Payback (2016)

Background in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois. Payback is an annual professional wrestling event that was established by WWE in 2013. The concept of the event is the wrestlers seeking payback against their opponents. The 2016 event was the fourth Payback. It was originally scheduled to be held on May 22, 2016, at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. However, it switched dates and venues with that year's Extreme Rules. In turn, Payback was held on May 1, 2016, returning the event to the Allstate Arena in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois, as the first two events in 2013 and 2014 were held at this venue. The event aired on pay-per-view (PPV) worldwide and was livestreamed on the WWE Network. The event was promoted as the first PPV of The New Era for WWE. Storylines The event comprised eight matches, including two on the Kickoff pre-show, that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Raw and SmackDown. At WrestleMania 32, Roman Reigns defeated Triple H to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship for the third time. The following night on Raw, Reigns issued an open challenge for the championship, which was answered by Chris Jericho, AJ Styles, Kevin Owens, and Sami Zayn. This set up a fatal four-way match to determine the number one contender for the title later in the show, but Owens attacked Zayn, rendering him unable to compete in the match; he was replaced by a returning Cesaro. Styles won the match, earning a title match against Reigns at Payback. The following week, Zayn, after being unable to compete the previous week, faced Styles in a match set up by Shane McMahon where he would gain entry into the title match if he won, but Styles was victorious. On the April 25 episode of Raw, Styles saved Reigns from an attack by Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, then Reigns recovered and attacked Styles. Reigns was laid out when Styles retaliated. At WrestleMania 32, Zack Ryder won his first Intercontinental Championship in a 7-man ladder match. Cesaro defeated Kevin Owens on the following episode of Raw to become the #1 contender for the championship and earn a title match against Miz at Payback. Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens have been feuding with each other since Owens made his debut at NXT TakeOver: R Evolution in 2014. At NXT TakeOver: Unstoppable, Owens injured Zayn in their NXT Championship match. Zayn returned at the Royal Rumble, eliminating Owens from the Royal Rumble match. On the March 7, 2016, episode of Raw, Zayn made his main roster debut and brawled with Owens. At WrestleMania 32, Zayn cost Owens the Intercontinental Championship in a ladder match, which Zack Ryder won. On the April 18 episode of Raw, after Ambrose defeated Owens, Jericho attacked Ambrose with a Codebreaker, setting up a match between the two for Payback. earning a title rematch against Kalisto at Payback. Despite losing to The Undertaker at WrestleMania 32 in a Hell in a Cell match where he would gain control of Raw if he won, At WrestleMania 32, Baron Corbin won the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. Corbin made his main roster debut the next night on Raw, fighting Dolph Ziggler to a double-countout. They would proceed to attack each other, thus setting a match between the two at Payback. == Event ==

Pre-show During the Payback Kickoff pre-show, Dolph Ziggler faced Baron Corbin. Ziggler pinned Corbin with a roll up to win the match. According to Canoe.ca, Enzo's head got "whiplashed hard onto the mat", knocking him unconscious, which possibly made matters "worse when he then hit the floor since he couldn't protect himself." Shane McMahon restarted the title match with a no-count-out stipulation. When Styles tried an aerial attack, Reigns accidentally low blowed him and was disqualified, again losing the match but retaining his championship. This time, Stephanie McMahon restarted the title match under no-disqualification rules. Reigns countered a Phenomenal Forearm with a Superman Punch for a nearfall. Reigns followed with another Superman Punch and prepared to execute a Spear, however, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows appeared and pulled Styles from the ring. Anderson and Gallows executed a double-team Boot of Doom on Reigns, which was followed by a second Phenomenal Forearm by Styles, however Reigns placed his foot on the rope, thus voiding the count. The Usos appeared to even the odds against Anderson and Gallows. Reigns threw Styles onto the Usos and Gallows and Anderson and then proceeded to dive onto them. This resulted in Styles executing another Phenomenal Forearm from the barricade on Reigns. Back in the ring, Styles executed a springboard 450 splash for a nearfall. Ultimately, Reigns avoided another Phenomenal Forearm and pinned Styles after a spear to retain the title. Backstage, Vince, Shane, and Stephanie McMahon agreed on a title rematch with an Extreme Rules stipulation between Reigns and Styles at Extreme Rules. == Reception ==

As soon as the broadcasting of the event had stopped after the main event, WWE Champion Roman Reigns reportedly turned on the fans in the Allstate Arena, yelling angrily at them. Reigns had faced a hostile reaction from fans during the main event. For a photo on WWE.com showing the Payback main event, a fan's sign saying "When it Reigns, it bores" was edited by WWE to merely show "When it Reigns". Critics gave mixed reactions to the event. In particular, they criticized WWE's promoting of the event as the start of a "new era" for WWE, with Vince McMahon decreeing that both Shane McMahon and Stephanie McMahon would run Raw together earning the commentary that "more McMahons isn't new but the same thing they've been doing for two decades", while the women's title match having a "lame finish calling back to 1997 out of context" in a repeat of the Montreal Screwjob during the 1997 Survivor Series. Bob Kapur and Matthew Asher of Canoe.ca rated the overall show 3 out of 5. Kapur described WWE "straddling the line between the old and the new" at Payback. While "the new stuff worked well for the most part", "the old stuff" did not really work. Both reviewers felt that "the return to the already-tapped-dry well of McMahon Family drama" was overlong, with Kapur saying that it was also unnecessary if WWE had abided to the stipulation they set for Shane's match at WrestleMania 32. Kapur felt that the main event was merely "a showcase for [the McMahons'] storyline, and took away any significance of the title", while both reviewers panned the "two match restarts". Decrying how Shane and Stephanie ("non-wrestlers") overshadowed the main event, Kapur lamented: "Meet the new era, same as the old era. We all get fooled again." The main event was one of three matches rated 3 out of 5, the lowest rating issued (but some matches were not rated), while Owens-Zayn was the highest rated at 4 out of 5. Dave Scherer of Pro Wrestling Insider gave his thoughts on the event. In the tag match, Enzo Amore's legit injury looked "ugly as hell". For the main event match, Scherer endorsed it as "a really well worked, good match, even if the fans still hated Reigns after he won." Special praise was reserved for Kevin Owens, with Scherer declaring that he "came off awesome tonight." For the Intercontinental title match, Scherer "didn't like the finish" and thought Cesaro should have won. The women's match was "solid" but its "finish was ridiculous and it was like a fart in church." Regarding Corbin's loss to Ziggler on the pre-show, Scherer said, "If you were hoping that WWE would learn from having new guys lose to older guys, well you can give that up ... Ugh." Vince McMahon's decision was described as nonsensical, given that as a businessman, he had just taken his "best asset and put it in a tenuous state". Lastly, after Vince said that he only listened to himself, not to the fans or the media, Scherer endorsed that "Truer words were never spoken." James Caldwell of Pro Wrestling Torch rated as Owens-Zayn as the best match of the event with 3.75 stars out of 5, writing that "You could feel their passion wrestling each other and the crowd matched their intensity". The second best match was Ambrose-Jericho at 3.25 stars, which was "building to a really good finish, then blew a tire right before they reached the destination." The next-best match was the United States title match on the pre-show at 3.0 stars, which Caldwell wrote was "one of Ryback’s best matches in a long time and they engaged the crowd with a hot finishing sequence." The main event, rated 2.75 stars, was hurt by "the Shane-Stephanie business" and "the anticipated outcome of Reigns winning Super Cena style kicking out of multiple finishers", which "added fuel to the anti-Reigns fire." However, "Styles looked like he belonged in this spot three months into his WWE run". Lastly, the women's match and Vince's announcement were described as having "laughably bad endings ... back-to-back in the middle of the show". == Aftermath ==

After the event, Enzo Amore was discharged from the hospital after being diagnosed with suffering a concussion. Amore was backstage on Raw the next evening but did not appear on the show. The Vaudevillains (Aiden English and Simon Gotch) were awarded a WWE Tag Team Championship match at Extreme Rules. Following Payback, Ryan Reeves (Ryback) said that he had been sent home after requesting to be taken off WWE television. Reeves and WWE could not agree to a new contract due to Reeves' belief that all wrestlers in WWE should be paid equally regardless of their position on the card. On August 8, 2016, WWE officially parted ways with Reeves, thus making Payback his last WWE appearance. On the following Raw, a championship rematch between WWE Women's Champion Charlotte and Natalya was scheduled for Extreme Rules as a submission match, Also on Raw, another number one contender's match between Kevin Owens and Cesaro occurred, but the match ended in a no contest after Intercontinental Champion The Miz, who was on commentary, attacked Cesaro. Sami Zayn then ran down to the ring and the fight ended with Zayn standing tall and holding the title. On the May 9 episode of Raw, Shane and Stephanie McMahon scheduled a triple threat match between Owens, Miz, and Cesaro for the title at Extreme Rules. Zayn demanded to be inserted in the match as well, and defeated Miz in a non-title match to be added to the match, making it a fatal four-way match. During a segment of "The Ambrose Asylum" with Stephanie McMahon, Stephanie canceled "Ambrose Asylum" and reinstated Chris Jericho's talk show, "The Highlight Reel". Jericho came out and attacked Ambrose, destroying Mitch the Potted Plant in the process. On the May 16 episode of Raw, Ambrose challenged Jericho to a match at Extreme Rules, and Jericho accepted. Ambrose then revealed that their match would be an asylum match. The 2017 event was in turn held exclusively for Raw. == Results ==

WWE Tag Team Championship #1 Contender's Tournament == References ==