WWE: Payback
June 1, 2014
Rosemont, IL
Allstate Arena

The current WWE champs are as follows:
WWE World Heavyweight Champion: Daniel Bryan (4/6/2014)
WWE Intercontinental Champion: Bad News Barrett (5/4/2014)
WWE U.S. Champion: Sheamus (5/5/2014)
WWE Divas Champion: Paige (4/7/2014)
WWE Tag Team Champions: The Usos (3/3/2014)

Oh, another show in Chicago. WILL CM PUNK SHOW UP?

Your hosts are Michael Cole, JBL, and Jerry Lawler.

• WWE U.S. Champion Sheamus vs. Cesaro (w/Paul Heyman)
  

Being one of the few geniuses left in wrestling, Heyman responds to the chants of CM Punk by not only pointing out that Punk would rather be at a Chicago Blackhawks game tonight than entertaining the WWE fans, but that the Chicago Blackhawks will have their streak broken by the Los Angeles Kings. Brilliant. Sheamus is a house of fire to start, but Cesaro blocks the Finlay Roll. He absorbs some European uppercuts and hits the roll anyway. He pounds on Cesaro’s chest on the apron, but the slingshot clothesline takes him straight into a European uppercut to knock him back on the floor. NO LEVERAGE SUPERPLEX by Cesaro gets two. Butterfly powerbomb and a double stomp scores another nearfall for Cesaro. Sheamus fights back with the Irish Curse backbreaker and lands a TRIO of flying knee drops for two. Cesaro hits him with the Very European Uppercut for 1-2-NO! Sheamus tries the Brogue Kick, but Cesaro sidesteps him and delivers the Everest German Suplex for two. The Neutralizer is countered with White Noise for 1-2-NO! Cesaro quickly escapes the Cloverleaf and delivers the Swissblade for another nearfall. After Cesaro looks to Heyman for advice, he puts Sheamus in the CESARO SWING! Time for the Neutralizer, but Sheamus grabs Cesaro in a small package for the 1-2-3! (11:58) I’m only assuming this is their way of getting rid of the giant swing since it’s really a babyface move. I think I would have had Sheamus selling more on his way out and looking less victorious since he escaped by the skin of his teeth and so that it doesn’t weaken Cesaro as much. Anyways, fun back and forth match from these two with all the right moves. ***¼

• Rybaxel vs. Cody Rhodes & Goldust
  

Goldust plays your face in peril here. Not much to tell as Rybaxel just take turns beating on him. Hot tag to Cody, he’s all dropkicks. Botched moonsault press on Rybaxel. It didn’t look like he got enough air on the jump. Disaster Kick is countered by Ryback as he throws Cody into Goldust. Meat Hook Clothesline to Cody, but Goldust makes the save. Goldust takes care of Axel, Ryback dumps out Goldust, and then Cody delivers CROSS RHODES to Ryback for 1-2-NO. Axel breaks up the pin, but gets sent out. Ryback catches the Disaster Kick again and lands SHELL SHOCK for the win as the losing streak continues for the Rhodes brothers. (7:50) After the bell, Cody gets on the mic and tells Goldust that he needs a better tag team partner than him and then walks out. Better call Ziggy! Above average Raw match here. *½

• Rusev (w/Lana) vs. Big E
  

Before the match, Lana comes out and reminds us how much American sucks and that Russia is better. It is INCREDIBLE how these two guys have not had a flag match yet. Big E has some SWANK red white and blue tights on tonight. Punchy brawl to start. As Rusev charges him in the corner, Big E catches him with STJoe. Rusev rolls to the apron for solace, but gets wiped out with a spear through the ropes by Big E. FOR AMERICA! Back inside, Big E goes for the splash only to eat a Superkick. ACCOLADE! Good night, everybody. (3:39) Love the effort from Big E. Rusev is still just an unstoppable force. ¾*

WWE world champ Daniel Bryan and his wife Brie Bella are chatting backstage.

• Bo Dallas vs. Kofi Kingston
  

The PPV debut of Bo Dallas. No match because Kane (WHO RUINS EVERYTHING) comes out and beats up Kofi. What does Bo do while all of this is happening? He just cowers on the floor. Once Kane leaves, he tries to give Kingston some inspirational words. You’ll be back on your feet in no time, Kofi! All you have to do is BO-LIEVE.

• WWE Intercontinental Champion Bad News Barrett vs. Rob Van Dam
  

After some back and forth stuff in the ring, Van Dam puts Barrett on the barricade for the Spinning Heel Kick off the apron. Back inside, Barrett blocks a headscissors out of the corner and boots Van Dam in the nads. To the floor again, Barrett delivers the Cactus Jack Elbow. In the ring, RVD comes back with a stepover heel kick and hits Rolling Thunder. They both miss their finishers, but Barrett still manages the Winds of Change for two. Van Dam rolls to the floor and leans up against the ringpost. Barrett tries for the BULL HAMMER, but RVD ducks and Barrett hits the post. Back in again, Van Dam delivers a slingshot DDT, but the Split-Legged Moonsault hits knees. BULL HAMMER! Cover, 1-2-3. (9:31) Despite hitting his elbow on the bone crushing steel ringpost, he still manages to pull off the smash. Hey, whatever. **

Time to find out what the injured Daniel Bryan will do with the WWE world heavyweight title. If he doesn’t forfeit the championship to Stephanie McMahon, his wife Brie Bella will lose her job. Bryan reminds SMH how hard he has fought to get to where he is today. This creates a “CM Punk” chant, to which Stephanie responds: “The people want you to quit, just like CM Punk did.” Stephanie tells Daniel and Brie that if they do ever decide to conceive (which would be a mistake in her mind), their child should be able to look back and see their parents did the right thing when it wasn’t so easy to do. Bryan hopes Stephanie’s kids are watching right now so they can see what a narcissistic, self-centered beeyotch she is. Bryan starts to give away the WWE title, but Brie stands in his way. She then tells Stephanie that she can’t be fired because she QUITS. Well hey, now WWE doesn’t have to give her severance pay. With that said, Brie slaps the holy crap out of Stephanie. Yes chants all around while Stephanie scurries backstage.

• Last Man Standing Match: John Cena (w/the Usos) vs. Bray Wyatt (w/Luke Harper & Erick Rowan)
  

Punchy brawling to start. Bray avalanches Cena and then dances with him. Yes, dances with him. Shoulderblocks, Protobomb, and the Five Knuckle Shuffle ensues. No AA, as Wyatt delivers an unnecessarily complicated gutbuster. Running senton misses, but the Uranage does not. Sister Abigail fails, but then Bray wipes out Cena with the running body block. As they fight on the apron, Cena headbutts Bray off the top turnbuckle to set up the Flying Famouser. Bray shoves off the AA and drills Cena with SISTER ABIGAIL! Cena is up at eight and hits the AA out of nowhere. At the count of seven, Bray goes into CRAB WALK position, which stops the count since he’s on his feet. This elicits some action from Harper and Rowan, which brings in the Usos as they fly around. Bray brings a chair into the mix and whacks Cena out to the floor. Once Cena gets the chair, he beats Wyatt down to the mat. Cena sets up a table in the ring, but it backfires as Wyatt gives him a suplex through the table. While Cena is fighting to stand up, Bray tosses half of the steps into the ring. Cena eats the steps and then gets placed on them as Bray grabs a chair. Just as he looks to lower the boom, Cena moves and jabs Wyatt with the chair. He then knocks Bray out to the floor with the steps. That’s not all though as Cena THROWS THE STAIRS into Bray’s face! Bray is up at eight. Cena is pulling out tables when he sees Wyatt is staggering. Instead of continuing what he’s doing, Cena runs down the apron onto Bray only to get caught with SISTER ABIGAIL ON THE FLOOR. Cena is up at seven. They fight over to the bottom half of the steps where Bray backdrops away a powerbomb and then scores with the running senton. More brawling around the ring as Wyatt gets drilled with another quick AA. Here come the Wyatt family again. They pick up Bray and lean him against the barricade before doing a number on Cena. Now the Usos return. Harper and Rowan set up the tables Cena pulled out earlier. One of the Usos superkicks Rowan down up against a table and then buttalanches him through it. Meanwhile, the other Uso takes a SUPERPLEX THROUGH TABLES thanks to Luke Harper. That should take care of those four. Elsewhere, Bray and Cena go crashing through a piece of the barricade. Gee whiz, they are throwing everything but the kitchen sink in this one. They then brawl over to the production area where Bray takes an ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT off an anvil case THROUGH WHAT APPEARS TO BE A LONG THIN CARDBOARD BOX. Cena then turns a tall anvil case over onto Bray to keep him down for the ten-count. (24:17) Cena continues to be unbeaten in LMS matches. Every finish for one of these involving Cena have been at the very least creative and this was no different. They threw everything at this match and pretty much wrapped up the feud here. Of course, Wyatt will come back next week talking about how he’s been “reborn” and what not. ***½

• WWE Divas Champion Paige vs. Alicia Fox
  

Kind of a scruffy start to this one. Alicia then forgets what she’s doing and goes after the fans. When Paige tries bringing her back in the ring via the steps, Alicia yanks her down to the floor. Back inside, Alicia cranks on the neck and works the back a little. She hits a pretty nice tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for two. She’s distracted by her own craziness though, allowing a Paige comeback. SCORPION CROSSLOCK. That’s enough to take care of Queen Alicia. (6:34) It was what it was. Afterwards, Alicia has a temper tantrum and runs backstage.*

• No Holds Barred Elimination Match: The Shield vs. Evolution
  

Big brawl to start as they all have been tonight because everyone wants PAYBACK~! Everybody splits off into pairs and fight around ringside for the first couple minutes. It then evolves into a traditional tag match as they slow the pace down. Both teams take turns controlling the action. There’s a big standoff between Reigns and Triple H. Reigns wins that little contest and corners HHH on the side of town. Rollins hits the Three Amigos. Ambrose gets a turn, but he leaps off the middle rope down onto H’s boot to change the tide. Bluetista becomes the #1 trend worldwide on the Twitter machine. Skip ahead to Ambrose eating the HHH Facebuster, but then he comes off the ropes with the Nigel McGuinness lariat. Hot tag to Reigns, and he rules the ring. SUPERMAN PUNCH to Bats gets two. The match breaks down and we get some brawling in the crowd. Leaving Rollins and Ambrose beaten down in the crowd, Evolution takes back control at ringside and TRIPLE POWERBOMBS Reigns through the announce table. As Evolution mocks the Shield, Ambrose flies in from out of nowhere and dives on all three. From inside the ring, Rollins is there to somersault plancha onto HHH and Orton. With Reigns still down from the powerbomb, Evolution still has the numbers advantage over Rollins and Ambrose. Out comes the chairs. Ambrose takes a back suplex from Orton on an unfolded chair. Meanwhile, Rollins receives a PEDIGREE on a chair! Now that Ambrose and Rollins appear to be finished, Evolution goes back to the ring to finish off Reigns. They then begin to flog him with kendo sticks. When they want to kick it up a notch and grab more weapons, Reigns hits a desperate SUPERMAN PUNCH on Orton. Nevertheless, Bats and Triple H jump on him immediately. For some reason, Evolution beats him up the aisle where Ambrose and Rollins are recovering. Ambrose jumps Evolution, but they beat him down. Orton gives him the draping DDT off a piece of the stage right onto the concrete. Hey look, Rollins goes all Sabu on us and jumps off the Payback stage onto Evolution! Back to the ring, Bats catches Rollins in mid-air and spears him down. Rollins manages to slip out of the Demon Bomb though. Here comes Reigns with the SPEAR to Bluetista to send him to the showers at 27:32. RKO to Rollins! Reigns breaks up the pin. Ambrose blasts Orton with a chair and then gives him DIRTY DEEDS on the chair to make this match 3-on-1 at 28:38. HHH lowblows Ambrose and calls for the PEDIGREE, but Reigns drills him with the SUPERMAN PUNCH. Before Bats and Orton leave, Batista lays out Reigns with a spear and Orton hands HHH his trusty sledgehammer. Ambrose takes the sledgehammer in the face and as he sets up to nail Reigns, Rollins blasts him with a springboard knee strike, staggering HHH for the SPEAR from Reigns for the clean sweep victory. (30:57) Is this LAZY booking or just WWE doing what we won’t expect them to do? When I see an elimination match, I want to see our heroes in at least some kind of danger of losing. I know they went over the top trying to keep the Shield down with all the outside the ring violence, but I want to see eliminations. I want to see our heroes outnumbered and overcoming the odds. With WWE booking sometimes, it’s like they know what we will expect, so they book matches in a way that we won’t expect just because we won’t expect it! It’s like the craziest chess game logic you’ve ever seen. With all that talent, it was disappointing that it wasn’t the war we wanted to see. **½

Final Thoughts: Another average show with a few good matches, but nothing to blow me away. Sheamus and Cesaro had a fun encounter and the Cena/Wyatt feud closer was really good. The main event really deflated the show for me. The Shield really went all-out, but the match just wasn’t in my opinion what it should have been. They REALLY put the Shield over too much, so it comes across as Evolution letting them get over as opposed to the Shield fighting to get over, if you get my drift. Of course, it’s all kind of a moot point for the Shield as a unit because they are pretty much broken up the next night on Raw. Anyways, Payback 2014 is a thumbs in the middle for me.