WWE Payback in Chicago was a very good show all things considered with 2 really good matches. I wasn’t sold on this PPV going in which why there hasn’t been a lot of WWE talk as of late from Swag entertainment staff here. But watching this show has really got things looking interesting for the summer time. Like always were going to go over the more important matches in the review since this is a WWE “B” show.
Curt Axel won the IC title which was pretty much expected. The 3 way match between himself, The Miz and Wade Barret was pretty well put together and got a good crowd reaction from Chicago. We had a lot of near falls here and there as well. The crowd was surprisingly into The Miz but even more behind Curt Axel. Cole pushed the fact that 23 year ago Curt Axel’s father the late great “Mr. Perfect” won the IC belt. Of course that was back when wrestling was huge deal and all the titles were pushed as important. Curt Axel hit the “perfect plex” late and the fans went crazy for the near fall on Wade Barret. The match end when miz had the figure four on Barret, Axel ran in and pinned Barret while he was in the submission hold. Very creative finish
Dean Ambrose and Kane wrestled a very passe match. On top of that it ended with a shitty count out finish which sucked. Dean Ambrose retained but they have to put him in a compelling program if there trying to push these mid card titles again. He’s way too talented to be having a shitty count out finish with Kane.
Rob Van Dam is coming back at the next PPV. The crowd popped huge for that. Talk about Mr. 420 Swag, he’s definitely got that for sure. WWE desperately needs some type of star power and hey —at least he can put some young guys over.
Dolph Ziggler VS. Alberto Del Rio for the world title wasn’t a classic but it was very memorable. It was memorable because they had the first double turn since Steve Austin and Bret Hart did it ironically in Chicago at Wrestlemania 13. Del Rio worked oer Ziggler head most of the match which was a totally ass hole thing to do and the crowd bought it the same way. They booed Del Rio in the beggining but not nearly as bad as when he started taunting and destroying Ziggler by the end. Ziggler refused Doctors that ran to the ring to help him, so this was definitely a success face turn. He fought like a valent baby face for 80% of the match and Del Rio just took advantage. There was cool spot where Ziggler landed the Zig Zag after Del Rio was playing to the crowd and he almsot paid for it with a close fall. The ending saw Del Rio kick Ziggler with another shot to the head to pick up the pinfall. Crowd Booed Del Rio and chanted for Ziggler at the end as he was being escorted out. Good match.
Cm Punk vs. Chris Jericho was a great match. This was easily better than there past matches and even better than the Punk vs. Undertaker Mania match. They put on a clinic in there. Of course Punk came back to a face reaction and wrestled like a babyface as Jericho pretty much turned heel towards the end of the match. However, I don’t think Jericho is officially doing a heel turn like Alberto Del Rio did. I think he played heel only for this match. There was a bunch of near falls which led to Punk beating him with 2 straight GTS finishers. An interesting part in the match saw Heyman almost costing Punk the match so there definitely planting the seeds for Heyman turning on Punk soon enough. I expect Punk vs. Lesnar at Summer-slam with Paul Heyman in Brock Lesnar’s corner. Very interesting developments here — we can’t wait.
The Tag match followed the Punk and Jericho as a buffer match to the Useless Cena vs. Ryback match that took place. The tag match was pretty good but not as good as the television matches the shield have had lately. The ending saw Randy Orton avoiding a spear from Roman Reigns that hit Daniel Bryan which leto Orton hitting an RKO on Reigns, leading Rollins to capitalize on Bryan with a knee to the head finish. The Sheild Wins! But it should be noted Daniel Byran accidently hit Orton with a suicide dive towards the end of the match. The plan was for Orton or Byran to turn but there’s still no developments in any of those directions. I guess we’ll have to keep tuning in to find out.
And of course the last match was John Cena vs. Ryback in a 3 stages of hell match. Of Course John Cena took the first fall which was a lumberjack match. Ryback took the second fall in the table match and John Cena took the ambulance match by hitting the attitude Adjustment through the ambulance which looked extremely swagg less (meaning fake and it sucked). Nobody cares about this feud and I hope it’s over.
Conclusion: The show was surprisingly good and I can’t wait to see how they follow up with Ziggler’s face turn and Punk’s face turn this summer.
Swag Out,
