One of the featured attractions at tonight’s WWE Payback pay-per-view will be the first-ever House of Horrors match between Bray Wyatt and WWE Champion Randy Orton.
WWE has not clearly defined exactly what the House of Horrors stipulation entails. A WWE Fan Council survey sent out earlier this month indicated that WWE wasn’t even sure what would be involved, but we know the survey asked fans if the match should include pitchforks, fog, darkness and “sheeple.”
It seems likely that the match would include some pre-taped footage involving a lot of gimmickry and that it would ultimately wind up in the arena to determine a winner. According to a report by Dave Scherer of PWInsider, that’s exactly what we’ll be seeing.
The “House” aspect of the House of Horror match has already been recorded. Randy Orton will arrive in a limousine and enter the house. Orton and Wyatt will brawl in various rooms of the home, including one that has dolls of children hanging from the ceiling. The fight then leads to the kitchen, where Bray Wyatt traps Orton and then goes out outside and steals the limo. Then it’s off to the arena for the actual match.
To find out, out who is scheduled to win the match, check out the final WWE Payback Betting Odds.
The final betting odds for tonight’s WWE Payback PPV have been released by BetWrestling.com and some late betting activity reveal some potential changes in what WWE has planned for the show.
The most significant change in betting is a lot of “smart money” going on Alexa Bliss. RAW Women’s Champion had been favored, but is now listed as a strong underdog. While it’s possible that Alexa might get a DQ or count-out victory, Payback takes place from Bayley’s home town and you know WWE’s history of booking stars in their hometowns.
Here are the final betting odds, courtesy of BetWrestling/5Dimes:
Braun Strowman is a strong favorite (-5960) to defeat Roman Reigns (-1990)
Chris Jericho is a strong favorite (-9250) to defeat United States Champion Kevin Owens (+2750)
Alexa Bliss is favored (-4500) to defeat RAW Women’s Champion Bayley
RAW Tag Team Champions The Hardy Boyz are strong favorites (-13500) to retain against Cesaro and Sheamus (+3500 )
Neville is a strong favorite (-9250) to retain the Cruiserweight Championship against Austin Aries (+2750)
Bray Wyatt is a strong favorite (-13500) to defeat WWE Champion Randy Orton ($3500) in the House of Horrors match.
Seth Rollins is a strong favorite (-7500) to defeat Samoa Joe (+2500)
Join us here later tonight for our WWE Payback Results & Live Discussion.
WWE Payback 2017 takes place tonight from the SAP Center in San Jose, California. Join us here later tonight for our WWE Payback Results & Live Coverage.
Enzo Amore and Big Cass vs. Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows
Winner of this match is most likely the next in line to challenge for the tag titles, depending on what happens with the Hardyz vs. Cesaro & Sheamus later.
MizTV Segment: w/ Finn Balor
Balor doesn’t get a match on the PPV, possibly a cautionary move due to his concussion 3 weeks ago.
Main Show:
WWE Raw Tag Team Championship Match the Hardy Boyz (c) vs. Cesaro & Sheamus This will be the Hardyz 2nd title defence, their first coming the night after WrestleMania. Matt beat Sheamus, and Jeff beat Cesaro in the last 2 weeks on Raw.
US Championship Match Kevin Owens (c) vs. Chris Jericho
Probably the final match in a storyline which started before SummerSlam last year.
House of Horrors Match Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt
It is not altogether clear if the WWE championship is on the line in this match. WWE.com does not specifically mention the Orton’s championship being up for grabs, though that doesn’t necessarily mean it isn’t. None of the storytelling leading up to the match has indicated the title is on the line either.
Cruiserweight Championship Neville (c) vs. Austin Aries
Rematch from WrestleMania. Neville won the first bout after raking Aries’ surgically corrected eye to gain an advantage.
Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman
This will be the 2nd PPV match between the two, with Roman having won the first at Fastlane.
Seth Rollins vs. Samoa Joe
Joe made Jericho tap out 2 weeks ago on Raw, and has looked strong ever since debuting on the main roster. If Joe is beating top-level guys clean as a heel on Raw, it means they are high on him.
WWE Raw Women’s Championship Bayley (c) vs. Alexa Bliss
As Payback is in Bayley’s hometown, and no Universal title on the line, there is a high probability that this match goes on last. There’s no guarantee Bayley wins however, as Charlotte beat Sasha Banks in the main event of a PPV which was in Banks’ hometown, so all bets are off.
Alexa Bliss has been a success story since arriving on the main roster. Bliss rarely wrestled in NXT and served more as a manager.
Last night was the go-home show for Sunday’s Payback PPV. The show is a Raw-exclusive event, however Kevin Owens and Randy Orton (both from Smackdown) each have matches scheduled.
WWE Payback (Raw)
SAP Centre
San Jose, CA
April 30th, 2017
Kickoff Show:
Enzo Amore and Big Cass vs. Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows
Winner of this match is most likely the next in line to challenge for the tag titles, depending on what happens with the Hardyz vs. Cesaro & Sheamus later.
MizTV Segment: w/ Finn Balor
Balor doesn’t get a match on the PPV, possibly a cautionary move due to his concussion 3 weeks ago.
Main Show:
WWE Raw Tag Team Championship Match the Hardy Boyz (c) vs. Cesaro & Sheamus This will be the Hardyz 2nd title defence, their first coming the night after WrestleMania. Matt beat Sheamus, and Jeff beat Cesaro in the last 2 weeks on Raw.
US Championship Match Kevin Owens (c) vs. Chris Jericho
Probably the final match in a storyline which started before SummerSlam last year.
House of Horrors Match Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt
It is not altogether clear if the WWE championship is on the line in this match. WWE.com does not specifically mention the Orton’s championship being up for grabs, though that doesn’t necessarily mean it isn’t. None of the storytelling leading up to the match has indicated the title is on the line either.
Cruiserweight Championship Neville (c) vs. Austin Aries
Rematch from WrestleMania. Neville won the first bout after raking Aries’ surgically corrected eye to gain an advantage.
Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman
This will be the 2nd PPV match between the two, with Roman having won the first at Fastlane.
Seth Rollins vs. Samoa Joe
Joe made Jericho tap out 2 weeks ago on Raw, and has looked strong ever since debuting on the main roster. If Joe is beating top-level guys clean as a heel on Raw, it means they are high on him.
WWE Raw Women’s Championship Bayley (c) vs. Alexa Bliss
As Payback is in Bayley’s hometown, and no Universal title on the line, there is a high probability that this match goes on last. There’s no guarantee Bayley wins however, as Charlotte beat Sasha Banks in the main event of a PPV which was in Banks’ hometown, so all bets are off.
Alexa Bliss has been a success story since arriving on the main roster. Bliss rarely wrestled in NXT and served more as a manager.
WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has updated his blog, which you can read in its entirety at JRsBarBQ.com. JR called Payback an enjoyable show overall that highlighted several performers who delivered. Here are some highlights of what he said about:
Roman Reigns vs. AJ Styles: “Roman Reigns and AJ Styles did their part and more in closing the show in a solid and at times spectacular fashion. I felt that match, in hindsight, had a few more ‘near falls’ for my taste, but it’s better to miss on that side of the equation than for wrestlers to rarely attempt to win a match. Both men demonstrated an intense work ethic and even though and the extra involvement by Gallows, Anderson, and the Usos might not have been everyone’s favorite BBQ Sauce it allowed our more talents to get a bit of a rub from the main event.”
Enzo Amore’s Injury: “After Enzo Amore sustained a concussion after being apparently knocked out thanks to a stiff ring rope/cable and the show slowed to a halt early, the talents rebounded and seemingly put the show back on track. Luckily for Enzo, a talented and tough kid, that he was not seriously injured, but I’m not saying that a concussion isn’t serious because they obviously are. I’m a major fan of Enzo and Cass and expect great things from them in the future.”
Shane and Stephanie Running RAW: “While I am looking forward to Shane McMahon and Stephanie McMahon being the CO-GM’s of RAW and hopefully an eventual departure from the 20+ year run of antagonist authority figures in WWE on RAW, the segment felt a bit long for me. While fantasy booking this scenario, it’s hard to not to picture a Shane vs. HHH match at some point in time. “
The two will square off in an Extreme Rules match on Sunday, May 22nd. An interesting note about the Payback main event, which was restarted twice and eventually turned into a no disqualification match. A fan asked former WWE referee Jimmy Korderas why a rope break was called, since it was no-DQ. Korderas clarified that rope breaks are still enforced in no-DQ matches.
Alread addressed. No DQ is NOT falls count anywhere so getting to ropes negates pin attempts. https://t.co/MQlicWuYEK
Sheamus and Alberto Del Rio were backstage. At one point, there were plans for them to wrestle on the show as part of the blowoff to the League of Nations disbanding.
The “Chicago Screwjob” finish to Charlotte vs. Natalya was somewhat of a last-minute decision. This feud will continue and they’re slated for a stipulation rematch at Extreme Rules.
Prior to Enzo Amore’s concussion in the show opener, the original plan was for the Vaudevillains to win the #1 contender’s tournament.
Mr. McMahon announced last night at Payback that Shane and Stephanie McMahon will both be in charge of WWE moving forward, a compromise of sorts to see if the two can co-exist. There was no mention of Triple H having a formal role as part of this new regime, but there’s speculation that Shane and Triple H will eventually wrestle a match. The good news is that the era of The Authority’s death grip on RAW appears to be over and this new ‘checks and balances’ system will bring some much needed relief from completely overbearing authority figures.
Later in the show, Vince McMahon signed off on Shane McMahon’s suggestion that the main event of Extreme Rules should be AJ Styles challenging Roman Reigns in an Extreme Rules match. Stephanie agreed with Shane’s idea, so the two of them are starting off on the same page. We’ll see how long that lasts.
WWE Extreme Rues takes place in less than three weeks on Sunday, May 22nd.
– We have a correction to run. Finn Balor obviously did not make his main roster debut last night at Payback. SEScoops correspondent Jonathan Fisher received a tip that Balor would be appearing in Chicago and he was authorized to run the story. It was reported as a ‘rumor’ but it was reported nonetheless. We’ve received some flack on Twitter for simply “making shit up for clicks” which was not the case, but we apologize for the botch and will hold ourselves to a higher standard of verifying scoops moving forward.
– Seth Rollins was not backstage at Payback last night, despite a report last week from the “Wrestling News World.” Rollins has been in New Orleans over the past several weeks filming the WWE Studios film, Temple.
– WWE has published the following backstage interviews from Payback:
WWE will be at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois tonight for Payback 2016. Our live coverage starts tonight at 8 PM ET for WWE’s fourth annual Payback pay-per-view event. Here’s the final card for tonight’s show:
According to inside sources, former-NXT champion Finn Balor is expected to make his WWE main roster debut at WWE Payback Sunday.
After Balor dropped the NXT Heavyweight championship at NXT Lowell to Samoa Joe, it was only a matter of time before Balor would make the jump to the main roster. These sources also correctly told us of Joe’s win before it even happened.
He is expected to debut, while Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson attack AJ Styles, causing him to beat Reigns by disqualification. As of this writing, there is no confirmation as to which side Balor will lean towards.
WWE Payback is emanating from Chicago, Illinois, which is a crowd to root against Reigns with all their might. Balor’s main roster debut has also been anticipated for over a year now.
Check back for more updates on this developing story.
International betting site 5Dimes.eu updated their odds for Sunday’s WWE Payback pay-per-view. These odds are typically reliable indicators for predicting match outcomes.
Roman Reigns is favored (-475) to retain the WWE Championship against AJ Styles (+325)
Charlotte is favored (-420) to retain the WWE Women’s Championship against Natalya (+300)
Cesaro is a slight favorite (-130) to defeat The Miz (-110) for the Intercontinental Championship
Sami Zayn is favored (-145) to defeat Kevin Owens (+105)
The Vaudevillains are favored (-400) to defeat Enzo & Big Cass (+280) in the tag team tournament finals
Dean Ambrose is strongly favored (-705) to defeat Chris Jericho (+435)
Baron Corbin is favored (-420) to defeat Dolph Ziggler (+300)
Ryback is favored (-215) to defeat Kalisto (+164) for the US Championship on the kickoff show
We’ll post an update this weekend if there is any significant changes via last minute betting.
WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair told Natalya, “Kill yourself” during a heated promo at Tuesday night’s WWE SmackDown tapings. The incident took place when Dean Ambrose hosted Natalya, Charlotte and Flair on his Ambrose Asylum talk show segment to hype Sunday’s Women’s Championship match at Payback.
At one point, Natalya was talking about her uncle Bret being in her corner and told Flair that her uncle Bret will have no problem ‘handling’ him. Flair fired back with the “kill yourself” remark. Don’t be surprised if this edited off television when the show airs tomorrow night on USA.
On Monday’s RAW, AJ Styles defeated Sami Zayn in a great match to finalize his singles match against Roman Reigns at WWE Payback. Styles won a fatal 4-way match last week to become #1 contender. Had Zayn defeated Styles, the Payback main event would have been a triple threat.
Cesaro also defeated Kevin Owens on RAW to earn a shot at The Miz’s Intercontinental championship.
With those matches set, here’s the updated card for WWE Payback:
WWE World Heavyweight Championship
Roman Reigns (c) vs. AJ Styles
Intercontinental Championship Match
The Miz (c) vs. Cesaro
Payback takes place on Sunday, May 1st and airs live on the WWE Network.
Following this week’s WWE television tapings, the card is starting to take shape for next month’s Payback pay-per-view. The following is the planned card for the show (via Wrestling Observer):
WWE World Heavyweight Championhip
– Roman Reigns (c) vs. AJ Styles
WWE Women’s Championship
– Charlotte (c) vs. Natalya
– Chris Jericho vs. Dean Ambrose
– Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn
– Wyatt Family vs. League of Nations
– The Dudley Boyz vs. Enzo Amore & Big Cass
– Becky Lynch vs. Emma
Payback airs live on the WWE Network on Sunday, May 1st from the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois.
WWE confirmed on Tuesday that their annual Payback pay-per-view will take place at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois. The event will take place on May 1st, 2016. Payback has been an annual WWE event since June 2013.
The pre-sale for early tickets is going on right now. You can get them at Ticketmaster.com with the password: CHICAGO
WWE’s Extreme Rules will take place the same month, on May 22nd at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
According to PWInsider, Payback will be on May 1st with the location to be announced, while Extreme Rules is now indeed the May 22nd show in Newark, New Jersey.
ORIGINAL:
Well, this is curious.
All of a sudden, on Ticketmaster’s website, WWE Payback on May 22nd, which is in the middle of its ticket pre-sale, has been renamed Extreme Rules, logo and all. At least as of last night during Monday Night Raw, all local New York market ads for the tickets going on sale (the card is at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey), the show was still branded as PayBack.
Extreme Rules had originally ben scheduled for April 24th (three weeks after WrestleMania), but no location had been announced and tickets never went on sale. Extreme Rules is, as of right now, not listed on WWE.com’s event page in any form, though Payback is. Unless there’s something else going on, it looks like the second April pay-per-view has been cancelled to have a longer build for the May post-WrestleMania special. Maybe there’s a piece of the puzzle missing, but with Newark tickets on sale and no location even announced for the second April show, it looks like this is the case.
WWE have released figures relating to PPV buys for their 2015 Payback PPV which took place on May 17th in in Baltimore, Maryland.
The data reveals that there were a total of 54,000 buys for the PPV which breaks down to 19,000 domestic buys and 35,000 international buys.
This is a drop from 67,000 buys from last year’s edition of Payback though since then the WWE Network has become available to more countries.
Triple H has taken to Twitter to tease that he’s potentially bringing his NXT brand to New York when Summerslam rolls into the Barclays Centre in August.
This is similar to what happened earlier in the year when NXT put on a show during WrestleMania week in San Jose. Triple H’s tweet is shown below:
Reddit user “addictedsc2” has provided a translation of what Rusev was yelling in Bulgarian during his “I Quit” match with John Cena at Sunday’s WWE Payback pay-per-view.
When Rusev ordered Lana to sit in a chair near the announcers after the fans started cheering for her, Rusev said the following:
“This way! Get up from there! Get over here, this is where you will sit. Just don’t let me hear you!”
When Rusev was stuck in the STF with Cena at the end of the match, this is what Rusev was saying up until Lana grabbed the microphone and quit on his behalf.
“Ahhh no…ahhh I give up! Next time we will crush you! I give up! Stop! I told you! I’ll crush you Cena! Damn your old mother, Cena! I will crush you! That’s enough, I told you!”
Tonight’s WWE RAW takes place from the Richmond, Virginia at the Richmond Coliseum. The show will feature fallout from last night’s Payback PPV and hype for the upcoming Elimination Chamber show on 5/31, airing exclusively on the WWE Network.
As of this writing, the only match advertised for the show is a John Cena United States Championship open challenge. Big Show is rumored to be making his TV return tonight and Naomi is teasing a Divas Title defense against Nikki Bella.
Here’s WWE’s 5-point preview:
Is Rollins really as good as he says he is?
What ‘I Quit’ Match aftermath lies ahead for John Cena, Rusev and Lana?
Who’s going into the Elimination Chamber?
Will Barrett settle the score with Neville in kingly fashion?
Will Naomi become the next Divas Champion?
The dark match main event will see John Cena, Roman Reigns and Randy Orton vs. Seth Rollins, Big Show and Rusev.
Join us here tonight for our Live Coverage of WWE RAW.
WWE Hall OF Famer Jim Ross has updated his official website blog with thoughts on Sunday’s WWE Payback pay-per-view. Below are some highlights.
On the WWE Payback PPV: “Overall, I thought the show was solid…not great but certainly a solid show that had it’s moments. With the overall lack of main event depth in the business, I often wonder if it’s possible to have a successful run of ‘great’ shows from beginning until end within the PPV world. Nonetheless, Payback was solid and I’m happy that I got home in time to watch it live.”
On the Cena-Rusev “I Quit” Match: “Innovative conclusion of the Cena vs. Rusev ‘I Quit’ match and now I wonder what fan favorite is going to come to Lana’s aid as it’s relatively obvious that she and her burly associate are essentially done. I don’t think that we need to see to many more Cena vs. Rusev TV bouts especially considering Rusev has lost three in a row on PPV’s to Cena. The question is who’s next for Cena of which I’d assume we will find out Monday night. Breaking things and ‘stunts’ equates to today’s blood in a PG world of wrestling.”
On Bray Wyatt: “As I’ve said for a good while, I think that Bray Wyatt is a frog hair away from being a viable, ticket and merch selling, character baby face/fan favorite. Admirable that Wyatt & Ryback tried some new, risky content but was it really necessary? Tough booking as neither guy is hot and both are liked by various factions of fans which makes their matches against each other tough to successfully pull off. I do appreciate the effort of both men to work hard to deliver in a tough spot.”
On the WWE Payback main event: “The show did need a big finish and the Fatal Four Way WWE Title bout delivered that result. The fans certainly made their feelings known that they wanted the Shield to get back together. Will WWE listen or do they have a better plan in mind? I do feel that Reigns should be a villain without question which will subsequently foster him straight into the upper echelon as a fan favorite if executed soundly and logically. I had no problem with Rollins winning even though some fans via Twitter @JRsBBQ did but Rollins is still evolving and I say let him grow. As I’ve said on the Ross Report podcast, I’d keep Rollins as the champion including him dodging a Lesnar bullet at Summer Slam, Lesnar wins the Royal Rumble and then it’s Brock vs Rollins at WrestleMania in Texas where the ‘chasing’ fan favorite regains the championship.”
According to WWE, Ryback may have suffered a broken rib during his match against Bray Wyatt last night at Payback. Ryback had already been selling injured ribs when he hit Wyatt with a top rope body splash. The Big Guy was checked out by WWE’s medical staff after the match. Here’s video of the top rope spot:
Dolph Ziggler got busted open the hard way during his match against Sheamus. He was a bloody mess during the match and received 10 stitches in his head to close a huge gash.
WWE announced live during the WWE Payback “Kickoff Show,” and again during the pay-per-view itself, that the “Steve Austin Show” podcast will soon be returning to the WWE Network.
On Sunday, WWE announced that Austin’s live WWE Network podcast will return on Monday, June 1st, immediately after WWE RAW, with special guest Paul Heyman.