No.	Matches	Stipulations
1	Kalisto (c) vs. Ryback (Pre-show)	Singles match for the WWE United States Championship
2	Roman Reigns (c) vs. AJ Styles	Singles match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship
3	The Miz (c) (with Maryse) vs. Cesaro	Singles match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship
4	Dean Ambrose vs. Chris Jericho	Singles match
5	Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens	Singles match
6	Charlotte (c) (with Ric Flair) vs. Natalya (with Bret Hart)	Singles match for the WWE Women's Championship
7	Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady vs. The Vaudevillains	Tag team match to determine the #1 contender for the WWE Tag Team Championship
8	Dolph Ziggler vs. Baron Corbin	Singles match

Following WrestleMania with a show called "Payback" seems like it would make for a huge number of rematches, but given that Mania was a steaming pile of garbage, I'm happy to report that there is not a single one occurring here outside of the pre-show. On paper this looks more promising than the overwhelming majority of WWE's PPVs. Basically the only match that looks totally uninteresting to me is Dean Ambrose vs. Chris Jericho, and even that is unlikely to completely suck.

Reigns almost certainly retains, but the underlying story stuff and the fact that this match hasn't been done before (to my knowledge) means that I'm definitely interested in the main event.

Miz is killing it right now, and as strange as it feels to say, it seems really clear that he should go over Cesaro here. Cesaro's total inability to cut any sort of promo is really unfortunate.

Zayn vs. Owens obviously has tremendous potential. I suppose the range of finishes should be something from: (1) Owens wins dirty; (2) Sami wins flukey; (3) Non-finish. I would hope and expect that this isn't a one-and-done.

Seems like the Vaudevillains should go over Enzo and Cass. That isn't my correct hatred of sing-along talking - I actually like Enzo and Cass a decent bit - but it doesn't seem like the time to set up New Day vs. Enzo and Cass yet, and it's better to legitimize more than one team so that the tag team division is actually a division rather than a series of 2-on-2 feuds where only two teams are ever viable at a time. Basically one of these teams can absorb a loss here and the other can't, and the ones who can't are good enough that they shouldn't.

Women's Title and Corbin-Ziggler are both predictable, but Nattie-Charlotte has been good in the past and Corbin-Ziggler could be entertaining to some extent. This is a natural match to put Corbin into at this point, so even if it's predictable I applaud the booking sense they're showing with him.

Why have they still called it Payback lol

I'm pretty interested in this fwiw

Seems like it'll be a decent show. I'll be missing it though because of real life busyness. Can't wait to see people flip out when AJ loses. I'm going to try to stay unspoiled and go back to watch Zayn/KO.

People are dumb if they flip out at this. I'm looking forward to the main event because there's potential for some interesting stuff to happen but AJ leaving with the belt(sorry, title) has to be a long shot. Not sure why I'm looking forward to it though, they've been in a bunch of spots where they could shake things up lately and went with the safe option every time. I wouldn't be surprised to see AJ and Roman become best friends to take on Not Bullet Club.

Picks:

Ryback
Corbin
Vaudevillians
Charlotte
Zayn
Ambrose
Miz
Reigns

Any reason to watch the last RAW before this if I missed it?

+1 to it being silly if anyone bothers getting upset about AJ not winning the title. He's not winning the title. That said, it will be disappointing from a results standpoint if the whole thing is just a reboot of Daniel Bryan being forced to kiss the ring at Fast Lane last year.

PJ, I watched Raw and remember thinking it wasn't bad, but basically can't remember anything that happened on it...so as a warmup for this show it's far from necessary.

Ah ****, Sami vs KO means that I have to watch some of this.

not much happened iirc besides from continuing the triangle arc of Reigns/AJ/Bullet Club. AJ continues to claim he isn't in cahoots with them, even came out to stop them from attacking RR at the end of the show but RR just superman punched AJ instead. I think the show ended with Reigns/AJ/BC guys all down on the canvas.

Miz cut a good promo, but nothing can't miss.

That does actually look like a decent card, so naturally it takes place two days after my free network month ended

I have interest in the NXT half the card. Curious if they'll let them have half the matches they've had at NXT. And then also what happens in the main event.

Predictions:

1 Kalisto (c) vs. Ryback (Pre-show) Singles match for the WWE United States Championship

Kalisto retains. Having a champ lose on the pre-show seems like a bad idea.

2 Roman Reigns (c) vs. AJ Styles Singles match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship

Roman wins. There is no swerve.

3 The Miz (c) (with Maryse) vs. Cesaro Singles match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship

Miz retains after a Maryse distraction

4 Dean Ambrose vs. Chris Jericho Singles match

Jericho wins so he can be fed to Roman at Extreme Rules.

5 Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens Singles match

KO will win by DQ or doctor stoppage or something. They'll continue to feud until Summerslam.

6 Charlotte (c) (with Ric Flair) vs. Natalya (with Bret Hart) Singles match for the WWE Women's Championship

Hopefully we get the same quality of match that we got in NXT. Charlotte retains.

7 Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady vs. The Vaudevillains Tag team match to determine the #1 contender for the WWE Tag Team Championship

Vaudevillians win via Dudley Boys interference.

8 Dolph Ziggler vs. Baron Corbin Singles match

Baron Corbin mangles Dolph Ziggler.

Recommend watching "This Week in WWE" to get primed on all of the stories heading into Payback. Also, Vince decides whether or not Shane or Stephanie gets control of Raw tonight.

I have a weird hunch that Natalya is going to win the women's title. Posting it so I look smart if it actually happens.

I'm guessing the way this works is Vince chooses one person to control Raw, but then the other person actually does until Summerslam.

Storyline wise, heel Vince hates Shane. There's no way he should choose him. Unless they say ratings have gone up or somebody else steps in. Some kind of revolt would be awesome. I'm gonna keep saying it: WCW invasion done right this time. Big Poppa Pump gonna show up in Shane's corner tonight.

Not up to date on the storyline but it seems likely there is some sort of swerve from Vince right? Like putting himself or other third party in charge.

Maybe he picks both = brand split?

Maybe Vince says neither of them deserve to run RAW and he brings back Big Johnny.

We can only hope.

The next PPV is 3 weeks from tonight....wtf

my man Arda lost his job to this Greg Hamilton donk? cmon man

With the next PPV being Extreme Rules, I have a feeling we are going to see a lot of unsatisfactory endings to matches tonight. They have to have a way to get stipulations on matches, and with only 3 weeks to build a lot rematches might be in store.

Unfortunately this rings completely true. Nobody should attend the funerals of people who thought up the idea of annual gimmick PPVs.

Just tuned in. Didn't realize Ziggler-Corbin was relegated to the pre-show. Guess it was the best candidate for that.

i thought there was going to be a Becky vs Emma match?

too bad, it'd be better than half this card

Lol

Welp. Baron Corbin is now eligible to be Intercontinental Champion.