Bang for Your Buck PPV Review: Payback 2014

Last Man Standing Match

John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt

But because I believe in my faith being rewarded — and Wyatt is the hero that the WWE sees fit to replace Punk as the Dark Knight of “smart” fans — it seems like he and his Dueling Banjo band will end up finding some kryptonite to keep the neon green boy scout down.

Well, that was both amazing and mildly terrible. The match was fantastic, and something your correspondent while likely watch several times in the next few days. But the idea that this was the best way to go with these feuds seems like a suspect one, at best. There is no greater proponent of the “wait and see” philosophy, and Cena’s endorsement of Wyatt as a force to be reckoned with in the post-show press conference is extremely important and also seemingly implies that this feud will continue. But John Cena winning a John Cena match in John Cena style is problematic when trying to build new stars. It’s not that Bray should have won, it’s that Bray winning would have made this match culturally significant in the history of the WWE.

HAVING SAID THAT, this was easily on the very short list of “best Last Man Standing matches of all time”, with some truly fantastic spots and the type of “what’s a little outside interference among friends?” shenanigans that remind you of what made the TLC matches at WrestleMania so great and (more importantly) memorable, as the Usos and the Dueling Banjo Band went after each other to provide some of the highest spots of the match. From Bray and John, the hurling stairs spot is one which will be played FOREVER, and there were legitimate moments when it seemed like Bray had a chance to win the match. While that is all we should be asking for on some level — it’s easy to forget that John Cena’s don’t grow on trees, because money also doesn’t — it’s subverting our expectations with performers like Cena, and doing so with performers like Wyatt that allow us to believe that some day the latter can become something close to the performer. If this ends up being John Cena’s last heroic stand against Bray Wyatt before ultimately being taken out by the Family, then this match becomes something close to a classic, but for now, it’s stuck in the world of “very very good”.

Match +.9 | PPV 4.15

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