WWE News, Rumors: Updated Card For ‘Payback’ – ‘Raw’ Vs. ‘SmackDown’ Match Confirmed, Rumored Matches

With WrestleMania 33 in the rearview mirror, it is time to look at the next big pay-per-view event, which is going to be Payback at the end of April. The Monday Night Raw event already has a few confirmed matches, and that includes one that will pit a SmackDown Live star against a Monday Night Raw star in what WWE has labeled a “House of Horrors.” This is going to be one interesting PPV, and there are rumors swirling of more bouts as well.

First things first: This Superstar Shake-Up is wreaking some havoc on WWE at this point, and it is making things a bit confusing. On last night’s episode, 11 superstars ended up joining the roster after leaving SmackDown Live, and that included former WWE Champion Bray Wyatt.

After WrestleMania, a “House of Horrors” match was made between Bray Wyatt and new WWE Champion Randy Orton. Wyatt has been moved to Team Red, and many thought that may end up canceling the match, but it is still on and will definitely happen.

Still, if you look at the preview page for the match on the official website of WWE, it does not appear to be for Orton’s title. Nowhere does it actually say that the belt is on the line, but Heavy is reporting that it will still be a championship bout. If it is, the end result seems rather predictable unless Brock Lesnar heads to SmackDown tonight.

Chris Jericho will be taking on Kevin Owens in their WrestleMania 33 rematch for the United States Championship. Again, there are rumors floating around that Owens will be heading to Team Blue and could take his title with him, but that won’t stop this match from happening.

Another WrestleMania 33 title rematch will see Neville put the Cruiserweight belt on the line once more against Austin Aries.

The fourth and final confirmed match for Payback has the Hardy Boyz defending their Raw Tag Team Titles against the team of Cesaro and Sheamus. This could end up stealing the show as it will be the high-flying talent of the brothers against the hard-hitting combo who previously held the titles months ago.

There will be at least three or four more matches added to Payback before it actually rolls around, with Den of Geek believing that Samoa Joe vs. Seth Rollins will be one of them. After seeing Joe attack Rollins last night on Raw, this rumor seems even more likely to become a reality now.

Speaking on that front, the actions of Braun Strowman against Roman Reigns is also likely to lead to another match between the two men. Sportskeeda reported a couple of days ago that the rumors state these two will battle it out on the next PPV since Brock Lesnar likely won’t have a match.

Below are the current confirmed matches for Payback as of this writing.

• WWE Championship (?) – House of Horrors: Randy Orton (c) vs. Bray Wyatt
• United States Championship: Kevin Owens (c) vs. Chris Jericho
• Raw Tag Team Championship: The Hardy Boyz (c) vs. Sheamus & Cesaro
• Cruiserweight Championship: Neville (c) vs. Austin Aries

Rumored matches for Payback:

• Braun Strowman vs. Roman Reigns – Stretcher Match
• Seth Rollins vs. Samoa Joe
• Finn Balor vs.???
• Intercontinental Title Match: Dean Ambrose (c) vs. The Miz

There are still a few weeks until Payback, and that gives the company plenty of time to build up a few more matches. On top of that, so much may change tonight due to the second part of the Superstar Shake-Up, and it may cause plans to be altered and shifted some.

Payback is shaping up to be quite an impressive pay-per-view already, and there are still a few weeks to go until it all goes down. WWE has put together four really good matches, and even the rumored bouts sound pretty fun. The sad part is that this “House of Horrors” match featuring Randy Orton (SmackDown Live) and Bray Wyatt (Monday Night Raw) could be really fun, but the Superstar Shake-Up has made the result quite predictable.

[Featured Image by WWE]