“What on earth are they doing that for?” was perhaps the universal reaction when, in the build-up to that event, that a week after Summerslam the WWE would be back on the Network with another supershow, Payback 2020.
Even the title suggested we would be getting a number of un-needed Summerlsam re-matches, plus lesser lights that didn’t even warrant a slot on that show.
Not even a very good Summerslam could quite shake that feeling for some. But on it’s own merits, Payback 2020 proved to be a good show that certainly didn’t feel like it had been thrown together in the few days since it’s predecessor.
Indeed, the opener was perhaps the match we should have had at Summerslam ,as Apollo Crews defended his United States Title against Bobby Lashley (having defended it against MVP there). As thrilled as I was to see MVP back at the Royal Rumble and as much of a fan of his as I am I would never have guessed back in January that MVP would prove to be one of the highlights of WWE television as the year went on. But that’s what character exploration gives you, even if your reaction now is based on a character created a decade ago, Anyway, Crews and Lashley was a good opening effort; the early going was perhaps a little slow as the Hurt Business attempted to stop Crews gaining any momentum it picked up in the second half and became really quite good. With another five minutes of so it could have been a minor classic.
Anyone expecting a technical classic between Big E and Sheamus would have been out of their minds but I was expecting something a little better than what we got. It wasn’t awful by any means and it certainly had its moments. But it was far from the big man “hoss” fight it could have been. It was a little too pedestrian at times and relied too much on the match storyline of Sheamus methodically taking his opponent apart only for E to show his resilience and fighting spirit to win.
If it’s even remotely true that Baron Corbin complained that Matt Riddle needed to prove and establish himself against “lesser lights” on the roster before feuding with him it makes me even more of a fan of the man who I genuinely, without a hint of irony, like as a wrestler anyway. He’s a better in-ring talent than most people acknowledge and is a great heel who is never afraid to look silly when getting his comeuppance. And he seems a cool guy too. That said, this match wasn’t exactly brilliant, although it was acceptable. And without a genuine live crowd in attendance it’s hard to get into the attempted babyface comebacks.
Whilst I’m still disappointed that ShaNia still haven’t taken to airing vignettes were they recreate Shania Twain videos their team, despite having a “thrown together” feel, has proved effective. Baszler keeps her profile in a title spot and Jax can halve her workload from singles and is much more effective as a result. I shouldn’t need to remind anyone how great Sasha Banks and Bayley have been during the Covid era either. As a result this was a very good match for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles and if the result was a little obvious (it was definitely time for the champs to drop the straps) the ending was a very innovative one.
Whatever the wrongs and rights of the presentation of Keith Lee since he made the step up to the main roster, you cannot argue about his match against Randy Orton here. In less than ten minutes all in, Lee cleanly pinned one of the top stars on Raw. Could it have been better as a fifteen-to-twenty minute match? Possibly. Did it need to be? Probably not.
Dominik Mysterio and Seth Rollins surpassed all expectations at Summerslam (although really, you have to acknowledge that Rollins was a perfect opponent for Dominik in that sense) and adding Rey Mysterio and Murphy to the tag team mix here made for another very good match. Rollins and Murphy were as superb as ever, Dominik proved Summerlsam wasn’t a fluke and Rey rolled back the clock and looked as crisp as ever. Great tag team match.
And then it was time for the main event as Bray Wyatt, Braun Strowman and Roman Reigns clashed over the Universal title. Expect Reigns didn’t arrive for the start, with the build up dominated by the idea that Reigns hadn’t signed the contract. This meant that we got an extended period of Bray Vs Braun which wasn’t any better than their interminable Summerlsam match. Reigns did turn up of course, signed the contract an won. However much people will insist that Wyatt was “buried” again, he wasn’t (he didn’t take the pin) and Reigns winning was clearly the right decision.
Whilst never threatening to be a classic, Payback 2020 was a show that surpassed all expectations, given it was a hastily inserted show into the PPV calendar at short notice. For a show seemingly thrown together at the last minute it felt like a show that had meaning and had results that had consequences for the direction of the company going forward. Which can never be a bad thing. All told this was two and half hours that flew by and offered up plenty to enjoy in the process. The pre-show match pitting the Iiconics against the Riott Squad was great fun too.
7 out of 10
Photographs courtesy of Fetch and WWE. Thank you to WWE Home Video for our review copy of Payback 2020 which is out Monday 19 October on DVD. You can buy your copy from WWEDVD.co.uk by clicking here.
You can find me on Twitter @IWFICON