Thoughts for WWE Payback 2013

Today I'll give my thoughts on WWE's upcoming PPV.

Pre-Show Match: Sheamus vs. Damian Sandow- First off, kudos to WWE for having preshow matches. I always liked that concept when they had the Free-For-All and then Sunday Night Heat. I wish TNA would do the same. As far as the match goes, it should be ok. Sheamus and Sandow are both talented performers but I doubt they'll be giving more than 5 minutes and the result is obvious as the WWE won't book a heel (in this case Sandow) to win.

WWE World Heavyweight Championship: Dolph Ziggler (c) vs. Alberto Del Rio- Who cares? There's is not a more worthless piece of tin than the World Heavyweight Championship. Ziggler is wasted in this role by holding the second World Title instead of the WWE Championship a.k.a. the World Title that matters. This match has nothing going for it. Ziggler is coming back after being sidelined with a concussion, the title means nothing, and Del Rio is one of the most boring and worthless acts in wrestling. Heel of face, the fans couldn't give a rat's ass. Ziggler should go over cleanly but since WWE hates booking their heels to look strong and since Del Rio is one of Vince's chosen children, Ziggler will cheat to retain.

WWE Diva's Championship: Kaitlyn (c) vs. AJ Lee- This match is sad as it had potential to be much more. Kaitlyn and AJ have shown potential to be stars in wrestling and I dare say have potential to do what Trish Stratus and Lita did a decade ago. Unfortunately this match has been screwed up everyway you can screw it up. The feud between them really started to heat up in December when AJ turned heel but haven't had a match on PPV yet as neither were used for Wrestlemania and their match got bumped last month. Despite her potential, Kaitlyn has been wasted with no real stories or rivalries for her title despite having the belt for five months. AJ will no doubt win to give her belt along with Ziggler's WHC belt.

WWE United States Championship: Dean Ambrose (c) vs. Kane- This match should be the biggest challenge in young Ambrose's career as he has to wrestle and carry one of the heaviest pieces deadweight in professional wrestling. There's no other nice way to describe Kane. From 1997-2003, he was awesome. But in 2013, the gimmick is stale, Kane is broken down, and hasn't had a good match in years (not counting Royal Rumbles or Survivor Series elimination matches). The right move would be for Ambrose outwrestling and outmanuvering the Big Red Machine and win cleanly. But since this is the WWE and Vince gets fits of ecstasy for anyone from the Attitude Era and/or is a giant, they'll have Kane give most of the offense and Ambrose will retain either by cheating or by a fluke rollup.

WWE World Tag Team Championship: The Shield (c) vs. Daniel Bryan & Randy Orton- This match could be one of the best of the night. Bryan and the Shield are awesome but it really depends on how much time Orton is in the ring. If Bryan does most of the work then this match could be great but if Orton who could put a 12 year old who is high on sugar and caffeine in a coma does a lot then this could be boring.

WWE Intercontinental Championship/Triple Threat: Wade Barrett (c) vs. The Miz vs. Curtis Axel- Axel is replacing Fandango and I'm more happy with that. There's not much to say about this match. Barrett and Miz have been ice cold for months with Miz is a lousy babyface run where he's added the figure four leglock to his moveset after being briefly mentored by Ric Flair. Barrett hasn't looked great since his injury and his title reigns have been DOA due to WWE cancelling several of his storylines including the Intercontinental Cup tournament and his feud with Bo Dallas. Axel has potential but the WWE has yet to give him a meaningful win and instead have him beat HHH and John Cena by fluke count outs. Right move would be for Axel to win the belt to give him some credibility but either he won't or he'll do it after Miz does the work. This match will likely be the usual triple threat garbage from WWE where one guy lays outside selling attacks while the other two do the work in the ring.

Chris Jericho vs. CM Punk- Once again, don't care. Jericho hasn't been entertaining or useful in years and the WWE has killed Punk for me by completely botching his title reign by making him second banana to John Cena and giving him an unneeded heel turn last year. Given they're in Punk's hometown of Chicago, it would be nice to see Punk come back as a babyface since he's better in that role and also ditch Heyman since Punk doesn't need him and the two don't have chemistry.

WWE Championship/3 Stages of Hell: John Cena (c) vs. Ryback- This has the ingredients to be painful. Cena is absolutely atrocious and probably the worst top star in the history of pro wrestling. Ryback has shown improvement as a heel but he can't carry Cena to anything watchable. The match will also go very long likely clocking in at 20-25 minutes given it's best two out of three falls. The stips are also lame as a lumberjack match was never one of the better stipulations and the ambulance isn't either. The table and ambulance stips lead me to believe this is WWE's way of trying to have both guys in matches where nobody gets pinned and looks weak.