7 Most Insane Things Happening In Wrestling Right Now (April 21)

2. Who Is Winning The Main Event At Payback?!

jinder mahal
WWE.com

WWE made absolutely no effort to position Bray Wyatt as the man Jinder Mahal might face for the WWE Championship. When Mahal won the Six Pack Challenge - and again, it bears repeating, became the number one contender to the WWE Championship - Orton slithered to the ring and taunted him.

It's not as if WWE was going to run with a heel versus heel match on the main event of a pay-per-view, but at least give your audience some reason to watch the bloody thing. Better yet, decide sharpish what said thing, the House of Horrors match, actually is. WWE, per the Wrestling Observer, polled the Fan Council a week or so back asking what they'd like to see in the match. Among the options are:

- A steel cage. Why not? It's a staple gimmick, and the last custom version worked out terrifically for Dean Ambrose and Chris Jericho.

- Darkness. Why not? The outcome is almost painfully predictable, so best get it out of the way for the live crowd.

- Fog. If it obscures the lame projected imagery, it can't be a bad thing.

- Projected images. B*gger.

In any event, Randy Orton is clearly winning the thing. He's a the babyface (yes, he desecrated the corpse of his opponent's dead sister, but go with it). Bray Wyatt isn't taking the title over to RAW because the Universal Champion already appears on that brand (well, he doesn't, but go with it). Also, we were constantly told that Randy Orton is clearly winning the thing.

It's as if they simply weren't a*sed to maintain the pretence, and the removal of any mention of the WWE Title in promotional materials might even telegraph the result even more, if that were possible. If Wyatt wins, that means he's due two WWE Title rematches. At least he would be if WWE gave two sh*ts about the word consistency, which given the sudden rise of Mahal does not seem at all likely.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!