Date:Â 1st June, 2014
Venue:Â Allstate Arena
City:Â Rosemont, IL
Attendance:Â 13,311
Commentators: Michael Cole,
Jerry “The King” Lawler, & John “Bradshaw” Layfield
Theme Song: “Ticking Bomb” by Aloe Blacc
BACKGROUND
The main feud heading into the event was between Evolution (Triple H, Randy Orton and Batista) and The Shield (Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns). After losing to them at Extreme Rules, Evolution continued to feud with The Shield. The following night on Raw, Triple H forced Dean Ambrose to defend his United States Championship in a 20-man battle royal, which was won by Sheamus. The Shield then fought The Wyatt Family later in the 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 power bomb. The following week, The Shield challenged Evolution to a rematch at Payback, which Evolution accepted. It was announced following week on Raw that the match at Payback will be a No Holds Barred six-man elimination tag team 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.
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.
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.
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.
Current 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.
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.
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.
MATCH RESULTS
Payback 2014 Kick-off
Mask vs. Hair Match
El Torito (with Diego and Fernando) defeated Hornswoggle (with Heath Slater, Jinder Mahal and Drew McIntyre) (07:10)
United States Championship
Sheamus (c) defeated Cesaro (with Paul Heyman) (11:38)
RybAxel defeated Cody Rhodes and Goldust (07:49)
Rusev (with Lana) defeated Big E by submission (03:40)
Bo Dallas vs. Kofi Kingston ended in a no contest (00:32)
Intercontinental Championship
Bad News Barrett (c) defeated Rob Van Dam (09:32)
Last Man Standing Match
John Cena (with Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso) defeated Bray Wyatt (with Luke Harper and Erick Rowan) (24:24)
Divas Championship
Paige (c) defeated Alicia Fox by submission (06:37)
No Holds Barred Six Man Tag Team Elimination Match
The Shield defeated Evolution (31:35)
(c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match