WWE Payback

[Ricky Jackson]

For those who care, I watched Camp WWE and well, if you want to hear Vince swear a lot and see Flair having implied sex with bears, here you go

[Noah's_Savior]

I'm excited for more AJ Styles and Roman Reigns matches in the future, they seem to gel well. The overbooking didn't kill my enjoyment of the match and I look forward to the BC/Anoa'i family 6 man tags on Raw building to Extreme Rules

[Johnny Sorrow]

The moment when Roman looked over after the low blow as Stephanie walked out, I genuinely felt sorry for him. Genuinely.

 

It's like he was looking over and his face said "I know, I'm being totally fucked by booking and there's nothing I can do about it".

 

This show has made me sad.

Then you just don't get it and need to stop watching. This was a great show.

[WingedEagle]

 

The moment when Roman looked over after the low blow as Stephanie walked out, I genuinely felt sorry for him. Genuinely.

 

It's like he was looking over and his face said "I know, I'm being totally fucked by booking and there's nothing I can do about it".

 

This show has made me sad.

Then you just don't get it and need to stop watching. This was a great show.

 

 

Great main event. Until that point it was a sub-par Raw.

[tjones324]

I enjoyed the heck out of the show. Didn't like the screwjob finish and don't really dig Jericho or Ambrose either one but everything else was good. Really liked the main event, overbooking and all.

[Loss]

I should say a few words about it while it's still in my mind. Styles-Reigns had some booking stuff they had to work around, but they took every opportunity afforded them. They have Reigns in a good role right now because his heel mannerisms are subtle, feel really natural and are sooo great. He knows when to dial up and down his facial expressions, and I loved the way he sold for Styles. He took a staggering bump off of that one kick that was just an awesome visual. They also did everything they could to put over the size difference at every turn. If Reigns has more title defenses like this, it's going to be a fun 5-10 years or however long they run with him. Last night shows he already has a strong grasp of how to carry himself as a champion in big matches.

[C.S.]

Count me in as another one who thought this was a hell of a fun show (other than the scary and nasty Enzo injury, obviously). Sure, there are things that can be nitpicked, but this is the most fun I've had with a WWE PPV in a long, long time.

[MikeCampbell]

I may have to watch Reigns/Styles again, because I seem to be the only person here who didn't really care for it. It had a few great moments, like the Superman punch while AJ was airborne, and the near fall from the 450. But, it seemed to be booked and structured to try to hide the fact that Roman isn't good enough to pull his weight in a main event match. I'm assuming that tonight will be a trios between Bullet Club and Reigns/Usos with AJ getting the pin on him, to heat up Extreme Rules.

[C.S.]

I didn't love the main event either - not sure what everyone is going so gaga over - but even though none of the matches were classics IMO, the entire show was fun and more than the sum of its parts. With that said, I thought Roman handled himself well in the match. I never got the sense that he was in over his head. However, it did seem at first that AJ was slowing down his pace for Roman's sake.

[Karl]

Excluding the every so very long McMahon section, I enjoyed the show a lot. Reigns is clearly so much better being a bit of a dick than a pandering babyface. Very much a thumbs up fun show.

[GOTNW]

Maybe it's because of how into absurdism I am but I'm at a point where I genuinely love the McMahon family drama and watching Vince troll internet nerds brings me unadulterated joy. Loving Vince's segment so far and show sounds great.

[JerryvonKramer]

Maybe it's because of how into absurdism I am but I'm at a point where I genuinely love the McMahon family drama and watching Vince troll internet nerds brings me unadulterated joy. Loving Vince's segment so far and show sounds great.

My main issue with it was that it ended up being so pointless. The "pay-off", if you can call it that, is so ridiculously short-term that perhaps the only purpose it served was to ruin the main event later on.

 

I quite liked Vince's personal performance.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Going to watch the main event again. First impression was a absolute stone cold classic and the best match since Bryan vs HHH at Mania 30. The pacing and selling were unbelievable. Just so so so incredibly good. I think they managed to overcome the booking. I liked it so much, I bought tickets for Extreme Rules on the announcement of a rematch.

[Scarlet-Left]

I hated the crowd. Cheering for Sasha during the women's match was disrespectful, as was chanting "you can't wrestle" to a guy who clearly can. Smart fans, often times, come across as bigger marks than casual fans, through their ability to convince themselves people they dislike are poor performers.

 

I appreciated that the women's match, sort of, had to end the way it did; if Nattie won then she'd only be holding the belt for a month at the maximum (since, I think, it's clear Charlotte will be dropping it to Sasha in August), but if Charlotte retained her usual way (Flair's interference), it would make Bret seem ineffectual/irrelevant, and a clean loss for Nattie would've likewise.

 

I really liked the Owens/Zayn angle (which, effectively, ran through two matches) and the mid-card feels very hot (it's a pity the other mid-card title keeps getting shit on).

 

Jericho & Ambrose had a match.

 

The main event, I thought, was really good, though it would've worked better without the second restart (the first one didn't hurt the match, I felt), I liked the interaction between the Usos and the Bullet Club. In fact, both dives onto the four were well done, it might have just been the camera angle, but they didn't feel as contrived or sloppy as those spots usually do. Again, I hated the crowd, whose petty hatred of Roman hurt the match; they weren't reacting properly, even to AJ, because they were so pre-occupied with hating on Roman. Roman Reigns has more than justified his push; he's smooth in the ring, knows his limitations (a whole lot better than Ambrose), he's got a great look and the physical charisma to match it, and his character work has been amazing (the lines he's given are usually terrible but he can't control that, what he can control, like body language and facial expression, he controls very well).

[goc]

I may have to watch Reigns/Styles again, because I seem to be the only person here who didn't really care for it. It had a few great moments, like the Superman punch while AJ was airborne, and the near fall from the 450. But, it seemed to be booked and structured to try to hide the fact that Roman isn't good enough to pull his weight in a main event match. I'm assuming that tonight will be a trios between Bullet Club and Reigns/Usos with AJ getting the pin on him, to heat up Extreme Rules.

Except he's already pulled his weight in main event matches numerous times. But I realize a lot of people are married to the "hurr Roman sucks!" narrative despite all evidence to the contrary.

[cm funk]

Normally that type of booking would drive me mad, but Corbin is an act I have zero use for.

 

Will be redeemed if he destroys Ziggler on RAW and puts him out of action for a while. Ziggler is due for a vacation.....his act is so stale right now.

 

Corbin improved a lot in NXT from where he started, both in ring and out. I actually became a big fan of him over time, but it was too soon to call him up IMO, and shitty WWE booking and calling him up at the same time as other more polished talent isn't doing him any favours. He's not dead in the water, but if you want this guy to be something you have to push him like you mean it. 50/50 with Dolph is not the way to get new talent over

[cm funk]

Ryback saved Kalisto on that dive.

 

Seriously

 

This probably belongs in the Meltzer thread, but on WOR Dave said Ryback was "out of position" on the dive and I just SMDH. Kalisto severely undershot it and Ryback saved his ass by moving into position to do so. Sometimes I feel like Dave doesn't know what the fuck he's talking about. And Bryan, who should call him on it, was doing WOL and had the pre-show on mute and guaran-damn-tee he wasn't paying attention to the match. I feel like Dave is always multi-tasking while watching shows and it tends to explain why he misses the little things and loves the spot fests

[C.S.]

I really question whether Dave still has passion for wrestling anymore, or has in over a decade. Sometimes I wonder if he just sticks with it because it's his bread and butter. Does anyone actually care about his MMA output? I highly doubt he's any kind of name in that world. Even if he is, I'm pretty certain he's not considered the premier reporter (or one of) in MMA like he is in wrestling.

[Strummer]

Dave corrected himself on Ryback/Kalisto in his daily update

[MikeCampbell]

 

I may have to watch Reigns/Styles again, because I seem to be the only person here who didn't really care for it. It had a few great moments, like the Superman punch while AJ was airborne, and the near fall from the 450. But, it seemed to be booked and structured to try to hide the fact that Roman isn't good enough to pull his weight in a main event match. I'm assuming that tonight will be a trios between Bullet Club and Reigns/Usos with AJ getting the pin on him, to heat up Extreme Rules.

Except he's already pulled his weight in main event matches numerous times. But I realize a lot of people are married to the "hurr Roman sucks!" narrative despite all evidence to the contrary.

 

 

Care to provide a few recommendations? Last night with Styles, although I still plan on re-watching it, and Mania with HHH both struck me as uninspired efforts from him.

[goc]

vs. Bryan at FastLane 2015

vs. Brock at Mania 31

vs. Big Show at Extreme Rules 2015

vs. Sheamus TLC 2015

vs. Sheamus on whatever Raw he won the title

[Parties]

The characters' dynamic is rehashed and a bit lukewarm now that the kids are old enough to have kids of their own, but I much prefer this version of the McMahons soap opera to HHH playing with his action figures.

[Strummer]

Stephanie is being portrayed as the biggest star in the promotion at this point. I don't even think it's even that arguable right now

[Sidebottom]

I think the main event announce table spot, might have been the best announce table spot ever? Didn't have Roman laying on the table for minutes, and getting in position. Just a straight dive perfectly placed.

 

My personal favourite will probably always be the Bret Hart SS95 one, but yeah, this was an awesome spot. It came out of nowhere and was timed perfectly as you say.

[Fando]

It's up there. If you leave out Foley's HIAC, there's the Bret one, and the other Mankind spot when he went head first off the apron that was pretty shocking. The one from Sunday is just beautiful to watch. Should have immediately gone in the RAW opening.