Wow this place becomes a little active again.
On the whole, I more or less actually enjoyed Payback to a degree on in-ring action, but the story-telling continues to be awful as hell. Corbin/Ziggler getting bumped to the pre-show and Ziggler taking the win via roll up? It's the rookie's worst nightmare, the fact they can't beat roll-ups. And with that Battle Royal spot, Baron absolutely has to maul and decimate Ziggler in some type of ER rules match at the next ppv for him to not completely stall. Which is annoying because so far I like Corbin in his short time on the main roster more than his NXT stint. Ryback/Kalisto was really good too for a match, especially Ryback doing CM Punk's mannerisms. I think this is the type of Ryback we've all wanted to see for a while now, and they put together a fairly good match barring Kalisto almost screwing himself over with that corkscrew if Ryback didn't catch him. However, I thought it was really time to give Ryback some credible run with it, because Kalisto to me just is not cutting it as champ.
The injury to Enzo sucked, and really took away from those of us watching likely in person and online, and it was really tough to get over, but Sami and KO brought people back in with a great match. If anything these guys stole the show and cemented themselves a place that the E should capitalize on pushing. As for the tag picture, Enzo probably won't be cleared for some time, so it makes sense that the Vaudes get the title shot, otherwise this would be like the 4th PPV the tag titles aren't defended at. Even though you could say it's in bad taste after what happened, I also liked the Vaudes using the injury Enzo got to get a bit of heat, it was something sorely missed and lacking from today's product that makes you want to get into it more.
Miz/Cesaro turned out to be somewhat standard fair, as far as Miz matches go, but it extended and got Sami and KO involved (KO is just everywhere tonight, his thing with Saxton having him interview him was awesome), and we're crossing two stories into one for a championship, with 3 guys we care about along with maryse, yay! I wanna see something good for ER between these 4, and NOT A LADDER MATCH. Maybe a fatal four way table elimination match. Ambrose got a win in a good match, albeit a bit too long (but we can't blame that when Zo got injured, so gotta fill time right?) don't need to say more than that. Also, RIP Mitch the potted plant, Jericho is a murderer, Ambrose for justice.
After that started going a bit downhill for me. The matches so far were good, but outside Sami and KO, the story-telling was just meh in retrospective fashion for now. But, starting with Nattie and Charlotte just it went further downhill for me. I just honestly didn't like this match, I mean it was decent, but Ric and Bret looked uninterested in being there, the match itself was alright, but kind of bland, really bland, and c'mon a screwjob using lil naitch in the same fashion that Bret lost? What is this bullsh*t, a screwjob when there's pretty much no heat in this match or feud really? When did I start watching RAW/Nitro circa 1997-99 again? Get Ric the hell out of the divas matches please, just stop it with him. Been kind of pissed for a while now that Charlotte is basically Ric lite, and trying to copy his mannerisms and stuff, it doesn't look natural at f'in all.
I pictured and actually hoped that Vince would give Shane and Steph combined control, that can actually lead to a brand split instead of making it happen. And that's probably what we are gonna get (hopefully?). At least in this way, it lets them create technical friendships and rivalries with their own talents, so it makes more sense when certain superstars side with one mcmahon over the other. Or, if we don't get a brand split and just a match for complete control down the line, same thing on the siding factor.
Main event was pretty damn good in the ring, both men looked phenomenal by the end of it. Bit annoyed that the multiple restarts came to just another way to start the Mcmahon's hand dipping themselves into the main event again. Especially because those stops in the match really hurt the flow, and made it feel disjointed. I'm kind of glad we didn't get some kind of nonsensical swerve with Gallows and Anderson, though I really wanted the Usos to specifically cost AJ the match, that way they can justify that AJ needs Gallows and Anderson to even the odds for AJ against Roman. Maybe we can get something like that for ER then, and maybe it makes a full blown turn for Roman. It would line up almost perfectly if Extreme Rules was one week later, as the following monday is when Cena returns. Would have been oh so perfect on a return night for Cena to come back as we get a new full heel roman or something.