WWE Payback preview

Read on for how I'd book tonight's Payback PPV.
This one took some thought! But here goes:

Pre-show:
Damien Sandow beats Sheamus with help from Cody Rhodes. By no means should it look like Sandow can't "hang" with Sheamus (Sheamus shouldn't dominate him before the ending). Sandow can say that he beat a former WWE/World Champion, and Sheamus can easily rebound from the loss considering that it was dirty. Sandow and Rhodes set their eyes on the World Title briefcase, and Sheamus sets his eyes on the WWE Title briefcase. The idea here is to elevate Sandow without hurting Sheamus.

The pre-show ends with a segment between Orton, Kane, and Bryan promising to put aside their differences in order to defeat The Shield. This is the hook for fans who want the babyfaces to win the Titles.

You can also have interviews with Kaitlyn and Cena ahead of their matches, either on the pre-show or on the show proper to set up their matches. Get fans excited for the faces looking to win their Title matches.

As for the actual show:
AJ and Kaitlyn get enough time to tell a good story. This should be presented as a clash of two heated rivals, not just another Divas match. I'd have the moment of AJ getting "this close" to beating Kaitlyn, and Kaitlyn getting "this close" to beating AJ. Eventually things descend into a straight-up fight as AJ gets in Kaitlyn's head. The ref calls for the bell, giving AJ the win via DQ. After they're separated, the ref holds AJ's hand up on the ramp, but Kaitlyn holds the title up in the ring. The stage is set for a rematch, which we get on Raw 8 days after the PPV (Vickie gives a week for them to "cool down" and refocus on actually having a match instead of fighting). The rematch also turns into a fight, and Vickie decides that they're going to settle it at MITB. Vickie thinks that both of them are crazy (remember that she has bad history with both), so the match at MITB will be won when one competitor locks the other in a straightjacket. I think both AJ and Kaitlyn are great and deserve a good story like this.

Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, Daniel Bryan, and Randy Orton are at ringside for Kane vs. Ambrose. You can probably guess how this one goes. The Shield tries to interfere, Bryan and Orton try to counter, and in the confusion (while the ref tries to restore order and is distracted), Ambrose hits Kane with the U.S. Title and gets the win. Ambrose is elevated by beating a future Hall of Famer, Kane is protected because the loss is dirty, and it adds to the frustration between Kane, Bryan, and Orton.

Because of what happened in the last match, Teddy Long bans Kane and Ambrose from ringside in the Tag Title match. Rollins and Reigns nonetheless get the win, pinning Orton. Rollins and Reigns are elevated for pinning a former Mania headliner (and multiple-time WWE/World Champion), and Bryan can say that since he didn't get pinned while Orton and Kane did, THEY'RE the weak links. Orton and Kane get put in the WWE Title MITB match as former WWE Champions. The Shield and Daniel Bryan look to make their marks in that match - The Shield saying that it's an injustice that they're not in the match and that the only opportunities being given are to people who have already been WWE Champion. Bryan wants to counter what they're doing in the match.

Paul Heyman and Curtis Axel have a pow-wow backstage when Heyman gets an important phone call that he HAS to take. He tells Axel to go on without him and he'll be out there when he can. During the IC Title match, HHH appears on the Titantron. He's kidnapped Heyman. Axel rushes backstage to deal with that, leaving Miz to beat Barrett via SCF. Barrett's due a rematch and Fandango never got his match in the first place, so the stage is set for a Triple Threat at MITB. Axel will face HHH at MITB - no DQs, no countouts, no Vince or Stephanie intervening.

If there's time, I'd probably have some kind of filler match like Justin Gabriel beating Curt Hawkins, just to have a babyface win.

Jericho comes out first for his match, then Punk's music hits. Before it gets too far along, Punk comes out with a mic and says to cut it. He says that he's not back because of Jericho. He's not back because of the Chicago fans. He's back because he has to be. But since he's here, he's going to beat Jericho and go on to win MITB next month. After Punk and Jericho get enough time to show why they're two of the top wrestlers in the world, Punk gets the clean win via GTS. Punk celebrates around the ring, giving Jericho time to recover. Jericho offers his hand, Punk reluctantly takes it, and then he pulls Jericho in for another GTS. Just in case the fans forgot that Punk's a heel. Jericho's going to need to be written off in some fashion either before MITB or shortly after to do Fozzy stuff, so I think it's wise to use him to elevate Punk as much as possible. Jericho enters the MITB match to attempt to thwart Punk. Or, if he can't do MITB, Punk beats him on Raw to qualify, and presumably beats him up or something to write him off.

Ziggler decides that since he's the "Show Off", he doesn't need Big E or AJ at ringside in his match. He wants to do it on his own. And he does, after he and Del Rio show how good they are. True to their word, Big E and AJ don't interfere. Del Rio rebounds from the loss to enter the WWE Title MITB match, and Ziggler will defend his World Title against the returning Christian that night.

Finally, we get Cena vs. Ryback in Three Stages of Hell. Ryback gets the first fall after the heel Lumberjacks serve Cena up on a silver platter. From there, Cena puts Ryback through a table to even us up. The third fall sees both men fighting to the point of near exhaustion. The finish comes when Ryback is glazed over in front of the open back doors of the ambulance. Cena has just enough energy to charge for a spear. Ryback moves at the last second, and Cena goes head-first into the back of the ambulance. Ryback closes the doors, and we have a new WWE Champion. I don't care if Ryback's a "sustainable main eventer" or how many people say that he "can't wrestle" and is "just another big man", "a Goldberg rip-off" or whatever. They've got a chance to make a new big villain and I think they should take it. I don't see any reason to kill his momentum in favor of having Cena stand tall yet again. Bane beating Batman and Doomsday beating Superman were two of the biggest stories in comics. Anyway, Mark Henry's back on Raw, and I'd put him in the mix with Cena and Ryback.

As for where we go from here:
MITB:

Divas' Championship Straightjacket Match: Kaitlyn vs. AJ - AJ wins. Kaitlyn's great(lyn) and all, but I think it's time to see what AJ can do with the Title.

Intercontinental Championship: The Miz vs. Wade Barrett vs. Fandango - Honestly not sure who I'd have win this one at this juncture. It would depend on who was connecting best with the crowd and all that kind of stuff.

MITB for WWE Championship briefcase: Punk vs. Jericho (if he's available) vs. Kane vs. Orton vs. Sheamus vs. Big Show (if he's healed) vs. Del Rio. The Shield and Bryan try to get involved. Orton wins, which Bryan takes credit for.

MITB for World Championship briefcase: Cesaro vs. Big E vs. Rhodes vs. Sandow vs. Sin Cara vs. Evan Bourne vs.  Swagger (if he's healed) vs. Justin Gabriel - some of those people are in there just to take big bumps and some are there to be elevated and legitimized. The idea is that if Big E wins, he'll purposefully lose to Ziggler. Of course, Big E starts to think that maybe he'd like to be World Champion. Sandow wins. As much as I like some of those other guys, I think Sandow's the most "ready".

World Championship: Ziggler vs. Christian - Ziggler wins.

There Must Be A Winner - no DQs or countouts: Axel vs. HHH - Axel wins in dirty fashion (weapon, low blow, interference, whatever. No Lesnar).

WWE Championship: Ryback vs. Cena vs. Mark Henry - Ryback wins.

Summerslam:
John Cena, Sheamus, Kane, and Mark Henry (Henry's only there in an "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" way - They're not "buddy-buddy" by any stretch). vs. Ryback and The Shield (also no love lost). I THINK I'd have Sheamus pin Ryback to set up a feud for the WWE Title, but it's not set in stone.

World Championship Ladder match: Ziggler vs. Christian - Ziggler wins.

Some sort of gimmick match: HHH vs. Curtis Axel - Presumably Axel wins. Maybe with interference from Brock or Punk?

WWE Championship MITB briefcase: Orton vs. Bryan - Bryan wins.

Obviously that's not a full card for Summerslam, but those are the biggest matches.