10 Things You Didn't Know About WWE Payback

4. The Ryback Connection

Cody Rhodes payback
WWE

To steal a line from Randy Savage, Ryback very much had a "cup of coffee in the big time" during his WWE tenure. After an injury removed Skip Sheffield from the Nexus, the real-life Ryan Reeves would return in April 2012 under the Ryback mantle and embark on a tear through the roster.

While that initial rise up the card saw Ryback come up short against then-WWE Champion CM Punk, a heel turn post-WrestleMania 29 put the Big Guy up against John Cena, who by this point was once again in possession of the WWE Title.

At the first ever Payback back in 2013, Ryback was positioned as a major player, as shown by his main eventing against Cena for the WWE Championship in a Three Stages of Hell affair. Headlining a PPV? Against the biggest star of the modern era? It doesn't get much better than that.

Skip ahead just three years and Payback would again be noteworthy for Ryback, but this time for being his final appearance for WWE. Losing to Kalisto on the event's pre-show, Ryback and his Pre-Show Stopper trunks departed the company shortly after due to a pay dispute.

From the Payback main event to the Payback pre-show is quite the journey in a three-year spell.

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.