2. Payback
Card: Sheamus vs. Damien Sandow Curtis Axel vs. The Miz vs. Wade Barrett (c) for the Intercontinental Championship AJ Lee vs. Kaitlyn (c) for the Divas Championship Dean Ambrose (c) vs. Kane for the United States Championship Alberto Del Rio vs. Dolph Ziggler (c) for the World Heavyweight Championship CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho The Shield (Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns) (c) vs. Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton for the WWE Tag Team Championship John Cena (c) vs. Ryback in a Three Stages Of Hell match for the WWE Championship Not a lot was expected of Payback, given that it was a new PPV (with no interesting theme) being held in June, where an assortment of different events have struggled in recent years. Perhaps because it lacked the burden of expectation, however, the night was a great one, with several good matches made even better by a raucous Chicago crowd. Said crowd were perhaps loudest for the return of their hometown hero, CM Punk, who fought for the first time since Wrestlemania against Chris Jericho. Whilst not quite up to the standard of their Wrestlemania match from 2012, the two technicians put on an excellent display for the paying (and non-paying) customers. A double turn occurred when Alberto Del Rio took on Dolph Ziggler in a great match for the World Heavyweight Championship. The latter, returning from a concussion, found his head repeatedly targeted by his Mexican opponent and was made to look heroic and courageous in defeat, even if his resulting face turn has since fallen flat (as a result of poor booking rather than poor fan reaction). Even the matches pre-show (Sheamus vs. Damien Sandow) and Divas match (AJ vs. Kaitlyn) had great build-ups, rather than being hastily put together at the last minute. Sheamus interrupted Sandow's intellectual challenges for weeks on Smackdown to set up their bout, whilst AJ taunted her former best friend by falsifying the existence of a secret admirer. Both were much better to watch as a result than they would've been otherwise, even if each was only given ten minutes.