WWE Payback – Sunday!

World Wrestling Entertainment’s next pay-per-view is this Sunday as they present Payback. The main event will be Seth Rollins defending the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in a Fatal Four-Way against Randy Orton, Roman Reigns, and Dean Ambrose. The stipulation which was added on this week’s Monday Night Raw has that if Rollins loses the championship Kane will be fired from his role as Director of Operations. The small stipulation adds a little more flare to the match than before. Lately, Kane and Rollins have been at odds at one another, but in the end, Rollins is still the future of the company and to the Authority keeping him the champion is what’s best for business. Therefore, to remain as Director of Operations, Kane must stay the course and align himself back into the fold and see Rollins retain.

There are many ways that could happen, but my question is out of the three opponents, whom will take the pinfall? My guess, which is the most obvious, would be Dean Ambrose. Two weeks in a row he has stood on top against the other competitors at the end of Monday Night Raw. Normally, that means that at the pay-per-view that doesn’t happen. He’s the only one out of the match that could be pinned and not really lose much steam as he was thrust into the match just last week without much build. Just a few weeks ago, he and Luke Harper were battling all around the arena and now Harper is realigning himself with Erick Rowan, and Ambrose is in the main event fighting for the most prized possession on the line.

Whatever comes out of this match, my guess would see Reigns continue the road against the Authority in the attempt to dethrone Rollins as champion, but where does Orton go from here? Perhaps, Ambrose turns heel and the two become bitter enemies? Orton has played many roles in his wrestling career, but as a heel he had grown very stale. As a babyface, he shows more fire and aggression, but if he has nothing to fight about, where is his destination? Winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship right now doesn’t look to be in the books for Orton. I tend to get caught up in the unknown and uncertainty of where wrestlers go from time to time. Which leads me to Daniel Bryan.

Bryan has fought a very uphill battle and it tears me apart to see him having to relinquish the Intercontinental Championship almost a year after he was stripped as the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. His health and future lay on the balance and what really concerns me is how the WWE is reacting. Rather than share information with the audience about their employee, they constantly avoid it altogether. If this was any other sport, everywhere one would look they would see information. Good or bad. I wonder what the casual fan thinks about the situation. I know the internet is not a secret place and everyone can find wrestling dirtsheets at their touch, but to the minority that may not do so, what do they think? But in retrospect, perhaps the reason they seem to avoid the situation is because they nor Bryan know any new information. An MRI was done and the doctors say it may be weeks or months until he can return, IF he can even return. What does that necessarily mean? It means that the unknown and uncertainty hangs directly above Daniel Bryan, and that is a terrible fact.

The Elimination Chamber returns in a WWE Network Exclusive on May 31st. Two matches have already been announced to be held in the massive steel structure. The first will see the vacant Intercontinental Championship up for grabs as six competitors do battle against one another. My guesses would be Sheamus, Dolph Ziggler, Dean Ambrose, King Barrett, Neville, and perhaps Stardust.  All the competitors minus Neville, and of course, Daniel Bryan were all featured in the Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match at Wrestlemania. Out of the list, I could see Neville pulling out the victory as the new underdog that Daniel Bryan played so well after all these years. The second match will be the first ever Elimination Chamber to see the Tag-Team Titles defended. This very well could be an epic encounter, or could prove disastrous. With four pods surrounding the ring and two men starting off the match, my assumption would see this contested with three teams in a triple threat match. If that is correct, it would consist of The New Day, Cesaro & Tyson Kidd, and the last team in my opinion should be the Lucha Dragons. Unfortunately, they haven’t been on Monday Night Raw in a few weeks, but just think about the high-flying offense that Kalisto and Sin Cara could show inside the structure. Wrestlers like Rob Van Dam have done huge feats in a match like this in the past, but Kalisto could really turn some heads, and quite frankly, that’s something that needs to happen right now.

The rest of the card for Elimination Chamber is up in the air at this point which is understandable considering we first need to get through Payback. It has been revealed that both the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and United States Championship will be on the line. Could we see the original Payback triple threat main event with Rollins, Orton, & Reigns, or will we see them go a different way?

There’s more to get into, but I think that’s enough to digest for now. I created Dropkick Daily three years ago with the mindset that I would share my knowledge and opinions on professional wrestling and among other topics such as comic books, movies, television, etc., but lately, I haven’t really done that and I need to finally do what I set out to do in the first place. So, if you are a regular reader to this site, first I would like to say thank you, and secondly, keep an eye out for more articles coming from me.