WWE’s Payback PPV is usually just a WrestleMania hangover show with a bunch of recycled matches and little intrigue. Thankfully, this year’s Mania was so bad that the company decided to scrap every storyline coming out of the event and create fresh new feuds.
One of the PPV’s biggest storylines involves Vince McMahon. Vince will finally appear to decided whether or not Stephanie McMahon and Triple H or Shane McMahon will run WWE Raw moving forward. Expect his decision to set up a key storyline for the Summer.
Steph & Hunter seem to be enjoying family life and are knee-deep in NXT, so phasing them out as the main roster heel faction is in the cards. Vince will turn on them and give Shane control of Raw, eventually leading to a no DQ match between him & HHH for control (Loser leaves forever).
Here’s the rest of our Payback Predictions:
Ryback vs. Kalisto (US Title Match) – The U.S. Title match is once again on the pre-show which tells you all you need to know about its relevance. Kalisto will retain the title but the WWE has to find a way to take it off him sooner rather than later. The best option would be to have Ryback win & throw him into a meaningful feud with Apollo Crews, but as we know the WWE rarely does the logical thing.
Natalya with Bret Hart vs. Charlotte with Ric Flair (Women’s Title Match) – Let’s call this the “make fans forget about Sasha until Summer Slam” match. Natalya has the talent and wrestling ability to hang with the Diva’s Revolution girls but it’s just a matter of wrong place and wrong time. This is just another meaningless feud for Charlotte to kill time until she drops the strap to Sasha Banks.
Baron Corbin vs. Dolph Ziggler – Dolph is officially a jobber and he’s okay with that because he’s starring in a straight to DVD WWE movie. It’s time for Baron Corbin to establish himself as a monster heel and Ziggler will be the casualty of that. Corbin’s wins and curses out some fans while doing it.