This is the official card for the Monday Night Raw pay-per-view, Payback. It will be held on Sunday, April 30, 2017:
“House of Horrors” Match
Randy Orton (c) vs. Bray Wyatt
United States Championship Title Match
Kevin Owens (c) vs. Chris Jericho
Raw Tag Team Championship Title Match
The Hardy Boyz (c) vs. Sheamus & Cesaro
Cruiserweight Championship Title Match
Neville (c) vs. Austin Aries
Grudge Matches
Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman
Seth Rollins vs. Samoa Joe
Women’s Championship Title Match
Bayley (c) vs. Alexa Bliss
Payback Kickoff tag team match
Enzo Amore & Big Cass vs. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson
Miz TV Payback Kickoff Show Interview Guest: Finn Balor
Finn Balor is rumored to begin feuding with Bray Wyatt to kick off his return from his spate of injuries.
According to insiders, Mauro Ranallo is expected to return to calling New Japan Wrestling as early as September. His contract with the WWE was slated to end in August but he and the sports entertainment juggernaut parted ways this past Saturday due to a hostile work environment led by JBL. Ranallo is the latest and most public name linked to JBL’s antics. The Miz and Lillian Garcia are also past victims. Mauro’s case was especially troubling since some of the hazing directed towards him was related to his being bipolar and was apparently encouraged within the workplace culture. That hypocrisy contradicts the WWE’s corporate presence in the campaign against bullying. The door may not be closed, however. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter has reported that there has been informal talks between Ranallo and the WWE about returning.
WWE and distant rival, Impact Wrestling, have reached an agreement regarding the rights of the “Broken” gimmick. The issue had been somewhat of inevitable issue given the WWE’s size and Impact’s attempt to relaunch into prominence after a sharp decline. If this is true, then it wouldn’t be surprising to hear the celestial voices at Payback, especially since promotional images for Payback featuring Matt Hardy show him in his Broken persona. As reported by Inquistr, WWE had been in negotiations with Impact to use the gimmick since just before the return of Team Extreme at WrestleMania 33.
Jeff Hardy may face a sixty day suspension due to a violation of WWE’s Wellness Policy from his previous tenure with the company. The policy states that violations carry over even if wrestlers leave and return to the WWE regardless of how much time has passed since the offense, which was nine years ago in this case. The policy also has a Redemption Program that allows violators to remove a strike upon completion. Jeff has had a well documented struggle with substance abuse, which was at its worse in 2011, while he was working for TNA. There have been no reports of him being involved with substance abuse since.
