Payback 2020: Roman Reigns Returns and Changes WWE for the Next Four Years

The Kickoff tag match gives Payback a clean, straightforward opening without trying to manufacture stakes that are not there yet. Ruby Riott and Liv Morgan work with urgency because the story is about whether their repaired partnership can actually function, while Billie Kay and Peyton Royce lean into the established chemistry that made them a more coherent team. The match stays compact, avoids excessive interference and builds to a decisive finishing sequence. Morgan hits the Jersey Codebreaker and Riott follows with the Riott Kick on Kay for the pin. It is not essential viewing, but it serves its purpose and sets up the higher-stakes rematch that follows on Raw.

Lashley and Crews open the main card with a physical title match that works because the champion and challenger have clearly defined strengths. Crews uses speed and explosive offense to create short windows, while Lashley keeps pulling the match back toward power, control and the Hurt Business' preferred pace. MVP and Shelton Benjamin remain present at ringside but do not need to manufacture the finish. Once Lashley locks in the Full Lashley Lock, Crews submits and the title changes hands decisively. The result gives Lashley another important step toward the dominant run that follows and avoids the murky finish that could have weakened the championship change.

Big E and Sheamus produce one of the night's most satisfying conventional singles matches because it is built around momentum rather than gimmickry. Sheamus slows Big E down with body work and rough control, while Big E's comeback feels increasingly important because the match arrives during the first serious singles push of his career. The pace is deliberate but never dead, and both wrestlers use their size without turning the bout into a plodding power contest. Big E survives the strongest control stretches, catches his opening and hits the Big Ending for the pin. The clean victory matters more than any flashy spot because it validates Big E as someone who can beat an established former world champion on pay-per-view.

Riddle and Corbin have a competent match that never fully escapes the television-feud feeling surrounding their program. Corbin controls the early pace with the heavier offense and spends much of the bout trying to frustrate Riddle rather than simply beat him. Riddle's comeback is cleaner and more athletic, and the match improves whenever the tempo rises. The finish is straightforward: Riddle creates separation, reaches the top rope and lands the Floating Bro for the pin. Corbin's post-match backstage attack ensures the rivalry continues, which makes the pay-per-view result feel less conclusive than it otherwise might. The wrestling is fine, but little about the match feels essential.

Baszler and Jax defeating Bayley and Banks is one of the best-booked matches on the show because the finish is both visually memorable and useful to multiple stories. The champions rely on chemistry and opportunism, while the challengers are an uneasy partnership whose contrasting styles become an advantage rather than a weakness. The closing submission sequence is the key: Baszler traps Bayley in the Kirifuda Clutch while simultaneously tying up Banks, then uses Banks' own arm to choke Bayley into submission. The image is creative, decisive and impossible to confuse with a routine tag finish. The title change also accelerates the tension between Bayley and Banks without forcing either woman into a simple singles loss.

Keith Lee's victory over Randy Orton is short, but the booking is so direct that the six-plus-minute runtime becomes a strength rather than a limitation. Orton spends the match trying to dictate terms and repeatedly tells Lee to respect him, while Lee answers by refusing to be intimidated and matching him physically. The announce-table throw establishes Lee's power early, and the finishing sequence protects that theme. Orton tries to strike with the RKO, Lee catches him and turns the attempt into a Spirit Bomb for a completely clean pin. There is no interference, no distraction and no fluke. For one night, WWE presents Lee as someone who can simply beat a top main-event star.

The Mysterios versus Rollins and Murphy is the night's best traditional wrestling match because the story, pacing and finishing sequence all reinforce one another. Dominik continues to look far more comfortable than his experience level should allow, while Rey handles the connective work that keeps the tag structure coherent. Rollins and Murphy control long stretches through isolation and increasingly tense communication, which gives the eventual mistake real payoff. Murphy accidentally kicks Rollins in the head during the closing sequence, Dominik capitalizes with the 619 and follows with a splash for the pin. The father-and-son victory feels earned rather than sentimental, and the accidental strike pushes the Rollins-Murphy relationship toward its eventual collapse.

The main event is more important historically than it is as a conventional wrestling match, but WWE builds the entire structure around that fact. Wyatt and Strowman begin without Reigns, battering each other through ringside and the stage until a superplex causes the ring to implode. Only then does Reigns arrive with Paul Heyman, sign the contract and officially enter, turning the champion's return into an opportunistic takeover rather than a heroic comeback. He attacks both exhausted opponents, survives the Fiend's Mandible Claw with a low blow and finally Spears Strowman for the pin. The finish launches the longest Universal Championship reign in company history and makes the late-entry strategy the defining feature rather than a flaw.