12 Burning Questions For WWE Payback 2016
Will Finn Balor debut? Will Shane continue to run Raw?
It’s the first PPV of the new era in WWE… and it could quite possibly be the last.
That’s more or less how WWE is selling the first PPV after WrestleMania XXXII, with a completely fresh main event in the form of Roman Reigns versus AJ Styles for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Additionally, two NXT callups are battling for the #1 contender’s spot for the Tag Team Championships. And a resurgent Cesaro is competing for the Intercontinental Championship. Throw in the first WWE bout between Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens, along with Dean Ambrose taking on Chris Jericho, and you have a different kind of PPV.
But unfortunately, that is not necessarily what WWE means by “new era.” Instead, the branding more accurately points to the person in charge of Raw right now. For the first time in nearly four years, the McMahon “running” WWE’s flagship program is not a heel character. Rather than the Authority (Triple H and Stephanie McMahon) or Vince McMahon, prodigal son Shane McMahon has been in charge of the past four episodes of Raw.
Regardless of WWE’s branding, this PPV does reflect a new era in terms of stars at the top of the card. There’s no John Cena, Randy Orton, Triple H, Brock Lesnar, Undertaker, Seth Rollins, Kane or Big Show. That’s a surprising development, but it also makes for interesting TV.
So let’s look at some of the big questions that needs answering this Sunday at WWE Payback…
12. Does Anyone Care About Kalisto/Ryback?
It hurts to write those words about two men who clearly care about their work and are trying to put together an interesting program. Ryback has been walking a fine line between face and heel, acting like a condescending big man rather than a straight-up bully, while Kalisto has been the underdog champion for several months, but he’s been given little to do as champ.
The result is a United States Championship match that was added almost as an afterthought last week and taking place during the Payback kickoff show. That match itself is a rematch from the WrestleMania kickoff show. That means that for two straight PPVs, the U.S. title will be defending in a pre-show match, after being around the waist of John Cena for much of 2015.
That’s quite the fall for a title that was defended in the main event of a PPV less than a year ago.