Universal Title Changes Hands In A Weird Way At Payback

There’s your big moment. Payback has come and gone and now WWE gets a needed break from pay per view for the time being. The show was the second pay per view in a week and that meant that WWE needed something big to get the fans’ attention. They certainly had a big main event that came after a major twist on SmackDown, but could they deliver after that moment?

The big surprise at the end of Summerslam saw Roman Reigns make his return to WWE after five months away over Coronavirus concerns. Reigns would attack the new Universal Champion the Fiend and former champion Braun Strowman, setting up a triple threat at Payback. Then on SmackDown, Reigns aligned himself with Paul Heyman in a major twist, leaving some questions going into the pay per view.

Reigns won the Universal Title at Payback, pinning Strowman after a spear. The match started with Strowman and Fiend fighting each other alone, as Reigns did not show up until about ten minute in. Heyman accompanied him to the stage where Reigns signed the contract and then entered. This is Reigns’ second Universal Title win and comes after he vacated the title due to Leukemia in 2018.

The way it was set in motion. Check out the shock that got us here:

Opinion: This was the best part of the pay per view and something that makes a lot of sense in the situation. The match itself was something similar to what Strowman and Wyatt have done for months now but with Reigns winning the title in the end. Reigns winning is the right call and I really liked how he did it, but now they have to follow up properly or it isn’t going to work out as well as it could.

What did you think of the title change? What is next for Reigns? Let us know in the comments below.

Thomas Hall has been a wrestling fan for over thirty years and has seen over 50,000 wrestling matches. He has also been a wrestling reviewer since 2009 with over 5,000 full shows covered. You can find his work at kbwrestlingreviews.com, or check out his- Amazon author page with 30 wrestling books. Get the latest and greatest in professional wrestling news by signing up for our daily email newsletter. Just look below for “GET EXCLUSIVE UPDATES” to sign up. Thank you for reading!