{"id":18022,"date":"2016-05-01T22:00:51","date_gmt":"2016-05-02T03:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=18022"},"modified":"2016-05-02T13:56:32","modified_gmt":"2016-05-02T18:56:32","slug":"mcneills-live-blog-wwe-payback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2016\/05\/01\/mcneills-live-blog-wwe-payback\/","title":{"rendered":"McNEILL&#8217;s Real-time Live Blog of WWE Payback 2016!"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-1502275919\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p><em><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-2659\" src=\"http:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/StaffMcNeill07_120.jpg\" alt=\"StaffMcNeill07_120\" width=\"120\" height=\"138\" \/>We are LIVE at the McNeill North American Command Center for this on-demand blog of Payback 2016 on the WWE Network.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Jerry Lawler tells us that Vince McMahon is immortal.\u00a0 Oh, boy.<\/p>\n<p>Booker T tells us Roman Reigns is ready to be the guy.\u00a0 Well, I hope so.\u00a0 He&#8217;s been the guy for fifteen months now.<\/p>\n<p>We send it down to Mauro and Byron.\u00a0 I guess adding Lawler to the mix would only confuse people.\u00a0 Ziggler vs. Corbin is on the Kickoff show!\u00a0 Hey, how about that?<\/p>\n<p>Corbin is a Lone Wolf.\u00a0 I know this because nobody else would have advised him to wear those trousers.<\/p>\n<p>I like Mauro Ranallo&#8217;s announcing, but I don&#8217;t know if I could take two hours of it every Thursday night.<\/p>\n<p>Ziggler rolls up Corbin for the three count.\u00a0 I&#8217;d like to officially welcome Baron to Tyler Breezeville.\u00a0 Population: You.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m looking forward to Season 2 of &#8220;Swerved&#8221; in the same way that Belgium looked forward to the reunification of Germany.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-2413209232\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>Greg Hamilton is hosting in the Social Media Lounge.\u00a0 Tom Phillips has switched off the GPS locator on his cell phone and gone into hiding.<\/p>\n<p>In the highlight package, Zayn complains that Owens took his Raw debut.\u00a0 You mean, the one where you separated your shoulder against Cena, Sami?<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Will you ever trust Kevin Owens again?&#8221;\u00a0 &#8220;That depends on who&#8217;s booking in six months, Greg.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Back to ringside, where Ryback is set to challenge WWE United States Champion Lou Chaw.<\/p>\n<p>The US Title match is underway.\u00a0 It&#8217;s confusing because the Chicago crowd is chanting for UFC announcer Mike Goldberg.<\/p>\n<p>Ryback counters the wheelbarrow bulldog in the same way that any wrestler with an IQ above 50 should be able to counter that move.\u00a0 But that DDT on the ring apron looked sweet.\u00a0 Geez, Kalisto is crisp.\u00a0 Kalisto hits all his big moves.\u00a0 No sale.<\/p>\n<p>Mauro hypes the great United States Title matches on the Network, and mentions Michael Hayes as one of the great wrestlers who held the U.S. strap.\u00a0 Yes, congratulations to Hayes, who won that belt by virtue of not demanding as much money as Barry Windham.<\/p>\n<p>Kalisto wins with his finisher, thank goodness.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-2571332553\" class=\"pwtor-content-1 pwtor-entity-placement\"><!-- Tag ID: pwtorchcom_test_300x600 -->\r\n<div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __300x600\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>You know, the problem with creating your pay-per-view advertising so far ahead of the show is the minor is that wrestlers occasionally get injured.\u00a0 Just saying.<\/p>\n<p>The show opens with your WWE World Tag Team Champions.\u00a0 Yeah, I need to interview Ole Anderson again so I can ask him about the New Day.<\/p>\n<p>New Day pretends the whole &#8220;New Era of WWE&#8221; hype is about them.\u00a0 Hey, I&#8217;m willing to play along.<\/p>\n<p>Your opening match is Enzo &amp; Cass against The Vaudevillains.\u00a0 Enzo sees the extra-wide entranceway and doesn&#8217;t know what to do with himself.<\/p>\n<p>On the bright side, Enzo&#8217;s not the shortest person in the ring.\u00a0 Thanks, Jojo!<\/p>\n<p>Tonight&#8217;s opening match is sponsored by Booty O&#8217;s.<\/p>\n<p>JBL references George Hackenschmidt winning the NWA Title here in Chicago.\u00a0 He does NOT, however, claim the match is available on WWE Network.<\/p>\n<p>Enzo Amore suffers some sort of neck injury early in the match.\u00a0 God, I hope this is an angle.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s not an angle. \u00a0They&#8217;re bringing out the EMT&#8217;s, they put a hold on the replay footage, and they did the awkward transition to the next video package. \u00a0Dammit.<\/p>\n<p>Alright, on to Zayn vs. Owens.\u00a0 We&#8217;ll keep you posted about Enzo as best we can.\u00a0 The crowd is into the match.<\/p>\n<p>Hey, is that a new T-shirt design for Owens?\u00a0 Good for him.\u00a0 It&#8217;s been so long since he had new merch.<\/p>\n<p>If Mauro Ranallo has a few minutes to spare after the show, maybe he can teach Cole the difference between a slam and a Blue Thunder Bomb.<\/p>\n<p>We get a &#8220;This Is Awesome&#8221; chant.\u00a0 Really, we were only at 80% awesome before Kevin countered that tornado DDT.<\/p>\n<p>Owens gets backdropped onto the ring apron.\u00a0 Then Zayn does the running DDT.\u00a0 Okay, NOW we can do the chant. \u00a0KO wins with the pop-up powerbomb.<\/p>\n<p>Owens beats up Zayn, then invites Byron Saxton into the ring.\u00a0 If Kevin powerbombs Saxton, he&#8217;ll be even more popular than he was when he beat up Cena.<\/p>\n<p>Owens is staying at ringside for The Miz&#8217;s title defense against Cesaro.\u00a0 That&#8217;s next, by the way.<\/p>\n<p>What do you get when you cross Mick Foley with a supermodel?\u00a0 Apparently, you get Noelle Foley.<\/p>\n<p>The Miz makes his entrance with Maryse.\u00a0 So, when does management decide that Maryse is too hot to be with Miz, and break them up?\u00a0 In storyline, of course.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m going to need a screencap of KO wearing JBL&#8217;s hat.\u00a0 Please tell me that we&#8217;re setting up Cesaro versus Owens.\u00a0 Because I could use several weeks of that.<\/p>\n<p>Cesaro performs several impressive feats of strength.\u00a0 Meanwhile, Owens is killing it on commentary.\u00a0 WWE should reward KO by buying the rights to &#8220;Tear Away&#8221; for his entrance music.\u00a0 Nothing against CFO$, but this is Drowning Pool we&#8217;re talking about.\u00a0 The McMahons love Drowning Pool.<\/p>\n<p>And here comes Sami Zayn with a Sneak Attack From Outta Nowhere!\u00a0 I love it.\u00a0 Miz wins with a handful of tights off of the distraction.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There are about ten things wrong with this scene!&#8221;\u00a0 Number 9 is that Cole is announcing the scene instead of, you know\u2026\u00a0 Number 8 is that this will end up being a four-way at Extreme Rules.<\/p>\n<p>One cell phone company wants you to know they&#8217;re not as big a ripoff as another cell phone company.<\/p>\n<p>Ambrose vs. Jericho is next.\u00a0 Cole takes us around to all the international announcers.\u00a0 We have the Portuguese team, the Russian team, the Pig Latin team\u2026<\/p>\n<p>So, do you remember when Roddy Piper and Adrian Adonis feuded over who would host the talk show segment on WWF Television?\u00a0 This really isn&#8217;t like that.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Jericho wants to make sure Ambrose feels the same embarrassment that he did&#8221;.\u00a0 I get that, but how&#8217;s Y2J going to get Dean to host an unpopular game show?<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m convinced this whole &#8220;multiple live announcing crews&#8221; is just a cover to reduce the wear and tear on the Spanish announce table.<\/p>\n<p>Ambrose finally wins with Dirty Deeds.\u00a0 You know, these good wrestling matches are making it difficult for me to do my job.\u00a0 Are there any tasteless suicide angles on the format sheet?<\/p>\n<p>Charlotte makes her entrance w\/ Slick Ric.\u00a0 Trying to imagine Ric&#8217;s reactions to meeting Charlotte&#8217;s teenage boyfriends. Then I realized, no way Naitch was home for that.<\/p>\n<p>Bret Hart is out with his niece, Natalya.\u00a0 If I didn&#8217;t know Flair and Hart were wrestlers, I think we were about to have the worst &#8220;Battle of the Bands&#8221; ever.<\/p>\n<p>Charlotte vs. Natalya for the Women&#8217;s Title.\u00a0 We go right to the action.\u00a0 I love the matches these two have.\u00a0 Now we get the champ working the leg.\u00a0 Nothing wrong with that.\u00a0 Charlotte&#8217;s really been working in her heel mannerisms, and it helps.<\/p>\n<p>Nattie kicks out of the moonsault, frustrating Charlotte.\u00a0 Dammit, there we go again with the serious wrestling.\u00a0 Charlotte locks in the Sharpshooter.\u00a0 Charles Robinson calls for the bell before Nattie taps.\u00a0 That&#8217;s right.\u00a0 Nineteen years later.<\/p>\n<p>Bret and Nattie apply double sharpshooters after the match, but it&#8217;s too late.\u00a0 Was that crap really necessary?<\/p>\n<p>Another pay-per-view in three weeks, yay.<\/p>\n<p>For the important intros, they bring out Eden Stiles.\u00a0 Vince McMahon comes to the ring and announces he&#8217;s firing whoever decided to book the damn Montreal finish again. Kidding.<\/p>\n<p>Vince McMahon says Raw is successful because it reinvents itself all the time.\u00a0 Okay, this is rich.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. McMahon asks the crowd who should run Raw.\u00a0 It&#8217;s pretty clear who the crowd wants.\u00a0 C.M. Punk.<\/p>\n<p>Stephanie thinks she should be in charge because she hasn&#8217;t caused the ratings to drop 35% in a month.\u00a0 Okay, that&#8217;s just mean.<\/p>\n<p>Stephanie plays the woman card.\u00a0 Then Shane comes out and announces that Steph is &#8220;low energy&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Shane points out all the positive press for the past few episodes of Raw.\u00a0 No, really.\u00a0 We&#8217;re in Bizarro World.\u00a0 The crowd is chanting &#8220;You&#8217;ve Still Got It&#8221; at Shane.\u00a0 He still has what?\u00a0 Grey hair?<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s be fair.\u00a0 Shane remembered all of his lines tonight.<\/p>\n<p>Vince McMahon announces that he doesn&#8217;t listen to his kids, or the fans, or the media.\u00a0 So, business as usual then.\u00a0 He puts them both in charge.\u00a0 So, the McMahons are fighting over control of Raw.\u00a0 Again.\u00a0 Some more.<\/p>\n<p>We get the big video package.\u00a0 Is Styles turning heel or not?\u00a0 If AJ turns heel on Reigns and everyone cheers him, does that REALLY count as a heel turn?<\/p>\n<p>The main event is under way.\u00a0 I&#8217;m not sure, but I think the crowd is pulling for AJ Styles.<\/p>\n<p>We get the big video package.\u00a0 Is Styles turning heel or not?\u00a0 If AJ turns heel on Reigns and everyone cheers him, does that REALLY count as a heel turn?<\/p>\n<p>The main event is under way.\u00a0 I&#8217;m not sure, but I think the crowd is pulling for AJ Styles.\u00a0 AJ keeps the match moving.\u00a0 Things don&#8217;t really start to pick up until AJ puts Reigns through the announce table with the Phenomenal Forearm.<\/p>\n<p>AJ can&#8217;t bring Reigns back into the ring, so he wins by countout.\u00a0 Oh, this is funny.<\/p>\n<p>Shane comes out and restarts the bout as a no countout match.\u00a0\u00a0 Reigns walks out of the arena and hails a taxi.\u00a0 (Just kidding).\u00a0 Styles goes for\u00a0 a 450 and Reigns gets his knees up.\u00a0 Reigns gives Styles a low blow and AJ wins by disqualification.\u00a0 (You see this next part coming, don&#8217;t you?)<\/p>\n<p>Sure enough, here comes Stephanie to make this a no disqualification match.<\/p>\n<p>Reigns and Styles fight into the crowd.\u00a0 Styles gets the advantage.\u00a0 We actually have some people cheering for Roman.\u00a0 AJ kicks out of the Superman punch.\u00a0 His reward is another Superman punch.<\/p>\n<p>At this point, Gallows and Anderson come in to make the save and attack Roman.\u00a0 Styles misses the whole thing, what with him being unconscious and all.\u00a0 AJ hits his finish, but Roman gets his foot on the ropes.\u00a0 The Usos come out to save Reigns.\u00a0 Lather, rinse, repeat.\u00a0 Finally, Reigns hits the spear to score the pin and keep the title.<\/p>\n<p>Backstage, the McMahons commiserate.\u00a0 They&#8217;re giving Styles a rematch at Extreme Rules.<\/p>\n<p>The announcers celebrate the big victory by The Guy.\u00a0 One thing has become clear.\u00a0 The WWE Champion really needs a new nickname.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s it for the Payback.\u00a0 Join James and Greg in thirty minutes on PWTorchLivecast.com.\u00a0 VIP members, your roundtable is being taped&#8230;now.\u00a0 Good night.<\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-2314936945\"><div id=\"pwtor-113386907\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>We are LIVE at the McNeill North American Command Center for this on-demand blog of Payback 2016 on the WWE Network. Jerry Lawler tells us that Vince McMahon is immortal.\u00a0 Oh, boy. Booker T tells <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2016\/05\/01\/mcneills-live-blog-wwe-payback\/\" title=\"McNEILL&#8217;s Real-time Live Blog of WWE Payback 2016!\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":16782,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,58],"tags":[155,2545,71,2111],"class_list":["post-18022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spotlightarticles","category-takes_mcneill","tag-pat-mcneill","tag-payback-2016","tag-wwe","tag-wwe-payback"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2016\/04\/Paybacklogo.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18022"}],"version-history":[{"count":43,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18022\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18143,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18022\/revisions\/18143"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}