The PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania plays host to the 2023 edition WWE Payback, where four championships are on the line and two top rivalries will be settled. In the main event, Seth Rollins fight through a longtime back injury to defend the World Heavyweight Championship against Shinsuke Nakamura, in the latters first ever PWE main event. Meanwhile, Rhea Ripley defends her Women’s World Championship against a friend turned dangerous foe, Raquel Rodriguez, while the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn will face Finn Balor and Damien Priest of The Judgement Day in a Pittsburgh Steel City Street Fight with the titles on the line. Rey Mysterio will also be in action when he defends the WWE United States Championship against the former champion, Austin Theory. The Miz and LA Knight will finally settle their beef when they meet one on one, and finally, kicking off the show is a match months in a making when Trish Stratus and Becky Lynch finally end their rivalry inside a steel cage. Also set ot take place is a special edition of the Grayson Waller Effect, where Cody Rhodes will join the Arrogant Aussie to answer the hard-hitting questions.
+ Seth Rollins (c) vs Shinsuke Nakamura (WWE World Heavyweight Championship): overall this was good, but never quite great. The ending was clever, but anti-climactic. Nakamura as a bad guy is something I think we all can and should get really invested in, but I would suggest he needs to be able to be part of better matches than this, especially as commentary noted that this was his first PPV main event in WWE. Rollins was fine, but maybe not as good as usual
+ Grayson Waller Effect with Cody Rhodes: this was a short, comparitively small but ultimately servicable segment. I really like Waller and I add him to the list of people that the WWE surely won’t screw up going forward (which is to say, of course they will). This gets a positive because I didn’t hate it
+ Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens (c) vs The Judgement Day (Finn Balor & Damien Priest) (“Pittsburgh Steel City Street Fight” for the WWE Undisuted Tag Team Championships): though perhaps a little bit too ‘busy’, this was a lot of fun. Owens was busted up and bleeding from what looked like an elbow from one of his brawling buddies, and he went on to miss a huge dive that almost ended horribly. All of the competitors were at their best, with Zayn and Balor in particular harkening back — while perhaps slower now — to their feud from NXT. Priest was the biggest man by a wide margin, and I enjoyed the way he was able to throw himself around
+ Becky Lynch vs Trish Stratus (Steel Cage Mach): this was absolutely incredible, and I would go as far as to say the best women’s match no doubt, and a strong contender for overall WWE match of the year. I am thrilled that these two were given the extended chance to shine after their longtime build, and it didn’t disappoint in the slightest. Even at her age, Trish was hitting all her old marks and Becky was of course not just keeping up but most likely leading the dance. What a great match, before and after
– Rhea Ripley (c) vs Raquel Rodriguez (WWE Women’s World Championship): it does pain me to say, aside from Rhea’s ring gear this was absolute garbage. It was far tooo long, and nowhere near as good as their NXT match from 2020, and certainly nowhere near as good as their Last Woman Standing match from two years ago. This was a real disappointment. Humorously, I note that Corey Graves galled Raquel “Gonzalez” on commentary a few times, which was her previous ring name
– Rey Mysterio (c) vs Austin Theory (WWE United States Championship): holy heck, this was a boring, nothing happening match. I honestly have nothing to sya about this; Austin Theory has an upside but it was not on display here, and Rey Mysterio did nothing more than is usual greatness
– LA Knight vs The Miz: this had a difference from advertised, but the new addition was a strong positive. Otherwise, even though the crowd was wild throughout in support of LA Knight this was a very middling match. I guess having everybody saying L-A-Knight (yeah!) can make up for some in-ring pitfalls. Doens’t make the match any better, though
Should you watch this event: This was not a negative show overall, and in fact I quite enjoyed it. Even LA Knight/Miz and Ripley/Rodriguez had some redeeming qualities, even if they were not great. If you’re watching the show anyway, the only match to skip is Mysterio/Theory.
MoshFish Reviews 