WWE Payback winners, losers, highlights and rumors from the May PPV. Scroll down to the bottom for the complete results.
WWE Payback is tonight, May 17, 2015, live from the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, Maryland. This is the third Payback PPV but the first WWE Payback card held outside of Chicago. WWE Payback 2015 is one of three major events in the month of May (including the Elimination Chamber and NXT Takeover) and advertisers a solid card most matches suffer from very little build-up in the short time since Extreme Rules 2015.
Three titles are up for grabs to Payback winners 2015 — WWE Championship, US Championship and Tag Team Championship — with the Intercontinental title currently vacant and the Divas champion Nikki Bella involved in a tag team match.
Here are the complete list of betting odds as to who will be Payback winners after all is said and done with Seth Rollins being the favorite to walk out of WWE Payback 2015 the champion, John Cena the Payback winner and retain his US Championship and New Day the favorites to retain the WWE Tag Team Championships.
WWE Payback 2015 Official Card & Match Stipulations
The Meta-Powers (Curtis Axel and Macho Mandow) vs. The Ascension (Konnor and Viktor)
Naomi and Tamina vs. The Bella Twins
Ryback vs. Bray Wyatt
King Barrett vs. Neville
Dolph Ziggler vs. Sheamus
2-out-of-3 falls tag team match for the WWE Tag Team Championship
The New Day (c) vs. Tyson Kidd and Cesaro
“I Quit” match for the WWE United States Championship
John Cena (C) vs. Rusev (with Lana)
Fatal 4 Way Match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship
Seth Rollins (c) vs. Roman Reigns vs. Dean Ambrose vs. Randy Orton
STIPULATION: If Rollins retains the WWE Championship, Kane will be fired as Director of Operations
WWE Payback Winners 2015 And Reactions
Bonus Match: R-Truth defeats Stardust
REACTION: A bonus match to kick off the show. That’s if you consider seeing R-Truth a “bonus.” I feel like it’s more a punishment. When Stardust split from Goldust, I really thought the sky was the limit. Cody has embraced the character, and while I wasn’t hoping for a twenty year run in like Dustin had with the Goldust persona, I thought it might be a good “alternate personality” for certain feuds. Stardust would be Cody’s Cactus Jack.
Aside from the the awesome US Championship challenge match with Cena a couple weeks back, Cody has just been floating around the WWE Universe ethos. Now he’s dropping bonus matches to R-Truth. R-Truth. R-Truth is still a wrestler on a WWE PPV in 2015. It’s good to be friends with Cena.
What’s up? No one gives a shit, that’s what’s up?
The Ascension defeats The Meta Powers (Axel and Sandow)
REACTION: All around awful results. Coming out of the run with The Miz, Damien Sandow was in line for at least a US Championship shot (though anyone can get that now) or a run at the Intercontinental Championship. Now he’s stuck mimicking a beloved WWE Hall Of Famer and losing to the Ascension. The Macho Mandow Mizdow whatever is a schtick I could see Sandow running with PRIOR to his brilliant time as the stunt double for The Miz but now it’s just a “now what do we do with this guy?” move with zero payoff. (Side Note — this, however, was fucking brilliant)
As for The Ascension, look for this run to catapult them into the #1 contenders for the WWE Tag Team titles. That’s not tough to do considering the WWE has about three legit tag teams right now, with Cesaro and Kidd possibly going their separate ways if they don’t win the belts tonight. To make matters worse, the pending success of the new Mad Max film will just cause Vince and Co. to push these apocalyptic bores to the moon — or whatever is the source of light at night in Mad Max land. Probably the moon right? The moon or Charlize Theron’s gorgeous shiny dome.
Sheamus defeats Dolph Ziggler
REACTION: Dolph Ziggler has been hinting at taking a break from WWE to pursue a career in comedy. Hopefully he does because the WWE is making a joke out of him at every turn. Seriously, the guy has all the tools the to be a top WWE star and because of a “history” of concussions he never gets a push past the IC title. Daniel Bryan leaves for five months to have all his limbs sutured back on and the guy is immediately in the title picture in his first match guy. Dolph needs to take a break or just walk completely. Go sign with Jeff Jarrett’s Globo Gym, Lucha Underground or just hit up open mics.
New Day defeats Cesaro and Kidd
REACTION: From bell to bell, a fantastic match from four solid in-ring performers. This was one of those matches where ten minutes in, a fan is so sold, they really don’t care who wins because both teams deserve it. The New Day comes out with the Payback winners and I’m honestly hoping for a long title run with the team switching in out of who defends the titles (much like one of my favorite old teams, The Freebirds).
I’m calling for the amicably break-up of Cesaro and Kidd. Still friends, occasional partners, very similar to RybAxel. You do your thing, I’ll do mine, let’s occasionally bump into each other in the back and cut a humorous promo. Of course, this is the WWE, and they’ll probably feud over Natty for the next five months.
Bray Wyatt defeats Ryback
REACTION: I was ready to completely asdfghjklqwwr all over my keyboard if Ryback came out on top, but thankfully, Bray Wyatt pulls out the win in an absolute slobberknocker. The two big men put on a strong match but, honestly, I’m still not sure what the hell Wyatt has up his ass about Ryback in the first place. I understood the Cena feud, he’s establishment, and I understood the Undertaker beef because he’s the all time leader in head games on opponents but unless Wyatt actually recruits Ryback to join his movement — along with the newly reformed Harper and Rowan — this entire program is filler.
John Cena defeats Rusev
And with that win, John Cena’s ex-wife is still the only person to ever make him say “I Quit”
— Chris Illuminati (@chrisilluminati) May 18, 2015
“”
REACTION: Here’s my issue with the storytelling in this match — the announcers say “the referee can stop the match” at any time but the ref didn’t think a guy dead on the apron and unable to answer his question was a reason to stop the match. The match continues, and minutes later, Rusev “quits” in another language through the interpretation of Lana and the ref is all “YUP RING THE BELL IT COUNTS!! I’LL DO IT! DING DING!”
Rusev is speaking English the entire match, starts screaming in his native tongue, and suddenly Lana is his official spokesperson and screams that he quits? I curse in other languages all the time when I’m in pain and I don’t even know any other languages besides English. Also WE JUST ESTABLISHED MOMENTS AGO THE MATCH CAN’T END UNLESS THE OPPONENT SAYS “I QUIT”!
Glass half full reaction — more John Cena open invitational matches on TV. In case you’re wondering, I took the top half of the glass and poked myself in the brain with it because I Quit, WWE.
Naomi and Tamina defeat The Bella Twins
REACTION: Decent match, Tamina shows promise, but honestly WE JUST ESTABLISHED MOMENTS AGO THE MATCH CAN’T END UNLESS THE OPPONENT SAYS “I QUIT”!
Neville defeats King Barrett
REACTION: Neville picks up the win via count out as Barrett just doesn’t feel like getting back in the ring. He might have quit in a different language but didn’t have an interpreter near by to tell the ref. I’m actually fine with the ending, even though it doesn’t help/hurt each competitor, except THIS ISN’T FUCKING RAW and it’s the match before the Fatal 4 Way. If you’re going to book this ending, do it in the second hour of Raw or the first hour of the PPV.
Seth Rollins defeats Randy Orton, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose
REACTION: For one brief moment, when The Shield got back together, all was right with the world. That was fun. It also shows how much the WWE Uni misses the Hounds Of Justice and how the break-up was totally botched. Not the actual break-up but the fact the three men never really got a blow-off three way dance to send the group off.
Overall, a hell of a match, but Rollins walks out the champion, picking up the win with a pedigree on Orton for the victory.
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