As always, I'm forcing myself to watch this PPV due to a promise I made myself to review every single WWE PPV this year. Which means that as usual, I feel the need to state my stance on WWE currently . . . I have zero interest in it. I rarely even skim results anymore, so I'm more or less going into this blind, only knowing little from the few threads I've bothered to check on this site. Also, this will probably be pretty short relative to all my other PPV reviews, not that anybody cares. I don't really have any reason to prolong this, so here I go . . .
Payback Review
Intercontinental Title Match
The opening bout was kind of boring for the first two-thirds of the match but the last third started picking things up tremendously. Still, the only thing that really stands out and is worth mentioning, is the finish. I absolutely loved the finish, such a clever and fresh finish and thank god Joe Hennig (I'll keep calling him that as I think both of the names they've given him are crap) won the match too. Hopefully this reign actually means something and I honestly think that it will.
Match Rating: 7/10
Diva's Title Match
I thought it was boring as hell. From what little I've checked on here about Payback, it seems I'm in the minority here but I didn't see a lot and obviously I don't quite get the appeal. The only thing I can think of was that it got a decent amount of time and actually had a story behind it but that's just a guess. Of course, people obviously just have different opinions from me that aren't so critical and harsh. Anyway, off the top of my head, only like five different moves were used between the both of them not counting strikes, which isn't a good thing. But I'm having trouble remembering the specifics and I just saw this match which isn't good. I mean, I can list off several spots from every match except this one and maybe the following one as I just watched this PPV.
But I have a question, and this is not rhetorical, is Kaitlyn suppose to be playing a dumb blonde? Is that her character? Because that's the only thing that would make that Blue ending make sense. The whole not pinning her thing was beyond stupid. Like, she clearly was in control of her emotions. Let me put it like this, if you're pissed off with Michael Jackson (back when he was alive) and you were put in a fighting context with him, your anger takes control of you, would you bust into Thriller in a high pitched voice to mock him? No, you'd kick his ass. The point is, she went out of her way to mock Ak, and if she was consumed by angry, she wouldn't be thinking clearly enough to be able to do that. And the whole point of her doing that was suppose to be because she's angry at Ak but any rational person would realize A) retaining the title benefits is probably worse for her and better for you and B) you can mock her after retaining. But outright killing your chance to win by doing some stupid little thing like that is just Blue and I find it hard to empathize with her which I'm assuming I'm suppose to since she's the face. Just an unbelievable stupid decision that my fit her character which I don't think it does (I'm not even sure if she has one though). And she didn't even kiss Aj, I would've forgave her if she did that! I mean, she'd only look like a pedophile, I don't know see why she wouldn't.
Match Rating: 4/10
US Title Match
Honestly it was just as boring as the Diva's match until Ambrose went for the Old School. It got better from there, but nothing worth talking about.
Match Rating: 5/10
World Heavyweight Championship
This match had an absolutely fantastic story here. I have very little to complain about in fact, I was heavily considering given it a 10 out of 10. Two things, made me go with a 9 but this was very close. My favorite moment is a tie between the baseball slide when Dolph was talking to the doctor or the Zig Zag. As for those two problems, the first one is that during two or three minutes near the beginning, I was tuning in or out. It didn't captivate me all throughout, and this may have been on me but if I'm losing interest during the match at any point it's not a good thing. I can forgive this on it's own, it's the second thing that does it for me. It's something that drives me crazy when it happens, Del Rio going for the Cross-Armbar during the match after spending the entirety focusing on the head and not even touching the arm once. The latter thing is what made me especially made at that and I know it was done mostly for that counter but I'm just trying to think of the logic behind going for that and I can't come up with one. Anyway, I want to bring up a small touch that I loved and that was Del Rio kicking Aj's Diva's title.
Match Rating: 9/10
Chicago Made
This was a solid match, a bit dull in the early goings and I don't think it particular built to that later portions but the second and third act I'll say were pretty good. I didn't like two spots, again the first is minor but the second one really bugged me. The first one was the spot where Jericho just elbowed Punk in the back, Punk would walk a bit forward then Jericho would elbow him again and they did that for like five elbows. The one that really bothered me was the Anaconda Vise reversal, that was stupid. When Punk wrapped his hands around Jericho's neck, why would his reaction be to stand up straight while lifting Punk's legs up instead of letting Punks leg go and retaliate from Punk's attack? I don't get his thought process there.
I really liked when Punk was distracted when he realized Heyman was on the apron/steel steps. It reminds me of my thought during the initial Shield attacks where that Heyman was hiring them and Punk was unaware because he's a delusional heel who truly believes himself to be the Best In The World. That kinda hints to that kind of relationship so I liked that a lot. I also did like when it became a finisher fest because, well one they can be fun, but mostly because this time it actually served a point, it actually really built up to the double GTS finisher (which was pretty cool) very well so I commend them for that.
Match Rating: 8/10
Tag Titles
When Randy tagged Bryan in, the match became great. Before that specific tag though, it was just okay.
Match Rating: 7/10
Twenty-four Minutes of Hell
Okay, it wasn't that bad, I just wanted to use that title. That said it wasn't good either. The first stage was decent, they had enough fun with the lumberjacks that I found it somewhat entertaining. The second stage was pure tedious crap, and my least favorite part by far. The final stage was just ridiculous but I enjoyed it because of it. That said however, I did not take it seriously for one second and that is a problem. This isn't like the Strap match at Extreme Rules which was more or less pointless fun (and they had a lot more fun than this one), this was for the WWE Championship, I have to deduct a point for that.
Match Rating: 4/10
PPV Rating: 6.3/10
Rankings
PPV's
I. Payback ~ 6.3/10
II. Elimination Chamber ~ 6/10
III. Extreme Rules ~ 5.5/10
IV. Royal Rumble ~ 4.9/10
V. WrestleMania XXIX ~ 3.8/10
Matches
I. WHC, Dolph Ziggler (c) vs. Alberto Del Rio: Payback ~ 9/10
II. The Shield vs. Justice League (Cena, Sheamus, & Ryback): Elimination Chamber ~ 9/10
III. WWE Title, The Rock (c) vs. CM Punk: Elimination Chamber ~ 8/10
IV. Tag Titles, Team Hell No (c) vs. The Shield (Reigns & Rollins), Tornado Tag: Extreme Rules ~ 8/10
V. CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho: Payback ~ 8/10
