City Baltimore, Maryland Date 17 May 2015 Sponsor Mountain Dew Attendance 10,000 | Payback (2015) Payback (2016) Venue Royal Farms Arena Promotion WWE | |
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Theme
song(s) "Friction" by Imagine Dragons Payback (2015) NXT TakeOver Unstoppable Location Royal Farms Arena, Balti, Maryland, United States | ||
Payback (2015) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by WWE. It took place on May 17, 2015, at the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, Maryland. It was the third event under the Payback chronology, and the first Payback held outside of the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois. Payback was available for free to new subscribers on WWE's monthly subscription service, the WWE Network in over 140 countries.
Contents
Nine matches took place at the event, with two matches on the pre-show. In the main event, Seth Rollins defeated Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose and Randy Orton in a Fatal 4-Way match to retain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. The event has sold 54,000 buys (excluding WWE Network views), down from the previous year's 67,000 buys.
Background
The professional wrestling matches at Payback featured professional wrestlers performing as characters in scripted events pre-determined by the hosting promotion, WWE. Storylines between the characters played out on WWE's primary television programs, Raw and SmackDown.
At Extreme Rules, Cena retained the United States Championship by defeating Rusev in a Russian Chain match. Later in the event, after consulting with The Authority, Lana stated that Cena would defend the title against Rusev in an "I Quit" match at the event.
At Extreme Rules, Seth Rollins defeated Randy Orton in a Steel Cage match to retain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. on the April 27 episode of Raw and as a result of a vote on the WWE App, Rollins was scheduled to defend the title against Orton and Reigns in a Triple Threat match at the event. On the May 4 episode of Raw, Dean Ambrose defeated Rollins, and per match stipulation, he was added to the match, thus making the match a Fatal Four Way. On the May 11 episode of Raw, Triple H decided that if Rollins loses the title, Kane would no longer be the WWE Director of Operations.
On the Extreme Rules pre-show, Neville defeated Bad News Barrett. On April 28, Barrett defeated Neville to win the King of the Ring tournament, changing his ring name to King Barrett. On the May 7 episode of SmackDown, Neville and Dolph Ziggler defeated Barrett and Sheamus. On the May 11 episode of Raw, a match between Barrett and Neville was scheduled for the event.
At Extreme Rules, Ziggler defeated Sheamus in a Kiss Me Arse match. On the May 7 episode of SmackDown, Ziggler and Neville defeated Sheamus and Barrett. On the May 11 episode of Raw, Ziggler was scheduled to face Sheamus at the event.
At Extreme Rules, The New Day defeated Tyson Kidd and Cesaro to win the Tag Team Championship. On the April 30 episode of SmackDown, Kidd and Cesaro defeated The New Day by disqualification in a rematch for the titles. On the May 11 episode of Raw, The New Day were scheduled to defend the titles against Kidd and Cesaro in a 2-out-of-3 falls tag team match at the event.
On the May 11 episode of Raw, The Ascension interrupted a match between Curtis Axel and Damien Sandow, in the guise of Macho Mandow, and attacked both wrestlers, resulting in Axel and Mandow teaming together to attack The Ascension. A match between the two pairs was scheduled for the Payback pre-show.
Bray Wyatt began sending messages to Ryback in April. On the April 27 and April 30 episodes of Raw, Wyatt attacked Ryback following the latter's victories over Bo Dallas and Luke Harper, respectively. On the May 11 episode of Raw, Ryback attacked Wyatt. On May 13, a match between the two was scheduled for the event.
Naomi was defeated by Divas Champion, Nikki Bella, at Extreme Rules, and by Nikki's twin sister, Brie, on the April 27 episode of Raw. A week later, a returning Tamina Snuka joined Naomi in an attack on both Bella Twins. On the May 11 episode of Raw, Tamina defeated Brie. On the May 14 episode of SmackDown, a match between the two teams was scheduled for Payback.
Pre-show
During the pre-show, R-Truth defeated Stardust after a Lie Detector. Later, "The Mega Powers" (Macho Mandow and Curtis Axel) faced The Ascension (Konnor and Viktor), which The Ascension won after a Fall of Man to Mandow.
Main card
The first match saw Dolph Ziggler face Sheamus. In the end, Sheamus performed a Brogue Kick on Ziggler to win the match.
Next, The New Day (Big E and Kofi Kingston) defended the WWE Tag Team Championship against Tyson Kidd and Cesaro. Kidd and Cesaro won the first fall after Kidd performed a dropkick following a Cesaro Swing on Kingston. The New Day won the second fall after performing the Midnight Hour on Kidd. The New Day won the third fall after Xavier Woods) sneaked in and pinned Cesaro with an inside cradle, meaning The New Day retained the title.
In the third match, Ryback faced Bray Wyatt. After Ryback collided with an exposed turnbuckle, Wyatt executed Sister Abigail on Ryback to win the match.
The fourth match saw John Cena defend the WWE United States Championship against Rusev in an "I Quit" match At one point during the match, the fight spilled into the crowd, as well as the production area. Rusev eventually applied the Accolade on Cena. Cena did not quit, but passed out. Referee Mike Chioda informed Rusev that the match can only end when someone quits, so unlike a submission match, this one continued. Steel steps, a steel barricade, Cena tackling Rusev through the barricade, Cena using a laptop as a weapon and Rusev using the pyro table for an explosion all came into play during the match. In the end, Cena ended up using the ring ropes for extra torque on the STF as he locked up Rusev. Lana claimed that Rusev was saying "I Quit" in Bulgarian. As Lana was Rusev's manager, the referee obliged and Cena retained the title.
Next, The Bella Twins (Brie Bella and Nikki Bella) faced Naomi and Tamina. The match ended when Naomi executed the Rear View on Nikki to get the win.
In the sixth match, Neville faced King Barrett. In the end, Barrett was intentionally counted out. Following the match, Barrett attacked Neville, including putting on his royal attire, but Neville suplexed Barrett and performed the Red Arrow on Barrett.
Main event
In the main event, Seth Rollins defended the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, and Randy Orton in a Fatal 4-Way Match. During the match, there was a mini Shield reunion when Rollins, Reigns, and Ambrose performed their Triple Powerbomb on Orton through a broadcast table. After that, Rollins wanted the group to reunite, but Reigns and Ambrose attacked him. Kane interfered to help Rollins. Kane got powerbombed on top of Rollins, who was on another broadcast table, but the table didn't break. Reigns and Ambrose performed another powerbomb on Kane, and this time, sent Kane and Rollins through the broadcast table. Ambrose and Reigns then started to wrestle each other. Reigns missed two Superman punches, but finally connected the third one on Ambrose. Reigns performed a spear on Ambrose and made a cover, but Rollins broke up the cover. Ambrose performed Dirty Deeds on Rollins and made a cover but Kane pulled Ambrose out of the ring, voiding the pinfall at a two count. Kane hit Ambrose with the steel steps and performed a Chokeslam onto the steel steps on Reigns. Orton gave RKOs to Jamie Noble and Joey Mercury, and performed an Elevated DDT on Rollins. Orton then prepared for an RKO, but Kane would try to interfere, only to receive an RKO. Rollins executed a Pedigree to retain the title.