The New PPV on the Block: Quick Preview of WWE Payback 2013

Almost every Monday night for the past month, this writer has been busy with one thing or another.  Between hanging out with friends and watching the E3 press conferences, I have been slacking when it has come to tuning into the latest episodes of Monday Night Raw.  I have been following enough to somewhat understand what is going at this current point, but not enough to do a full-on preview of this upcoming PPV, Payback.  Instead this article will be a quick preview of the event with my predictions and thoughts on Payback as a whole.

Well, the WWE found a replacement for the abysmal Over the Limit PPV.  Funny enough, it is just another generic PPV by the name of Payback.  WWE has done a commendable job of taking the name of this PPV and making it the theme of most of the matches on the card.  Each match on the card has some sort of bitter feud behind it.  It is a nice parallel to the name of the PPV, but it is not enough of a selling point for Payback.  The real selling points will be the big matches on the card especially CM Punk’s return match against Chris Jericho.  While the WWE has not done much build for this match outside Jericho’s initial challenge on the Highlight Reel, it will still be a major match this Sunday.  This match will set the course where the WWE takes CM Punk leading into one of the most important times of the year, the summer.  There are rumours of some sort of double turn taking place at Payback, but this writer does not know for sure.  Personally, I would love to see Punk stay heel and go onto challenge the Undertaker to a rematch at Summerslam or Night of Champions in order to lead to a Hell in a Cell match at the Hell in a Cell PPV, but we will have to wait for Sunday to see.  CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho will easily be one of the best matches on this card especially considering Payback will be in Chicago, one of the hottest wrestling cities in the world and Punk’s hometown.  Another match that should gain plenty of attention this Sunday is John Cena vs. Ryback in 3 Stages of Hell for the WWE Championship.  As much as this writer has his fingers crossed that Ryback will finally win the WWE Championship at Payback, reports say otherwise. This 3 Stages of Hell match will be used to make Cena look strong heading into the summer months and a potential feud with Daniel Bryan.  At least, we should get a very physical and hopefully entertaining match out of Cena and Ryback.  Looking at the card, Payback seems like a fine show.  It is not the WWE’s best offering as this writer believes they are holding out until Money in the Bank and Summerslam to really knock us out, but with the backing of the phenomenal Chicago crowd Payback should be a fun PPV.

Wade Barrett (c) vs. The Miz vs. Curtis Axel in a Triple Threat Match for the Intercontinental Championship

Prediction:  Curtis Axel wins the Intercontinental Championship

Dean Ambrose (c) vs. Kane for the United States Championship

Prediction:   Dean Ambrose retains

The Shield (c) vs. Daniel Bryan & Randy Orton for the WWE Tag Team Championship

Prediction:   The Shield retains

Kaitlyn (c) vs. AJ Lee for the Divas Championship

Prediction:   AJ Lee wins the Divas Championship

Dolph Ziggler (c) vs. Alberto Del Rio for the World Heavyweight Championship

Prediction:   Dolph Ziggler retains

CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho

Prediction:   CM Punk wins

John Cena (c) vs. Ryback in a 3 Stages of Hell for the WWE Championship

Prediction:   John Cena retains

Since 2009, the WWE has gone through quite a few different PPVs with only a few actually sticking.  June has been a hard month to hammer down a PPV for.  Hopefully, Payback does well enough to be the regular June PPV from now on because this writer does not want to have another brand new PPV next June. 

The Silver Report: May 27-June 2

Hope everybody enjoyed my review of WrestleMania 28.  Now we are back to regular scheduled programming.  Two Sundays ago, WWE put on what has been said to be the best Over the Limit event out them all.  While not perfect, the show was said to offer a good amount of quality wrestling especially the World Title Fatal 4 Way and Punk vs. Bryan.  Those are two of the reasons I will most likely be picking Over the Limit up when it releases on DVD next month.  Since Over the Limit it has been an eventful couple of weeks as WWE builds towards the return of No Way Out in two weeks.

Big Show’s Path of Destruction

Only two weeks ago, Big Show was out of a job thanks to John Laurinaitis.  Only two weeks ago, Big Show turned heel as he helped Mr. Laurinaitis beat John Cena in the main event of Over the Limit.  While a predictable turn of events, I was honestly surprised that WWE would go this direction with Big Show.  I thought he would stay the jolly giant character he has played the last two years until he inevitably retired.  At first, I did not care about Big Show’s turn, but it has grown on me considering how the WWE is building him like the monster he should be.  This week, Big Show was booked in a match with the Funkasaurus Brodus Clay.  It was an intriguing match as it looked like Brodus would get some actual competition for once, but that never happened as Big Show hit Brodus with a huge spear before the match.  What followed was an incredible beatdown as Big Show continually hit Brodus with the side of the announce table, bounced R-Truth off the wires of the ring ropes and threw Kofi Kingston through the ringside barricade.  Big Show’s path of destruction continued on Smackdown as well.  Big Show attacked Santino Marella and Zack Ryder after their match against Darren Young and Titus O’Neil.  The devastation Big Show left was a message to his opponent at No Way Out, John Cena that Big Show means business this time around.  While it is yet another feud between Big Show and John Cena, it will be interesting to see how their Steel Cage Match at No Way Out turns out.  Are they building Big Show only to get squashed under the weight of Super Cena or are they going to continue to build Big Show as Mr. Laurinaitis’ monster?  Only time will tell.

The Big Red Monster Joins the WWE Title Picture

A few weeks ago, Daniel Bryan introduced Kane into his feud with CM Punk when he tricked the Big Red Monster into attacking CM Punk as Kane thought Punk hit him with a steel chair, where in reality it was Bryan that hit Kane.  The following week on Raw, Punk got even with Bryan as he tricked Kane into attacking Bryan by handing the American Dragon a steel chair while Kane was not looking.  These events led to Mr. Laurinaitis booking CM Punk vs. Kane for the WWE Championship this past Friday on Smackdown.  The match was a back-and-forth affair that saw CM Punk and Kane give it their all.  The match seemed to be going without a hitch until Daniel Bryan showed up.  First Bryan tried to distract Punk while he was on the top rope, but that did not work out for the American Dragon.  His second attempt to interfere in the match did work as Bryan hit an impressive missile dropkick on both Punk and Kane (one leg for each superstar) causing the ref to stop the match as a result of a no contest.  The brawl did not stop though as Punk and Bryan went at it before Kane came in and hit them with a double chokeslam.  This crazy series of events would come to an end when Mr. Laurinaitis would roll on out in his People Power scooter and announce that the WWE Championship match at No Way Out will be a Triple Threat Match between CM Punk, Kane and Daniel Bryan.  While I and many others would have loved to see another CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan singles match, this Triple Threat Match should be a very fun affair considering how great these three have been the last few weeks on both Raw and Smackdown.  Also this Triple Threat Match will draw out the CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan feud even longer and could possibly set-up for another singles match at Money in the Bank or even Summerslam. 

The Silver Report: May 13-19

Due to the fact that I am running late on a lot of things, I am going to merge my Over the Limit preview with this week’s edition of the Silver Report and postpone my review of WrestleMania 28 until next weekend.  Also with all the humongous news that was announced earlier this week, there was no way that I would not do a Silver Report to give my two cents about these big news stories in the pro wrestling industry.  Before I get to the huge news, let us run down my predictions for WWE Over the Limit that is live right now.

Kofi Kingston & R-Truth (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler & Jack Swagger for the WWE Tag Team Championship

Prediction:  Kofi Kingston & R-Truth retain

Layla (c) vs. Beth Phoenix for the Diva’s Championship

Prediction:  Layla retains

Sheamus (c) vs. Alberto Del Rio vs. Chris Jericho vs. Randy Orton in a Fatal 4 Way Match for the World Heavyweight Championship

Prediction:  Sheamus retains

John Cena vs. John Laurinaitis

Prediction:  John Laurinaitis wins

CM Punk (c) vs. Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship

Prediction:  CM Punk retains in what should easily be Match of the Night

TNA Impact Goes Live This Summer

It has been a long time since I have talked about anything TNA related on this blog due to the fact I stopped watching back last November when I got fed up with the product.  I still follow PPV reports and such so I do have a rough idea what goes on in TNA, but not enough to really talk about anything.  Well I got something to talk about today.  To celebrate this coming summer, TNA is making some more changes to Impact.  Starting May 31^st, TNA Impact is moving to an 8 o’clock start time and going live every single week.  That might sound pretty cool, but there is one catch Impact will be live from the Impact each and every week and also all further PPVs including Bound for Glory will be held in the Impact Zone.  For longtime TNA fans or off-and-on fans such as yours truly, limiting TNA to just the Impact Zone is a horrible decision.  The fans in the Impact Zone are so long past burnt out of TNA’s product that they do not offer the best and most honest crowd response.  If TNA decided to drop some PPVs and go live and in a different location each and every week, I believe that would draw the crowds that would produce an excellent atmosphere for the show.  Remember when TNA got out of the Impact Zone last year to do tapings for TNA Impact?  That was awesome as it felt like a breath of fresh air.  Going live might be the next step for TNA, but they also need to get out of the Impact Zone just as bad.  If they don’t, it will most likely become evident very quick that the fans there are not into TNA’s product, so why should we tune in to watch?

Raw Goes Three Hours Come July 23^rd

We got even bigger news this week as WWE announced Monday Night Raw’s 1000^th show this July 23^rd (one day after my birthday).  It was obvious that for this huge celebration that this Raw would be three hours long, but no one saw the next announcement coming as John Cena tweeted that Raw will be three hours long permanently starting July 23^rd.  For any wrestling fan, Raw going three hours is huge news and is extremely polarizing.  Some are saying it will be a great addition to the show and give more exposure to underutilized wrestlers and more time for matches while others are saying it will cause the complete destruction of professional wrestling.  I can see why people fall into the latter seeing WCW Nitro did that over a decade ago and it was one of the reasons WCW is no longer around today, but I can see why some are hopeful.  I personally fall on the side that thinks that making Raw three hours long is a bad idea.  When Raw is bad or mediocre, the show does drag on even at the regular two hours.  Also the recent three hour Raws have been nothing short of atrocious for the past year.  None of them have delivered since the three hour Raw WWE had back in November 2010 for King of the Ring.  What makes people think WWE can book a three hour show every single week if they cannot do it every once and a while?  We can speculate all we want right now, but we will all have to wait until the three hour Raw takes its’ course to see if it is a success or utter failure.

The Silver Report: May 6-12

Border Wars this weekend and Over the Limit this coming weekend.  It is a busy week in wrestling.  Also WrestleMania 28 finally comes out on DVD here in Canada tomorrow so there will be no Silver Report for next week.  In the place of the Silver Report will be my review of WrestleMania 28 along with a quick preview for Over the Limit.  It has been a busy week so this week’s Silver Report will be a little shorter than usual.

Don’t Cross the Boss

With John Cena not at Raw this past week, John Laurinaitus focused his attention on putting the rest of the WWE roster on notice.  The GM of both Raw and Smackdown made it clear that whoever does not respect him and also makes fun of his voice will face severe consequences.  First, Big Show made fun of Laurinaitus’ voice and was humiliated in front of the entire WWE Universe by Eve.  Next was CM Punk, who Laurinaitus booked in a Handicap Match against Lord Tensai and Daniel Bryan in the main event.  Punk fought valiantly against the No.1 Contender to the WWE Championship and Laurinaitus’ hired wrecking ball, but ultimately came up short as he fell to Tensai’s claw.  In preparing to face Cena at Over the Limit, Laurinaitus has sent a message to the entire locker room.  Don’t cross him or face the consequences.  We will just have to see what happens tonight on Raw.

Heyman is Back, Lesnar Quits

Ever since Lesnar came back to the WWE, many fans have been anticipating the return of Brock’s longtime manager, Paul Heyman.  These fans finally found out as Paul Heyman made his surprise return to WWE last week to read a statement from his client, Brock Lesnar.  To sum things up, Brock Lesnar has “quit” the WWE.  In order to keep Lesnar off of WWE programming for a while and not use up all his dates, WWE has decided to go this route with the story.  I have no doubt that is building towards Brock Lesnar vs. Triple H at Summerslam, but how we get there is up in the air.  I do believe that Paul Heyman will play an integral part as he will be Brock’s voice while Lesnar is kept off of TV and PPV.

Everybody Wants a Shot at the Great White

On this past Raw, there was a tag match with Sheamus and Randy Orton vs. Alberto Del Rio and Chris Jericho.  It was a heated contest that saw Jericho getting the pinfall victory over the World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus.  After the match, everything broke down Laurinaitus’ office as Jericho, Orton and Del Rio all were bickering over who deserved a shot at the World Title.  Laurinaitus solved the problem by making the World Title match at Over the Limit a Fatal 4 Way.  While feeling just thrown together just for the sake of it, this Fatal 4 Way match should be excited considering the talent in the match.

The Silver Report: April 29-May 5

One week removed from what has been considered the best WWE PPV since last year’s Money in the Bank.  Chicago seems to bring out the best in the WWE.  Every PPV should be in Chicago at this rate.  Last Sunday’s Extreme Rules was one eventful night that saw both CM Punk and Sheamus defend their titles in two highly praised matches and Cena nearly beat Brock Lesnar in a bloody confrontation.  While I was a little disappointed that Cena went over Lesnar, I am going to make sure to pick up Extreme Rules on DVD when it comes out to see this great PPV for myself.  The fallout from Extreme Rules dominated WWE programming this week as we move closer to Over the Limit, which is just two weeks away.

Johnny Cracks

Raw opened with one heated segment involving John Laurinaitus, Triple H and Brock Lesnar.  Triple H was at Raw to address Brock’s unreasonable terms that Laurinaitus agreed to the week before.  The COO of the WWE put his foot down and that did not satisfy Brock.  Brock and Triple H came to blows which ended when Lesnar hooked in the Kimura and broke Triple H’s arm.  Just like that after all of Laurinaitus’ hard work in building Lesnar to be the face of the WWE, Brock blew a gasket and seemingly got himself fired.  Left in a state of shock and panic, Laurinaitus turned his attention to John Cena as he would announce Cena’s opponent at Over the Limit at the end of the show.  John Cena came out to the ring in a sling as his arm was hurt during his match with Brock Lesnar at Extreme Rules.  Immediately following that Laurinaitus came to the ring to announce Cena’s opponent.  At first everybody thought Lord Tensai would be Cena’s opponent because the wrestler formerly known as A-Train made his way to ring after Laurinaitus came to the ring.  WWE tricked us all as Laurinaitus hit Cena over the head with the microphone before announcing that he would face John Cena at Over the Limit.  While I know that this match will be far from a technical masterpiece, I have been waiting for somebody to finally get their hands on Laurinaitus since Cena hit Mr. People Power one of the stiffest clotheslines during his match with Punk at last years’ Money in the Bank PPV.  It will most likely be an overbooked mess, but I personally believe it will be a very entertaining overbooked mess.

CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, WWE Championship, Over the Limit, the Internet Has Exploded

If the title does not make the Internet Wrestling Community collectively mark out, I don’t know what will.  Many hardcore wrestling fans have been waiting to see CM Punk and Daniel Bryan face-off on WWE PPV ever since the WWE signed Bryan back in 2009.  While I personally would really love to see this match main event WrestleMania someday, WWE did the smart thing of putting this match on what is mostly considered a throwaway PPV in the minds of many wrestling fans including yours truly.  It gets wrestling fans that would usually skip Over the Limit to keep watching Raw to see the build and possibly order the PPV to see this one match.  We will have to see how WWE builds this match in the next two weeks, but CM Punk and Daniel Bryan have a long history from their time in ROH to their matches from earlier this year that WWE can pull material from to perfectly build this match as the main event of Over the Limit even in such a short time. 

A War Is Coming Across the Border

It has been a long time since I have mentioned anything about Ring of Honor on the Silver Report.  With how busy I was these last six months, I stopped watching ROH because I never really had much time to watch ROH on my computer.  About a month ago, I found out that Fox 29 (channel 28 on my TV) had ROH on Sunday nights at 11.  So I have gotten back into the swing of things with this great wrestling promotion just in time for their biggest iPPV of the year, Border Wars.  Next Saturday at the Ben Reeves Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, ROH will bring one of their biggest cards of 2012.  Roderick Strong vs. Fit Finlay, The Briscoes vs. Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team in a Fight Without Honor for the ROH Tag Titles, Lance Storm vs. Mike Bennett, Eddie Edwards vs. Rhino, Michael Elgin vs. Adam Cole and Jay Lethal vs. Tommaso Ciampa fill out the incredible undercard.  The main event goes to possibly the most anticipated ROH World Championship Match of 2012 in Davey Richards vs. “Wrestling’s Worst Nightmare” Kevin Steen.  Being that this match is Kevin Steen’s only chance at the ROH Title, this match should be off the charts and see the Canadian Kevin Steen walking away with the ROH Title around his waist.  I am personally cheering for Kevin Steen because I can see ROH becoming a lot more interesting with Steen as World Champion.