NXT Takeover: Chicago & WWE Backlash Review

NXT Takeover: Chicago

Chicago, IL
Allstate Arena 

5/20/17

This is the first NXT Takeover this year that I am actually looking forward to, up until about a month ago NXT was in a major down period as many of their stars were being called up to the main roster. NXT had to take a few months after their stars leaving to rebuild their roster in order to get the show back to where it needed to be and finally they are back to being the best show WWE show of the week. We are now back to the point where people are looking forward to the Takeover show way more than they are the main roster WWE show that is happening on the same weekend. Let's hope this show doesn't disappoint.

Match #1: Roderick Strong def Eric Young w/ SAnity via Pinfall
I have never been an Eric Young fan as I find him to be pretty generic and boring and this match confirmed that even more. If Eric had been in this match with someone who wasn't an in ring great like Roderick this match would have really stunk and would've been even more boring than it was. The entire time Eric was in control I was completely zoned out and bored, but I will say he does have the Randy Orton pacing down pat as that's what this felt like was a Randy Orton match. This match was only a little bit over 13 minutes, but at times felt a lot longer. I did like how Roddy took out the other members of SAnity before the match started as it was a case of the baby face outsmarting the heel. Was this the first time Roddy broke out the suplex into a backbreaker in NXT? 

What I would have done was have Roderick face Killian Dane and if he won he would get 5 minutes with Eric. It seems like they want to build Dane up, but we rarely see him in matches and this would have been a perfect way to get him on the card. This felt like the wrong match to open the show as I would have switched this and the UK Championship as this match wasn't the match to get the crowd hyped as they were pretty dead except for when Roderick was on offense. Overall it was a pretty below average match and would have been even worse if not for Roderick. 

Rating: **1/2

Match #2
Pete Dunne def Tyler Bate (c) via Pinfall (WWE UK Championship)
I freaking loved this match and I will go ahead and say it is my match of the night and could be my favorite match of the weekend. Before I get started talking about the match itself I have to say just how great Nigel McGuinness and Jim Ross did calling this match, Nigel is everything you could ever want out of a color commentator and it's such a refreshing break from hearing the main roster color commentators as he actually tells you what is going on and how each move is inflicting pain on the man it's being applied to instead of just having to get in his key phrases. Jim Ross needs no explanation on how great he is and it's so great to hear him calling a match that was worked more like an athletic competition and not an entertainment spectacle, brilliant job by both men and I hope one or both of them call the women's tournament this summer. I'm gonna do some play by play for this match as it was absolute greatness. 

This match starts out with some great British style chain wrestling and I love it as I love that style of wrestling where they manipulate joints and bend the fingers back as it's simple and easy to believe that if you did that to someone it would hurt like shit. After the chain wrestling the momentum starts picking up as they go outside and we see Dunne hit an X-Plex onto the apron and that got a verbal "oh" out of me as it came out of nowhere. We then get Dunne working on the arm, hand, and fingers of Bate and kicking him in the face until Bate comes back with an exploder. There is a spot where Bate hits a back suplex on Dunne and as he lands he turns his body so he can get some leverage and put more of his weight on Dunne to try and get a pinfall, this was a small little touch to a move seen so many times and it made absolute sense. Bate goes for a running shooting star, but is caught in a triangle choke and is hit with elbows and fists to the head while in the hold. Bate finally powers out of it by lifting up Dunne and slamming him to the mat back first. 

Bate puts Dunne in an airplane spin and holy crap the speed that he got up to while doing this was crazy and he probably could've got a ticket for going that fast. After the airplane spin both men are down and Bate is the first one up as he tries for a German, but Dunne lands on his feet and then catches Bate off a springboard crossbody with a forearm and then immediately hits a sit out X-Plex which gets a 2 count and the crowd is going insane at this point as these two are putting on one hell of a match. The crowd start chanting UK and both men get to their feet and have a slug fest using both hands to punch each other over and over until Bate raises up Bop and and hits Dunne with Bang. Bate tries to pick up Dunne, but he counters with a enziguri and both men are down again. They both stand at the same time head to head and start punching away at each other again, Dunne punches Bate and he rebounds off the ropes and hits Dunne with a koppu kick, but Dunne bounces off and hits Bate with a knee. Bate is barely phased as he rolls back and runs to the rope and does a rebound off the top rope using his head and hits Dunne with a clothesline and this amazingly only gets a 2 count. This is when we get the "fight forever" chants.

Bate tries to go for the Tyler Driver 97, but Dunne gets out of it and tries to hit the Bitter End, but Bate counters that into a DDT. Dunne rolls out to the floor and Bate hits him on the outside with a moonsault off the middle turnbuckle and immediately rolls Dunne back into the ring. Bate goes up top and hits a freaking Spiral Tap on Dunne that only gets 2 and the crowd goes ballistic after this near fall. Dunne rolls back to the outside and Bate tries for a dive over the top onto Dunne, but Dunne side steps him and Bate crashes to the floor and is immediately rolled back into the ring and hit with the Bitter End for the win and we have a new WWE UK Champion. 

This match was amazing and will be in serious consideration for one of my top matches of the year. I really need to go back and re-watch their WWE UK Championship Tournament final match and see how it compares to this one. If there was such thing as match of the night bonuses in wrestling this one absolutely deserves it as it had everything you want in a match great drama, exciting action, and amazing crowd, and even great commentary. Rating: ***** 

On a complete side note could you imagine if Tyler Bate was around in the Attitude Era, you know he would have the nickname of Tyler "Master" Bate or if the Attitude Era was still around today they could call him what myself and my co-host Jason Fastkade call him on The Wrestling Fans podcast Tyler "Chatur" Bate after the adult website lol. Yes it's a lame joke, but I think it's kinda funny.

Match #3
Asuka (c) def Ruby Riot & Nikki Cross via Pinfall (NXT Women's Championship)
I wanted this match to be so much better than it actually was. It could be because it was coming off the amazing UK Championship match and nothing was going to immediately impress me after watching that, but this match just didn't click and at times was pretty sloppy. I did like how Nikki & Ruby went face to face talking trash to each other and as soon as Asuka's music hit they turned their attention toward her as she was the more important one to worry about. I liked that they showed Ember Moon watching the match from up in the rafters. 

There was one spot in the match that would have looked pretty cool and it connected like it was suppose to where Asuka comes off the top with a missile dropkick on Nikki and at the same time she landed on Ruby with a splash, the only problem was she hit Ruby too low and landed on her knees instead of her mid section. Asuka then screws up a power bomb on Ruby as her knees buckle and she almost drops her. Asuka then puts an ankle lock on Ruby and Nikki comes from behind and rakes her back and Asuka totally no sells it and Nikki just stands there for a second (I don't think she knew what to do) and then hits her in the back to get her to break the hold. We then get a bit of a botched rana on Asuka from Ruby. 

I did like the spot where Nikki dives off the apron and is met with a knee from Asuka. The best spot off the match comes when Ruby goes up top and tries for a diving senton back splash on Asuka, but Asuka moves and when Ruby lands Asuka immediately locks in the Asuka lock in a seamless flowing transition, great spot and timing by Asuka. Nikki then hits a great looking inverted DDT on the apron to Ruby and after that she traps Asuka in the ring apron and starts beating on her. The finish felt a bit flat and a tiny bit mistimed where Ruby hits her overhead kick finisher and goes to pin Nikki, but Nikki gets her shoulder up and this causes Ruby to raise up just a bit and as she does she is hit with a running knee by Asuka and Asuka pins both women to retain her title.

This match started pretty average and had a few bright spots in the middle along with some botches and then it had a flat finish, overall not that impressive and I expected so much more from these three. With that said I still love Nikki and all the character work she does during her matches and the facial expressions she has, she will always be my little Tazmanian Devil. Rating: **3/4

Match #4
Bobby Roode (c) def Hideo Itami via Pinfall (NXT Championship)
This feud still feels like it came out of nowhere, I mean what logic does it make that Hideo gets a title shot after being injured for most of his NXT career? This definitely felt like a transition show as far as the NXT Championship picture goes as they are just waiting for the right time to start Roode's legit next big time feud. It also didn't help this match feel special when it wasn't even the main event and that alone was a sign that the title most likely wasn't going to change hands. It is pretty funny that both of Roode's feuds since becoming champion have been against guys from Japan.

I liked the piano entrance for Roode, but it would have been cool if they had one of those actual pianos that looks like it's playing by itself instead of just having it up on the video screen. So we have had both a violin and a piano for an NXT Takeover entrance, I have to wonder what instrument will be next perhaps we have someone come out playing a didgeridoo. Bobby Roode was almost on oompa loompa level of orange tan for his match on this evening. 

The match starts out a bit slow, but starts picking up when Itami hits a combo of a kitchen sink, a kick to the back, and then a kick to the chest followed by a serious of knee drops and then he does the spot where he acts like he is going to jump and knee the guy in the head, but he steps over and usually does the little kicking dirt off your shoes kick, but this time Itami misses and has to do the kick again. Roode finally gets in control of the match and just when I'm fixing to compliment him on kicking it up a gear and not going at his usual slow pace he decides to put on the dreaded Orton lock. Roode trashes talks Itami some and pushes him around until Itami comes back with a big slap to the face of Roode. Hideo hits a big running kick to Roode and Percy Watson calls that Kobayashi style and quickly Nigel corrects him by saying Hideo was a young boy for Kenta Kobashi. 

Hideo is in full control hitting some kicks and dropping Roode throat first on the top rope and then connecting with a top rope clothesline for 2. Roode misses a charge in the corner and crashes hard shoulder first into the ring post and from this point on Hideo targets the shoulder until he is cut off and slammed to the mat with a spinebuster. Roode is doing a good job selling that the shoulder is hurt. Roode tries to lift Hideo up for the Glorious DDT with the injured shoulder side, but he isn't able to and lets him go which gives Hideo an opportunity to try for the GTS, but Roode gets out of that and goes to the outside. 

Hideo reverses Roode and sends him shoulder first into the steps, Hideo tries to follow this up with a running dropkick, but Roode moves and Hideo hurts his ankle as he crashes into the steps. They milk the 10 count on the outside as Roode slowly rolls into the ring and Hideo gets in after him. They exchange strikes with Roode doing a good job of holding the injured arm by his side and doing little things like grabbing it to sell the pain. Hideo hits a flury of strikes that send Roode down in the corner and this time Hideo hits the delayed dropkick in the corner. Hideo picks up Roode for the GTS, but his ankle gives out on him and he drops him and Roode immediately hits the Glorious DDT, but this only gets 2. Roode goes to pick Hideo back up when out of nowhere Hideo gets him up and hits the GTS only for Roode to roll outside before Hideo can cover him, Hideo rolls Roode back in and gets another 2 count. 

Hideo goes for another GTS, but Roode counters into an attempted roll up, but Hideo reverses that into a pin for a 2 count. Roode again calls for the Glorious DDT, but Hideo counters and hits a series of vicious slaps that cause Roode to collapse. Hideo tries again for the GTS, but Roode counters it into the Glorious DDT and then he holds on and rolls through and hits another Glorious DDT and as he is selling his arm hurting like crazy he jumps on Hideo to cover him for the win to retain the NXT Championship.

This was another great match and had great limb selling by both men especially Roode. I like Roode having to use two Glorious DDTs back to back to finish of Hideo. While this match wasn't as good as the UK title match it was still much better than I thought it would be and I enjoyed this match much more than the Roode vs Nakamura matches and I think that's because Hideo's offense it a bit more varied than Nakamura's offense. Overall a really good match for the NXT Championship.
Rating: ***1/2

In a video on wwe.com they show Hideo coming to the back absolutely pissed off about his loss and he is throwing things around, Kassius Ohno is back there trying to calm him down, but Hideo gets in his face and starts cussing him out before walking off. Oh hell yeah I can't wait to see the match between these two. 

Match #5
Authors of Pain (c) w/ Paul Ellering def DIY (NXT Tag Team Championship - Ladder Match)

Before we get to the match we see Kassius Ohno sitting at ringside along with Pat Patterson and Sami Zayn, we also see Kevin Owens sitting at ringside with an MLB player. It's really ironic that KO is at ringside considering what happens after this match.

DIY take it to AOP right at the bell and send them out of the ring before going to get some ladders, you can clearly tell tell that they are making sure they get certain ones which obviously means there are ladders under there that are to be used for breaking later in the match. AOP come back and throw DIY around until DIY make a comeback and then they go get the biggest ladder there is. DIY try for some kind of poetry in motion type move, but one of the AOP catch Gargano in mid air and slam him on the back of Ciampa. We get a few teases of each team grabbing the belts and getting knocked off and then AOP take full control and they are destroying DIY with the ladders. 

AOP get two ladders and bridge them between the barricade and the ring on the side of the ring where the entrance ramp is and in between where those two ladders are bridged is the big ladder that DIY had gotten earlier. AOP look like they are gonna hit the Super Collider on DIY off the apron and onto the bridged ladders, but DIY get out of it and knock AOP off the apron and then AOP carefully place themselves on the two ladders and get in the right position. DIY both climb up on each side of the big ladder and jump off onto each member of AOP and the ladder Ciampa dives onto breaks, but unfortunately the one Gargano dives on doesn't. After watching this and seeing how awkward it looked it would have been much cooler if the AOP had done the Super Collider through the ladders.

All four men get back in the ring and we have two ladders set up and we get the typical punching each other on the top of the ladder and then everyone falls off except for one person. Gargano is in the ring alone on the ladder and there is a spot where Paul Ellering is suppose to come in and grab his foot to stop him, but I think Ellering was a tad too late for the spot as Gargano easily could've grabbed the belts. Gargano jumps down after having his foot grabbed by Ellering and hits him with a superkick. AOP come back in and take out Gargano and team up on Ciampa. AOP grab a ladder and are fixing to ram it into Ciampa's head, but Gargano pushes him out of the way and the AOP instead hit him and holy shit this looked nasty and Gargano sold it well as it look like they literally took his head off. 

One of the AOP members climbs the ladder and again we get the visual that it would be easy for the person to grab the belts before Ciampa comes in and hits a modified german suplex off the ladder through another ladder that was set up in the corner and this ladder breaking spot looked much better. As the other AOP member goes to climb the ladder Gargano grabs his foot out of nowhere to stop him as Gargano is doing a great job of being the valiant never say die baby face. One of the AOP members does the Terry Funk spinning around with the ladder on your head spot, but gets caught with kicks from DIY that sends him down to his knees and this allows DIY to hit their finisher while he has the ladder on his head. DIY set the ladder up again and got to grab the belts, but AOP push the ladder out of the way and DIY are dangling from the titles, AOP grab both of them and hit the Super Collider and then climb the ladder and get the belts to retain their NXT Tag Team Championship. 

This match was better on second watch, but it still didn't quite live up to what I expected it to be. I guess it didn't need to be since they had the post match angle planned and that would be more of what everyone will be talking about after the show. As far as tag ladder matches go it will be pretty forgettable in a few years. Rating: ***1/2

After the match DIY get a standing ovation from the crowd and after they show the replay DIY are standing at the entrance way and it looks like the show will end as the little copyright logo comes on the bottom of the screen, but if you know your NXT history you know to never turn the show off until the screen goes black (that goes back to KO turning on Sami Zayn). DIY are hugging and Ciampa puts his arm around Gargano and then all of a sudden he turns and sends him into the wall of the entrance stage, he hits Gargano with a couple of knee strikes. Ciampa then grabs Gargano and throws him on top of the announce table and hits a Kryptonite Crunch off the announce table through some tables that are stacked up as paramedics rush to help Gargano. 

This was a really great post match angle to close the show and I'm already looking forward to their blood feud that won't need a title involved in it. If you take this feud and add that to the feud with Ohno and Hideo and then add in the NXT, Women's, Tag Team, and UK title feuds the next few Takeovers could be some of the best ever. 

Overall I think this was one of the best Takeover shows in quite a while as I had one five star match and another that was over four stars. The worst match on the show was the opener and even it didn't completely suck (thank you Roderick). I will say it's going to take a lot for another Takeover match to be better than the Bate vs Dunne match as it was amazing and the match I will most remember from this show. NXT Takeover: Chicago Grade: A

WWE Backlash 2017
Brand: Smackdown

Chicago, IL
Allstate Arena
5/21/17

If you had to compare my excitement for Backlash 2017 to Backlash 2016 which was only 8 months ago you would see a drastic decline as my love for the Smackdown brand has dropped sufficiently post superstar shakeup. There is nothing I really look forward to seeing on Smackdown anymore and even Talking Smack doesn't have the same feel to it anymore as the people who really made that show special are now on Raw (Miz, Maryse, & Alexa). The card for this show is what I guess you would expect from a one brand show, but the Backlash 2016 card didn't seem this underwhelming and it was also a Smackdown only show. Maybe they are just in a holding period and things will get better once New Day actually returns and Rusev gets in the mix as well as when John Cena eventually returns. The good thing is this show for me has low expectations so it won't take too much to exceed them and impress me.

Kick Off Match
Tye Dillinger def Aiden English via Pinfall

This was nothing more than your typical pre-show match to get the crowd hyped up. I did like Aiden English's tights that were designed as Van Gogh's Starry Night painting. There was a point in the match where they announcers go on a tangent that involves them talking about George Jones and already I'm missing Nigel McGuinness. There was one time I thought they were going to give English the win after he hit that full nelson move. The finish comes when English misses on a Swanton and gets hit with the Tye Breaker which it looks like Tye has modified so people don't confuse it with AJ Styles's Ushigoroshi. Rating: **1/4

Match #1
Shinsuke Nakamura def Dolph Ziggler via Pinfall
This match was much better than I was expecting as I thought it would be nothing but a showcase for Nakamura and Ziggler wouldn't get much offense in, but it was anything but that. Ziggler was in control for a lot of the match and was doing a good job of playing the prick heel. That dropkick that Ziggler hit on Nakamura looked vicious and Nakamura did a really good job of selling it. I also liked the superkick to the back of Nakamura's head and the way he collapsed. When Ziggler spit in Nakamura's face I was thinking oh shit he's did it now and he's fixing to really get hurt. I liked how when Nakamura had Ziggler on the ground hitting him with the repeated knees that Ziggler didn't just lay there and take them and instead did whatever he could to get to the ropes to stop being assaulted by Nakamura. The match ends when Ziggler misses the superkick and gets elbowed in the back and hit with the reverse exploder and then Nakamura hits the Kinshasa for the win. Really good match to start the show and the other matches have a lot to live up to. Rating: ****

Match #2
The Usos (c) def Breezango via Pinfall (Smackdown Tag Team Championship)

I'm not sure what I think of this match part of me wants to hate it because I wish Breezango would be taken serious during matches and leave the comedy to the backstage skits, but the other part of me kind of loved it just because it was entertaining and I probably shouldn't say this, but it did make me laugh at times. Here's what I'll say the first part of it with the janitor stuff I absolutely loved and thought was hilarious when he kept rolling out of the way, but it might have been a step too far when we got the grandma as I think it would've been better if they cut the comedy after the janitor stuff. The Usos couldn't help but break character when they threw grandma Breeze dress and it landed right on JBL's head. The announcing in this match I hated because I feel if your a heel commentator which JBL is when something like this happens where a baby face is in disguise you should be the only one screaming that it's the actual person, you don't play dumb like the baby face announcers who are suppose to support the comedy where the heel thinks it's outrageous and dumb. Now the actual match or what there was of it was pretty good I liked the finish where the Usos caught Breeze and sent him into the crowd and then they caught Fandango on the top and hit him with the superkick (although you can plainly see the kick missed when they did the replay). Rating: **1/4

Match #3

Sami Zayn def Baron Corbin via Pinfall
This match didn't do anything for me and I'm gonna forget it 30 minutes from now except for the shock that Sami Zayn actually won. This felt like nothing more than a tv match and I zoned out for most of this match. The story was Baron dishing out all this punishment to Zayn only for him to keep coming back and not stay down. This wasn't technically a bad match as everything looked good, but it did nothing to keep my interest and was the definition of average. Rating: **3/4

Match #4
The Welcoming Committee w/ James Ellsworth def Naomi, Becky Lynch, & Charlotte via Pinfall
This match was really fun, but again it didn't blow me away with anything amazing. I loved Becky's hair she looked like a beautiful fiery phoenix. I thought the star of this match was Carmella as she is a really great heel who is always playing her character up and trash talking the entire match instead of just screaming ahhh like Natalya does, I actually wouldn't mind in the future seeing an alliance between heel Carmella & Alexa as they could play off each other very well I think. We got our yearly Tamina match and she wasn't too bad. I was expecting more of a story line progression in this match, but nothing happened. Rating: **1/2

Match #5
Kevin Owens (c) def AJ Styles via Countout (WWE United States Championship)
This match started kind of slow and I was starting to wonder if it was going to even begin to live up to the expectations most had for the match as I was wanting the match to kick into the next gear before it did and I guess that was me being a bit impatient. Once they got to the outside where AJ attempted the Styles Clash of the apron that is when the match finally picked up for me and I started to really enjoy it. I liked KO's work on the leg when he slammed it against the ring post and then tied it up in the ropes so he could hit it with the Cannon Ball. I liked the leg giving out on the attempted Phenomenal Forearm as that was a criticism Seth Rollins had when he was selling his knee as he never sold it when he tried to springboard. I really liked the finish where AJ hits the Phenomenal Forearm off the barricade and then sells the leg and because he cant win the title on a countout win he wants to Styles Clash KO through the announce table to finish him off, but the crafty champion that KO is, sweeps the leg and AJ's leg gets caught in a hole and tied up in the cables under the announce table and this causes him to be counted out. This was a match that was slow to start, but really picked up at the end and the finish made sense since I would think this feud will continue. Rating: ***3/4

Match #6
Luke Harper def Erick Rowan via Pinfall 
First off the crowd didn't give two shits about this match as they were pretty much dead silent for majority of it and I can't blame them considering most of them probably didn't know this match was happening if they didn't watch Talking Smack. Rowan dominated most of this match at the beginning and for a minute I was wondering if Harper was going to get in any offense at all. Both of these guys are talented for their size (especially Harper) and could be major contenders for either the US or World Title as after watching the instant Jinder push to the top I now believe they will do anything. I'm not sure where they are going with Rowan and his masks, but it kinda feels like an Al Snow & Head situation where he goes to the mask and talks to it for motivation, unfortunately the motivation from the mask wasn't enough as Harper hits the Discus Clothesline for the win. Pretty basic match between two hosses with a couple of cool spots. Rating: **1/2

Match #7

Jinder Mahal w/ The Singh Brothers def Randy Orton (c) via Pinfall (WWE World Championship)
This match was exactly how you expected it to be really really boring until the end when the Singh Brothers got involved and distracted Orton enough for Mahal to come from behind and hit the Khallas to win the WWE Championship. Not sure why the baby face Orton attacked someone from behind before the bell rang, but I did like the high energy that the match started out with it's just too bad the match didn't keep that pace. I will say Randy Orton was careless and didn't seem to care how the Singh Brothers landed when he dropped them on the announce table. When your checking to see how much time is left constantly in a match that's when you know it's boring and I checked the time a few times. Rating: **
Overall this show is completely skippable except for the opening match and the US Championship. I grade this show a D+


NXT Takeover: Chicago & WWE Backlash 2017 Match Rankings
13. WWE World Championship
12. Tye Dillinger vs Aiden English
11. Smackdown Tag Team Championship
10. The Welcoming Committee vs Naomi, Becky Lynch, & Charlotte
9. Roderick Strong vs Eric Young
8. Luke Harper vs Erick Rowan
7. Sami Zayn vs Baron Corbin
6. NXT Women's Championship
5. NXT Tag Team Championship
4. NXT Championship
3. WWE United States Championship
2. Dolph Ziggler vs Shinsuke Nakamura
1. WWE UK Championship

I hope you enjoy my review of NXT Takeover: Chicago and WWE Backlash 2017 if you have any questions or comments contact me on twitter @MTW3589 and be sure to follow the twitter for the podcast I co-host @TWF_Podcast

I'll see you in 2 weeks for Extreme Rules,

WWE Payback 2017 Preview/Review

I'm gonna be honest, up until a couple of hours before the show I was debating whether or not I wanted to do a review for this show as I actually had to keep reminding myself there was a PPV this weekend. This has to be one of the coldest and least talked about PPVs that has happened in quite a while. This show also has some of the most confusing and screwed up booking as the superstar shakeup pretty much made this a co-branded show and also pretty much ruined the outcome of the US Championship match and almost ruined the outcome of the House of Horrors match, but they decided to change it to a non title match. I guess I can do a mini preview for the show as Jason Fastkade and myself weren't able to do our usual pre PPV prediction show this week on The Wrestling Fans Podcast.

The only matches I was really looking forward to going into this show was the women's championship match just because Alexa Bliss is in it and let's face it Alexa bliss is the greatest thing since sliced bread and anyone who thinks different is wrong. The other match that I'm looking forward to, but scared of how it will end is the Braun Strowman vs Roman Reigns match as I have loved everything Braun has done since WrestleMania (even though the order of his incredible feats of strength happened in the wrong order). I'm just scared they will have Roman beat him clean when this match should end in a screwy DQ or count out as neither man should be losing clean.

I'm morbidly curious to see how bad this House of Horrors match is and I would like to think it can't get worse than the WrestleMania match, but I'm sure WWE can find a way to make it worse considering they didn't even have plans for what the match was gonna be and had to rely on a fan survey to give them ideas. I said it at WrestleMania and I'll say it now that I hope they bring in an actual Sister Abigail character as Bray's new manager, with Bray now on Raw and clearly miles away from the title picture he is going to need something new and interesting to get people to care about him as these spooky promos just aren't cutting it anymore especially since his character says a lot, but ends up losing every feud so we have no reason to care about what he says.

One last thing that will be interesting is seeing what happens with Matt Hardy during this show as he has showed more signs of being Broken on Raw this past week than he has since their debut. With WWE working out a deal with Impact Wrestling we could see full Broken Matt as early as Raw Monday night. 

As far as the  US Championship, Samoa Joe vs Seth Rollins, Cruiserweight Championship, Miz TV, & Pre-Show Tag Match they are just on the card to fill out the four hours and don't interest me too much.

I do love what Owens is doing over on Smackdown, but the outcome of the match is predictable since Jericho is leaving to go on tour with Fozzy and AJ is already in line to face KO at the next Smackdown PPV Backlash.

Joe vs Rollins should be a good match and could be the best match on the show, but the feud hasn't excited me too much. 

The Cruiserweight division is what it is and although the match will be really good between Neville and Aries it still won't get me interested enough to watch 205 Live. 

The Gallows/Anderson vs Enzo/Cass match has been done so much I could care less about either team.

I was surprised to see we would be having Miz TV as I was sure Miz would be in an Intercontinental title match against Ambrose on this show, but I guess not. I don't know what they are doing with Balor as it feels like he is lost in the shuffle and I guess he was waiting for the Bray vs Orton program to end so he can be in a program with Wyatt. I could see ending in either Miz getting his ass kicked around the ring by Balor or it leading to a tag match with Balor & Ambrose vs Miz & a partner of his choosing.

Match predictions:
Bray Wyatt def Randy Orton in House of Horrors (I'll hope they give Bray a win since it's non title)
Kevin Owens def Chris Jericho to retain IC Championship
Braun Strowman def Roman Reigns by countout
Samoa Joe def Seth Rollins
Cesaro/Sheamus def Hardy Boyz (this causes Matt to be completely Broken)
Alexa Bliss def Bayley (My girl becomes first to win both Raw & SD women's Championship)
Neville def Austin Aries after TJP helps Neville get the win
Enzo/Big Cass def Anderson/Gallows

With all the preview and predictions out of the way lets get to the review.

WWE Payback 2017
Brand: Raw
San Jose, CA
SAP Center
4/30/17

Kickoff Match
Enzo Amore & Big Cass def Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows via Pinfall
This was your basic kickoff tag match with Gallows & Anderson dominating Enzo for most of the match and then Enzo got the hot tag to Big Cass for a few minutes until Enzo tagged himself back in. There was a couple of spots where Enzo tried to make a tag, but Gallows/Anderson would intercept or knock Big Cass off the apron. The finish came when Gallows/Anderson were going for the Magic Killer, but Big Cass hit a big boot on Gallows and Enzo rolled up Anderson for the win. This is the reason why it's hard to get interested in Gallows & Anderson because every time they start looking dominant and get on a roll they end up slipping up and getting beat. They should be dominate ass kickers when they are more like complete jokes. Rating: **1/4

Kickoff Segment
Miz Tv w/ Finn Balor
This was pretty much what I expected it to be just a short segment to get both men on the show. It was interesting that Finn brought up getting his title back as it doesn't seem like he is in the plans to be in the title picture at least until after Great Balls of Fire, but maybe they could make it happen at SummerSlam. I would be up for a feud where Balor has to overcome the odds and make it a big deal when he finally gets back the title he never lost. I did like that Balor was going to walk off at first until Miz kept running his mouth and ended up getting hit with a Slingblade and a dropkick into the corner. Miz is so great and I wish he was more of a main event guy on Raw like he was on Smackdown, but I don't see that happening as it looks like he is stuck in the midcard and that is a big shame as he and Maryse are such a great act.

Match #1
Chris Jericho def Kevin Owens (c) via Submission (WWE United States Championship)The majority of this match was very underwhelming and felt like they were playing it a bit too safe. Once KO used his fingertip to get to the ropes yet again the match picked up with Jericho working on his hand due to him being pissed that the only reason KO is still in the match is because of the fingertip just like at WrestleMania. I liked that the hand work was the reason Jericho won the match since KO's hand was so messed up he couldnt get to the ropes.

Really surprised Jericho won, this means either he loses it back to KO on SmackDown (maybe a Loser Leaves  or he has worked out his schedule to be able to work Tuesday's.
Match Rating: **3/4

Match #2
Austin Aries def Neville via DQ (WWE Cruiserweight Championship)
This was a decent match, but nowhere near as good as their match at WrestleMania. Obviously given the finish it looks like this feud will continue to the next Raw PPV "Great Balls of Fire". I liked the sunset flip powerbomb into the Last Chancery by Aries and Neville panicking and doing whatever it took to keep his title and grabbing the referee to cause the disqualification. I  just wish this match had given me a bit more than it did. Match Rating: **1/2

Match #3
The Hardy Boyz def Sheamus & Cesaro via Pinfall (Raw Tag Team Championship)
This was a pretty fun match and so far the best of the night. I forget just how good the Hardy Boyz are in matches that don't include ladders and other weapons. For a good bit of the match poor Jeff was getting the shit kicked out of him, there was a spot where Jeff got tossed out of the ring and took a nasty looking bump. Then Jeff gets kicked in the face by Sheamus and it causes one of his teeth to get knocked out. The finish came when Jeff threw Cesaro over the barricade and then in the ring Sheamus blocks a Twist of Fate and hit Matt with a DDT. Jeff makes a blind tag to Matt and as Sheamus delivers a powerslam and goes to pin Matt, Jeff hits a Swanton Bomb on the back of Sheamus and picks up the win. One question I have as I can't remember is during The Hardy Boyz's matches where they have to tag in and out has Jeff always been the face in peril? I feel now that Matt has slowed down a lot it would be better if that was switched around and Matt was the Ricky Morton and he made the hot tag to Jeff who is still able to come in and clean house at a quicker pace. 

Match Rating: ***1/4

After the match The Hardy Boyz and Sheamus/Cesaro shake hands like they had on the previous weeks on Raw, but this time when it looks like they are leaving they come back and Cesaro pushes Jeff off the top rope and they both lay a beating on The Hardy Boyz and it looks like this feud will continue with Cesaro/Sheamus being heels. I like this idea as I feel they could become what Anderson/Gallows should be which are dominating bad asses that can't be stopped.

Match #4
Alexa Bliss def Bayley via Pinfall (Raw Women's Championship)
This was a bit slow starting off, but picked up mid way through. Alexa hits an elbow that I'm sure Mitsuharu Misawa is looking down smiling at (so much for NikkiSawa it's BlissSawa now bitches). One thing I wish Alexa would adopt into her matches is when the referee tells her to let go when she has her opponent on the ropes she should start using the old ROH Bryan Danielson "I have till 5" that would fit perfectly for her character. Bayley hit a nice looking knee to the face of Alexa. I thought this match was over after the flying elbow and was shocked when Alexa kicked out. I like the little touch of Bayley hitting her head on the ring post when Alexa kicked out of the pin. The DDT came out of nowhere and put Bayley away in a pretty good match. I can't believe that with Charlotte being their golden girl that they chose Alexa to be the first women to win both the Raw & Smackdown Women's Championships. I still say that within a few years Alexa has the potential to be the next Trish Stratus that's how good she is character wise and is quickly picking it up in the ring as well just like Trish did. This again could be my biased, but I feel Alexa's ceiling is way higher than any of the 4 Horsewomen.
Match Rating: ***

Match #5
Bray Wyatt def Randy Orton via Pinfall (House of Horrors Match)
Why the hell was this not just a No Holds Barred Match, the whole House of Horrors part of this match was fucking stupid and pointless and didn't do anything to lead to the finish. They could have accomplished the same damn thing with having Mahal and the Singh brothers interfere and beat down Orton. This absolutely sucked and thank God this shitty feud is over and hopefully Bray will move onto other things, but he probably won't. At least Bray did win this feud, but he couldn't win it on his own. I did like that Bray took fashion tips from Harper in this match wearing the always redneck classy dirty wife beater. Match Rating: DUD

Match #6
Seth Rollins def Samoa Joy via Pinfall
This entire match was Joe working over the knee of Rollins and Rolling trying to find a way to fight through it and get a win. Rollins did a great job of selling the knee and smartly didn't go for the springboard knee as you can't hop up like that to the top rope with a hurt knee. I liked how Joe used all of his weight and hit a senton splash to weaken Rollins's knee. Rollins get the win after he rolls Joe up with a fireman's carry into a pin while Joe had Rollins locked in the Coquina Clutch. Really great way to give Rollins a win and not cool down Joe as he will be more pissed now since Rollins made him look like a fool. There was times during this match I wish they would have cranked it up a gear or two as it felt a bit in slow motion until Rollins got on the offense. Match Rating: ***3/4

Match #7
Braun Strowman def Roman Reigns via Pinfall
This match was so great and perfectly booked, I was so scared this was going to be the usual Roman gets beat down for most of the match and then comes back at the end to win, but thankfully I was wrong. This was exactly what it needed to be it let Braun be the dominate unstoppable monster that he is and still gave Roman a few hope spots so he doesn't look completely weak. The post match was also really great with Braun slamming Roman off the steps chest first and then driving them into his chest causing Roman to start bleeding from the mouth. After the show on Raw Talk they show Roman next to an ambulance and out of nowhere Braun runs at Roman, but Roman moves and Braun crashes through the ambulance door. Braun goes back at Roman and Roman uses the other door and slams it into Braun's head and this causes Braun to back down and walk away. Now with this beat down it's pretty clear that there is 0.0% chance Roman is turning heel as he is going to be that sympathetic baby face who makes the miraculous return and finally is the one who beats the monster which is fine and I honestly have no problem with it to be honest, if they do it the right way.

The way I would do it is have Braun vs Brock at the Great Balls of Fire PPV and in the build up make Brock the baby face and have it where he may be the only one who can stop Braun, then at that show have Braun beat Brock for the belt in another dominate performance. The next night you have Braun come out and say he has laid waste to everyone and there is nobody left for him on Raw and this is when you bring Roman back with a completely different look and feel to him with new music, new entrance, and do away with his Shield gear. Have Roman come out and hit a few Superman punches on Braun to send him out of the ring and then give him the mic and all he has to say is "I'll see your ass at SummerSlam" and then drop the mic. That's all you have to do it's pretty simple and in the weeks leading up to SummerSlam you don't have Roman say anything else as he is just a silent bad ass that dominates the other heels on the show. I would also have Angle come out and make it where Roman and Braun can't touch until the bell rings at SummerSlam and make the match some kind of stipulation match either a last man standing or a Hell in a Cell because it will take a match that crazy in order for Braun and Roman to finally settle their differences. I would have Roman beat Braun at SummerSlam and hold the title until he and Brock meet at WrestleMania, but at no time during any of that would he ever go back to acting like the current Roman. That's a simple idea, but I highly doubt WWE would ever do it.

Match Rating: ****

Final Thoughts
Overall Payback was pretty much what I expected a below average show with a couple of decent matches and one really good match. Nothing really exceeded my expectations in the ring and overall other than the main event and Joe vs Rollins this show is skip able. I would grade it a D+

Payback 2017 Match Ranking

8. House of Horrors
7. Enzo & Big Cass vs Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows
6. WWE Cruiserweight Championship
5. WWE US Championship
4. Raw Women's Championship
3. Raw Tag Team Championship
2. Samoa Joe vs Seth Rollins
1. Braun Strowman vs Roman Reigns