6 Ups And 8 Downs From WWE Payback 2016
4. Dead Stop
Three McMahons in the ring with microphones can only mean one thing: 20 minutes of our lives just went out the door.
Much as can be expected, Vince, Stephanie and Shane McMahon all pontificated and played to (or against) the fans in a lengthy segment that ended with both Shane and Stephanie running Raw. But the thing that really should be pointed out here is that this segment brought the entire PPV to a halt. Imagine paying $9.99 for this. You could leave the room, make a bowl of popcorn, use the bathroom and there would still be 10 minutes of talking left to go.
Payback had some pretty good momentum going with the Sami Zayn/Kevin Owens and Intercontinental Championship matches, and was actually steaming along pretty well with the card (opening match ending abruptly notwithstanding). This segment pretty much was a brick wall for that momentum.
Maybe that was by design, but it also reminded of the likelihood that well now have to regularly endure 15-20 minute opening segments on Raw each week, now with dueling GMs talking about how they know whats best for business.