Preview: Payback 30 April 2017

For a change, Raw is the brand with the first PPV after a combined event. Raw in my opinion is the least exciting of the brands. They tend to go with the safer options, unlike Smackdown who have catapulted stars such as Baron Corbin and Jinder Mahal into the main event scene.

One notable absence from this show is Universal Champion Brock Lesnar. The part-time champion wouldn't have defended his title within 30 days which is the WWE's kayabe rule. This is the rule which resulted in Naomi being stripped of the Smackdown Women's championship. It doesn't seem right that Lesnar should be exempt from this rule, but he obviously is due to the cost of paying him to fight. Oh well.

Also missing from the card is the recently returned Finn Balor, although he is going to be on Miz TV on the pre-show.

Enzo Amore & Big Cass v Gallows & Anderson

Enzo was taken out on this week's Raw. This match is on the pre-show and it seems likely that he will get his revenge to get the crowd in a good mood before the show begins.

Prediction: Enzo & Cass

Roman Reigns v Braun Strowman

They keep forcing Reigns down our throats. They let him beat the Undertaker at Wrestlemania. I don't see any way that he is losing at the next PPV, regardless of how Strowman is being built up. Strowman is too early in his career to take a victory over someone they insist on pushing. I do wonder if they will make the turn here. The Raw after 'Mania he had so much heat and now would be the time. Even if they don't (and I think it's unlikely), then Reigns has to take the victory as far as creative is concerned.

Prediction: Roman Reigns

Seth Rollins v Samoa Joe

Rollins beat Joe's "boss" Triple H at Wrestlemania and now has to face the destroyer who injured him the day after the Royal Rumble. I expect him to get his payback here. As with Reigns, it seems unlikely that he'd get a big victory at 'Mania to then fall down to a lesser opponent just a few weeks later.

Prediction: Seth Rollins

Raw Women's Championship:
Bayley (c) v Alexa Bliss

I find this difficult to call. Bayley has had a few big victories recently, notably over Charlotte Flair. It seems that they are trying to build her up and to take the belt from her so soon into her reign would break up the momentum that they have been building. Alexa Bliss was the biggest heel on Smackdown Live and this allowed her to grow and improve at what she does. I can see her being rewarded here with a victory and becoming the first woman to hold both the Raw and Smackdown Women's championships. This is a close call, but my instincts say the five feet of fury will take it.

Prediction: Alexa Bliss

US Championship:
Kevin Owens (c) v Chris Jericho

Kevin Owens has moved seamlessly into his role as the Face of America and this needs to keep going for a while, because he's stumbled upon another slice of gold, straight after the gold Best Friends run with Y2J. Jericho has been rumoured to be going off TV for a while, and is also on tour with Fozzy soon, so it's likely that they'll put Owens over, possibly with him inflicting a serious kayfabe injury over Jericho. This could write the GOAT off TV for a few months to fulfil his other commitments, and leave Owens to have a great run with the belt. Jericho could come back and take the strap from Owens, leaving him free to move up to the main event scene having held the mid-card in place during the transitional stage of superstars moving brands.

Despite the event being titled Payback, Jericho won't get his here.

Prediction: Owens

Cruiserweight Championship:
Neville (c) v Austin Aries

I thought Aries would take it at 'Mania. I'm not sure why they'd have the same bout again if it wasn't for Aries to take the title here. The Cruiserweight championship has changed hands frequently, but that's at least partly due to it being the only title on the show. Aries is over but could have a good run with the title after coming back from his injury.

Prediction: Austin Aries

Raw Tag Team Championship:
The Hardy Boyz (c) v Sheamus & Cesaro

These teams are both fan favourites, although there was some conflict between them on this week's Raw with Sheamus being the unlikely voice of reason. I can see this possibly being a very sporting contest with a big group hug at the end. The Hardy Boyz are on fire at the moment, and there's no way the momentum of their return is being stopped here.

Prediction: The Hardy Boyz


House of Horrors Match:
Randy Orton (c) v Bray Wyatt

This match seems not be for the title, as Jinder Mahal is being talked of as Orton's first title defence at Backlash. This seems really odd as the match was ostensibly arranged on a Raw PPV due to it being Wyatt's contractual rematch.

It seems unlikely that the title would get moved to Raw, so if it's not for the strap, then Wyatt has got a much better chance of winning. We still have no idea what a house of horrors match would involve, suffice to say that it has to be freakier than the projected images on the ring mat that inexplicably happened at Wrestlemania.

This match should hopefully continue the Wyatt era and should hopefully be as freaky as hell, leaving him to get his revenge on Orton.

Prediction: Bray Wyatt

10 Future WWE Champions

GiveMeSport reported on 10 wrestlers that WWE magazine predicted as future WWE champions back in 2009.

They had a pretty poor hit-rate. Of their predictions, The Miz, Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger were the only ones to take the top title, with John Morrison taking the ECW title.

David Hart Smith, the sadly retired Tyson Kidd, Evan Bourne and Ted DiBiase JR all failed to reach the top.

The other two could still potentially be at the summit of WWE - Kofi Kingston is having a great run with The New Day, and Cody Rhodes has been a sensation on the indie circuit since he was released by the company, and if he returned, you'd expect him to be main eventing.

Here are my predictions about who will reach the top over the next few years, in no discernible order. This list excludes anyone who has already achieved that honour.

1. The New Day

Kofi Kingston was on the WWE's 2009 list and it wasn't until I started watching through all the Money in the Bank matches that I realised how popular he'd been before the New Day, and how successful he'd been, with 4 Intercontinental reigns and 3 US championship reigns in the bag. Big E is a former NXT champion, with a number of them having reached the top in the big leagues as well. Their continuing popularity, despite not having held the gold for a while now is a positive sign and suggests that they will be going on to bigger and better things.

Xavier Woods is possibly the least celebrated of the three, and might struggle to make it to the main event, but if this is worked well, perhaps in a similar way to how The Shield made it to the main event after their split, then we might see a triple threat between the three of them for a belt at some point.

2. Shinsuke Nakamura

Nakamura might be the most popular performer in the whole of the WWE right now. He's a three time IWGP champion, and should be catapulted into the spotlight as he could easily be the face of the company for years to come. I was very surprised he wasn't in the six pack challenge that Jinder Mahal won. Even if he wasn't going to win, and even though he's only been called up for a few weeks, he should be getting the spotlight at every available opportunity.

3. Samoa Joe

Joe has done it all elsewhere. He is a monster heel who is very believable. He should definitely be given a run with the belt at some point. It might be in the next year, it might be in the next five. At some point he should get the top spot. He doesn't deserve to retire without doing so.

4. Baron Corbin

When he is competing, the commentators almost always say that Corbin is a future WWE champion. And it's true. He's got everything that you need. He looks hard, he is great on the mic (at least on Talking Smack - it might need to be improved slightly in ring), he's got a couple of moves that look devastating (deep six and end of days) and he comes across as legitimate, as a golden gloves winner. They have packaged him perfectly and have already dipped him into the main event scene.

5. Braun Strowman

Aside from Roman Reigns, no-one is being pushed as much as Strowman at the moment. He's clearly a monster and Vince loves monsters. On top of that, his feud with Reigns has been turning him almost inadvertently into a face. Whether this is embraced or not is yet to be seen. Even though he's only been in wrestling for a few years, he looks destined to reach the top as he is constantly improving and getting scarier.

6. Cesaro

Cesaro should already be there. That he isn't is a travesty. He should have used winning the first Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royale  to catapult himself into the main event, the same way that Baron Corbin has done. Being teamed with Sheamus continues to get him over, and he amazingly managed to turn Sheamus face by doing so. They've got a great storyline there, and Cesaro should be learning from the former champion to understand what he needs to do to reach the pinnacle himself.

7. Tyler Bate

The first ever UK champion is only 19. To be given that honour at such a young age suggests he has a really bright future ahead of him. He's been on TV on NXT a few times since the tournament and I can imagine after a couple of years on the upcoming UK show that he'll make the leap to Raw or Smackdown. Barring any injuries and assuming he is booked correctly, he could be the guy to lead the company into the 2030s.

8. Neville

Neville has elevated the Cruiserweight division and the current champion should stay on 205 live for a while yet. However, at some point, he should be able to use his momentum to get back to the main roster and push on towards the top.

9. Jason Jordan

As part of American Alpha with Chad Gable, Jordan has been exceptionally impressive. At some stage, I can see him kicking on to take a title run of his own. He is the Shawn Michaels to Gable's Marty Jannetty.

10. Rusev

This is more a wish than an expectation. When Rusev got called up, he was unstoppable. He's been thrown into a couple of horrid feuds based around Lana. He needs to get a good storyline of his own as he's got the talent to move up a tier. I hope that WWE don't waste his talent.

An honourable mention should go to Matt Hardy. Whilst he has been an ECW Champion previously, as well as a TNA champion, he didn't reach the heights that his brother Jeff reached within the WWE. I'd expect that if and when the Hardy Boyz split again, he'd have to be in contention for a title shot.