The weekly Smackdown intro video is cut off by a backstage promo from Bray Wyatt on Ryback. It's standard Bray fare. Cutting to the ring and we are joined by Dean Ambrose. He talks about how much he likes to do things alone so standing by himself at the end of Raw was good. He says he didn't mean to lay out Roman Reigns, it just happened. Out comes Reigns, Dean won't apologize and Reigns doesn't expect one. They agree on the fact that it is every man for themselves and go to shake hands, only for Kane to interrupt. He breaks Teddy Long tradition, booking a singles match between Ambrose and Sheamus right now. Ambrose cracks a joke that "right now" is the only time Kane knows how to make a match. They worked a really fun match, similar to their King of the Ring bout that had moments where it felt different than the other things we get on TV weekly. It was hard hitting and enjoyable. Ambrose wins with a rollup, which is good since he has a title shot coming up, but it sucks for Sheamus to lose heading into the PPV.
Backstage, we get another argument between Kane and Seth Rollins, which I hate. I don't give a fuck about Kane and hate that he's a focal point of a title match he isn't in. Rusev and Lana are out as she reads an apology for her actions as of late. Rusev then cut a promo on Cena and played a loop of him saying "I Quit". Bland build for Payback. Moving on, as Ryback comes out for a non-title match against Seth Rollins, he is attacked by Bray Wyatt. He wants to compete anyway because he's the BIG guy, but it leads to Seth beating him. I'm more fine with this result since at least Ryback was attacked beforehand so he doesn't look weak losing before the PPV.
The official announcement is made for Naomi and Tamina vs. the Bella Twins at Payback. This is the third Pay-Per-View where Nikki will be in a tag match rather than defend her belt. I wish that wasn't the case because her run has been good. The New Day came out and cut a really fun promo before Kofi Kingston squared off against Tyson Kidd. This was a decent match, made more fun by the ringside shenanigans from Xavier Woods and Big E. Kidd is able to counter Trouble in Paradise and win with the Sharpshooter. After a recap of Daniel Bryan relinquishing the Intercontinental Title is shown, Bo Dallas comes out. He's perfect in his role, telling fans that he will get them through the grief of losing Bryan. Neville interrupts to give us our next match. Funny to think that this headlined the first NXT live special right? King Barrett joins commentary to run down Neville throughout the match. Neville wins before Barrett cuts a promo to build towards Payback. Barrett had a good line in there, making fun of Neville's cape and attire even though he's wearing something ridiculous himself. In the back, we see Adam Rose and Rosa Mendes. Rose is not happy that the hot dog in the Exotic Express is staring at them, so he beats him up. Then, in the worst thing I've seen all week on television, Rose and Rosa proceed to make out, grossing me out completely. Seriously, why the fuck does Rosa Mendes get TV time? Actually, why is she employed at this point? She is beyond worthless.
It was now time for the first time ever match pitting Roman Reigns against Kane! There is obvious sarcasm there as we've seen this a ton. It was better than expected since there was no disqualifications or anything like that. Reigns wins with a Spear as one would expect. In the back, Seth Rollins dismisses Reigns' win. Ambrose appears with a tray of cookies, because he's weird like that. They brawl until Reigns shows up and they send off the heels. The WWE Title falls on the floor, so Ambrose picks it up, places it on Reigns' shoulder and tells him that he will take it on Sunday. In the end,I feel that this was your typical Smackdown episode. Some decent matches, but nothing of real note goes down. Just the usual average stuff. 6/10.
