WWE Payback Predictions

by: Connor Okey

Chicago in my opinion has always been the best wrestling city out there. Some might say the NYC area would be better, but not for me. On June 16, WWE is coming back to Chicago for WWE Payback & I’ll be there live to witness a night with a lot of great action. For me, there are many matches that I’m looking forward to at this pay per view. The crowd will make this show also very special as well. Now, this show wont be what Money in the Bank 2011 was, but I’m not expecting that. You would be crazy to think that. Let’s go through this card, match by match seeing what I think.

Triple Threat Match for the Intercontinental Championship: Curtis Axel v. The Miz v. Wade Barrett(c)
Not gonna lie, I’m little disappointed that Fandango’s concussion is causing him to miss out on the pay per view. I was looking forward to doing some Fandangoing in the crowd, I guess ill have to wait for that to happen. If he was still in the match, I would have had him walk away with the championship. Wade Barrett’s reign as the Intercontinental champion has been very uninteresting, so it’s the best thing for him to lose the championship. I’m a huge Miz fan, he’s my boy, but it’s not Miz’s time to be the champion again. Curtis Axel re-debut to the WWE Universe has been a good one. Clearly WWE is gonna push this guy forward, he’s got great skills out there & pretty badass remix to his father’s theme song. I’m predicting that Curtis Axel will walk out with the Intercontinental championship & bringing the gold the Paul Heyman’s faction of Heyman Guys.

United States Championship Match: Kane v. Dean Ambrose(c)
It’s not the match that I thought we would be seeing at the pay per view, but it doesn’t bother me. I’m just happy that Ambrose is defending the championship. This is a rematch from Monday, it was good, but I’m expecting this one to be better. At the end of the day, Ambrose will walk out retaining the United States Championship at WWE Payback.

Divas Championship Match: AJ Lee v. Kaitlyn(c)
It’s about time that the divas, not just the Divas Championship will be featured on a WWE pay per view. Monday did a tremendous job at putting the final build to this match. I know people think this was just made this Monday, but no this has been a story for well over a year. I’m also liked how the secret admirer was just AJ’s way to torture Kaitlyn. I don’t think I want this to end here at Payback, so I’m gonna pick AJ to win by disqualification. This could lead to a rare no disqualification match between the two.

World Heavyweight Championship Match: Alberto Del Rio v. Dolph Ziggler(c)
Thank God Dolph Ziggler is back! Ziggler has been very much missed on WWE programming & I don’t know if I could watch another Del Rio v. Langston match again. This will be a very good match, with some great bumping by Ziggler, but what is new for him. An back in forth match with Ziggler retaining the World Heavyweight Championship & hopefully onto a new challenger for Money in the Bank.


WWE Tag Team Championship Match: Daniel Bryan & Randy Orton v. The Shield (Rollins & Reigns)(c)
Talent overload in this match & what I think will be the match of the night for me. Daniel Bryan has been the WWE MVP recently, who has been having his best year so far since being in WWE. His match with Rollins on Raw was just an amazing contest. I’m surprised that this match was put together, I thought it would have been Orton v. Bryan, but this will be a lot of fun. Everyone will shine in this match, with Orton & Bryan trying to coexist, but The Shield will find away to retain the championship. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Bryan turn his back on Orton as well in this match.

CM Punk v. Chris Jericho
This is the match that everyone is looking forward to seeing. It’s the Battle of the Best in this match. I’m overly happy to see CM Punk coming back & to have his comeback in Chicago is gonna be a special moment. I expect the crowd to be insane for Punk & loud throughout the match. One of the things that I love about this match, other than the great wrestling contest that we will see is that WWE is keeping Chicago for Punk first appearance since walking off of Raw. The two ways I see this match going is Punk walks away with the win & then go back into the WWE Championship picture. Another way I could see is Heyman gets involve accidently costing Punk the match & leading to the face turn for CM Punk. At the end of the day, it’s gonna be a great match & I’ll go with Punk to walk out with the win in this match.

3 Stages of Hell Match for the WWE Championship: Ryback v. John Cena(c)
(Stage 1: Lumberjack Match, Stage 2: Tables Match, Stage 3: Ambulance Match)
I think last month at Extreme Rules both these performers surprised a lot of people by having a great match & now we have the rematch. This match changed from an ambulance match to the 3 stages of hell match & I like that it was changed. Honestly the stages are fine, but they should have something other than an ambulance match. Even though it’s gonna be great to see the only pay per view main event JTG will ever be in. LOL!!! No doubt in my mind that Cena will retain the WWE Championship in this match. It’s still too soon for him to lose the championship, since the big win from WrestleMania.

In conclusion, I’m very much looking forward & excited for WWE Payback. It’s a night of returns, a night of great wrestling & it’s a night of championship match. All the WWE championships are on the line on this night, which is pretty rare other than at Night of Champions. There is are a few match that can be just amazing match on that night. It’s gonna be awesome to see the return of CM Punk, he’s been very much missed by the fans. I can’t say that there are any bad matches on this card, they are all good to amazing matches. The crowd is gonna match this show & I can’t wait to see how these matches pay out. The wait is killing me!!!