Payback 2014 General Discussion & Aftermath

[The Eighties]

So Extreme Rules is in the books and we move towards Payback in Chicago.

I'm guessing it will probably be a night headlined by 2 rematches, Vince apparently wants Bryan vs Batista but that is sounding less and less likely, especially with Batista taking the pin last night. The latest rumour is Bryan vs Kane in a Buried Alive match.

Bray vs Cena part 3 will surely happen but I'm interested in what they do with it as Cena beating Bray at this point means very little, we know he can physically defeat Bray but the story is that he's losing the kids to Bray, I'm not sure how Cena wins that battle, especially in a city like Chicago.

Not sure what they do with The Shield. I suppose Reigns could face Orton and Ambrose & Rollins could be put in a tag match, unless Triple H wrestles Rollins and Ambrose is forced to defend his US title against multiple challengers in a Fatal 4 way again.

Paige needs a new challenger, hopefully it will be Nattie.

I think The Usos might get on this show and I think Harper & Rowan would be ideal challengers for their tag titles.

Barret vs Big E is a possible IC title rematch but I'm not sure fans care enough about Big E. I think given the way the tournament final ended that RVD would be a good challenger.

I could also see the Brotherhood split happening tonight on Raw and Cody vs Goldust facing off at Payback.

 

[workhorse]

WWE Payback Card Prediction
WWE World Heavyweight Championship: Buried Alive Match: Daniel Bryan (c) vs Kane
Winner: Daniel Bryan

6-Man Elimination Tag Team Match: Evolution vs The Shield
Winner: Evolution (Triple H last eliminates Reigns)

Last Man Standing Match: Bray Wyatt vs John Cena
Winner: John Cena

Intercontinental Championship: Bad News Barrett vs Alberto Del Rio
Winner: Bad News Barrett

Singles Match: Cody Rhodes vs Goldust
Winner: Cody Rhodes

Singles Match: Rob Van Dam vs Cesaro
Winner: Cesaro

WWE United States Championship: Sheamus (c) vs
Winner: Sheamus vs Dolph Ziggler

 

[The Eighties]

The Shield were put in singles matches tonight on Smackdown and got me thinking that maybe they'll face Evolution individually at Payback. I know that would eat up nearly half the card but given there's already likely to be 2 big rematches from Extreme Rules it would freshen the card up.

If they go that route I think it will be;

Roman Reigns vs Batista
Seth Rollins vs Triple H
Dean Ambrose vs Randy Orton

 

[kadroan]

The Shield were put in singles matches tonight on Smackdown and got me thinking that maybe they'll face Evolution individually at Payback. I know that would eat up nearly half the card but given there's already likely to be 2 big rematches from Extreme Rules it would freshen the card up.

If they go that route I think it will be;

Roman Reigns vs Batista
Seth Rollins vs Triple H
Dean Ambrose vs Randy Orton

I'd prefer they don't do that since there's plenty of talent that could use two of those matches' time to have matches like Sheamus and Del Rio (both didn't wrestle at ER).

However, this is the WWE's creative team. The same team who booked two three on one handicap matches at TLC.

If Sheamus turns or he doesn't, I'd love to see one final rematch between Ambrose and Sheamus. Ambrose had the title for the year, he should have an attachment to it, not just go back to the storyline with The Authority like Orton did vs. chasing the title he lost.

 

[The Eighties]

I'd prefer they don't do that since there's plenty of talent that could use two of those matches' time to have matches like Sheamus and Del Rio (both didn't wrestle at ER).

However, this is the WWE's creative team. The same team who booked two three on one handicap matches at TLC.

If Sheamus turns or he doesn't, I'd love to see one final rematch between Ambrose and Sheamus. Ambrose had the title for the year, he should have an attachment to it, not just go back to the storyline with The Authority like Orton did vs. chasing the title he lost.

The thing is Sheamus and Del Rio would just be having matches to be on the card and Del Rio is likely on his way out, where as The Shield are very much WWE's storyline focus and need to get more PPV singles experience IMO.

Anyway they went with the 6 man rematch, hopefully it will have a stipulation to spice it up a bit as rematches asked for by the faces after they've already won is an unusual route to go.

I'd also say Rusev vs Big E is likely and of course we now know it's going to be Cena vs Bray in a Last Man Standing match. Hopefully they book Harper & Rowan vs The Usos for the tag titles as well.

Oddly Barrett and Cesaro were not on Raw tonight, unless I missed them. I thought Barrett would establish a new challenger and we'd get more development on Cesaro vs RVD, instead Cesaro is facing Sheamus on Main Event tomorrow so that could lead to a US title match at Payback I guess.

 

[HBsam31]

They need to really makes some moves soon to make this ppv good given that there will be no title match on it. Cena Wyatt Last Man Standing should be good, as well as Evolution/Shield rematch. I would also like to see Sheamus defend the US title, and the IC title get defended as well. I probably won't be ordering this one, but am still hoping they make this one better than it is looking so far.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

As tonight is the go home episode of Raw for Payback this Sunday, I think the final card will look like this:

No Holds Barred Elimination Match: The Shield vs. Evolution
Last Man Standing Match: John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt
WWE Intercontinental Championship: Bad News Barrett vs. Rob Van Dam
WWE United States Championship: Sheamus vs. Cesaro
WWE Tag Team Championship: The Usos vs. Luke Harper & Erick Rowan
WWE Divas Championship: Paige vs. Alicia Fox

For the pre-show, I'm thinking they'll do something with Rusev having a match against R-Truth or Xavier Woods or possibly both. He decimates them and proceeds to do so after winning the match, prompting Big E to do a run in where he becomes the first guy to ultimately wind up getting the best of Rusev before Lana convinces Rusev to retreat.

This may be the first WWE ppv in quite a long time in which the top title isn't on the line. There are reports suggesting that IF WWE strips Daniel Bryan of the WWE World Heavyweight Championship tonight, the plan could be to have a MITB match in which the winner of said match becomes the new champion. This idea's been speculated and talked about quite a bit on the forums since Bryan announced his surgery a few weeks ago. If Bryan isn't stripped tonight, it MIGHT be because WWE wants to draw the angle out for a few weeks as part of the build for the WWE WHC MITB match at the ppv. If Bryan isn't stripped tonight, it MIGHT be because Bryan's recovery time is far shorter than has been reported/speculated and will be able to defend the title soon.

 

[Sexcellence of Sexecution]

Well on RAW we learned that Daniel Bryan's final decision with respect to surrendering the WWE World Title will happen at Payback. Forcing Bryan to make a decision at the PPV is a good idea, but involving Brie Bella in this whole situation is fucking terrible and I will explain why.

Let me take you back to January 1999, the I Quit Match between The Rock and Mankind for the WWF Title. The original idea for the finish involved Mankind's wife sitting in the front row, watching the Rock beat the hell out of Mankind and begging Mankind to say I Quit for her sake. In his book, Foley explains the problem with this finish perfectly. It puts all the heat on his wife. This Brie Bella situation is the same thing. If Bryan relinquishes the Title for her sake, it just puts heat on her. The vast majority of fans don't give a shit about who Daniel Bryan is married to, and would probably rather see him as Champion than see Brie continue to have a job. Look, I'm glad Bryan's happy or whatever, but the fact is that utilizing Brie in angles is doing more to hurt Bryan than help him.

Now you might be saying to yourself, well Mr. Sexcellence of Sexecution, using Brie was an easy way to build heat for the Kane/Bryan feud, since stalking women and trying to drag them to hell is generally a pretty heel thing to do. But Kane shouldn't have even been near the Title scene to begin with because a month earlier he was getting squashed with the New Age Outlaws in 5 minutes. You can argue that he became the "monster" again, but that angle has no credibility anymore since we've seen Kane do the same "becoming the monster again" shtick countless times. It has zero impact.

I realize I got off track a little bit there, but hopefully you see my point. As for the actual matches at Payback, they should be decent I guess. Evolution vs. the Shield is gonna be nuts, Wyatt and Cena will probably have a great match, and it's nice to see an actual feud for the US Title. But the way they've handled the Bryan Title situation has been pretty bad.

 

[The Eighties]

I can't give any rep at the moment but if I could I'd give some to Sexellence for the above post, Bryan needs to get away from Brie on WWE TV ASAP! No one cares about her and the wrestling audience is a cold, harsh set of mean spirited males raised on ECW and the attitude era, where saving the damsel in distress was replaced by "Piledrive the bitch" or "Put her through a table" and other such charming moments.

Plus Bryan is a shaggy faced underdog we normal chaps can relate to, having a super hot wife flies in the face of that dammit! She can't act and garners zero sympathy, Chicago will slaughter her.

The card currently has 5 set matches, hopefully they add The Usos vs Harper & Rowan in a tag title rematch after their non-title encounter on Main Event ended in a win for the the heels. I could also see Big E vs Rusev being added as they've had a couple of physical altercations now.

 

[NegativeFeedback]

So who is going to be watching Payback tonight and who is going to be watching "The Mountain vs. The Viper"??

I'll definitely be watching Game of Thrones. That card is terrible. The most interesting one is Big E/Rusev, and we all know how that's ending.

So what will you be watching?

 

[laodaron]

Outside of the offensive little people match, this is an incredible card. The two main events should be enough to put this at the top of the list for a "B" PPV. Plus there's Barrett, Cesaro, Sheamus...I'm not sure what else you would want on there.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I have a feeling that Payback will be packed with a ton of great action. I watched NXT Takeover Thursday night and the top three matches were fucking killer. Even the undercard matches were pretty good. Nothing felt like it was meaningless filler. The first thought that popped into my head after the show was over was "I have a feeling they're gonna jack up the matches at Payback so as not to be outdone by the developmental talent."

Sure enough, a report came out yesterday from the WON stating that management doesn't want the main roster to be outshined by the success of NXT, so there'll probably be a lot of strong action for Payback.

Aside from the goofball shenanigans of El Torito and Hornswoggle, which will be on the pre-show at least, the only other program I'm not all that interested in is Big E vs. Rusev. But, on the other hand, I'm at least curious to see how Rusev does in a match that isn't a 90 second squash match.

 

[NegativeFeedback]

Outside of the offensive little people match, this is an incredible card. The two main events should be enough to put this at the top of the list for a "B" PPV. Plus there's Barrett, Cesaro, Sheamus...I'm not sure what else you would want on there.

If you're invested in another inconsequential John Cena/Bray Wyat match, then count yourself lucky. Unfortunately, I am bored to tears by another outing where they get to have a cheap finish and then just build to the next one, without caring who actually won the last match. And the bell-to-bell action of the last two bouts weren't interesting either, so there's not even that to look forward to.

Shield/Evolution already happened. This is just a retread. But at least that was at Extreme Rules. I've seen Sheamus/Cesaro and RVD/Barrett a couple of times for free on Raw. What can they possibly do at Payback that's more valuable than what they already have done?

Big E/Rusev and Paige/Alicia Fox are so one-sided, it's laughable that they are on a "PPV/Special" card. I will gladly eat my words if any of those matches surprise you. I won't even dignify the El Torito/Hornswoggle shenanigan by giving it an analysis.

How about we get matches that I didn't already get to see on free TV or on past PPVs? And if we are going to get rematches, how about they have deep stories with actual consequences? It's the difference between Triple H/Undertaker II and HBK/Undertaker II. One had them just staring at each other and pointing to a sign with absolutely no story, the other had HBK fighting tooth-and-nail for months for another shot, until he snapped, cost Taker the title and forced him into a bout at WrestleMania.

WWE is great at building up rematches, but only sometimes. Other times we get the boring buildup to this PPV. All these matches feel like filler for some bigger plan they have in the future. None of this matters in Orton's arc, Cena's arc, Wyatt's arc, Triple H's, RVD's, Barrett's, etc. They're just going through the motions.

In turn, WWE is competing with Game of Thrones, Veep and Silicon Valley for my attention. Up until last week, they were also competing with Mad Men. If they want people to "switch the app" from HBOGo to WWENetwork, they need to give us programming of a comparable quality.

 

[laodaron]

Not to go off on a tangent, but it's almost like you haven't been watching professional wrestling since 1993 and you would enjoy watching a different product. For me, I enjoy watching the free matches, and then watch the way that they elevate the product on the PPV.

Sure, we've seen Shield v. Evolution. Once. Ever. In the history of professional wresting. Now, I don't know about you, but I don't know how many possible matches there are, but it's a very finite number if wrestlers are only allowed to fight a competitor once in their entire careers.

Wyatt v. Cena has told an elaborate story thus far. Cena is scared, over comes it. Then, the Wyatts retaliate with gang up action, and using a child, Cena's sacred cash cows, against him to get a victory. Now we have the third installment, a LMS match involving the single greatest in-ring talent over the last 12 years. This entire storyline is absolutely incredible so far, and much more nuanced than anyone gives them credit for.

Cesaro, the internet darling of only 2 months ago, is in a US Title match, getting his deserved push.

Barrett, as BNB, an on again off again internet darling, is fighting a legend (albeit, washed up in my opinion) in RVD. RVD took a fucking WICKED trash can shard to the eye at ER, and came out without pause Monday night after. The story is in the actual match for this one.

Divas will be Divas, and still no one will care. Rusev and Big E, no one will care. I'll give you that.

You can watch HBOGo the next day. You can't watch Payback the next day. You make your choice, and that's fine. But WWE wrestling now is pretty much better than anything since before the year 2000, and even then it's arguable. The issues you're taking with pro wrestling today have been the staple since the onset of weekly episodic wrestling programming.

 

[NegativeFeedback]

Not to go off on a tangent, but it's almost like you haven't been watching professional wrestling since 1993 and you would enjoy watching a different product. For me, I enjoy watching the free matches, and then watch the way that they elevate the product on the PPV (...) Now, I don't know about you, but I don't know how many possible matches there are, but it's a very finite number if wrestlers are only allowed to fight a competitor once in their entire careers.

Watching repeats with no consequence is fine on the free shows, because those matches are building up to much more important ones. If I tune into Raw and watch John Cena vs. Randy Orton, I don't care if it ends in a DQ because Rusev attacked Cena. It's building to the fresh match-up on PPV. Wrestlers have to earn their money, of course they will be fighting people a lot of times. But as long as it builds to something, I welcome it.

Sure, we've seen Shield v. Evolution. Once. Ever. In the history of professional wresting.

Admittedly, this match is the least of the problems of the PPV. But it feels no different from the last one. I wanted to see Shield vs. Evolution. And I already saw it. The Shield won. They proved their superiority. By all rights, this match shouldn't be happening again, not for a while, until the story necessitated it.

Wyatt v. Cena has told an elaborate story thus far. Cena is scared, over comes it. Then, the Wyatts retaliate with gang up action, and using a child, Cena's sacred cash cows, against him to get a victory. Now we have the third installment, a LMS match involving the single greatest in-ring talent over the last 12 years. This entire storyline is absolutely incredible so far, and much more nuanced than anyone gives them credit for.

I envy that you are entertained. Don't confuse that with snark, I sit and watch wrestling hoping to have fun. But this story has bored me to tears. I was lukewarm about it heading into Mania. And after Cena won, he challenged Bray Wyatt for ER anyway, despite the fact there's nothing to prove. He already won. The story didn't necessitate anything. At ER, the match didn't make any sense and Bray won in a cheap manner. What else is there left for Cena to accomplish here? And what is Bray trying to do? The whole point of this "feud" seems to be to just stall until creative gives each of them something better to do later.

Cesaro, the internet darling of only 2 months ago, is in a US Title match, getting his deserved push.

And he continues to be a favorite. I welcome Cesaro as US Champion, but if he wins, that just means Sheamus was a placeholder, the same way Kofi was last year when he won the US title and immediately dropped it to Ambrose. This feud is practically non-existent. It's just "Hey, we have a match, let's feud". They have a problem with each other because they have a match, instead of having a match because they have a problem with each other. It's backwards booking and doesn't rise my interest in the least.

The only intrigue here is what can happen after the PPV, once Sheamus turns heel to save his skin or once Cesaro becomes US Champion.

Barrett, as BNB, an on again off again internet darling, is fighting a legend (albeit, washed up in my opinion) in RVD. RVD took a fucking WICKED trash can shard to the eye at ER, and came out without pause Monday night after. The story is in the actual match for this one.

Wade already beat RVD in the tournament. He's got nothing left to prove here. RVD didn't even win his own match at ER. I frankly don't see why he should be the one getting a title match. RVD is washed up, but that is the least of the problems with the booking here. They're just providing filler until BNB does something worthwhile.

"Filler" is fine when it's being used correctly; filling out 1 or 2 spots on a card. When over half the card is pure filler, that's something to worry about.

Divas will be Divas, and still no one will care.

Actually, even if this is the 7th Alicia/Paige match in 2 months, it's actually the best booked match on the card. Alicia has shown character development in the past few weeks, which is more than I can say about anyone else on the card. It's a shame we are so early into Paige's run as champ, because if this match was booked the same way a little later in Paige's run, we might actually be considering that Alicia is in line for a push.

Rusev and Big E, no one will care. I'll give you that.

I said it was the only one that interested me because it's a first-time match-up. Even on NXT, they tagged together once or twice, but never faced off. Too bad this match will be a 3-minute squash though.

You can watch HBOGo the next day. You can't watch Payback the next day.

Um, why can't I watch Payback the next day? It will be on demand immediately, just like Game of Thrones.

You make your choice, and that's fine. But WWE wrestling now is pretty much better than anything since before the year 2000, and even then it's arguable. The issues you're taking with pro wrestling today have been the staple since the onset of weekly episodic wrestling programming.

That is not true, or else I wouldn't be a fan. There are always 2-3 very interesting match-ups on PPV. Even filler PPVs like Payback have had some solid match-ups in the past. Just last year we had a double turn between Del Rio and Ziggler, and Bryan and Orton were competing for the tag titles. Even AJ/Kaitlyn was interesting as we were all awaiting AJ winning the title.

 

[laodaron]

I think that the card order will be:

Hair vs Mask Match on the Payback Kickoff Show:
-Hornswoggle vs. El Torito

WWE Intercontinental Championship Match
-Bad News Barrett (c) vs. Rob Van Dam

-Big E vs. Rusev

WWE United States Championship Match
-Sheamus (c) vs. Cesaro

Last Man Standing Match
-John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt

WWE Divas Title Match:
-Paige (c) vs. Alicia Fox

-In-ring segment will take place with Stephanie McMahon, Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella

No Holds Barred Elimination Match
-The Shield vs. Evolution

I bolded my winner predictions.

I'll be honest, this feels like a really solid card to me. I'm looking forward to sitting down and watching tonight when I get home from work.

Edit: I just realized that I predicted no title changes, which I don't like. But, they're all relatively new champs, and I think it would hurt each of their current pushes to drop the titles already.

 

[blueskyy]

Match of the night for me is the Shield vs. Evolution match. It was well planned and the execution of the match was fairly decent -- 8/10.

Sheamus vs. Cesaro match was fairly good. Cesaro needs to mix it up a little, uppercuts alone is not enough. The finish was good -- 7.5/10.

The last match that's worth mentioning is the Big E vs. Rusev match. Match was delivered really well, sparks were flying, looks authentic but it was far too short -- 7/10.

 

[WarroBODFan]

I enjoyed Payback tonight.

Match of the night for me personally was Cena V Wyatt, with help from Harper, Rowan and The Uso's. I don't actually mind Cena winning this one, but either way I'm kinda over this feud now. I don't think that will be it though, Bray will surely want revenge.

I massively enjoyed the main event too. Although all three Shield members got the crap beaten out of them, I like the fact they didn't have one or more eliminated. I love Reigns, but if he's going to face HHH at Summerslam, then it wasn't necessary to make him last man standing unless he lost. I'm glad they gave all three members equal shine tonight.

Biggest surprise of the night for me was the Rusev and Big E match. Biggest pop I've heard for Big E in a long time. Hope they continue this feud with Big E as the babyface American hero. I marked out big time when he speared Rusev through the ropes. Hope to see more of this from Big E.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Here are my thoughts on WWE Payback 2014.




El Torito VS Hornswoggle in a Mask VS Hair match
Idiotic. This should never have taken place to begin with, I'm just glad it was on during the pre-show instead of the main card. The announcers' reactions to Torito having another mask on underneath his mask were dumb and Hornswoggle getting his head shaved did not interest me in the slightest.


Cesaro VS Sheamus in a singles match for the WWE United States Championship
This was a good opener. Some smart decisions by the creative team here as Sheamus got to retain and Cesaro still was booked strongly in his effort. I liked this match.


Cody Rhodes & Goldust VS Rybaxel in a tag team match
I hate it when matches get added at the last minute like this. Why not promote this ahead of time? Not quite useless, but this was nothing to write home about. I'm interested in seeing what happens next between the Rhodes brothers though.


Big E VS Rusev in a singles match
This was pretty boring, but it ended up being better than I thought it would be. I don't care about either wrestler involved, so I wouldn't have cared either way who won. I thought it would be the worst match of the night, it wasn't.


Bo Dallas VS Kofi Kingston in a singles match
As much as I dislike Bo Dallas, why not promote this ahead of time? It was his first PPV match upon being promoted to the main roster recently. I didn't mind the Kane appearance one bit though. Kane VS Kofi in a filler match would have been better in my opinion but I can see why Bo needed to be featured on the show.


Bad News Barrett VS Rob Van Dam in a singles match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship
Not bad, but the US Championship match ended up being the better of the two midcard matches. Barrett looked good in this retention and here's to hoping that they actually give him a decent reign this time around. This is the best he's been since Nexus so they are on the right path. More retentions like this one will be good for him as well as the belt.


Daniel Bryan segment
This worked out perfectly. Daniel Bryan is still the World Heavyweight Champion and we (hopefully) never have to see Brie Bella work a match ever again. I've been a fan long enough to know better, but I hope that ends up being the case. We'll see what happens on Raw tonight.


John Cena VS Bray Wyatt in a Last Man Standing match
This was great! It ended up being my second favorite match of the night behind only the Evolution VS Shield match. They topped both of their previous matches on PPV here. The Wyatts and Usos being included helped add more to the match unlike last month when the Wyatts interfered too much. The focus remained on Cena and Bray, as it should have. The ending where Bray literally got "buried" to where he could not stand up following the 10 count was great.


Alicia Fox VS Paige in a singles match for the WWE Divas Championship
This was alright. Paige retains and continues to prove she belongs in the championship tier. Alicia did better than I expected and if she gets another shot I'm fine with that. Not one of the better matches of the night but it wasn't bad for a divas match and it gave fans a chance to relax before the main event.


Evolution VS The Shield in a No Holds Barred Six-Man Elimination Tag Team match
This was awesome and to me easily the match of the night. I loved the stipulation and had a good feeling we were in for a treat here, both teams did a fantastic job. My friend who watched with me and I were rolling on the floor laughing at the twitter notification that "Bluetista" was trending. Batista's ring gear was very strange looking with that bright blue color and seemed out of place compared to Orton's and Trips' ring gear. The elimination order made sense, and The Shield shutting out Evolution without losing anyone on their team made them appear all the more dominant. Excellent match!


Overall thoughts
This show surprised me. I was unsure about it on paper, especially due to there not being an official match for the World Heavyweight Championship. It was weird to not have a world title match on PPV, but WWE still made it work. While to me it didn't quite top Extreme Rules last month, it was a superior show to the first two shows of the year. It came close to being the 2nd best.... If Bryan had been able to defend his title in a 3 Stages of Hell match like Cena VS Ryback at the last Payback event (or at all for that matter), it would have made 2nd place. I think that should become a match that Payback is home to, but that is for a whole other thread topic. Regardless, the show was overall enjoyable. I rank Payback as 3rd of 5 so far for WWE PPV events in 2014.

1. Wrestlemania 30
2. Extreme Rules 2014
3. Payback 2014
4. Elimination Chamber 2014
5. Royal Rumble 2014

 

[NegativeFeedback]

I just finished watching the show, and I fast-forwarded through a bunch of it.

Biggest disappointment was Sheamus/Cesaro. I was really hoping Cesaro edged out the win here. The match was okay, but should have been longer too. Ending it with a small package was cheap.

Too bad I was also disappointed with The Mountain vs. The Viper. Won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen Game of Thrones, but I didn't enjoy the match-up at all. Berric/Hound and Vardis/Bronn were much better. This one was rushed, not explained, and then ended on a ridiculous cliché.

The Shield/Evolution match was pretty good, but nothing was accomplished differently from Extreme Rules. Shield beat them clean, won the match, and celebrated. This whole PPV could be erased from history, and I am sure the story would go forward the same way.

This whole Bryan/Stephanie crap needs to be put the rest. Each segment he's on the show talking and not wrestling hurts his character. If the plan is to turn him heel then fine I suppose. But I'm just sick of this guy coming out and deciding to hoard the championship to himself despite not being able to defend it. This is just bad writing all around.

At least the next PPV has a Money in the Bank match. I'm hoping they put the title on the line instead, but if not, I hope Cesaro wins the briefcase and defends it against Brock at SummerSlam. Now that's a story I would like to see play out.

 

[MCMG]

I thought this was a decent PPV. It definitely wasn't an all time classic (there was a lot of filler) but it was a strong card.

The Rhodes v Rybaxel match was actually quite good but it didn't mean anything. I liked what they did with Cody at the end. It was smart having Kane make an appearance and Bo's follow up promo. The Steph/Bryan promo was ok, nothing special. Rusev v Big E was fine as was Paige/Fox.

The big four matches, however, all delivered and may have all exceed expectations. They want the mid-card titles to mean something and having good matches for these titles is a good place to start. I though Cesaro v Sheamus was superb and I reckon I could watch them wrestle for days on end. Hopefully they keep it going and offer something like a 2/3 falls match or a best of five series because these two are talented wrestlers.

Barrett v RVD was another match that was enjoyable. RVD is still capable even at this age and Barrett is looking good. Cena v Wyatt was incredible. Every spot was perfect, especially the ending. It looked brutal and Bray was made to look like a star. The Uso's + Harper and Rowan helped them match too.

The Shield v Evolution was another classic. It seems The Shield could wrestle three planks of wood and still put on the match of the night. It was great Evolution put the younger talent over even if I thought this feud could go longer.

Overall, it was a good show. Bray v Cena and The Shield v Evolution were the obvious stand out matches and were given the appropriate amount of time. Cesaro v Sheamus was terrific as was BNB V RVD. Raw and Smackdown have been average as of late but the PPV's are delivering.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

As everyone saw during the Daniel Bryan segment at Payback last night, Brie slapped Stephanie McMahon after announcing that she "quit" rather than Bryan being forced to give up the WWE World Heavyweight Championship to save her job. Stephanie skittered out of the ring and as she was walking towards the back, you could clearly see what looks like a stain on the rear of her dress that looks like it originated from somewhere in the crotch region.

I didn't think much of it at the time because I thought that maybe it was caused by some discoloration or connection issue with the WWE Network. However, the story is apparently making the rounds and a picture of it was posted on Twitter. https://twitter.com/tomtomtheman93/status/473297987838689280

It certainly looks like Steph had a wee accident and it might explain why she suddenly took off with her tail tucked between her legs so suddenly. At first, I thought that maybe it had to do with Steph selling being in absolute shock that someone would have the nerve to actually lay a hand on, let alone strike, the Billion Dollar Princess. I was expecting her to go on some sort of tirade, screeching like a wild banshee on meth over being slapped. Now that this is making the rounds, can't help but wonder if Steph had to alter the script just a tiny, wee bit. It's not all that often you actually see someone get the piss knocked out of them; I didn't think Brie slapped her that hard. If it turns out that she actually did have an accident, but purposely did it as a means of furthering the storyline and for it to be used to humiliate her, then she's quite the trooper.

 

[TootsieBear]

I would like to say it's a shadow from of the cameramen filming behind her.

 

[waylonmercy]

Stephanie McMahon was wearing a dress with silk there and if you watch the replay just before she walks up the stairs to enter the ring you could briefly see the same shadow. If she really peed herself, she wouldn't have come out in the first place and they would have went to the next segment.

 

[Fabulous Freebirds]

Wouldn't surprise me if Stephanie did have some kind of accident due to the slap. The human body is so unstable and unpredictable.

For example, a person can sneeze so hard that they end up messing their pants due to the verocity of the sneeze.

Hopefully, for Stephanie's sake, it was just certain lighting but if not. Hey, live TV.