Fallout from Payback

WWE featured their Payback pay-per-view last night. For the first time in a long while, there was no WWE World Heavyweight Championship match. With Daniel Bryan on the sidelines recovering from neck surgery, the creative team did a reasonable job keeping his storyline feud with the Authority going, making Stephanie McMahon an even bigger heel, and making sure the title was still recognized, all without physical confrontation on the part of the champion.

To offset the absence of a title match, the main event portion of the card featured two huge matches. The first was Bray Wyatt versus John Cena in a Last Man Standing match. The second, and true main event, was the Shield versus Evolution in a No Holds Barred Elimination match.

Let’s talk about the second match first, because I feel the need to unload on the Wyatt-Cena feud and it wouldn’t do it justice if I switched gears afterwards.

Evolution met the Shield in a brutal match. Evolution’s time, as they are currently composed, is running out. Batista is set to leave for a while after tonight’s episode of Raw, so he can promote his new movie Guardians of the Galaxy. So Evolution will be lacking a member. In my PPV prediction column, I predicted that Sheamus would join Evolution. It’s a well-publicized fact that Sheamus and Triple H are friends. Add to that the fact that Sheamus’s character is insanely stale and in need of a new direction, and all the ingredients are in place for a heel turn by the Irishman.

But lately WWE has been increasingly hesitant to pull the trigger on changing certain characters. Sheamus was already boring during his “FELLA!” run last year before his injury. It was the hope of most adult fans that he would return as a heel and at least be different in character. Then, at Royal Rumble, he returned as the same old laughable buffoon of a wrestler. He received some change to his character in defeating Dean Ambrose for the US Title, and the early reports were that everyone should’ve realized Sheamus winning a battle royal for the title was his heel turn. However, since that time he’s battled heels and teamed with babyfaces. WWE’s hesitancy bares its ugly head.

But in the match at Payback, The Shield and Evolution really beat the tar out of each other. The match was staged as an elimination match, meaning that whenever someone was pinned or tapped out, they just had to leave ringside and the match continued. This format works well if you’re going to alternate eliminations and create some drama. It doesn’t work that well if one side dominates (just ask the Nexus how that worked when Superman John Cena defeated them a few years ago). The Shield dominated the eliminations last night. The match was evenly and closely fought…until just a few minutes remained in the show. Then the Shield took out all three members of Evolution in short order.

I might be old-school, but that’s not the best way to blow off a feud. But this is indicative of a problem that WWE just cannot shake. They’ve made their babyfaces too powerful, so the heels can never overcome them. Look back at the storied Attitude Era and you’ll see that, even with supernatural characters like Undertaker and Kane, there was still parity between the sides. It’s a truth universally acknowledged that, in wrestling, the babyface chasing the heel sells more tickets than the babyface constantly winning and never being threatened.

Which brings me to the other main event level match of the night: Cena vs Wyatt.

Let me begin the breakdown of Cena/Wyatt with a recap of the final few seconds of Shield/Evolution. Triple H, the last member standing of Evolution, held the center of the ring, clutching his trademark sledgehammer. He was defeated, and he knew, but he wasn’t going down without a fight. In the end, “The Game” to a flying knee from Seth Rollins and a spear from Roman Reigns to end the match. The Shield stood victorious of the vanquished COO. That’s right, Triple H, the man often vilified for burying talent, laid down to three guys who are, undoubtedly, the future of the business.

John Cena, in typical Cena Superman fashion, refused to put over a guy who has monster heel written all over him. The fans, at least those over the age of 10 and in possession of a Y chromosome, support Bray Wyatt. Many of them actually like his character. I, for one, think he’s the best thing to happen to WWE in a long time. Others, while supporting Wyatt, are doing so just to see a changing of the guard. They’re doing so because they’re tired of seeing John Cena at the top of the mountain.

The booking for John Cena is getting ridiculous. He’s never forced to change. He’s never really threatened. The last time he lost a true main event match cleanly was at SummerSlam (August of 2013), and that was only because he had an injury that was set to keep him out for several months. Cena is booked as this unstoppable Superman. No odds are too great for him to overcome. No challenge is too tough. That’s great, if you’re a comic book superhero. In the world of WWE, though, those attributes only work well with one group of people: young children. It just so happens, the majority of Cena’s fan base is incredibly young.

So, when it came time for Cena and Wyatt to square off Sunday night at Payback, the outcome might as well have been written in the stars. Cena was going to win. I actually wouldn’t have minded Cena winning, if he’s resorted to some underhanded tricks to do so. But Cena pretty much never even got his hands dirty. He ran through his standard issue five moves of doom several times over, hitting a few Fireman’s Carries…I mean, Attitude Adjustments (this is one of the dumbest finishing moves around…at least Wyatt’s finisher has a flair of violence to it…).

They battled through the crowd. They battled up the ramp. Cena threw the steel ringside steps at Wyatt. The Usos got involved, tangling with Harper and Rowan. Cena and Wyatt battled toward the sound equipment, with Cena delivering a final AA, dropping Wyatt into a crate. Cena then proceeded to quite literally “bury” Bray Wyatt under a bunch of equipment, so that the Eater of Worlds could not get to his feet.

And so here we stand. Cena and Wyatt have wrapped up a months-long feud and no one has gained ground. Cena is still the self-professed “measuring stick” of the WWE. Instead of allowing monster heel to be truly recognized, the WWE Creative team once again handed a win to John Cena. God forbid Cena’s toddler fan base ever thinks that good guys can lose.

John Cena after winning the Money in the Bank briefcase,
which guaranatees a WWE Title shot... Like Cena needs
written permission for any title shot...

WWE has a problem. It’s a problem that will eventually cost them. They’re not seizing the opportunity to build new stars. They cling to their old ways. Part of it, I think, is Vince McMahon. Arguably the two most popular wrestlers on the roster at the moment are Daniel Bryan and Bray Wyatt. Neither of these men matches Vince McMahon’s prototypical body type for a WWE superstar. Vince seems beholden to this notion that superstars have to look like Hulk Hogan circa 1987. If Triple H were fully in control I kind of feel like things would be different, as he understands the modern business seemingly better than Vince. But, that’s not the case. Vince is still the final Authority on everything. And so long as he is, I have a feeling we’ll keep seeing John Cena win using the same five moves. We’ll keep seeing John Cena making the same old goofy promos, insulting his competition through the time-honored execution of poop jokes.

So long as Vince is in control, we’ll keep seeing greater emphasis on the guys who sell the most merchandise instead of the guys who are the most talented. And that might be the greatest injustice of all to a true wrestling fan.