10 Sweetest Examples Of WWE Payback
8. The Entrepreneurs
“It seems to me that if there were any logic to our language, trust would be a four letter word.” - Risky Business
At 2005’s One Night Stand pay-per-view, the WWE’s first attempt at an ECW reunion show/cheap cash-in (depending on your point of view) featured a return to the old ECW vs. WWE feud.
Unfortunately, not everybody got the memo that the old antagonism was only ever a work. In one of the most notorious examples of unprofessional in-ring behaviour in wrestling history, John ‘Bradshaw’ Layfield targeted the hapless Blue Meanie and shoot on him under cover of the show-closing mêlée, delivering hard legit punches to seriously bloody his face.
Supposedly there was some heat between the two dating back years to Meanie’s first run with the WWE in the late nineties, and Meanie had since made comments about Bradshaw online. After the incident, JBL’s victim was in shock, and considering litigation: but the company had a better idea, booking the two men into a mini-feud.
Booked to lose to the Blue Meanie as a small punishment for the incident at One Night Stand, the company threw in some interference to protect JBL’s character - a chair shot from Meanie’s partner Stevie Richards and a spinebuster from Batista. Unfortunately for JBL, Richards knew the Meanie wouldn’t be booked to get in any serious offence, and took matters into his own hands.
To avenge JBL going into business for himself on his friend, Richards went into business for himself with the pre-booked chair shot, giving it as much welly as possible and cutting JBL open with the rim. This was payback on two levels: giving fans the Meanie’s revenge with the tainted pinfall victory, and giving the Meanie some real satisfaction with that vicious bash to the skull.