Payback (2014)

Background

The card included nine matches that resulted from scripted storylines with results predetermined by WWE. Storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Raw and SmackDown.

After losing to The Shield (Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins) at Extreme Rules, Evolution (Triple H, Randy Orton and Batista) continued to feud with The Shield. The next night on Raw, Triple H forced Dean Ambrose to defend his United States Championship in a 20-man battle royal, which Sheamus won. The Shield then fought The Wyatt Family later that night; just as things turned in The Shield's favor, Evolution came out and distracted The Shield, allowing Bray Wyatt to pick up the win for the Wyatt Family by pinning Roman Reigns. Evolution then assaulted The Shield and hit Roman Reigns with The Shield's signature triple powerbomb. The next week, The Shield challenged Evolution to a rematch at Payback, which Evolution accepted. It was announced the next week on Raw that the match at Payback will be a No Holds Barred Elimination Match.

Since costing him title matches at the Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber, The Wyatt Family have been feuding with John Cena. This led to several matches at subsequent events, with Cena defeating Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania XXX in a singles match and Wyatt winning a Steel Cage match at Extreme Rules via escaping from the cage. On the May 12 episode of Raw, Wyatt challenged Cena to a Last Man Standing match, which was accepted by Cena on the May 16 episode of SmackDown.

WWE World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan announced on May 12 that he would have undergo neck surgery later that week. Because of this Stephanie McMahon suggested that Daniel Bryan would have to surrender the title if he cannot return to action by the pay-per-view where he was originally scheduled to defend against Kane. While his surgery was successful, it was still unknown if Bryan could compete for the title so McMahon gave him another week to surrender the title. On the May 26 episode of Raw, Bryan stated that while he found no shame in dropping the title due to injury, he did not want to give it to McMahon after everything he had been through. Upset at this, she gave Bryan one more chance to give her the title saying that if he does not surrender the title to her by the pay-per-view, she would fire his wife Brie Bella.

El Torito and Hornswoggle would continue their feud. They previously fought at Extreme Rules in the first ever WeeLC match which saw Torito defeat Hornswoggle. Hornswoggle put forth a Mask vs. Hair match wagering his hair against El Torito's mask which will take place on the pre-show.

Paige defended her WWE Divas Championship against Alicia Fox at Payback. The two divas faced each other on the May 12 episode of Raw, which Paige won, and on the May 19 episode of Raw, which Fox won.

Sheamus defended his United States Championship against Cesaro at Payback. The two wrestlers fought to a double countout on the May 13 episode of Main Event. On the May 19 episode of Raw, Cesaro defeated Sheamus in a non-title rematch due to some slight interference from Cesaro's manager Paul Heyman, setting up the title match at the pay-per-view.

On the May 19 edition of Raw, there were three Beat the Clock challenge matches to determine a new number one contender to face Bad News Barrett for the WWE Intercontinental Championship at Payback. The matches were Big E vs. Ryback, Rob Van Dam vs. Alberto Del Rio, and Dolph Ziggler vs. Mark Henry. Big E beat Ryback to set a time of 5:02; Van Dam defeated Del Rio and set a new time of 4:15, and Ziggler and Henry wrestled to a time limit draw. This gave Van Dam the win and the title shot.

On the May 26 episode of Raw, Zack Ryder celebrated Memorial Day by coming out with an American flag before facing Rusev. Rusev defeated Ryder via submission, but refused to let go after the bell rang until Big E came in, eventually knocking Rusev out of the ring. This set up a match between both men at Payback.

Pre-show

During the pre-show, El Torito defeated Hornswoggle in a Mask vs. Hair match which was followed by El Torito shaving the head of Hornswoggle in a barber's chair at ringside.

Preliminary matches

The actual pay-per-view opened with Sheamus defending the United States Championship against Cesaro. In the end, Cesaro performed a Cesaro Swing on Sheamus. As Cesaro went to pin Sheamus, Sheamus pinned Cesaro with a Small Package to retain the title.

Next, Cody Rhodes and Goldust faced Ryback and Curtis Axel. The match ended when Rhodes attempted a Beautiful Disaster Kick on Ryback but Ryback caught Rhodes and executed Shellshocked on Rhodes for the win.

After that, Rusev wrestled Big E. Rusev forced Big E to submit to The Accolade to win the match.

In the fourth match, Kofi Kingston faced Bo Dallas. The match was ruled a no-contest after Kane came down to the ring and attacked Kingston with a Chokeslam and a Tombstone Piledriver.

Later, Bad News Barrett defended the Intercontinental Championship against Rob Van Dam. The end came when Van Dam attempted a Split Legged Moonsault but Barrett countered the move by raising his knees. Barrett executed a Bull Hammer to retain the title.

Next was a segment involving WWE World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan and Stephanie McMahon about Bryan surrendering the championship or his wife Brie Bella would be fired. As Bryan was about to surrender the title, Brie announced that she had quit instead. After McMahon laughed at her, Brie slapped McMahon.

In the next match, John Cena faced Bray Wyatt in a Last Man Standing Match. Before the match, Tag Team Champions The Usos came out to support Cena and counteract Luke Harper and Erick Rowan of The Wyatt Family. During the match, both men executed their respective finishing moves - Wyatt a Sister Abigail and Cena an Attitude Adjustment - but in both cases, the opponent did not stay down. After Rowan attacked Cena, Harper and Rowan fought with The Usos. After both men attacked the other with a chair, Wyatt performed a Drop Suplex through a table on Cena but Cena beat the count. Cena leapt off the apron but Wyatt caught Cena and executed Sister Abigail, with Cena managing to stand. Cena delivered an Attitude Adjustment to Wyatt but Harper and Rowan came back, attacked Cena and helped Wyatt stand. The Usos came back, attacking Harper and Rowan. Jey put Rowan through a table with a Running Hip Attack, which was followed by Harper putting Jimmy through two tables with a Superplex. Wyatt executed a Running Crossbody through the barricade on Cena but Cena managed to stand. In the end, Cena executed an Attitude Adjustment through an equipment crate on Wyatt and pushed another crate onto the crate which Wyatt was in. As Wyatt could not stand, Cena won the match.

In the seventh match, Paige defended the WWE Divas Championship against Alicia Fox. Paige forced Fox to submit to the PTO to retain the title.

Main event

In the main event, The Shield faced Evolution in a No Holds Barred 6-Man Elimination Match. At the start, Rollins fought with Triple H, Ambrose fought with Orton and Reigns fought with Batista. Eventually, the two teams fought in the ring. The match descended into a brawl throughout the arena, where Orton attacked Ambrose and Triple H hit Rollins with a TV monitor. Evolution performed a Triple Powerbomb through a broadcast table on Reigns. Ambrose and Rollins fought with Evolution in the entrance way, where Orton executed a Belly-to-Back Suplex through a chair on Ambrose and Triple H executed a Pedigree on Rollins onto a chair. Back in the ring, Batista executed a Spinebuster on Reigns, Evolution hit Reigns with kendo sticks whilst he was incapacitated on the steel steps. Reigns executed a Superman Punch on Orton, but Triple H hit Reigns with a chair. Evolution fought with The Shield in the entrance way again, where Rollins leapt off the TitanTron onto Evolution. Reigns executed a spear on Batista, allowing Rollins to eliminate him. Ambrose hit Orton with a chair and executed Dirty Deeds onto the chair to eliminate him. Triple H hit a low blow on Ambrose and attempted a Pedigree but Reigns executed a Superman Punch on Triple H. Batista executed a Spear on Reigns and Orton passed Triple H his sledgehammer. Triple H hit Ambrose with the sledgehammer and attempted to hit Reigns with the sledgehammer but Rollins executed a springboard high knee on Triple H. Reigns executed a spear on Triple H to eliminate him and win the match for The Shield with a clean sweep.

Aftermath

On the June 2 episode of Raw, Stephanie McMahon announced that Daniel Bryan will defend his WWE World Heavyweight Championship against Kane in a stretcher match if he is able to compete. If Bryan is not able to compete, he will be stripped of the title, and the Money in the Bank ladder match will be for the vacated WWE World Heavyweight Championship. However, Bryan was officially stripped of the title on the June 9 episode of Raw.

While Evolution was in the ring addressing that their loss to The Shield is not the end of their feud, Batista interrupted Triple H, demanding the one-on-one WWE World Heavyweight Championship match which he earned at the Royal Rumble. After Triple H explained that Batista cannot have a title shot that night due to Bryan's injury, Batista announced his resignation and left the ring. Later that night, Triple H and Randy Orton confronted The Shield, with Triple H announcing that their loss at Payback was "Plan A", and that he had a "Plan B". Without warning, Seth Rollins attacked Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns with a steel chair, turning his back on The Shield and aligning himself with The Authority.

Bo Dallas took on Kofi Kingston in a rematch. Bo ended up defeating Kingston, continuing his undefeated streak.

After losing to Ryback and Curtis Axel in a tag match, Cody Rhodes told Goldust he deserved a better partner. The next night on Raw, Cody choose Sin Cara as the new partner for Goldust and the two took on Curtis Axel and Ryback. Sin Cara and Goldust ended up losing and Cody, who was watching the match backstage, had a disappointed look on his face. He then proceeded to choose R-Truth next week on Raw and finally as a new persona called Stardust.

In June, Paige feuded with Cameron and defeated her in two non-title matches. However, Cameron's tag team partner Naomi went on to beat Paige in a non-title match, leading to Naomi being granted a title match at Money in the Bank, which she lost.