Here’s our final thoughts on Raw’s WWE Payback 2017!
Enzo Amore and Big Cass vs. Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson
Reactions: Meh. That’s the only feeling that came to mind after this match concluded. It’s akin to the usual match you catch between these two teams on your usual installment of Raw. You can totally bypass this one. We’re happy to see Enzo and Cass get a win though, so at least there’s that. Bet you money that this one will take place again on Raw with a special stipulation sooner rather than later.
Rating: 1 & a Half out of 5 Stars
Neville (c) vs. Austin Aries (WWE Cruiserweight Championship)
Reactions: Man, Neville is such a sneaky bastard! This is another WrestleMania 33 rematch that wasn’t as strong as its predecessor, but it was still a pleasure to watch unfold. Aries and Neville are incapable of having a bad match against each other. Once again, we watched two quality Cruiserweights put on a match that’s much longer than the entirely too short ones that occur on Raw. Aries comeback sequence is always fun to watch and Neville’s heel shtick is still a good time to watch unfold. That Sunset Powerbomb to Neville from the top rope that followed right into the Last Chancery was a cool spot. Aries looked like he had the win on hand, but Neville chose to disrespect the ref to keep his title intact. The ending sucked, but the match up until that point was still decent enough.
Rating: 2 & a Half out of 5 Stars
Seth Rollins vs. Samoa Joe
Reactions: This is the match we were supposed to get at Fastlane, but it was cut due to Rollins’ knee injury. Rollins conquered the very same boss that hired Samoa Joe to injure his knee and set his sights right back on his much bigger foe. After watching the entirety of this match, we’re open to seeing them go to war all over again. Rollins and Joe meshed well together here in a match that was all about Joe targeting Rollins’ surgically repaired knee. We witnessed both men pull off slick Suicide Dives, as well as most of the impressive moves that make up their signature moveset. Joe was his usual brutal self as he used his own body and several submission holds to break down Rollins’ knee even more. Rollins played the role of the adrenaline filled but still injured savior perfectly. He pulled off several big moves on Joe, but the story of his half healthy knee played a part in how he still proceeded. This back and forth match was cool, but it was more of a preview of something even more epic for the future. We still liked what we saw, but the fluke ending makes us think we’re in for something even better from these two.
Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars
The Hardy Boyz (Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy) (c) vs. Cesaro and Sheamus (WWE Raw Tag Team Championship)
Reactions: What we got here was another passable matchup. Nothing entirely special about the action presented here, but it still had its moments. Sheamus’ Celtic Cross from the top rope was pretty cool, plus Jeff bumped around like a pinball (which never gets old). Both teams looked good throughout and did enough to get the crowd to come alive. The final moments of this match moved at an incredibly fast pace and led right into Jeff bringing this bout to a close with a Swanton Bomb. This was okay. What happened after the match though is what has us looking forward to what’s next. Sheamus and Cesaro took out their frustration over their loss on Matt and Jeff just moments after shaking their hands. Now we have a clearly defined heel duo in this feud.
Rating: 2 & a Half out of 5 Stars
Bayley (c) vs. Alexa Bliss (WWE Raw Women’s Championship)
Reactions: SHOUT OUT TO AELXA BLISS! She’s entered the record books as being the 1st woman to win both the new Raw and SmackDown Live Women’s Championships. This shocking upset came after a hard fought matchup between two quality NXT callups from 2016. Bayley’s hometown advantage put her in a good place and caused her to be a little bit more spirited with her offense. Bliss responded by working on Bayley’s head after throwing her into the corner ring post near the match’s beginning portion. This match resulted in some great counters from Bliss and Bayley’s fun to watch comeback arsenal. We popped extra hard after Bliss landed her Code Red off the top rope and when Bayley pulled off her “Macho Man” tribute elbow drop. Imagine how much harder we popped when Bliss walked away with the title after dropping Bayley with a nasty DDT. Bliss is the new WWE Raw Women’s Champion. We’re satisfied with the match itself, which makes the surprising result all the more sweeter.
Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars
Randy Orton (c) vs. Bray Wyatt (House of Horrors Match)
Reactions: So the rumors were indeed true – this House of Horrors feud ender saw its start during a pre-taped segment. Orton and Bray’s brawl throughout some creepy, dilapidated home was just too damn hokey to take seriously. The psychological tricks Bray played on Orton were just laughable and harkened back to some of the cornier gimmicks seen during the dying days of WCW. The starting segment of this whole match was a complete chore to sit through, honestly. Even watching Orton get squashed by a fridge did nothing to make us care about their initial brawl. Once the match made its way back to the arena, it got slightly better thanks to all the madness that ensued. Mahal and his stable complicated the whole affair by beating down Orton, which was a nice surprise. Bray got the win here and Orton’s planned Backlash match got some more fire throw atop it. Avoid the opening and just watch how Orton met his end via tons of interference. But let’s never have a House of Horrors match take place again. Please, WWE. Don’t try this anymore.
Rating: 1 & a Half out of 5 Stars
Kevin Owens (c) vs. Chris Jericho (WWE United States Championship; The Winner Will Transfer to SmackDown Live)
Reactions: While not as strong as their WrestleMania 33 match, we still got some enjoyment from this US Championship rematch. The match started off intense and maintained that same level of heated action right up until Owens got control. The middle portion was as basic as it comes, but the action kicked into a higher gear once Jericho locked in his signature submission hold. The one aspect of this bout that made it stand out is Y2J’s focus on weakening Owens’ hand. This helped present a more interesting lead up to the match’s shocking outcome (we totally thought Owens would retain here and go on to Backlash to clash with AJ Styles). This was a solid opener that was cool to follow based on Y2J’s hand work and the surprising ending.
Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars
Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman
Reactions: THANK YOU, STROWMAN! The crowd at this event were complete savages. AND WE LOVE IT! This brawl didn’t go very long. And to be quite honest, it wasn’t some full fledged match that had a ton of back and forth action. It was pretty much a public execution acted out by Braun Strowman towards a severely injured Roman Reigns. Don’t get us wrong – Reigns experienced a few moments where he had the big man on his knees. But Braun was in full beast mode here, which saw him do a ton of damage to Reigns. This short brawl was fine for what it was. The crowd came alive for it thanks to the mixed feelings over Reigns and the complete approval of Braun’s continued assault. It wasn’t amazing by any means, but the total destruction of Reigns was the perfect way to close Payback 2017.
Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars
Match of the Night
Seth Rollins vs. Samoa Joe!
Final Verdict
Raw PPV’s tend to fall on the weaker side of the quality meter. That trend continued here. WWE Payback 2017 had a few shining moments – Rollins vs. Joe, the shocking title wins from Chris Jericho and Alexa Bliss and Braun’s domination over Reigns. But those bright spots still weren’t enough to bring this show up to a much better rating. The rest of the card featured average to decent bouts, but the House of Horrors segment was the purest form of visual torture. Some sort of garbage brawl that started and ended in the arena between Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt would have been much more preferable. WWE Payback 2017 is an easily skippable show that was hampered by one of the corniest wrestling segments of the year. It wasn’t outright terrible, but there just wasn’t enough here to warrant a 2nd viewing.
Final Score: 2 & a Half out of 5 Stars
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