WWE Payback Live Report
June 16, 2013
Chicago, Ill.
Report by Kevin Triskett, PWTorch correspondent

The headline for me, from a live perspective, was Daniel Bryan favoring his right shoulder and being accompanied by a referee to the back after his Tag Title match loss. Bryan was the only wrestler to exit behind the soundbooth and not through Gorilla. Hopefully it's nothing.

Payback Correspondent Report

- The arena was as close to full as you can get by the time the intro played on the Titantron. Using my section as a representative sample, there were no empty seats, and there was a mix of “vocal male fans,” families with young kids, and high school-to-young college students with no group overwhelming the others.

- On the pre-show, Damien Sandow had good heat, and the crowd was disappointed he didn’t cut a promo on his way to the ring. Sheamus came out to a surprising amount of boos. His act was not over with this crowd and every one of his signature spots was met with loud, persistent boos.

- The crowd was hot to start the PPV, but the air came out a little when they opened with basically a three-heel triple threat. The crowd was more "just silent" then split until Curtis Axel hit the PerfectPlex, and then he picked up steam and cheers. The swerve ending was fun and got the crowd on its feet.

- A.J. Lee got a great pop, and the crowd was up for the Divas Title match more than I had anticipated. As everyone seemed to hear, the Kaitlyn crying angle did not play well.

- The fans were not pleased with the count-out ending to the U.S. Title match, but Dean Ambrose was very impressive live. He gets cartoon-y selling some moves, but he is so charismatic and fun to watch.

- It goes without saying, but the RVD promo/return was a big deal with the crowd. It really came as a shock and had fans excited all night.

- Alberto Del Rio and Dolph Ziggler basically split the crowd with their entrances. The opening of this match was not particularly good. I had written in my notes “Del Rio can even make Ziggler look boring.” And that was true until the Randy Orton-style head punt that Del Rio delivered. Once it dawned on the crowd what was happening, the match really picked up and may have generated the most organic buzz of the entire event. This was a really smart, fun match, and the crowd was happy to play the part WWE hoped they would.

- The crowd was electric for C.M. Punk in a way I’m not sure television can capture. Younger kids in my section all had to cover their ears when Punk entered to mute the noise. The match was a little slow at first and some fans were impatient, but the crowd ate up the false finishes and had fun chanting for their hometown hero, and also a little for the Blackhawks. I’m not sure what they showed after the match, but Punk climbed onto the front-row barrier and signaled he wanted a title around his waist. Allstate Arena just about exploded.

- The Shield is over big time. As Bruce Mitchell says, “People are into this act.” They are also very, very good in the ring. Randy Orton and Bryan both got amazing pops, with Bryan edging out Randy just barely.

- John Cena got the most heat of the night, and it wasn’t really close. He is not a popular man in Chicago. I think it really helped the main event that it was the only stipulation match of the night. These two just can’t work in the ring the way Jericho-Punk or RKNo-Shield can. It was much more a spectacle than a wrestling match, and the crowd accepted it for what it was.

- Justin Roberts thanked everyone for coming and there was no action or promo once the PPV signed off.

Other Observations

- I arrived at the Allstate Arena around 4:30 CST to find a massive congregation around the merchandise stand and line forming at the doors. By the time doors opened at 5:35, lines stretched from the arena all the way to the parking lot entrance.

- The merchandise stand offered a brand new C.M. Punk shirt - all black with a gray portrait of Punk sitting in his signature leg-crossed pose with the date and the word “Payback” written in gray on the back. There was also an unfamiliar-to-me Cena shirt that said “Never Give Up” with a cartoon portrait of Cena on the front. It struck me as curious because it was the exact shade of yellow as Punk’s comic book style GTS shirt from last summer.

- The merch stand offered signed photographs of three Superstars: Cena, Ryback, and Sheamus.

- There was not a single Daniel Bryan item on-sale anywhere. Fandango, The Shield, and Y2J all had shirts and various trinkets on sale, but not a single “Yes” shirt was available for purchase.

- By my estimate, about 80 percent of people wearing WWE merchandise had either C.M. Punk or John Cena t-shirts (and that split was about 50/50). The first dueling Cena chants broke out just after 6:00 p.m. with the arena at about 30 percent capacity, and a YES! chant broke out following that. Put another way, Daniel Bryan got a chant from the Chicago crowd before C.M. Punk did.

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