Check out our WWE Payback live coverage.
It’s showtime for both AJ Styles and Roman Reigns tonight.
For Reigns, it’s his first title defense since winning the championship at WrestleMania 32. He’s going to get heavily booed. But he also has to prove that he can have great matches in the main event. For Styles, it’s his chance to show the WWE audience why many think he’s the best big match wrestler going today. They should be a great mix.
We’ll be back when the show starts.
There were two pre-show matches. In the first, Dolph Ziggler beat Baron Corbin with a school boy. In the second, Kalisto beat Ryback again.
Enzo and Big Cass Vs The Vaudevillains
New Day is ringside.
The match ended before it was able to begin. Enzo got thrown underneath the bottom rope and to the outside, but he hit the middle rope with his face and then hit the side of the apron with the back of his head. At first, it looked like he was just selling, but they stopped the match.
Referee stops the match. Medical personnel attend to the injured @WWEAaLLday21. #WWEPayback pic.twitter.com/3D8nlWtnL3
— WWE (@WWE) May 2, 2016
It was pretty scary as JBL, Michael Cole, and Byron Saxton looked very uncomfortable.
Kevin Owens Vs Sami Zayn
The crowd is uneasy at the start of the match, so they started with Zayn doing a dive over the top rope. Lots of good stuff in this match. The transitions to certain spots were awesome. It was built unlike a normal WWE match where the heat would be on Zayn until the comeback. Lots of back and forth.
Owens went for the Pop-up powerbomb, but Zayn hit a dropkick.
#WWEPayback pic.twitter.com/mk3mqe1qCT
— LARIATOOOOO!!! (@SenorLARIATO) May 2, 2016
They went to the outside. Owens wanted to powerbomb him on the corner of the apron, but Zayn reversed it and backdropped him. He then dove over the bottom rope near the ringpost for a tornado DDT.
Back inside the ring, Zayn went for the Helluva kick, ate a superkick, and then Owens hit the Pop-up powerbomb for the win.
Winner: Kevin Owens
Because they had some time to kill, Owens and Saxton were in the ring to set up where Owens is staying at ringside to watch Cesaro and Miz because he wants to get his Intercontinental title back.
The Miz Vs Cesaro
Cesaro did the nipup spot that Will Ospreay has been doing.
Cesaro tried to give him the superplex from the outside, but Maryse stopped him. Miz had him in a sleeper hold and Cesaro turned it into a suplex in a nice power spot.
Miz hit the Skull-Crushing finale on Cesaro who kicked out. Cesaro was selling his shoulder, which had kinesiology tape on it. Cesaro finally hit the Giant Swing and then put on the Crossface, but Zayn came out and attacked Owens which led to them both getting on the apron.
Cesaro let it go to attack both and then Miz rolled him up.
Winner: The Miz
Owens attacked everyone and held up the IC strap. Looks like a 4-way coming.
Chris Jericho Vs Dean Ambrose
This was a really good match. Much like the match with Triple H, Dean had to slow down. He and Jericho worked through two Boston Crabs and the match was built around Ambrose trying to hit the Dirty Deeds.
The match was long, possibly because of the extra time they had considering Enzo’s injury, and it worked out. They went back to the heat an extra time, but it was still good. Heel Jericho was excellent in his role, yelling at Dean the entire match.
Finally, Ambrose hit the Dirty Deeds to win the match.
Winner: Dean Ambrose
Charlotte Vs Natalya
Bret is in Nattie’s corner and Ric is in Charlotte’s.
Oh man. It was such a serious women’s title match, which started out slow, but definitely picked up near the end. They were setting up the Figure Eight vs the Sharpshooter. Charlotte hit a great moonsault and shrieked when Natalya kicked out. Charlotte put the Sharpshooter on Natalya and referee Charles Robinson rang the bell, gave Charlotte the belt, and then quickly left the ring running.
Natayla w/ Bret Hart vs Charlotte w/ Ric Flair #WWEPayback Finish pic.twitter.com/2b1SitQtS3
— ZombieProphet (@ZProphet_MMA) May 2, 2016
Winner: Charlotte
AFter the match, Natalya and Bret put the Sharpshooter on Charlotte and Ric.
How foolish does it make Bret look by doing this finish right in front of his face?
Vince McMahon came out and had to deal with the CM Punk chants. He introduced Stephanie first and she said she deserves to run Raw. Shane came out and showed some headlines of blogs saying that he was doing a good job on Raw. He then became a cheerleader to get the crowd to chant for him.
Vince said both will have equal say and both will have to run Raw together. He wants them to either work together, or slit each other’s throat.
AJ Styles Vs Roman Reigns
The crowd is booing the hell out of Reigns, but he’s not really working heelish. Styles is working more heelish. Styles’ reactions and timing is second to none. He sunk in the Calf Crusher, but Reigns took a powder. He was outside near the table and Styles jumped from the middle of the top rope and gave him the Phenomenal Forearm, which also broke the table.
PHENOMENAL FOREARM! #WWEPayback pic.twitter.com/YdSdoSNOZ4
— LARIATOOOOO!!! (@SenorLARIATO) May 2, 2016
Styles got back in before the 10 count, but Reigns didn’t. The referee rang the bell and the match was over.
Then Shane McMahon came out and restarted the match, saying that it wasn’t going to end in a countout and the match was now no countout.
With the match restarted, Styles tried a 450 off the top rope but Reigns got his knees up. Styles jumped off the top rope and Reigns punched him low. The referee stopped the match for a DQ.
Of course, Stephanie came out to restart the match and said it was now No DQ.
Styles was knocked off the top rope by a punch. Outside, they went into the crowd. Styles clotheslined Reigns back toward the ring over the dasher boards. He went for the Phenomenal Forearm again, but ate a Superman punch. AJ took a great bump.
AJ Styles vs Roman Reigns #WWEPayback pic.twitter.com/9G1WqYzfOM
— ZombieProphet (@ZProphet_MMA) May 2, 2016
Reigns hit another before setting up the spear. Anderson and Gallows saved Styles and gave Reigns their finisher.
Styles came back into the ring and hit the forearm, but Reigns got his foot on the bottom rope. The Usos came out to brawl with Anderson and Gallows. AJ went to the top, but Roman throw him off the top and onto the four men. Reigns did his dive over the top and onto the four men.
Styles hit the forearm from the dasher boards and to the outside. He threw Reigns back in and did the 450 off the middle of the top rope for a two count. Styles went for the forearm again, but Reigns ducked it and hit the spear for the win.
Winner: Roman Reigns