It’s Time for ‘Payback’
After this week’s past go home show, Monday Night Raw, the card for Sunday’s Pay Per View WWE Payback is set. Talk about a long time coming…it’s been eight months since we had an event where all titles were on the line. You remember Hell in the Cell? This time, let’s hope we don’t see any funny shenanigans involving the WWE title, but we all know how this organization rolls. Somebody will be catching “payback”, live from the Allstate Arena in the windy city of Chicago, Illinois.
Sunday night in the main event, John Cena will defend the WWE title against the number one contender Ryback, in a Three Stages of Hell match. This match will consist of the first fall being a Lumberjack Match, the second fall being a Tables Match, and if necessary the third and final fall being an Ambulance Match. It’s been four years since we’ve witnessed the last Three Stages of Hell match, in which the then WWE Champion Randy Orton defeated Triple H to retain the most precious, sought after title in the wrestling.
Ryback has been waiting since last month’s Extreme Rules PPV where both men were rendered unconscious after Ryback put his own body on line, driving Cena completely through the stage lighting. Over the past few weeks during Raw, leading up to Sunday’s main event, Ryback has been on a path of destruction taking out anything and anyone to prove he deserves to hold the covenant title. Will we see the same ol’ super Cena walk out with gold around his waist? Or will Ryback prevail to become the new WWE Champion?
Prediction: Cena wins in third fall
Other matches on the card include the WWE World Tag Team Championship, being defended by Shield members, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns. This time around, Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton somehow need to coexist in order to successfully take down the current champions. If you see Bryan losing this match for the team, he’ll be catching another rko from the Viper, just like the one delivered at last week’s Smackdown. Orton took a lot of heat from the crowd for that move and we can already see him possibly turning heel very soon, even though the WWE needs more faces.
Prediction: Rollins and Reigns
The Big Red Monster Kane is in singles competition to take his shot against Dean Ambrose for the United States Championship. The Shield and Team Hell No have had major history in the past, so I could see the veteran Kane giving the Champion all he can handle. But never count out the mouth piece of the faction, as the most ravenous “Hound of Justice” who has been unstoppable in recent weeks even leading up to his U.S Title victory last month at Extreme Rules.
Prediction: Ambrose
Dolph Ziggler will finally be making his triumphant return, after suffering a concussion that landed him on the shelf for about a month. He will be defending the World Heavyweight Championship against Alberto Del Rio. Even though the build for this match has been pretty much non existent, Del Rio better be on his ‘A’ game if he plans on taking the strap from The Show Off. I’ve got a hunch that Ziggler will be coming full force in order to retain his Title. He has proven himself time and time again, and Sunday night shouldn’t be any different. If things start to go sour for Del Rio, I’m sure we could see Ricardo Rodriguez getting involved somehow someway, but that shouldn’t stop Ziggler from picking up the win. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
Prediction: Dolph Ziggler
Also making his return from an injury hiatus will be CM Punk. We haven’t seen The Best In The World since he cut his last promo and walked out, back on the April, 15th edition of Monday Night Raw. Paul Heyman accepted the challenge for his client a few weeks back on an episode of Jericho’s Highlight Real. These guys have great chemistry with each other, so let’s just hope Punk is healthy enough to show up in his own back yard of Chicago.
  Prediction: CM Punk
With that said, Paul Heyman’s newest client Curtis Axel, will get his shot at the Intercontinental Championship in a triple threat match against The Mizz and Champion Wade Barrett. Axel is a ‘perfect’ fit for replacing Fandango, who was supposed be in the match, but suffered a concussion at a Smackdown taping two weeks ago. The third generation super star has already gained victories over some of the roster’s top talent including; Triple H, Chris Jericho and John Cena. Don’t be surprised if he wins the Title that his father so proudly wore on a few occasions.
Prediction: Curtis Axel
The card will also showcase, current WWE Divas Champion Kaitlyn, defending against former friend AJ Lee. AJ, the manipulator of mind games really got inside Kaitlyn’s head this past week on Raw, when she pulled her most recent stunt as we found out the truth behind Kaitlyn’s secret admirer.
Prediction: AJ Lee
Don’t forget to tune in to the free WWE Payback Kickoff show streaming live at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m PT. You’ll see The Celtic Warrior Sheamus, try and settle his differences against the self proclaimed Intellectual Savior of the Masses, Damien Sandow. Sheamus had his number, until Smackdown this past week in which Sandow was able to gain the upper hand, leaving the big fella, lying in the middle of the ring.
Prediction: Sheamus
All in all on paper, Payback is shaping up to be “one hell of a slobber knocker.” Hopefully WWE, won’t disappoint and put out an A+ product this Sunday night. Please feel free to leave your comments, as well as your predictions below. Make sure to follow @WrestlinRambles and @RasslinJerk on Twitter. See you in Chicago!