The Judgment Day to Break Up? Rhea Ripley to Retain? WWE Payback 2023 Full Predictions & Match Card

After three years, WWE will host its Payback PLE on September 2. The action will play out at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, enthralling a capacity crowd of 19,758 indoors and millions worldwide. This will be the seventh edition and the first Payback to be organized on a Saturday and in September. Pittsburgh, the city, had also played host to Extreme Rules in July 2018, which incidentally was the last WWE PLE there.

Coming to the matches, six encounters have been announced for the premium live event. It’ll feature several championship bouts and a steel cage match. Sixteen-time world champion John Cena will host the PLE and is expected to play an important role during the show. Now, let’s look at the match cards and some of the predictions for Payback 2023.

Complete match card of Payback 2023

• Steel Cage match- Becky Lynch vs. Trish Stratus 
• Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship (Steel City Street Fight)- Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn vs. Finn Balor and Damian Priest of The Judgment Day
• Women’s World Championship- Rhea Ripley vs. Raquel Rodriguez
• WWE United States Championship- Rey Mysterio vs. Austin Theory
• LA Knight vs. The Miz
• World Heavyweight Championship- Seth Rollins vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

Who will emerge victorious among Becky Lynch and Trish Stratus?

This feud started way back in April and is likely to conclude at Payback. If there’s one thing that led to this rivalry, it’s ego. Simply put, Trish Stratus, a WWE Hall of Famer and seven-time Women’s Champion, wasn’t happy with Becky Lynch not acknowledging her and hence decided to ruin her title run.

Stratus first took out The Man’s tag team partner, Lita, backstage and then offered to help the Irish pro wrestler in a title bout. Needless to say, they lost the match and the belts. But it was after that the Canadian native turned heel by attacking Lynch. Over the course of weeks, the jibes became personal, as Stratus dragged Lynch’s toddler daughter during her promos.

After several back and forth, riddled with interferences, one of which saw Stratus earning a singles victory after 17 years, the WWE decided it was safe to lock the superstars inside a cage and let them have a go.

Lynch is likely to emerge a winner and end this feud, which has been a drag for fans for a few weeks now. Following a loss, Stratus could either take another hiatus or start a new rivalry with others.

A Judgment Day break-up?

Do not be surprised if you don’t see The Judgment Day anymore after Payback. The stable has been hit by infighting between Finn Balor and Damian Priest recently. Even since winning the Money In The Bank briefcase, Priest has looked to cash it, albeit unsuccessfully.

In the process, he has cost Balor a chance to win the World Heavyweight Championship belt from Rollins a couple of times, enraging the Irish star. At Payback, the duo will team up to take on current WWE Undisputed Tag Team Champions Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens. While they might lose that bout, there is a chance that Priest will look to go for Rollins’ belt later that night.

Still nursing his losses against arch-rival Rollins, Balor isn’t likely to take this positively and will look to cause a disruption and cost Priest his chance- payback. This could be the premise for the breakup. With two prominent stars fighting, expect Rhea Ripley and Dominik Mysterio to try and stall it, but things have just started to rot in the stable and it could be a matter of time before it collapses.

Rhea Ripley vs. Raquel Rodriguez (Women’s World Championship)

The theme of Payback is wrestlers seeking revenge and nothing is more intense than this feud. The making of it has a long history, stretching as far back as Ripley and Rodriguez’s NXT days, but gained momentum in recent weeks. While Ripley will look to make the Texan pay for her constant attacks on several RAW episodes, the 32-year-old would look to take the gold off of Ripley’s waist.

The Judgment Day member is responsible for Raquel Rodriguez’s title loss as her attack led to the latter losing her WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship. To exacerbate matters, Ripley also injured Liv Morgan, Rodriguez’s partner, thus ending hopes for the team to go for the gold.

Now, if she manages to win the belt from the current champion, it’ll be a fitting reply. Having said that, Ripley is likely to continue her run, given how dominating her reign has been so far. Also, at 26, she’s relatively younger and with a surge in popularity despite her heel work, expect the belt to stay with her.

Another factor that could influence the result of this match is Dominik Mysterio’s presence. The NXT North American Champion has also gotten involved with Rodriguez. The former WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion also questioned Dom Dom’s manhood a few days ago. Mysterio will surely like to even the score, even with an underhanded scheme.

Rey Mysterio vs. Austin Theory (United States Championship)

WWE managed to surprise the fans a few weeks ago after Rey Mysterio won the United States Championship belt from Austin Theory. It was one of those unexpected moments as the Hall of Famer showed he still has it in him at 48.

Theory, who held the belt for 258 days, has another shot handed to him by the promotion. While the popular sentiment is Rey Mysterio keeping the belt, this match might be heading towards the former champion.

Fans can also expect an interference, maybe help from LWO member Santos Escobar that backfires to give Theory the win. Or maybe Escobar turning on mentor Rey Mysterio for winning the belt in the first place, taking advantage of his injury.

Read More: Rhea Ripley vs Raquel Rodriguez: Head to Head Stats, Height, Weight, Salary & Net Worth Comparisons

It’s Payback, so expect some personal vendetta to play out as well.

LA Knight vs. The Miz 

Will Triple H and the WWE creative take the risk of irking the WWE Universe? If so, The Miz will win. A safer approach, however, is to hand 40-year-old Knight the win and keep his momentum going.

Knight witnessed a surge in fandom earlier this year. While it looked like he was hot for only a while earlier, LA Knight, followed by YEAH! cheers have only grown louder.

The noise has now gained the attention of the management. While they were reluctant to push him before, Knight is slowly receiving support in terms of storyline. In the past few weeks, The Miz and Knight have cut some intense promos and traded blows. And while they showed glimpses and flashes, at Payback, the WWE Universe will be able to witness two superstars locking horns.

As stated above, expect LA Knight to win and bolster his run in the company.

Seth Rollins vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (World Heavyweight Championship)

The current WWE World Heavyweight Champion is one of the busiest talents in the promotion. Ever since winning his belt at Night of Champions on May 27 in Saudi Arabia, The Visionary has been defending his titles left, right, and center. He also didn’t shy away from giving the NXT roster a shot at his belt.

Now, Rollins will face The King of Strong Style. Nakamura has already humiliated Rollins twice, with attacks. At Payback, The Monday Night Messiah will look to get even.

Rollins may not drop the title so soon, especially with WWE Superstar Spectacle scheduled for India just a few days after Payback. Rollins, along with John Cena, is one of the biggest stars named for the show. The Indian crowd would love to see the gold around his waist during the tour and the WWE, too, is likely to keep it that way.

John Cena’s new rival to be revealed?

Cena, as stated above, will host the show. But there are also rumors about the ‘Leader of the Cenation’ doing more than that. He could potentially start a new feud. The million-dollar question here is: with whom?

There are a few possible candidates for that. John Cena made his return to SmackDown on the September 1 episode. He got involved in a heated exchange with Jimmy Uso, that ended with the icon delivering an Attitude Adjustment on the older Uso twin.

Towards the end of the match, we saw Jimmy patching up with The Bloodline by helping Solo Sikoa win his match against AJ Styles. These two brothers could come out and trouble John Cena’s gig at Payback, thus starting a feud.

Similarly, one of Cena’s short-lived nemesis is scheduled to host a segment during the event. The Grayson Waller Effect will have the eponymous superstar as its host and Cody Rhodes as the guest. There is a chance that Cena could gatecrash this segment.

His interference could upset both Waller and Rhodes and set a rivalry. Though The American Nightmare is one of the top stars in WWE at the moment, ever since his feud ended with Brock Lesnar, his direction is not set. A feud with Cena could rejuvenate that.

Waller, too, could do himself a world of good with feuds with either or both the stars. If he manages a brush with the top stars, it’ll keep him relevant and give him the push for a top-tier run.

Payback will offer its fair share of exciting action on the night and with a compact match card we could expect strong ‘wrestling matches’ on display.

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So, how many of these predictions do you agree with? Let us know in the comments.