The show opened with the World Famous Two Time Tag Team Champions of the World. The crowd was super-hot for New Day. Chicago was completely eating up their shtick. They basically said that they shall watch the show sipping lemonade and enjoy the ‘new era’ unravel tonight.
We then moved on to Payback’s custom promo. Throughout the PPV, Ambrose vs Jericho turned out to be the least consequential with Ambrose winning clean and Jericho throwing a temper. But the rest of the night beckoned a sort of continuation on Monday Night Raw. Here are the 5 points to note from the fourth edition of WWE Payback-
#1 The Realest Scare
If New Day got a bigger pop then Enzo and Cass’ entrance killed it. They even had the champs dancing to their theme song, their catchphrases resounding throughout the arena and then both them got on to their promo decimating the Vaudevillains for their gimmick being older than old- school.
Three minutes into the match, Amore was made to slide through the ring to the outside, in the process his head hit hard on the second rope, bouncing off the mat. This led to the referee making the X sign and stopping the match. The stretcher was brought out and that sealed this moment aptly described as heartbreaking.
It was later updated that Amore had suffered a concussion but all other tests came out negative. We won’t get a New Day vs Enzo and Cass but we hope Amore gets better.
#2 The Rivalry Continues
Kevin Owens’ theme song soon brought the excitement back into the crowd after what happened to Amore. So did Zayn’s theme song. And it finally felt like a great rivalry unraveling on the main roster. This was going to be good. They fired up the match with relentless punches leading to Owens being thrown out the ring, eating a Zayn top rope jump and then being thrown at the barricade.
The match was as exciting as you would expect but Zayn lost making the announcers wonder if the rivalry was over. Owens now set his sights on the Intercontinental Championship and made his intentions clear of being a commentator for Miz vs Cesaro. But it was all a build up to having Zayn not settling for the loss and attacking Owens ringside.
This wasn’t professional but this rivalry is all about personal vendetta. The Prizefighter attacked both Cesaro and Zayn. This signals a Fatal Four Way for the IC Title soon.
#3 Not Doing it With Flair
This was a decent match which did not meet the bar set by their NXT match. Charlotte’s expressions and trash talk was on-point, even asking Hart if he wanted to learn something before attacking Natalya’s knee. But the ending came in the most abrupt, ridiculous way possible, the continuity to which we may get on Raw.
A very poor version of a Montreal Screwjob in Chicago. After this confusing conclusion, Natalya and her uncle Bret both locked Flair and Charlotte in the Sharpshooter. We see both father and daughter tapping out simultaneously and that was that.
The Becky Lynch- Emma feud had more fire to it than this one. Anyway, there’s one more match this feud’s got after what happened tonight.
#4 The moment of truth
Vince McMahon stood in the ring getting CM Punk chants. “Wondering how long you can go with this thing”, says the actual face that runs the place. “Come on you got more than that. Come on”.
Stephanie McMahon walked out to the ring and then walked in to being heavily booed for every word she mentioned. The crowd cheered a little for some of the superstar names she mentioned but still, she is the biggest heel in the promotion right now. The boos were visceral. Maybe only Reigns walking into the Chicago arena can outdo that.
Huge ‘Shane O Mac’ chants. McMahon basically talked about most of the headlines he gathered for Raw after Wrestlemania, showing one of Sportskeeda’s very own as well. Anyway, points were made by both parties involved.
The youngest McMahon in the ring admitted to not being likeable but while her brother was gone, she put forth all her business achievements including hosting the biggest WrestleMania ever. Shane McMahon depended on headlines, social media engagement and how the subscribers increased after he took over.
The chairman ultimately arrived at the decision of giving both of them the keys to running Monday Night Raw. The chairman foresees a Game of Thrones kind of a situation wanting his kids to ‘disembowel’ each other in this supposedly collaborative effort.
Shane McMahon seemed to adjust better to the situation actually looking quite happy while Stephanie gave away reluctant smiles.
#5 Phenomenal Main Event
Styles vs Reigns started out as anyone would expect- cheers for Styles and boos for Reigns. The match had much intrigue with Anderson and Gallows interference looming large and a rumor about Finn Balor making his debut. But after Styles leaped through the announce table taking Reigns out with him with a Phenomenal Forearm, the pace of the match changed.
Reigns couldn’t make it to the ring before the 10 count and that led to a count-out victory for Styles but without winning the title. Shane McMahon came out to reverse the decision and making it a no-count-out bout. The match later went to a victory by disqualification for Styles after Reigns accidently delivered a low blow.
That led Stephanie McMahon to come out and try to upstage her brother by making this a no-disqualification match. So, of course Gallows and Anderson came to wreak havoc. This led to close calls, aerial moves, big teases of a Styles victory but in the end it was ‘The Guy’
We then got a backstage peek where it was mentioned by both McMahons that Styles will take on Reigns at Extreme rules in a rematch
