10 Things You Didn't Know About WWE Payback

9. Payback 2014 Broke A Near-Eight-Year Streak

Cody Rhodes payback
WWE.com

WWE Payback 2014 has the curious accolade of being the first company PPV to not feature a men's World Title match for nearly eight years.

Prior to that Allstate Arena-set Payback, the last time the top prize(s) of the men's division wasn't defended on PPV was back at Armageddon 2006. For that December '06 event, WWE Champion John Cena teamed with World Heavyweight Champion Batista to take on King Booker and Fit Finlay in a match with neither World Title on the line.

For the next seven-and-a-half years, at least one of the company's men's World Championships would be defended whenever each PPV rolled around. That was, of course, until Payback 2014 brought a halt to that streak.

By the time of that Payback, the WWE Title and World Heavyweight Championship had been unified to become the WWE World Heavyweight Championship; the trinket that Daniel Bryan would defeat Randy Orton and Batista for at WrestleMania XXX.

Unfortunately, Bryan was out of action due to neck issues by the time of Payback in June 2014, which is why the WWE World Heavyweight Title wasn't defended at that event. In fact, the Yes! Man would be forced to vacate his gold just eight days after a Payback which was headlined by the Shield vs. Evolution.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.