Last night’s WWE Payback was a surprisingly good show that did a great job of showcasing the younger, rising stars of the company. From Rusev to Neville to all three former Shield members, last night’s show did a great job of letting us all know that the future has arrived. Let’s take a look at what went down.
Rollins Survives a Thriller
In what was easily the match of the night, Seth Rollins defended his WWE World Heavyweight title against Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose and Randy Orton. This bout was an all-out brawl full of great spots and moments to get everyone excited. We start off with chaos everywhere as Kane and J&J Security get involved and try to give Rollins the advantage, which would pretty much be the case for the entire match.
As Rollins and Orton brawl on the outside, Ambrose makes his presence felt with his patented suicide dive onto two of his opponents.
J&J Security then gets involved and we have a full on mosh pit going down ringside. Not one to ever be left out of the party, Reigns tops Ambrose by hitting a diving splash over the top rope onto the pile of wrestlers. It’s pretty incredible that a guy his size can do something like this.
Love him or hate him, Reigns is really developing into a great wrestler and he showed it again last night.
Back in the ring, Rollins is wearing Reigns down before Ambrose gets involved and cuts off his attack. Ambrose hits Rollins with a corner splash and Reigns immediately follows it with a clothesline to the Champ. Ambrose and Reigns give each other a fist bump that the crowd absolutely loves and they start beating Rollins down.
Reigns sets up for a Superman Punch but Kane finally decides to get involved and pulls him out of the ring instead and throws Reigns into the barricade. Ambrose tries to get involved but Kane stops him in his tracks and then J&J Security and the Demon start working on Orton. Everything is going exactly as Rollins would like it.
Rollins starts working over Ambrose in the ring, hitting a buckle bomb and getting a near-fall. Ambrose tries to make a comeback and goes for Dirty Deeds, but Kane gets involved again and hits him with a chokeslam. Orton and Reigns are back and they take out Kane. Orton in control of Rollins now, hitting a superplex off of the turnbuckle before the champ rolls to the outside.
The Viper follows him and backdrops Rollins onto the barricade before taking the announce table apart. Rollins is able to take control of Orton before Reigns and Ambrose get involved again. Reigns, Ambrose and Rollins all beat Orton down and Rollins yells for them to pick him up!
They aren’t actually doing this are they? Don’t mess with us like this, it’s incredibly cruel WWE…
TRIPLE POWERBOMB THROUGH THE TABLE! WOOOO SHIELD BABY!
The crowd goes absolutely insane at this semi-Shield reunion and the trio celebrates like things never changed. Very cool moment in the middle of the match and it was pulled off perfectly.
Rollins starts celebrating and gets between Reigns and Ambrose and puts his fist out. Could this be a Shield reunion?!
Nope. Ambrose and Reigns start beating the hell out of the champ and they decide to take the spanish announce table apart. They set Rollins up for a powerbomb through the table, but Kane gets involved so they just powerbomb Kane onto Rollins instead. The crowd is loving every moment and they start chanting for one more powerbomb since the first didn’t break the table. So of course, Reigns and Ambrose oblige.
Reigns and Ambrose double powerbomb Kane through Rollins through the table and that was awesome. With Ortno and Rollins now incapacitated, Ambrose and Reigns realize that they are the only two men left standing. Both look at each other and say there’s not much else to do but fight each other.
Awww look at all the brotherhood.
Back in the ring, the two begin to slug it out. Ambrose takes control with a crossbody splash, but Reigns counters with a roll up, but instead of pinning Ambrose he picks him up and hits a powerbomb for a near-fall. Reigns misses his first Superman punch attempt but connects on the second for a near-fall.
Reigns begins to call for a Spear but Ambrose counters with a big knee and instead tries to hit Dirty Deeds. Reigns counters that and hits a massive spear for the 1….2…. ROLLINS BREAKS IT UP!
For the second time in three months, Rollins costs Reigns the title. Reigns looks shocked as Rollins tries to get the hell out of the ring. Eventually, all three former Shield members start throwing down and Ambrose hits Dirty Deeds but before he can pin Rollins Kane pulls him out of the ring and begins to beat both Ambrose and Reigns down with steel steps. The Demon chokeslams Reigns onto the steps before Orton kicks him from behind.
Orton tries to get into the ring but Rollins grabs him and tries to hit Orton’s patented hanging DDT on the Viper but Orton counters and goes for one of his own. He calls for an RKO but J&J get involved so they each get RKO’d instead. The Viper hits a powerslam on Rollins and his hanging DDT then calls for another RKO. Rollins counters by pushing Orton into Kane, who eats the RKO instead. Orton tries to recover but that gave Rollins all the time he needed.
The champ hits Orton with an awkward-looking Pedigree for the 1..2..3! Rollins retains by using Triple H’s finisher! We go off the air with Triple H coming out to celebrate the victory with his protege.
What. A. Match.
FLIP THE PAGE TO SEE IF RUSEV COULD MAKE CENA QUIT…
