10 Totally Stupid Things WWE Has ALREADY DONE Since WrestleMania 33
2. Samoa Job
You could almost forgive WWE for this.
There's no way of knowing how the proposed Seth Rollins Vs. Samoa Joe Fastlane match would have went down. If logic existed in WWE, it would have dictated that Triple H interfere to set up his WrestleMania bout with the Kingslayer, positioning Rollins as the wronged man and Joe as the nefarious Destroyer. A recurrence of Seth's knee injury put paid to all that.
At Payback on Sunday, WWE solved the problem facing them in a manner both pointless and counterproductive. Neither fan could afford to lose, so the finish was structured in a way that made them both look like losers.
After a match that really should have been better than it was - even if Seth's "Motherf-" sell job of Joe's running senton was a thing of beauty - Rollins, who sold for near enough the entire thing, pinned Joe out of nowhere. Rollins was opportunistic, Joe almost feeble. The reaction to the match was tepid. As intelligently-worked as his match with Triple H at 'Mania 33 was, he is still struggling for acceptance in the face role. Booking him as a chancer isn't going to change that. Joe, meanwhile, is now a guy who can take little punishment and still lose. Aura: destroyed.
The result did nothing for either man. It was a more subtle but no less egregious example of 50/50 booking; a symptom of a wider disease.