10 Burning Questions For WWE Payback

4. This Is All WWE’s Got?

Matt Hardy WWE Payback
WWE.com

Four weeks after WrestleMania and we have a SmackDown title being defended on a Raw PPV, while the blue brand’s top title-holder also is competing at Payback.

That’s one-quarter of the card. Factor in the rematches and retreads and you’ve got a pretty unimaginative card. Don’t get it wrong, this could be an entertaining PPV with solid matches and some good storyline developments. But your brand-exclusive PPV includes the top two champions from the other brand competing, you might have a bit of a problem.

There’s only really two “new” feuds being rolled out Sunday: Seth Rollins/Samoa Joe, and Alexa Bliss/Bayley. And the Rollins/Joe feud actually goes back to January when Seth’s knee was injured in a confrontation with Joe.

That’s not a complaint about that feud, but it’s notable that whereas WrestleMania used to mark the end of rivalries and the start of new feuds, we’re instead getting two SmackDown title-holders competing to fill out the PPV card.

In this post: 
WWE Payback
 
Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.