Payback Reaction

Payback 2017 is in the books, and for a B show, it was a pretty fun card with a couple surprises. Let's go ahead and jump right into the action, starting with the preshow.

During the preshow we had Enzo and Cass vs The Club. On this particular occasion, we get Enzo and Cass reciting a Chinese food menu. These two could quite literally recite a phone book and the live crowd would still eat it up. The Club do a great job of building heat leading up to the hot tag to Big Cass. Once they've weathered the storm of Big Cass, The Club go back on the offense. As they set up for the Magic Killer, Big Cass rescues the constant damsel in distress, Enzo Amore, allowing Enzo to catch Luke Gallows in a small package to sneak out the victory. All in all a fun, traditional tag match, where no one comes out looking particularly weaker or stronger than how they came into the match.

The main card opens with the US title. The new Face Of America stage makes KO look like Wreck-It Ralph. I'm still deciding if that's a good or bad thing. Owens and Jericho are two of my favorites on the roster, so I popped a little when I realized these two were opening the show. Even with this being a Mania rematch, they were able to keep the match fresh, and actually particularly vicious looking (KO's counter to the top rope dropkick Jericho, or Jericho's rampage on KO's hand). When Jericho gets Owens to tap to the Walls of Jericho, I'm pleasantly surprised. The show opens with a surprise victory and a really high-quality match. Great start.

From the US title to the cruiserweights, next we have King Neville defending his belt against Austin Aries. This was a really great back and forth match and there were moments where I was sure Aries was about to claim the title, especially after locking in Last Chancery. While this technically did end the match, it was when Neville used the referee to get himself disqualified to retain the title. At this point, we're two for two on matches of great quality. Even with a bogus finish, this was still a fantastic match.

As the duo of Sheamus and Cesaro make their way to ring to challenge the Hardys, the WWE has made it perfectly clear the grudge matches are higher on the card then the title matches as we get our third match with a title on the line in a row. Throughout this match, there were many chants for the #BROKEN universe from the San Jose crowd. In a match between Cesaro and Sheamus and "Team Xtreme," it isn't surprising that we see both legit color and a newly missing tooth. Also, is alabaster gladiator a common nickname for sheamus that I have just somehow missed? I love it. In the end we see the Hardys retain, in what was again a very good match. While these teams have shown great sportsmanship in what has been a face vs face team rivalry, Sheamus and Cesaro attack the Hardys after a handshake. I don't think the post match attack was necessary, but I'm hoping it was used too"break" Matt Hardy. If this isn't the case, I'm a bit critical of WWE needing to make everything as cut and dry as face vs heel.

At this point it is a forgone conclusion but next we have Bayley defending against Alexa Bliss for the women's title. As of late it has become a bit of a thing where we get introduced to every one of our announce teams individually. I don't see why this wasn't during any other intro, other than our hometown hero, Bayley's entrance. This was the start of the night going downhill.

When I think of how I would book a wrestling organization, I have always believed your face is more entertaining chasing a title rather than defending. This is especially important with a character like Bayley. She is the lovable underdog! There are two places where she should succeed. The first place is The Big Show. She shouldn't have won the title until 'Mania. After that, well, your babyface should win in the babyface's hometown. Alexa Bliss going over tonight made no sense to me, and I understand that this puts me on the wrong side of the Internet. Feel free to insult me in the comments below. The internet loves Alexa Bliss. I'm assuming they're just projecting since the mean girl never went out with them in high school, but I digress. The wrong woman won tonight and this decision really blew the match for me, making it the worst match of the night thus far. The correct booking decision would've brought it from a 3 to a 3.5.

A House of Horrors match, according to WWE is a match that starts in Missouri, on the set of second year film major (who hasn't been hugged enough)'s end of year project. I've been more terrified of my recently installed tension rod falling, exposing me in the shower. I'm also disappointed that there wasnt a room filled with snakes. The Viper Randy Orton being deathly afraid of snakes is hilarious in my book. After 12 minutes of pretape, including Bray pinning Randy under a refrigerator, Bray Wyatt changes the lighting on the side of his house of horrors and catches a limo back to the arena.

Since the distance from the house of horrors to the SAP Center is roughly one Samoa Joe vs Seth Rollins match long, they figured they'd toss it in. The current Samoa Joe reminds me of Angle vs Joe at Lockdown style Joe. He's a legitimate badass that might legitimately kill you. Before I paid my condolences to the Rollins' family I figured I'd watch the match. I've been a massive Joe mark for over a decade at this point, so I was obviously very excited for his main roster debut, and this match really didn't disappoint. Seth does a great job in this match in the role of survivor, while sneaking in with the win off of the bridge while being in the chokehold.

Luckily, Joe vs Rollins match took just long enough that they could run a brief commercial break before we get Bray arriving via limo before performing his full entrance. After he blows out his lantern, the arena goes extra dark so Randy Orton could appear behind an overly confident Bray Wyatt. Once the match continues in the SAP Arena, Randy takes control. As he's about to claim victory, the Bollywood Boys run in. After making quick work of the newly named Singh brothers, Jinder Mahal hits Orton with the title he stole on Smackdown Live. What do we learn from this match? How to make someone look weak in victory. Not only did Orton get taken out of his element into a house made out of horror, but Wyatt needed help from the Bollywood Boys, the current number one contender for his title, and a foreign object, just to secure a victory. Even when Bray wins, he still loses.

Lastly we have Braun Strowman vs Roman Reigns. A few minutes in, I realize that this will be the superhero, anime, larger than larger-than-life battle I've been expecting. If the SAP Arena is still standing after this, the architect deserves a raise. After a great hoss battle, Strowman defeats Roman, and proceeds to beat him with the ring steps to close the show.

Overall, we got a pretty fun B show, that certainly served its purpose. With that said, the house of horrors march was a total disappointment, and if all pay per views were created equal, I'd call this card a let down. I'll give it a 6.5 out of 10. Now that Payback is out of the way, what's next in for the WWE. What else is happening in the world of wrestling? Find out next time.

Until then, stay (too) sweet!