6 Ups And 8 Downs From WWE Payback 2016

5. Nowhere To Go But Up

baron corbin dolph ziggler
WWE.com

This might be a minority opinion, but Dolph Ziggler and Baron Corbin actually told a decent story in the short match they had on the Payback kickoff show.

Corbin dominated the bout, but he spent much of it playing to the crowd, soaking in their boos. His obsession with the fans ultimately was his upending, as Ziggler grabbed a rollup for the win. But during the match, Corbin assaulted Dolph with punches, boots, turnbuckle whips, and a nasty launch into the ringpost. The result made it look like Ziggler only won because he was a resourceful veteran, which if you€™re going to go that route, that€™s the way to do it.

On a side note, it was good to see a heel relish his role, and hopefully it€™s something Baron will seek insight from some of the veterans like Chris Jericho, Triple H, Big Show and Kane. WWE needs guys like Corbin to succeed, and it only helps if vets offer some pointers.

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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.