Ranking Every WWE PPVs From 2017 (So Far)

This was a show that featured professional wrestling matches, that much we know. It was a fairly unremarkable event, all things considered... oh, and also, what the hell was that House of Horrors match?

As the first post-Superstar Shakeup PPV, Payback was a quasi-dual brand show, with SmackDown’s Kevin Owens and Randy Orton appearing to finish up their pre-existing feuds. The added intrigue did not stop the PPV from feeling like just another B show however. While Owens/Jericho and Shesaro/Hardyz definitely made for entertaining matches, the rest of the card was either underwhelming or questionably booked. Aries/Neville was an entertaining contest, but dampened with a lame DQ finish. Bayley predictably (and unfortunately) lost in her hometown to Alexa Bliss. Rollins and Joe went out and had a sadly boring match, and while Strowman/Reigns was entertainingly brutal, something just didn’t click as compared to their other encounters.

And, of course, there was House of Horrors... what was the goal, here? Were they trying to actually come off as scary and off-putting? Because lord knows they were never going to pull that off. Were they trying to go for something campy and silly à la the Broken Hardyz? If so, they tried way too hard to make it look professional-grade and serious. As such, it was a weird mismatch that fell flat with the live audience. Still, it was the most interesting part of an otherwise uninteresting show.