On the Monday Night Raw after WrestleMania 33, Vince McMahon proclaimed that the WWE is not lethargic and that the big wheel keeps on turning. Sure enough, in the immediate aftermath of the biggest event of the year in the WWE, a new set of storylines began, a number of talents were called up from NXT, and superstars were traded between the Raw and Smackdown brands. All of this was done with an eye towards selling us on a year’s worth of television, live events, and WWE Network subscriptions, leading into WrestleMania 34 in 2018.
Well, I have a spoiler alert for you. Roman Reigns is going to be in his fourth consecutive WrestleMania main event at next year’s big show, and he will walk out of the Mercedes Benz Superdome in New Orleans as a winner and a champion. Whether or not the rumors are true that there will be a repeat of the WrestleMania 31 main event with Reigns facing Brock Lesnar, it doesn’t change the situation. Reigns was anointed to be the face of the WWE for the duration of his career. His win over The Undertaker at WrestleMania was the figurative passing of the torch.
There is going to be a lot of hand-wringing from the fan base of the direction that Reign’s career is headed. It is a waste of time to point out all the flaws in his game and his overall lack of ability. We are stuck with him no matter what. Might as well enjoy booing the hell out of him every time he steps out of the curtain. It is somewhat cathartic.
While Reigns sits atop the food chain of the WWE these days, there are still lots of other compelling superstars to watch over the next year. The superstar shakeup has given us a chance to see some new matchups (except for the fact that Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens are now on Smackdown together so they’ll probably wrestle each other 25,000 times between now and WM 34), and you never know what you’re going to get with the latest round of NXT callups to the main roster. Wrestling fans always love something new, and we are certainly going to get it.
The first Raw-themed pay-per-view since WrestleMania, Payback, takes place this Sunday and will pick up where WrestleMania left off. Several matches on the card are rematches from WrestleMania, or they are the continuation of stories that were part of the WrestleMania build up. Let’s take a look at what to expect.
Kevin Owens (c) vs. Chris Jericho in a Singles Match for the WWE United States Championship, if Jericho wins, he will be transferred to Smackdown
The WWE missed a great opportunity to wrap up Jericho’s career at WrestleMania. After a long and middling career that had been directionless for almost a decade, Jericho embarked on what was the best angle of his career when he was paired with Kevin Owens. Their month’s long program revolving around their on-and-off again friendship produced drama, comedy, suspense, and surprise. Jericho had never been so hot in his life. At age 46, it would have been the perfect time for him to lose in a “loser goes home” match to Owens at ‘Mania. He would have gone out at his absolute peak.
Instead, Jericho’s career persists with nowhere to go but down. Their match at WrestleMania was a serviceable effort, carried mainly by the younger and more talented Owens. Chances are that this rematch will be a fun one to watch as it will likely blow off their feud for good and they will want to go out with a bang.
Prediction: Winner and still WWE United States Champion, Kevin Owens
The Hardy Boyz (Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy) (c) vs, Cesaro and Sheamus in a Tag Team Match for the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship
Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy returned home to the WWE to a hero’s welcome at WrestleMania 33 with their surprise entrance into the Raw Tag Team Championship match. The Attitude Era holdovers enjoyed a successful run on the independent circuit of late and drove the crowd into a frenzy with their win.
What many probably don’t realize is that the Hardy Boyz used to lose during the Attitude Era. A lot. They hardly ever won a pay-per-view match in their heyday. They were known as the team that could deliver high spots, but never come out on top. Their win at WrestleMania was a surprise in that respect.
Cesaro and Sheamus continue to be a tag team of convenience. The WWE didn’t know what to do with them as singles competitors anymore, so they were paired up as a babyface/heel combination. This match gives them the opportunity to show what they can do as tag team competitors facing the veteran Hardy Boyz for the first time.
Prediction: Winners and still WWE Raw Tag Team Champions, The Hardy Boyz
Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt in a House of Horrors Match
While I am always reluctant to declare a match as one or the best or worst in WrestleMania history without giving it a few years to look back on things, the jury is out on the Orton/Wyatt match at WrestleMania. The verdict is that match sucked, and it could go down as one of the bigger failures we’ve ever seen in WrestleMania history.
The WWE tried to use special effects to bolster the visual effect of the occult-like abilities of Bray Wyatt during the match. It failed to captivate the audience when a projector suddenly showed images of bugs and grubs on the ring mat at various points during the match. In fact, someone at my WrestleMania yelled at the TV “They’re just using a projector! How dumb is that?”
The end result was not good for Bray Wyatt’s legacy. He is now 0-3 at WrestleMania and will forever be associated with this dud of a WrestleMania match. Randy Orton didn’t come out of it looking too great, either.
This House of Horrors match between the two is shrouded somewhat in mystery. It is a stipulation we have never seen before, and it will likely build on some special effects, similar to what we saw at WrestleMania. Given how poorly that worked out, I wouldn’t expect this match to be much better. Besides, Bray Wyatt never wins big matches, why should we care about him?
Prediction: Winner, Randy Orton
Neville (c) vs. Austin Aires in a Singles Match for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship
I still haven’t figured out why I should care about the WWE Cruiserweight division. Have you? Someone wake me up if you do.
Prediction: Winner and still WWE Cruiserweight Champion, Neville
Bayley (c) vs. Alexa Bliss in a Singles Match for the WWE Raw Women’s Championship
The bar was set very low for the WWE Women’s division before Bayley arrived. She somehow managed to lower it a great deal, and that is no small feat. Awful gimmick, awful look, and awful wrestling.
Prediction: This match is going to suck
Seth Rollins vs. Samoa Joe
Samoa Joe is a fresh addition to Monday Night Raw. Already in his late 30’s, he doesn’t have much more of a shelf life in the professional wrestling business, so it is go-time for the big man. I like what they are doing with his character, presenting him as a hit-man for The Authority. It gives him a chance to do some nice heel work, and pair well with the babyfaces on the Raw roster.
Seth Rollins has never regained the momentum he lost as a heel champion in 2015 before he broke his knee and missed an extended period of time, including WrestleMania 32. He isn’t a natural babyface and worked much better as an arrogant and cowardly heel. This matchup against Samoa Joe, however, could end up being the match of the night. The two veterans are capable of putting on a compelling match. Certainly, Samoa Joe will want to make an impression in his WWE pay-per-view debut match.
Prediction: Winner, Samoa Joe
Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman
I’ve said my piece about Roman Reigns at the beginning of this blog, and in pretty much every other blog post I’ve done over the past several years. I’m getting tired of repeating myself.
The shame of it is that Reigns is killing Strowman’s momentum and credibility, just at a time when Strowman was starting to get good and be recognized by the fans. The WWE did a fantastic job of building Strowman to be a monster heel over the second half of 2016, and he has shown constant improvement over the last year.
Unfortunately, Strowman had been used as the sacrificial lamb to get Reigns ready for his eventual win against The Undetaker at WrestleMania 33. When he lost to Reigns at Fastlane, he lost a lot of his shine. He recovered a lot of it with his vicious (and somewhat funny) beat down of Reigns on Raw a few weeks ago, that included him turning over an ambulance that Reigns was in!
All of that is going to be lost, when yet again, he jobs to Reigns. I really wish that they had picked someone else for this spot and left Strowman off the card altogether. It doesn’t benefit Strowman to be in this position at all, there is no way he is going to come out of this looking good when he loses, yet again, to Reigns.
Prediction: Winner, Roman Reigns
The North Jersey Nonconformist 
Leave a Reply