The latest WWE and AEW News and Results
It’s a brand new We’re Live, Pal! with myself and Andrew Zarian.
This week’s show is available for free on YouTube. Just click above to watch.
Andrew and I talked about the big topic of the week which concerns CM Punk, Jack Perry and this Sunday’s AEW All Out.
Then, we talked about this Saturday’s WWE Payback.
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Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including PPV numbers for All In, the card for All Out and WWE’s Payback show on Saturday, ratings, update on the Seattle Antonio Inoki tribute PPV, Dynamite and NXT TV reports and tons more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
Timestamps:
Start: Catching up, WWE SmackDown thoughts & rating
5:16: AEW All In early numbers
8:18: Ratings notes
11:56: All Out card rundown
21:49: The AEW All In attendance number
29:37: WWE Payback card rundown, more on AEW WrestleDream
36:28: AEW Dynamite recap
49:49: WWE NXT recap
58:47: AEW Rampage spoilers
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive is back with tons to talk about including AEW Dynamite and All Out this weekend, WWE’s Saturday PPV, Raw and NXT TV reports, ratings, an update on the Miro vs. Punk story, and tons more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
An Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship street fight has been added to Saturday’s Payback pay-per-view lineup.
As revealed during Monday’s Raw episode, Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn will defend the Undisputed Tag titles against Finn Balor & Damian Priest of The Judgment Day on the Saturday, September 2 Payback event in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was announced later in the show that the match will be a Steel City Street Fight.
The new bout was announced at the top of Monday’s Raw telecast, and Priest promptly defeated Zayn in the show’s opening contest to further set up Saturday’s match.
Six matches are now official for Payback, including four title bouts.
In addition to the Tag title match, the World Heavyweight title, Women’s World title, and United States titles will also be on the line on Saturday.
The current lineup:
WWE Payback, Saturday, September 2, 8 p.m. Eastern time on Peacock & WWE Network —
Two new matches, plus Cody Rhodes appearing on The Grayson Waller Effect have been added to the lineup for WWE Payback.
LA Knight’s feud with The Miz will continue at Payback in a singles match on Saturday, September 2.
Knight used his promo time on Friday’s show both to honor Bray Wyatt, and to further his issue with The Miz, stating that the next time Miz sees him, he should run, a callback to one of Wyatt’s catchphrases.
Also revealed during Friday’s SmackDown, Rey Mysterio is set to defend the United States Championship against Austin Theory at Payback.
Theory defeated LA Knight in a number one contender’s match on last week’s SmackDown to earn the title shot.
In addition, Payback will host a Grayson Waller Effect talk show segment with guest Cody Rhodes.
Rhodes appeared on Friday’s SmackDown tribute show to Wyatt & Terry Funk, delivering a speech about Funk’s career and impact on the industry.
A Becky Lynch vs Trish Stratus steel cage match, a World Heavyweight Championship match, plus a Women’s World Championship match have already been announced for Payback.
The updated card:
WWE Payback, Saturday, September 2, 8 p.m. Eastern time on Peacock & WWE Network —
A Women’s World Championship match has been added to the lineup for the Saturday, September 2 WWE Payback pay-per-view.
As revealed during Monday’s Raw show, Rhea Ripley will defend the Women’s World title against Raquel Rodriguez at Payback.
Rodriguez attacked Ripley with a crutch on Monday’s show as she announced that she had been medically cleared from a recent knee injury and would be facing Ripley for the title at Payback.
The Women’s World title match joins a lineup that includes a steel cage match with Trish Stratus facing Becky Lynch, plus a World Heavyweight title match that was made official during Raw with Seth Rollins defending against Shinsuke Nakamura.
While not officially announced, an Intercontinental title rematch with Gunther defending against Chad Gable appears to be a future direction either for an upcoming Raw or Payback after Gable defeated Gunther via countout on Monday’s Raw.
The updated card for Payback:
WWE Payback, Saturday, September 2, 8 p.m. Eastern time on Peacock & WWE Network —
Seth Rollins vs. Shinsuke Nakamura for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship is set for the Payback pay-per-view on Saturday, September 2.
The Payback match was officially announced during Monday’s Raw.
During a pre-taped promo during this week’s Raw, Nakamura revealed that he had whispered “I know about your back” to Rollins last week. Nakamura said that he knows that Rollins has a broken back, and that it has plagued him for years.
Nakamura said that he knows Rollins’ weaknesses, and will exploit them as he takes the World Heavyweight title from Rollins at Payback.
Rollins vs. Nakamura was the second match made official for Payback, joining Trish Stratus vs. Becky Lynch in a steel cage match which was announced late last week.
Later on Raw, a Women’s World Championship match between Rhea Ripley & Raquel Rodriguez was also added to the Payback card.
The updated lineup:
WWE Payback, Saturday, September 2, 8 p.m. Eastern time on Peacock & WWE Network —
John LaRocca and I are back with a brand new Fight Game Podcast.
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Then, we did another “getting to know your host” segment by talking about our favorite movies.
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It appears that Becky Lynch and Trish Stratus’ steel cage match will be going down at WWE Payback.
The cage match between Lynch and Stratus was announced on Raw earlier this week, but WWE didn’t reveal when it would be taking place. An announcement on this week’s episode of Main Event then stated that the match will be happening at Payback.
Payback is being held in Pittsburgh on Saturday, September 2. This is the first match that’s set for the pay-per-view.
The steel cage stipulation for Lynch vs. Stratus is a way to stop Zoey Stark from getting involved. She’s repeatedly helped Stratus during this feud with Lynch.
Stark aligned with Stratus when she helped Stratus defeat Lynch at Night of Champions this May. It looked like a rematch between Lynch and Stratus was being planned for SummerSlam, but that didn’t end up happening. They had a brief match on the July 31 episode of Raw that saw Stark immediately interfere and attack Lynch.
Lynch and Stratus then had a match on Raw this Monday that ended in a double countout. As Lynch and Stratus brawled in the concourse, Stark again got involved and helped Stratus lay out Lynch.
Adam Pearce yelled at Stratus and Stark after the brawl and informed them that the next match between Lynch and Stratus would be taking place inside of a steel cage.
For the first time in five years, WWE is bringing a pay-per-view event to Pittsburgh.
It was announced today that Payback 2023 will be held at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh on September 2, which is the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. The show will stream live on Peacock/WWE Network.
This will be the first time Pittsburgh has hosted a WWE PPV since Extreme Rules 2018.
The most recent Payback event prior to this took place in 2020. That night, Roman Reigns defeated “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman in a triple threat match to begin his historic run as Universal Champion. Reigns has been champion for more than 1000 days since then.
Tickets for Payback 2023 will go on sale to the general public on Tuesday, June 27 at 10 a.m. Eastern time. There will be a ticket pre-sale prior to the general on-sale date.
Though not yet officially announced, it’s expected that AEW’s All Out PPV will also take place during Labor Day weekend. All Out will likely be on Sunday, September 3.
Here’s a look at WWE’s upcoming PPV schedule:
Roman Reigns is once again Universal champion.
Reigns defeated The Fiend Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman in a triple threat match tonight to win the championship for a second time.
Strowman jumped The Fiend before the bell rang and the two went back and forth with one another during most of the match, with Roman Reigns nowhere to be seen. A storyline throughout the show was that Reigns had still not signed the contract to compete in the match prior to the main event.
The climax had The Fiend giving Strowman a superplex that, upon impact, caused the ring to collapse. Roman Reigns then came out, Paul Heyman in tow, and signed the contract. He went to pin both men, who both kicked out. Reigns attacked Strowman with a steel chair and attempted to pin him for a nearfall.
The Fiend locked in the mandible claw, but Reigns low blowed the Fiend and hit the spear on Strowman to win the championship.
The Fiend won the Universal title last Sunday at SummerSlam, pinning Strowman to win the championship.
Bobby Lashley is the new WWE United States champion.
Lashley defeated Apollo tonight in a back and forth match where he won the title by submission, latching on the full nelson.
This marks Lashley’s second reign as champion, his first in over a decade. He first won the title back on the May 23, 2006 edition of SmackDown, defeating John Bradshaw Layfield.
Apollo has been feuding with MVP, Bobby Lashley, and Shelton Benjamin, collectively known as The Hurt Business, in recent months. He was originally supposed to face MVP at Extreme Rules for the United States title, but was unable to due to what announcers described as an injury.
Last Sunday at SummerSlam, Apollo defeated MVP in a United States title match. A match was then made between him and Lashley for the title the following day on Raw.
Apollo Crews had held the championship for 97 days, defeating Andrade on the May 25th edition of Raw.
Tonight’s SmackDown ended with a major reveal: Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman, sitting side-by-side.
Throughout tonight’s show, Adam Pearce was assigned by Vince McMahon the task of getting the signatures for all three participants for the triple threat Universal title match at Payback. Pearce managed to get Wyatt’s and Strowman’s signatures, but whenever he tried to contact Reigns through his locker room door, Pearce was met by silence.
Pearce was eventually able to get inside and gave the contract to Reigns, who said he would read it. The final segment of the show had Reigns telling Pearce that he wouldn’t sign it, and wanted changes. Regardless, he said at Payback he would win back the Universal title that he never lost.
Reigns then told Pearce that it’s not a prediction, it’s a spoiler. The camera then panned to reveal Paul Heyman was sitting right next to Reigns.
“Believe that,” Heyman told Pearce as the show ended.
PWInsider is reporting that going forward, Roman Reigns is expected to be the top heel on SmackDown. With Braun Strowman also recently turning heel, the idea, according to PWInsider, is to make Bray Wyatt/The Fiend the top babyface on the roster. Naomi is also expected to get a stronger push.
This was Heyman’s first appearance on WWE television since WrestleMania 36, when Brock Lesnar lost the WWE title to Drew McIntyre.
The WWE Women’s Tag Team title match for Payback has been set.
Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax, despite attacking one another recently, will team up to take on the champions, Bayley and Sasha Banks.
Jax returned tonight after being suspended for several weeks due to attacking WWE official Pat Buck. In an interview with Sarah Schrieber, Jax said she apologized, and thus was reinstated. Baszler walked up to her as the two traded insults to one another.
During Baszler’s match against Bayley, Jax came out and interfered, resulting in a DQ. The two started to attack one another until they noticed Bayley and Sasha Banks cheering them on. They turned their attention to the champions, who then bolted.
Later, Jax said she wasn’t thrilled with teaming with Baszler, but wanted the Tag Team titles. Baszler said she would team with her if she would leave her alone. Jax shoved Baszler, then Baszler slapped Jax and walked away.
Payback will take place this Sunday, August 30.
After being dormant since 2017, Payback will return to the WWE calendar next month, set for Sunday, August 30 at the Performance Center, just one week after SummerSlam.
The news of the show on WWE’s internal calendar was first reported by PWInsider and later confirmed by Dave Meltzer. It’s unknown why they revived the name and why the event is happening so close after a major event.
WWE has not publicly announced its return.
Payback was a regularly scheduled PPV event from 2013 through 2017. The 2013 and 2014 editions were held in June, both in the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois. John Cena defended the WWE Championship against Ryback in the main event in 2013, while Evolution vs. The Shield headlined in 2014.
The event was moved to May in 2015 and was held at Baltimore’s Royal Farms Arena. Seth Rollins defeated Randy Orton, Dean Ambrose, and Roman Reigns to retain the WWE Championship in the main event.
In 2016 and 2017, the event was shifted to the first PPV slot after WrestleMania. The 2016 edition was as held on May 1, again at Allstate Arena, with Reigns retaining the WWE World title in the main event with a win over AJ Styles. The 2017 version was held on April 30 at the SAP Center in San Jose, California, and was headlined by Reigns vs. Braun Strowman.
