Instant Reaction - WWE Payback PPV 6/16
By Benjamin Tucker, PWTorch TV specialist

Overall Score - 9.0

From top to bottom, tonight's pay-per-view was top-notch. Not every match was a home run, but each segment delivered to a certain extent and almost every feud leading into the show was developed in some significant way. The most genius part of the show? The double-turn in the World Heavyweight Championship match.

This is a turn that no one saw coming, but makes Ziggler look like a lovable underdog and Del Rio look like a heel who takes every chance he can get to win, whether it's morally good or not. Del Rio goes from a bland face with no future to one of the top heels on the roster, and Ziggler can use his real-life concussion and his cult following to get him over as a top face. The opportunity for this comes around very rarely, and WWE made a wise move by having their match take place in Chicago, where Ziggler was guaranteed to turn the crowd in his favor. Sure, I'd love to see Dolph hold the belt for longer as a heel, but tonight played out absolutely perfectly with Del Rio doing a good job of subtly becoming more and more heelish and Ziggler selling his attacks well. This was my real highlight of the show, taking a bland title situation with two solidly over competitors and instantly making it relevant, putting over both guys in a big way.

The other real highlight of tonight was the overall match quality. The only contest that seemed to falter was the U.S. Title match, which was clunky and had a sudden and odd finish. Ambrose and Kane clearly don't have styles that mesh well in the ring, and tonight's match had a lot of the same problems as their last encounter on Raw. The other Shield match played out exactly as you'd expect at this point with the face team blundering and allowing Rollins and Reigns to capitalize. I love these matches, but the formula is starting to wear thin. Everyone played their parts well, it's just hard to stay invested in a match that ends one of two ways almost every time. Still, the in-ring work was excellent and all four guys shined in the ring.

Punk vs. Jericho was slow to get going, but had some very nice nearfalls down the stretch. The "C.M. Punk in Chicago atmosphere" is always a sight of wonder and tonight was no different, giving a big-fight feel to their encounter and thus enhancing the match further.

The triple threat IC Title match opener had some of the same slow pacing that Punk-Jericho had to start, but they too picked it up down the stretch with excellent nearfalls and a really clever finish that instantly sets up a Miz-Axel feud. The Sheamus-Sandow "kick-off" match was another good encounter that made both wrestlers look like equals in the ring and kept the crowd hot going into the pay-per-view.

Cena-Ryback was a tad better than I expected. The lumberjack match played to the strengths of the gimmick nicely and Ryback destroying tables with stairs was hilariously awesome, but where the first two falls surpassed my expectations, the last made me shake my head a bit. Pulling apart the ambulance was cute at first but quickly became too cheesy. And that's before seeing the paper-top to the ambulance break upon Ryback falling on it. It certainly could have been worse, but the match as a whole didn't do a lot to protect Ryback and the end took a bit of the wind out of my sails. Still, another good match.

The real surprise of the night was the Divas Title match. All I can say is wow. Kaitlyn and A.J. had few blown spots, worked a good pace, and had awesome nearfalls mixed with really good storytelling that was hardly found in any other match on the show. Working in aspects like Kaitlyn blowing a kiss to A.J. and losing the match because of it were really good. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised to see a crazed Kaitlyn do a double-turn with A.J. (alongside Ziggler's turn), setting up some potentially great re-matches in the future. These two really need to be congratulated on having the best WWE Divas match since... 2006? Can I say that? Yeah, let's go with 2006.

As you can see, the work on this show was extraordinarily high. It's odd that the show's pacing was off, with lots of padding for time up until the last hour of the show, but it really didn't take away from the overall experience. The announcement of RVD returning was well done, and more than anything I left this event feeling like it was a truly can't miss event. And that's what a pay-per-view should do.

Get ready, because Tucker Week on PWTorch is just beginning! Check out an all new instant reaction of Monday Night Raw tomorrow night, and find me on Twitter @BTuckerTorch Tuesday for exclusive in-person Smackdown spoilers!

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