjoyable match, right winners, progress the inevitable Bryan-Orton feud more : good stuff.

John Cena retained his WWE Championship in a 3 Stages of Hell Match against Ryback (2-1)
It looks like the end of the line for Ryback. Since it's nowhere near Mania, far enough from SummerSlam, and 2/3 stipulations not requiring a clean pinfall/submission, this was his best opportunity to win the WWE championship. That said, I think himself and Cena have good chemistry and it kept the crowd interested. Ryback won the first fall with a Shellshock. Did you see Sin Cara when Cena did a plancha to the outside wiping out the lumberjacks? He forgot to fall, looked around, and then fell. It was hilarious. Cena evened the score putting Ryback through a table. The fall was really big power move, rest a bit, repeat. Brawling to the outside, Cena & Ryback fought to the top of the ambulance, and Cena FU'd Ryback in - the gimmicked ambulance ceiling looked like it was cut longways in two - Reeves hitting the side of the trap-door panel. Putting Ryback in the vehicle this way was a great visual. Good stuff guys.

Overall, a quite impressive B-PPV. It's not essential watching but I was thoroughly pleased. I don't think the PPV will generate many buys, since RAW has been a chore to watch outside SHIELD's segments. WWE did a ton of scrolling tweets, which is quite offensive to the wrestlers...at least save it for during rest holds. WWE's been a rough month since Extreme Rules, as we in general don't see Brock, Taker, Rock, Triple H, Ziggler and Punk in weekly active competition. Thankfully with Ziggler and Punk back, and now the forthcoming return of Mark Henry, RVD (at MITB - great!) and the debut of the Wyatt Family, WWE is really looking up. Just please leave the Vince/H/Steph shenanigans at home!