Payback Predictions

Remember when John Cena made the United States Title the most sought after and important belt in the WWE? Then he dropped it to Alberto Del Rio, who traded it with Kalisto. Since then, Kalisto has competed on two straight Kickoff shows and this will be his third straight. I actually rather like both men involved and they're managed to have some pretty good matches. This should be right up that alley and I think they're going to make the switch here. Ryback can't just keep losing right? Kalisto has been relegated to tag matches and Superstars in recent weeks, so it's not like they were doing much with him anyway.

Winner: Ryback

BIG BANTER! Since seeing him live early last year, Baron Corbin has continued to grow on me. I was really happy when he won the Andre the Giant Battle Royal and hope to see big things from him. Dolph Ziggler has been trending the other way. In late 2014, he was red hot but since then, he has delivered mediocre performance after mediocre performance. I can't ever recall going from rooting for someone to not caring about them this quickly. Anyway, Baron Corbin should win this. Any other decision would just be dumb. Though, judging by the decisions made at Mania, Ziggler could win in 5 seconds.

Winner: Baron Corbin

The WWE tag team division is a fun place. The New Day, Enzo and Cass, the Vaudevillains, Anderson and Gallows, the Dudleys, the Lucha Dragons, etc. Lots of good teams. I love tournaments and the two new teams from NXT making the finals was a great move as it helps establish them. Enzo and Cass are already super over, while the Vaudevillains aren't. However, I fully suspect Enzo and Cass to feud with the Dudley Boyz. The Dudleys get involved, cost Enzo and Cass the match and allow the Vaudevillains to earn the shot. Then, New Day could get past them, while cutting hilarious promos on them.

Winners: The Vaudevillains

Can this feud be over with already? Both girls are very solid in the ring and their matches are usually good. I expect that again here. However, I am beyond over the Ric Flair stuff and as much as I love Bret, I could do without him. We've seen this already, so it feels like a retread. Also, I want more from the characters of these girls. Seriously, is there anything more to them than "our dads used to wrestle"? A small piece of me could see Natalya getting a Zack Ryder moment here, where she wins it for a short time only to drop it right back to Charlotte, but I'm still holding out hope for Sasha to do the dethroning. You know, like she should have at WrestleMania.

Winner: Charlotte

I fully expect this to be the match of the night. The story and rivalry between Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn is one of the best in all of wrestling. Every single time they see each other, it's like a war. They just hockey fight and it's glorious. Their match will most likely follow the formula of two guys who hate each other just wanting to kill one another. They always have good to great matches, so I have no reason to think otherwise about this one. It's a tough call because both guys have some momentum, but Owens should win here. Sami can afford it as the sympathetic babyface and should have to earn the big win over Kevin in front of the main roster audience.

Winner: Kevin Owens

The WrestleMania match with Brock Lesnar should have been the megastar making performance for Dean Ambrose. It wasn't booked that way and showed that the company doesn't really view him in that way. I still don't understand Jericho's win over AJ, especially if all it did was lead to this match while AJ gets the WWE Title shot. Booking isn't that hard people. This feud has been fun and the Ambrose Asylum stuff has been rather entertaining. It's hard to pick Ambrose to win any PPV match because he's such a loser of big matches but this one seems winnable.

Winner: Dean Ambrose

This might be the toughest match to call. On the one hand, Cesaro has recently returned and is back to putting on good to great matches whenever he steps foot in the ring. On the other hand, the title JUST changed hands twice in April. Maybe keeping it on Miz for at least another PPV is the right move. Extreme Rules is right around the corner, so I get the feeling that Miz cheats to retain thanks to Maryse or some other shenanigans. Cesaro would earn a rematch and take home the title at Extreme Rules, hopefully leading to a reign full of top notch matches.

Winner: The Miz

I hate the Bullet Club. I love AJ Styles, I really like Karl Anderson and Finn Balor, but man, I always disliked the Bullet Club. I don't want to see them rejoin in the WWE but if it get the WWE Title on AJ Styles, I'd be willing to put up with it. That being said, I don't believe the WWE will put the belt on Styles. Maybe one day, but certainly not here. Roman Reigns literally just spent the fall and winter chasing the WWE Title only to win it twice for two very short periods of time. I can't see him getting the big Mania moment only to drop it in less than a month. Either Gallows and Anderson join him or AJ rejects their help and it leads to Reigns beating him.

Winner: Roman Reigns

2016 Prediction Record: 12-12
2015 Prediction Record: 60-35