Bang for Your Buck PPV Review: Payback 2014

United States Championship

Sheamus vs. Cesaro

Whether or not this is a sleeper for HOSS Match of the Year depends entirely on your definition of “sleeper.”

While this didn’t end up being anyone’s choice for HOSS Match of the year, it was an excellent match that told a very specific and important story. That the story was “Sheamus is really hard to beat and Cesaro may end up being told to stop doing the swing by his manager so he can win matches ” is problematic — and why the match was ultimately about as memorable and rewatchable as ‘Swoggle-El Torito II — but it definitely didn’t leave viewers disappointed.

As Brandon Stroud explained wonderfully, what makes Cesaro’s offense really pop — as opposed to just “awesome for wrestling nerds” — is how willing people are to let him strike them stiffly about the head and neck. And since Sheamus is willing to be shot in the face with a cannonball as long as he goes over at the end, this match looked like a fight and not like two giant acrobats tossing each other across a stage. They didn’t quite get to a “great” fight, but this at least showcased Cesaro as squarely in the “not quite sure how to win the Big Match yet, but physically capable of it” stage of his career, which is exactly where he should be as his heat gets turned up on the way Money in the Bank and SummerSlam.

Match .6 | PPV 1.2

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