10 Things You Didn't Know About WWE Payback
9. Payback 2014 Broke A Near-Eight-Year Streak
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.