5 Ups And 6 Downs From WWE Payback 2020

2. A Dull Opener

Someone is going to have to explain how someone with such an eye-popping moveset like Apollo Crews has such dull matches. Despite WWE’s best attempts to put him in the spotlight as the United States Champion, he still has not had a single standout match, and Sunday’s title bout was no excuse to that rule.

Crews lost his US title to Bobby Lashley in the opening bout of Payback, losing clean in a fairly pedestrian match. The contest hit all the normal spots we’ve seen involving the two during the past few months, but it just felt like a series of moves, not a flowing match you could get invested in.

You’d think they could go out there and deliver a more compelling match, but it didn’t work. It’s hard to know who to blame, but let’s just hope that Crews’ sour grapes attack afterward doesn’t mean we’re going to be subjected to a series of rematches.

This feud between Apollo and the Hurt Business already feels like it’s been going on for 23 years. Let it die.