WWE Payback is in the books, and for the most part, it was a decent show. There were no match of the year candidates but there were also no real duds either. Even the highly speculated House of Horrors match came across as a decent cinematic attempt at a brawl, exceeding many’s expectations.
There were even some unexpected match outcomes, including Chris Jericho’s US title win over Kevin Owens. It was a surprising finish that means both Owens and Jericho now jump to SmackDown – it’s actually a better scenario than most could have predicted.
While the biggest complaint could easily be that there were no real great matches, there were definitely other things to poke holes in on this night. A few examples of such include WWE’s bias toward their New York-friendly time zones, a pinfall on a former NXT Champion that looked less than legit and a kick to one of Raw’s current Tag Team Champions that caused a tooth to get knocked out.
All of these moments and more are included in this unique take on Payback, each one featuring a lovely .gif from the show. So without any more delay, here are 5 of the botchiest and most outrageous moments from this Raw-exclusive Pay-Per-view.
#5 California doesn’t get dark that early
There was a tonne of hesitation about the House of Horrors match before Payback went on the air, mostly because nobody knew what the match was – not even WWE. This pre-recorded segment actually turned out to be pretty cool, simply taking advantage of the fancy tricks WWE has learned after many years of their movie projects.
The only real fault to find here is the fact that WWE pre-recorded this segment at night, yet it was about 6:30 PM in San Jose, California when this aired. There should have been at least a couple more hours of daylight still left. This was a minor botch in planning for Vince McMahon’s Eastern Standard time zone-based company.
#4 The new greatest tag team in space and time
It’s not every day that an announce team can get over in a matter of seconds, but that’s exactly what happened for Obaid Kadwani & Shez Sardar. Even though they were speaking in Hindi, English speaking fans would easily pick out the phrases “Mind blowing matches,” “WWE,” and “Payback.”
To cap off their short time on screen, the two spouted out the word “Payback!” in excited unison and it was wonderful.
Michael Cole felt their enthusiasm and tried to repeat how Obaid & Shez said “Payback,” but Booker T wasn’t as keen on it. Corey Graves also remarked about how much fun they seemed to be having. Kudos to those announcers, who were obviously loving what they were doing.
#3 One snug kick
Sheamus has always been known for working a stiff style, but this was a tad too close. Jeff Hardy took a boot to the face from the Celtic Warrior that had an immediately negative effect on The Charismatic Enigma's pearly whites.
Sheamus gladly bragged about this strike, writing on Twitter before Payback even went off the air, “Toothless & Broken. Tonight was DELIGHTFUL. #Payback.” Something tells me that the Hardyz will want retribution for this as well as the post-match attack.
#2 BOTH shoulders must be down
Samoa Joe and Seth Rollins had a solid match that was given over 15 minutes. That’s all good stuff so far. It was a little surprising to see Rollins go over, but that wasn’t bad because Joe still looked dominant in this one. What was bad was the fact that the ref may have counted the pinfall to three, but it was not a legitimate match ending.
As can be seen, Samoa Joe’s left shoulder was clearly not on the mat. The referee was in a direct line of sight to view this, yet counted the fall anyway. Someone should get that man some glasses.
#1 “Thank you, Strowman!”
Has this all been one big double-turn? Braun Strowman and Roman Reigns put on a hot main event but, as usual, the crowd didn’t exactly play along like the WWE hoped. Braun Strowman was the ruthless monster that showed no mercy, while Roman Reigns continued being the man with the odds stacked impossibly against him.
In the case of any other person in Roman’s spot, Braun would be competing against the most sympathetic underdog ever.
Roman’s a special case, however, and the crowd treats him slightly different. As he struggled to walk backstage, savaged by The Monster Among Men moments prior, the audience chanted “You deserve it” and “Thank you, Strowman“. Reigns just can’t win the crowd over no matter what he does.
When the show was over, the fallout continued. Braun still wasn’t finished with his opponent and took out an ambulance door while he was trying to attack Roman. The arena noise could not be heard but you could bet that they were in full support of this.
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