WWE PAYBACK

Orlando

THE RIOTT SQUAD vs. THE ICONICS (9:00): I'm not sure why the WWE decided to put two PPV's on in 8 days. I'm guessing it was to sucker people into subscribing to the WWE network now that The Thunderdome (minus Tina Turner) is around. I was emailed an offer for a free month of the WWE network (I cancelled it in March) and I took it because I would get the NXT Takeover, Summerslam, and this show for free. I'm guessing that was the idea...to get people hooked quickly. Otherwise, I'm baffled why they would put on two PPV's on back to back Sunday's. I actually think that this show was probably more entertaining than Summerslam, although neither were that great. The WWE has suffered for awhile now by not having any kind of big superstars or big angles. What the WWE has been is pedestrian and average these last few years while all of the excitement and big matches have been in NXT. This match was the pre-show match (and, seriously, does anyone watch the entire hour pre-show? I just skip to the match because I rarely watch these shows live and usually end up barely paying attention to the match while I peruse the internet or read the newspaper). I really didn't think The Iconics were still around. They're these annoying Australian girls that can't wrestle. One of them is gorgeous, so that's probably why they exist. As for the Riott Squad...Liv Morgan is a Harley Quinn rip-off, and she's pretty, so I suppose that's why she's around. None of these four girls are good wrestlers or entertaining in the ring. This was forgettable stuff. 1/2*

BOBBY LASHLEY vs. APOLLO CREWS (9:30): Bobby Lashley won the U.S. title here, or whatever the hell they're calling it these days. Who has the IC title? Should I look that up? Jeff Hardy has it. He just beat AJ Styles for it on Smackdown last week. I haven't watched Smackdown in months, probably since the pandemic started. I haven't watched RAW either since the pandemic started. I still watch AEW every week and usually watch NXT if there's a good match on (this week, NXT had a Fatal Four Iron Man match for the title...which of course ended up in a two-way draw between Adam Cole and Finn Balor...which means those two are having a singles match next week for the title). I'm surprised Bobby Lashley is still around, too. Remember that awful gimmick earlier this year where Lana cheated on Rusev with Lashley? They even had a wedding. What happened to Lana? I know they fired Rusev. Lashley won, which I guess means Vince still likes him (he's a big, dumb oaf that can't wrestle...so that makes sense). Lashley has Shelton Benjamin and MVP has his entourage for some reason. Apollo Crews does some top rope dives and flips...so this wasn't awful. *1/2

BIG E vs. SHEAMUS (12:20): They're attempting to push Big E as a singles wrestler for some reason. They kind of gave up on Kofi Kingston after Brock Lesnar beat him for the title in like thirty seconds last year. The other New Day member is injured. There wasn't much too this match. I suppose Big E might be a good singles wrestler if he had a good opponent and it occurred in a different company. 1/2*

MATT RIDDLE vs. KING CORBIN (10:55): The one thing about watching the WWE these days is that it makes you fucking depressed as all hell because they take exciting, thrilling, indie wrestlers and destroy them. Remember Ricochet? God, don't even bring him up. Matt Riddle at least looked somewhat like his usual self here...the only problem was that he's stuck fighting Baron Corbin. Maybe guys like Ricochet and Matt Riddle and Keith Lee don't mind that they've been turned into shells of their former selves because they're making good money. I hope I'm wrong about that, though. I'd be pissed off about my life choices if I was Ricochet. *1/2

SHAYNA BASZLER & NIA JAX vs. SASHA BANKS & BAYLEY (10:20): Baszler and Jax won the women's tag titles here. And no, I'm not exactly sure why Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler are even a tag team. Nia looked as dangerous as ever, holding Banks by her legs while she swung her back and forth into the wall at ringside. Banks tapped out while Baszler had both of them in some sort of chokehold. This was at least fast paced. **

KEITH LEE vs. RANDY ORTON (6:40): Orton lost to Drew McIntyre last week (and McIntyre, the Universal champ, wasn't on this show for some reason) and he lost to Keith Lee tonight. I wonder what he did to piss off the writers. He did make fun of Roman Reigns' teeth on Twitter. Reigns came back last week looking like he got fake teeth and plastic surgery on his face. Keith Lee lost the NXT title to Karrion Kross last week and Kross hurt his shoulder and had to relinquish the title. Lee is on the main roster now so they kind of had to give him a win in his first match. Beating Orton seems like a big deal. This was too short to amount to much, although Keith Lee is exciting. The problem is he's probably not going to be allowed to do all of the crazy, high flying stuff he made his name doing. **

REY MYSTERIO & DOMINIK MYSTERIO vs. SETH ROLLINS & BUDDY MURPHY (16:00): This was very entertaining, albeit more a RAW main event type of match than a worthy PPV match. Dominik is a bit green but still does all of the leaps and jumps his pop does. He's also young so he's fast. Murphy botched a bunch of moves late for some reason. It looks like this is all heading to a Rollins vs. Murphy match, which should be great as those two are two of the best wrestlers on RAW. Granted, in a perfect world, the main event of this PPV would have been Matt Riddle vs. Keith Lee for the title in a 35:00 epic. Hell, I'd take a Keith Lee vs. Buddy Murphy main event title match. Those matches will never happen, unfortunately. This match was at least fun, though, and had a lot of action. **1/2

ROMAN REIGNS vs. THE FIEND vs. BRAUN STROWMAN (12:46): Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman wrestled for five minutes or so until Wyatt suplexed Strowman off of the top rope and the ring half-collapsed. Then Roman Reigns finally decided to come out because he's a heel now and Paul Heyman is his manager. Reigns couldn't get the easy pin right away but eventually he won the title and is the new champ. I'm not sure why they decided to make Reigns a heel now after so many years of fans booing him anyway. There aren't that many good guys left, are there? McIntyre, Riddle, and Keith Lee are babyfaces...but they're on RAW. Reigns is on Smackdown with Strowman and The Fiend and AJ Styles...who I think is still a heel. And what happened to Daniel Bryan? As for this match...the ring breaking has been done before so wasn't as exciting as maybe they thought it'd be. Strowman and The Fiend are boring. Reigns didn't show up until the end so an exciting three-way didn't exactly happen. This was just okay. **