For the first time in over three years, Baltimore is getting a pay-per-view event, as "Payback" will emanate from the Royal Farms Arena on Sunday night.
"Payback," much like "Extreme Rules," falls in an odd spot on the wrestling calendar. Fans are still coming down from the "Wrestlemania" high, and there's a lull until "Money in the Bank" in June. It doesn't help things that the PPV is called "Payback," which, as you can guess, means a lot of rematches. But when the rematches stem from matches that had stipulations the month before, many of the matches seem like they have a backward progressions.
However, that doesn't mean the matches will be bad. All in all, this is a solid card top to bottom that, while not overly exciting, doesn't have a bad match on it.
Here's my predictions for Payback 2015:
CURTIS AXEL and DAMIEN SANDOWN vs. THE ASCENSION
I guess we're supposed to call these guys the New Mega Powers now? There are many people who aren't happy with Sandow's new role as Macho Mandow. However, they're in a bit of a tough spot with him. Sandow was a great heel when he was the smarmy Intellectual Savior. He's not a natural face though. When he was getting his cheers, while they were for him, they were also anti-Miz cheers. So once he broke away from Miz, some of those cheers would naturally fall away, especially if there wasn't a clear direction for him, which there didn't appear to be. So putting him in a comedy role, while not ideal, might be best for him at this moment.
As for this match? I assume the comedy team will win. They seem to be so far done with The Ascension that I can't imagining them winning a PPV match any time soon. The one reason why this match is interesting is that one or both of these teams might be involved with the Elimination Chamber in two weeks, and the winners may signal who is getting the spot.
Winners: The New Mega Powers
SHEAMUS vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER
This is the first of a few rematches on this card from last month's Extreme Rules pay-per-view. This match feels slightly awkward since there was a stipulation attached last month, but it's just a regular singles match this month. However, this normally would be a natural match to conclude their feud in. There's a wrinkle though, and that's Elimination Chamber. The vacant IC title is going to be defended there, and logic says that Sheamus and Ziggler will both be in it. So we can expect this feud to continue in some way after this.
All in all, it's only logical that Sheamus wins this match. They put him in an awkward position with this "better than the small guys" gimmick. He has to win sometimes, otherwise he looks like a complete dope. If he wins too much though, it completely buries the smaller guys. Which is why I assume Ziggler won last month. However, now it's Sheamus's turn to win, so that's the play here.
Winner: Sheamus
NEVILLE vs. KING BARRETT
This is the other rematch from Extreme Rules that is going to likely feed into the Intercontinental title Chamber match. This is also the rubber match of this feud. Neville won at "Extreme Rules," Barrett won at "King of the Ring," so this would seem like a normal blowoff. However, like the previous match, we know these two will continue feuding to some extent for at least a few more weeks.
This match is a little trickier to figure out who will win. Normally, I'd say it's very apparent Barrett will win. He's now King, and you'd think they'd try to build some momentum with that. However, Neville could also use another big win to try to firmly establish him in the upper midcard. The fact that Barrett is King also could make it less likely that Barrett will win. WWE could think that the crowd just makes him bulletproof, as ridiculous as that notion is. I'll say Barrett will win here, but if Neville won, it wouldn't shock me.
Winner: King Barrett
RYBACK vs. BRAY WYATT
This match is less about the match itself, and more about how Bray Wyatt looks. We haven't seen Wyatt wrestle since "Wrestlemania," and we'll see if his ankle is 100 percent now. This feels a lot like a simple transitional move for both of these guys until "Money in the Bank," as I think it's extremely likely if Wyatt is in the match, and it wouldn't shock me if Ryback also was. Either way, there isn't too much in this match. Bray Wyatt will almost certainly win, and who knows, maybe we'll see a full Wyatt Family reunion now that Harper and Rowan are back together.
Winner: Bray Wyatt
NAOMI and TAMINA vs. THE BELLAS
I was a little surprised that this became a tag match. I thought that we'd see a rematch of Naomi and Nikki Bella. However, this makes sense, especially if Tamina is going to be a little more than what we saw from her when she was with AJ. Tamina is an odd case. When we get to see her, she seems like a decent wrestler, but we don't get to see it that often. She's too often in the enforcer role. So to see her wrestle a little more is only a good thing.
My guess here is to go with the default in a match involving the challenger that's a non-title match, go against them. It'll let Naomi and Tamina get a little more established, and doesn't hurt The Bellas at all, especially if Brie takes the pin. So that's the way I'll go. However, if Paige got involved to help the Bellas win (which makes so little sense outside of the fact that Naomi put Paige out, but we'll ignore that for now), it wouldn't shock me.
Winners: Naomi and Tamina
THE NEW DAY vs. TYSON KIDD and CESARO
(in a 2 out of 3 falls match for the Tag Team Titles)
These two stole the show at "Extreme Rules," and that was just a regular singles match. So the expectations are that this 2 out of 3 falls match could end up rivaling last year's match between the Usos and Harper and Rowan. Cesaro has become a king in 2 out of 3 falls matches. He's had many good ones over the years in battles for the US title, his battles with Sami Zayn, and you know he can take that psychology into a tag match.
As far as who wins, the WWE would be dumb if The New Day dropped the belt. With the tag scene getting rejuvenated, they need a strong team on top. And there is money in teams chasing The New Day. They are so hated right now, and such great heels, that they can't pull the rug out from under them at this point. While I do think that Kidd and Cesaro regain the titles eventually, it's not here.
Winners: The New Day
JOHN CENA vs. RUSEV
(in an I Quit Match for the US Title)
Finally, and mercifully, this feud is going to come to an end. This feud, which had so much juice for the first couple months, has sputtered to a conclusion down the stretch. The storyline has become less about Cena and Rusev, and more about Lana. Clearly the WWE wants to turn Lana face. She's reacting to the crowd, and Rusev is getting increasingly incensed over it. In a lot of ways, it's like the dynamic Marc Mero and Sable had back in the Attitude era. So the only question is when they pull the trigger on the turn, and it's likely here.
There are two ways I can see this match going, and both heavily involve Lana. The first, and more unlikely, scenario is that they want to have Rusev win the belt back. They think there's still juice in Rusev, but it would be hard to keep him credible if he loses to Cena once again. However, how do you get Cena to say "I quit"? You don't make it about him. Rusev snaps, and threatens to attack Lana if Cena doesn't quit. Cena, being the compassionate hero that he is, quits just to save Lana. Rusev immediately gets his heat back, the divide between Rusev and Lana is clearly shown, and the feud comes to a logical conclusion. However, that's not the way I expect them to go. Instead, I think they want to continue to have Cena holding the US title, and for good reason. The US title Open Challenge is providing great television, so why not continue that? Instead, I expect Lana to quit for Rusev. This somewhat protects Rusev from quitting, and then Rusev will break away from Lana as he's angered by this. I worry about where this leaves Rusev, but it seems like the most logical conclusion in this case.
Winner: John Cena
DEAN AMBROSE vs. RANDY ORTON vs. ROMAN REIGNS vs. SETH ROLLINS
(for the WWE World Heavyweight Title)
So we're here in our main event, which of course includes all three members of The Shield facing off for the first time. When it was announced, I didn't quite understand the inclusion of Ambrose, and I'm still a bit unsure what he's doing here. Cynics will say that he's just there to take the fall, and keep the momentum going for the other three, but it feels like Orton could have taken the fall without much issue. Most fans logically assume that Rollins is going to retain his title here, so if that's the case, and nothing odd is going to happen, why is it a four-way instead of the triple-threat we all expected?
One possibility is that WWE didn't have anything else for Ambrose to do, and just wanted to include him in the PPV. That's possible, though you think they could have had him face Kane, or really anyone else, and that would have been able to fit into the undercard. Between that fact, and that a fatal four-way that includes three faces is really odd to book, I wonder if someone, specifically Ambrose, will turn heel. Ambrose is in a funny position right now. He's over, but he's the fourth or fifth face on the totem pole right now. A heel turn could give him a spark farther up the ladder. Also, if the Rollins/Kane split does end up happening, you would think that Rollins would need someone besides J&J security to watch his back. Enter Ambrose. It's not completely natural. In fact, it would be rather illogical when you think about how much the two still supposedly hate each other, but it would make for some interesting storylines and matches throughout the summer. I'm not saying it'll definitely happen, but it's something that I'm keeping my eye out for.
Winner: Seth Rollins
Thoughts? Questions? Leave them in the comment section, email me, or find me on Twitter: @TheAOster. You can also find more of my wrestling thoughts in my podcast, Jobbing Out, which you can find here: http://www.glennclarkradio.com/articles/jobbing-out-archives