My WWE Payback 2023 Predictions

“The Grayson Waller Effect” with Special Guest Cody Rhodes

Obviously this isn’t an actual match, but I can see something happening here like maybe a few minute impromptu squash match in Cody’s favor or Cena and Cody hitting their finishers on Waller after he gets out of line. 

LA Knight vs. The Miz

Now I’m conflicted as I can see LAK winning due to the momentum being behind him, but at the same time I feel Miz has looked stronger in this feud. 

In a lot of the promo battles he’s really shown what he can do on the mic so if Miz was to get a dirty win, I wouldn’t be against it. At the same time, Triple H is a boring booker so I would expect it to be predictable as usual. 

My Pick: LA Knight

Steel Cage Match – Becky Lynch vs. Trish Stratus

Being that this is hopefully the final match in this long running feud (which should have ended at SummerSlam, not pushed back), I think it’s pretty clear Becky should win. She has more to gain and more to lose in this feud compared to Trish so it’s the right move. 

My Pick: Becky Lynch

United States Title Match – Rey Mysterio (c) vs. Austin Theory

I’m honestly surprised this match is even happening. They should have made this a triple threat with Waller or LA Knight or had someone else in it. For me, Austin Theory should be moving on to bigger and better things. He needs a proper story and feud with someone to build him up. 

With that in mind, I want Theory to lose purely as I want something better for him. He was given no development or proper feuds while he was champ so there’s no reason to put the same title back on him. 

My Pick: Rey Mysterio

Undisputed WWE Tag Team Title Steel City Street Fight – Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn vs. The Judgment Day

This is one of those scenarios where I feel KO/Sami will retain, but I think JD should win. Ideally the tag titles should be split in general so we can feature more teams. This reign also hasn’t really felt right to me, there has been no real story for it and just matches. Alpha Academy would be great tag champs but they need a heel team to take it from, Imperium could also do well as being tag champs. 

Then on the SmackDown side you have the Street Profits who have this exciting new stable with Lashley, not to mention the LWO could do with a title run to add legitimacy to their stable. Because of this, I’d love to see some change and have JD win the tag titles. 

My Pick: Judgement Day

Women’s World Title Match – Rhea Ripley vs. Raquel Rodriguez

Now this is controversial but Rhea’s reign just hasn’t done it for me. She’s an amazing talent and because of that, I don’t personally think she needs the title. Either the title makes the champ, or the champ makes the title and none of these apply to her. 

On the other hand, Raquel has so much potential but isn’t on the same level as Rhea but she could be. Rhea’s focus is always more in the men’s division, fighting alongside Judgement Day so I rather see a women’s champ that will defend the title more and this big win could help Raquel more.

My Pick: Raquel Rodriguez

World Heavyweight Title Match – Seth “Freakin” Rollins vs Shinsuke Nakamura

This has had an okay build although I don’t feel enough has been done to really make me think Shinsuke would be able to beat Seth. It does feel more like this is just the setup for something bigger, like a cash in from Damian Priest. I expect a good match but doubt Seth would be dropping the title to Shinsuke. 

My Pick: Seth Rollins