The Judgment Day had quite the evening at WWE Payback.
When the dust settled at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh on Saturday night, each member of the faction left with gold as Finn Balor and Damian Priest stunned Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn to become the Undisputed tag team champions and Rhea Ripley retained her Women’s Heavyweight championship against Raquel Gonzalez.
The group feels stronger than ever even if Priest surprisingly didn’t even tease a Money in the Bank cash-in on a beatdown but still-champion Seth Rollins.
Even with all that, Becky Lynch and Trish Stratus stole the show with their cage match in the opener to finish off their feud.
It was all part of a strong, but not-quite-spectacular outing from WWE thanks to the little details.
Here are five takeaways from Payback.
Day to Remember
It took plenty of help from NXT North American champion Dominik Mysterio, JD McDonagh and Rhea Ripley, but Finn Balor and Damian Priest defeated Sami Zayn Kevin Owens to become the undisputed WWE tag team championships in a Pittsburgh Street Fight. Balor is now a grand slam champion.
When the action moved into the crowd the first time, Mysterio joined Balor and Priest in attacking the champions. Owens and Zayn popped out of the penalty box wearing Syndey Crosby and Mario Lemieux Penguin jerseys with hockey sticks, eventually beating The Judgement Day back to the ring. Zayn delivered a Blue Thunder Bomb to Balor on steel chairs.
Things quickly spilled into the crowd again where Owens, who paid tribute to Terry Funk with a T-shirt, jumped off the seat railing in the stands for a Swanton Bomb through a table onto Mysterio. It isolated Zayn for a moment with Priest and Balor in the ring. Zayn kicked out of a pin attempt after getting struck with a garbage can and slipped out of their attempt at a tag team finisher. But Zayn was pulled off of trying to pin Priest by McDonagh after a Helluva Kick. Then Ripley appeared, running out for a full-steam spear of Owens through a barricade
Zayn would eventually move out of the way of Balor going for a Coup de Grace. But Mysterio used the Money in the Bank briefcase to break the pin and Balor’s arm rolled on top of Zayn for the 1-2-3. The only question that seems to remain is if McDonagh finally gets to be an official Judgement Day member now.
Classic in a Cage
Becky Lynch and Trish Stratus went out and had one of the best steel cage matches we have seen in a while. They put their bodies on the line multiple times with Stratus delivering a top-rope bulldog to Lynch and The Man at one point pulling the Hall of Famer back over the cage by her hair and into an insane high, superplex. She eventually won with an avalanche Manhandle Slam.
The best thing they did was create drama as each of them tried to escape multiple times over the top of the cage. Late in the match, Lynch tried to climb out an escape while Stratus attempted to crawl out of the door. After Lynch jumped down to go after her, a tug of war with Zoey Stark over Stratus ensued. After a regular Manhandle Slam, Stark jumped into the ring to break up a pin. Lynch finally dispatched with her and beat Stratus to end a feud that dated back to April.
Stratus, frustrated with Stark not being able to help win, slapped her protege and told her to leave the cage. When she refused Stark would hit Stratus with his finisher and ripped off her “Thank You Trish” shirt. It might have been too soon for this as the crowd reacted pretty indifferently to it,
One cool callback was Stratus, using the Widows Peak to honor Victoria being in the first WWE women’s cage match with Lita, whose Twist of Fate Lynch used. Stratus appeared to have a huge bump on for forehead at one point.
WWE added another layer to Lynch’s upcoming feud with NXT women’s champion Tiffany Stratton, who caught up with her backstage. Lynch hinted at being at Stratton’s title defense against Kiana James om Tuesday.
Back in Business
Seth Rollins continues to deliver quality matches with quality stories as World Heavyweight champion. His main event contest leaned heavily into the story of his real-life injured back. Everything Nakamura did was aimed at weakening it from strikes to back breakers even making Rollins use it often to kick out with the Great Muta watching at ringside
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Rollins’ title did feel in peril late as Nakamura, who got an incredible entrance package as he continues to be rebuilt, put the champion in a triangle choke and left him to wiggle his fingers to show the ref she wasn’t out. When that didn’t work, Nakamura tried a Landslide from the top rope and landed on Kinshasa knee. Rollins collapsed to the ring before he could deliver the second as a finishing blow.
It gave Rollins the opening he needed, working his way to a Pedigree before a Stomp to finally get the win. Nakamura, now 0-6 in pay-per-view world title matches, attacked Rollins once the show went off the air as it looks like this feud is continuing. It would explain why Damian Preist did not attempt a cash-in, Michael Cole and Corey Grave did an incredible job calling this and point out the little detail related to Rollins’ back.
He is the Knight
LA Knight’s match against The Miz wasn’t anything special from an in-ring standpoint, with the pacing being too slow and plodding at times. That being said, Knight got what he needed — a win and a show of respect handshake from special guest referee John Cena at the end.
The only drama here was watching Cena trying to call things down the middle as tensions grew with each man. Knight almost ran into and struck Cena by mistake at one point and it opened the door for Miz to hit a Skullcrushing Finale. Knight was able to kick out at two in the only moment it appeared Miz could win.
It will be curious to see what’s next for Knight as it might be a bit before he gets a United States championship shot as Rey Mysterio defeated Austin Theory in a good match to retain. After Theory countered the 619, Mysterio responded by rolling up this challenger as he attempted the A-Town Down for the win. It’s hard to see WWE having Knight pursue the title against a babyface. Theory on the other hand appears to be headed for a potentially interesting tag team down the card with Grayson Waller.
Chemistry Lesson
Real-life friends Rhea Ripley and Raquel Rodriguez put on exactly the match you hoped, minus a pretty lame finish that at least could open things up for a rematch.
Rodriguez won a battle of strengths early from strikes to shoulder tackles to prove the champion couldn’t overpower her. Ripley, would still remain pretty nonchalant and arrogant with covers for most of the match, but eventually regained some control.
Eventually, Ripley, whose gear paid homage to Chyna, went after Rodriguez’s injured storyline knee with a chop block and a Prism Lock. It didn’t stop Rodriguez from whipping the champion into the barricade and ring post on the outside. Dominik Mysterio appeared as things got back into the ring for an abrupt finish. Gonzalez delivered a running slam to Mysterio, but Ripley slipped in for a Riptide for an end with very little drama,
Notes
Cody Rhodes announced on The Grayson Waller Effect that Jey Uso is back and is the newest member of “Monday Night Raw”, though Rhodes hopes he doesn’t regret it. This marks the first time Jey and Jimmy have been split up by brand in WWE. It’s unclear if Rhodes is moving to SmackDown as part of trade.
Biggest winner: The Judgement Day
Biggest loser: Austin Theory
Best match: Becky Lynch vs. Trish Stratus
Predictions: 4-2
Grade: B+
