The 2016 Payback was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was the fourth annual Payback and took place on May 1, 2016, at the Allstate Arena in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois. The event is considered by WWE to be the first PPV and livestreaming event of The New Era. The concept of the event was based around wrestlers seeking payback against their opponents.
Eight matches were contested at the event, including two on the Kickoff pre-show. In the main event, Roman Reigns defeated AJ Styles to retain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. In other prominent matches, Dean Ambrose defeated Chris Jericho, The Miz defeated Cesaro to retain the Intercontinental Championship, and in the opening bout, the tournament final to determine the number one contenders for the WWE Tag Team Championship, which was contested between Enzo Amore and Colin Cassidy and The Vaudevillains (Aiden English and Simon Gotch), ended in a no contest.
The event was originally scheduled to be held on May 22, 2016, at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, but WWE switched its date and venue with that year's Extreme Rules, in turn marking the third Payback held at the Allstate Arena, after the first two events in 2013 and 2014. This was the last Payback to take place before the reintroduction of the brand extension in July.
Critics gave mixed reactions to the event, criticizing WWE for promoting the event as the start of a "new era" while employing several storylines they had been using since the Attitude Era. Special criticism was reserved for a re-enactment of the Montreal Screwjob at the end of the WWE Women's Championship match. This event also featured Ryback's final appearance in the company as he was released in August 2016.
Production Background
Payback was an annual professional wrestling event that was established by WWE in 2013. It was originally broadcast exclusively via pay-per-view (PPV) before it began simultaneously livestreaming on the WWE Network in 2014. The concept of the event was based around wrestlers seeking payback against their opponents. The fourth event was originally scheduled to be held on May 22, 2016, at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey; however, on February 23, WWE announced that it switched its date and venue with that year's Extreme Rules. As such, Payback was instead held on May 1, 2016, returning the event to the Allstate Arena in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois, the same venue as the first two events in 2013 and 2014. This edition was promoted as the first PPV and livestreaming event of The New Era for WWE.
Storylines The event comprised eight matches, including two on the Kickoff pre-show, that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Raw and SmackDown.
At WrestleMania 32, Roman Reigns defeated Triple H to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship for the third time. The following night on Raw, Reigns issued an open challenge for the championship, which was answered by Chris Jericho, AJ Styles, Kevin Owens, and Sami Zayn. This set up a fatal four-way match to determine the number one contender for the title later in the show, but Owens attacked Zayn, rendering him unable to compete in the match; he was replaced by a returning Cesaro. Styles won the match, earning a title match against Reigns at Payback. The following week, Zayn, after being unable to compete the previous week, faced Styles in a match set up by Shane McMahon where he would gain entry into the title match if he won, but Styles was victorious. On the April 25 episode of Raw, Styles saved Reigns from an attack by Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, then Reigns recovered and attacked Styles. Reigns was laid out when Styles retaliated.
At WrestleMania 32, Zack Ryder won his first Intercontinental Championship in a 7-man ladder match. The following night on Raw, Ryder lost the title to The Miz after Maryse, Miz's wife, distracted him. After Miz retained the title against Ryder on that week's SmackDown, Cesaro defeated Kevin Owens on the following episode of Raw to become the #1 contender for the championship and earn a title match against Miz at Payback.
On the April 11 episode of Raw, Shane McMahon started a tournament where the winners would face The New Day for the WWE Tag Team Championship. On the April 18 episode of Raw, the finals of the tournament were scheduled for Payback.
Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens have been feuding with each other since Owens made his debut at NXT TakeOver: R Evolution in 2014. At NXT TakeOver: Unstoppable, Owens injured Zayn in their NXT Championship match. Zayn returned at the Royal Rumble, eliminating Owens from the Royal Rumble match. On the March 7, 2016, episode of Raw, Zayn made his main roster debut and brawled with Owens. At WrestleMania 32, Zayn cost Owens the Intercontinental Championship in a ladder match, which Zack Ryder won. The following night on Raw, Owens attacked Zayn, preventing him to compete in the fatal four-way #1 contender match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. A match between the two was subsequently made for Payback.
On the April 11 episode of Raw, during a segment of The Highlight Reel where Chris Jericho was interviewing himself, Dean Ambrose interrupted and gave him a letter from Shane McMahon stating that The Highlight Reel has been cancelled and would be replaced by Ambrose's new talk show, The Ambrose Asylum. On the April 14 episode of SmackDown, after Jericho's match with Sami Zayn ended in disqualification, Ambrose, who was doing commentary with Kevin Owens during the match, helped Zayn fend off Jericho and Owens. On the April 18 episode of Raw, after Ambrose defeated Owens, Jericho attacked Ambrose with a Codebreaker, setting up a match between the two for Payback.
At WrestleMania 32, Charlotte defeated Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch with interference from her father Ric Flair to become the inaugural WWE Women's Champion. The following night on Raw, Charlotte held a ceremony to celebrate the new title and the women's division, but her arrogance led the other women in the ring to leave except for Natalya, who told Charlotte to learn a lesson in humility. After Charlotte stated that her family would always be better than the Hart family, Natalya locked her in the Sharpshooter submission hold. The following week on Raw, Natalya defeated Charlotte in a Women's Championship match, but by disqualification, therefore not winning the title. A rematch was subsequently scheduled for Payback, with Natalya announcing that her uncle Bret Hart would be in her corner.
On the WrestleMania 32 Kickoff pre-show, Kalisto defeated Ryback to retain the United States Championship. On the April 21 episode of SmackDown, Ryback defeated Kalisto in a non-title match, earning a title rematch against Kalisto at Payback.
Despite losing to The Undertaker at WrestleMania 32 in a Hell in a Cell match where he would gain control of Raw if he won, Shane McMahon was given temporary control of Raw from The Authority the next night by his father, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon. After Shane ran Raw for four consecutive weeks, Shane's sister Stephanie McMahon returned to announce that Vince McMahon would decide at Payback whether Stephanie or Shane is given control of Raw for good.
At WrestleMania 32, Baron Corbin won the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. Corbin made his main roster debut the next night on Raw, fighting Dolph Ziggler to a double-countout. They would proceed to attack each other, thus setting a match between the two at Payback.
Event + Other on-screen personnelRole:Name:English commentatorsMichael Cole John "Bradshaw" Layfield Byron Saxton Mauro Ranallo Kevin Owens Spanish commentatorsCarlos CabreraMarcelo RodríguezGerman commentatorsCarsten SchaeferSebastian HacklRing announcersEden StilesJoJoRefereesCharles RobinsonJohn ConeDan EnglerJason AyersRod ZapataDarrick MooreChad PattonBackstage interviewerByron SaxtonPre-show panelRenee YoungCorey GravesBooker TJerry Lawler
Pre-show During the Payback Kickoff pre-show, Dolph Ziggler faced Baron Corbin. Ziggler pinned Corbin with a roll up to win the match.
After that, Kalisto defended the United States Championship against Ryback. Kalisto executed a Salida Del Sol on Ryback to retain the title. This was Ryback's last WWE match.
Preliminary matches The actual pay-per-view opened with the final of the tournament to determine the #1 contenders to the WWE Tag Team Championship between Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady and The Vaudevillains (Aiden English and Simon Gotch). English was in the corner and Amore charged, resulting in Amore falling hard to the ring mat after being either kneed or kicked by English. Gotch then threw Amore into the ropes, with Amore's head hitting the ring mat hard after bouncing off the middle rope, followed by Amore falling onto the floor at ringside, apparently knocked out. Gotch tried to pick Amore up, although the referee intervened, ending the match as a no-contest for Amore to receive medical attention. According to Canoe.ca, Enzo's head got "whiplashed hard onto the mat", knocking him unconscious, which possibly made matters "worse when he then hit the floor since he couldn't protect himself." The audience in the building was not updated on Enzo's injury.
Next, Kevin Owens faced Sami Zayn. The match ended when Zayn attempted a Helluva Kick on Owens but Owens countered with a Superkick and executed a Pop Up Powerbomb to win the match. Owens remained at ringside as a guest commentator for the next match.
After that, The Miz (accompanied by Maryse) defended his Intercontinental Championship against Cesaro. In the end, Sami Zayn appeared to attack Kevin Owens who was on commentary for the match. The two fought on the ring apron until Cesaro knocked Zayn and Owens off the ring apron. Whilst Cesaro was distracted, The Miz pinned him with a roll-up to retain the title.
In the fourth match, Dean Ambrose faced Chris Jericho. In the end, as Jericho attempted a Lionsault, Ambrose countered by raising his knees and executed Dirty Deeds to win the match.
In the fifth match, Natalya, accompanied by her uncle Bret Hart, challenged Charlotte, accompanied by her father Ric Flair, for the WWE Women's Championship. The end came when referee Charles Robinson called for the bell as Charlotte applied the sharpshooter, despite Natalya not having submitted, meaning Charlotte retained the title. This was a repeat of the infamous Montreal Screwjob suffered by Bret Hart, and also advanced a second vintage storyline, that of Robinson as the "personal referee" of Flair, which dates back to her father Ric Flair's time in World Championship Wrestling and Robinson's "Little Naitch" gimmick. After the match, Bret Hart and Natalya applied sharpshooters in stereo on Flair and Charlotte, respectively.
Main event Next, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon appeared to announce whether Stephanie or Shane McMahon should run Raw. After both Shane and Stephanie explained why they should run Raw, Vince decided that both Stephanie and Shane would run Raw jointly.
In the main event, Roman Reigns defended the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against AJ Styles. Early in the match, Styles took the advantage and applied the Calf Crusher, only for Reigns to reach the ropes, breaking the hold. Outside the ring, Styles performed a Phenomenal Forearm on Reigns, sending both men through a broadcast table. Reigns was counted out.