WWE Payback 2023 is scheduled to take place at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on September 2, 2023. Follow along here for spoilers and information on the event's card, lineup of matches and news regarding the pay-per-view.
The following are my predictions for the 2023 WWE Payback PPV. Check back for Payback 2023 results and review coverage here when the time comes.
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| WWE Payback 2023 Spoilers |
Singles Match for World Heavyweight Championship: Seth Rollins (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
You know how this title was immediately considered the B-championship, backup belt, "I can't beat Roman Reigns consolation prize" and whatnot? Well, not having it main event any shows until Roman Reigns wasn't on the card, and having feuds like this definitely don't help fight against that accusation.
Look. It's brutally honest and blunt, but it should be said. Shinsuke Nakamura is great and I wish things would have gone differently with his Royal Rumble and WrestleMania track. He should've beaten AJ Styles. That would have been cool. But from that loss onward, he's NEVER felt like a big enough deal to become champion. And he stands absolutely no chance to win the title here unless Triple H was thinking to himself "This is my chance to give the title to people that I've always liked and I can just get it on the record books before Endeavor potentially vetoes any of those suggestions."
But that's not going to happen. Nakamura's just been given the bare minimum of a hype boost to challenge for the belt because they needed another opponent for Rollins and want to save some other names for bigger events. He's basically been given a shot of adrenaline just to be fed to Rollins.
It's that simple. The match will be good, but by this point next year, you'll likely forget these two even feuded. At least we aren't getting ANOTHER Judgment Day match.
PREDICTION: Seth Rollins retains.
Singles Match for Women's World Championship: Rhea Ripley (c) vs. Raquel Rodriguez
Poor Raquel. Up until they started this feud, I had her down as a potential option to dethrone Rhea Ripley at WrestleMania, with the hope that WWE would start actually building her up in time to win the Royal Rumble. Instead, they're doing this right now, and that means in my mind that we're definitely getting Ripley vs. Lynch and Rodriguez is going to remain to be relegated to the tag team division, as Raquel just isn't going to win this belt here.
PREDICTION: Rhea Ripley retains.
Steel Cage Match: Becky Lynch vs. Trish Stratus
Can this feud FINALLY end? It's gone on way too long for what its quality has been. They milked an extra 4 months out of it, almost. Let's just have Zoey Stark try to interfere despite the cage (because the idea of the cage keeping people out ALWAYS leads to the opposite; it's a rule of wrestling) only to be intercepted by Lita so she can get some revenge on Trish attacking her.
PREDICTION: Becky Lynch wins.
Singles Match for United States Championship: Rey Mysterio (c) vs. Austin Theory
Lackluster and bland. I don't even think Rey should be champion right now at all, considering WWE could have gone with Santos Escobar or LA Knight. To do a rematch is the laziest thing they could have as a response from Mysterio winning the title. Austin Theory's not going to win it back. This is a waste in a lot of ways.
PREDICTION: Rey Mysterio retains.
Grayson Waller Effect with Cody Rhodes
I hate it when they have promos on pay-per-views. That goes double when the two people aren't even on the same roster and have no connection and no need to do this whatsoever. Waller's got more going on with Mysterio now. So we're just killing time before Waller vs. Mysterio at Fastlane, I guess.
In the meanwhile, they're also killing time with Cody because I guess they have nothing in mind for him. STILL. After all these months, can we not finally acknowledge that Roman Reigns should've dropped that belt at WrestleMania? The Bloodline has been milked longer than they had proper content for, Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens were pushed aside as tag champs, and Cody's been bouncing around with no real goals in mind (other than "to have 3 matches with Brock Lesnar"). All of this could be so much better.
PREDICTION: Blah blah nothing really happens of note.
LA Knight vs. The Miz
Having this cross-branded feud going on just makes me think that WWE once again flat out doesn't care about the brand split despite all their posturing about how the draft would have a true separation. But hey, I'm a big fan of both LA Knight and The Miz, so does it still get a thumbs up from me? YEAH! Here's hoping WWE doesn't treat this as "just as good of a push as any other" and he actually gets something like a United States title reign in the coming future.
PREDICTION: LA Knight wins.
Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship Steel City Street Fight: Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn (c) vs. The Judgment Day (Damian Priest and Finn Balor)
Couldn't even go with the more interesting situation of Finn Balor teaming with JD McDonagh? We all know Priest and Balor as a team won't win. They've been telling the story of those two having issues and failing to team together for about 2 months, right? So this just means they'll fail again for the same reason. It's a copy/paste stall. I have to say that phrase WAY too much in WWE booking analysis. Move on to the feud already.
Update: At least making it a street fight boosts the quality of the segment. It will be a much more fun match this way.
PREDICTION: Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn retain.
This page will be altered on a regular basis to reflect changes to the show including any new matches added to the lineup, adjustments to the card, revised predictions and any other information about this event. Stay tuned for the latest updates!
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