6 Ups & 3 Downs From WWE Payback 2023 (Results & Review)

Trish/Becky end feud on high note, Nakamura earns main event, tag match goes pure chaos.

WWE Payback 2023 Seth Rollins Shinsuke Nakamura
WWE.com

Payback probably was the definition of a WWE B-show, a PLE with no Roman Reigns, no Cody Rhodes match, no Bloodline drama, no Brock Lesnar, no Charlotte Flair and no celebrities.

But that didn’t stop WWE from delivering a pretty good show Saturday night, anchored by a better-than-advertised steel cage match, a chaotic tag title battle, and a solid world title main event. Throw in John Cena and a legit surprise appearance/announcement and you have the makings of an enjoyable evening.

Trish Stratus and Becky Lynch deserve probably the most credit on the night, as their feud could be deemed a dismal failure heading into the PLE. They were bumped from SummerSlam and forced to carry on a good month past the point anyone wanted to see this rivalry, which was sputtering by mid-summer already. They turned around and produced a cage match filled with anger, using the cage repeatedly as a weapon and battering each other until they were visibly beaten down.

Probably the biggest strike against this show was the fact it was only six matches deep, which meant a few of them went longer than they should have, missing their peaks by several minutes. This has been a common problem with Triple H at the helm, and it’s something that could be addressed pretty constructively.

Otherwise, a low-expectations show produced, making for a positive experience.

Let’s get to it…

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Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.