Today the WWE will have their 2nd Payback Pay Per View event or special event as they call it these days. Looking at the card from 2013, brought to my attention how long a year in wrestling truly is in this day and time. Just to give you a little perspective from an older fan, in 1988 when Randy Savage won the world title at Wrestlemania IV he carried that title uninterrupted all the way to Wrestlemania V where he lost it to Hulk Hogan who then carried the title into Wrestlemania VI. The idea of someone being world champ for a year seems crazy today.
Today half of the 2013 Payback card is barely even relevant on the current roster. Last year’s main event was for the WWE title where Cena defended the belt against Ryback in a 3 Stages of Hell match. Ryback appeared to be an up and comer at the time but this year he is not even booked. Dolph Ziggler walked into event a year ago as the World Heavyweight Champion but he will be live tweeting Payback like the rest of us. Kane hadn’t gone corporate and the concept of The Authority didn’t even exist at the time.
In the time since the event we have seen the combining of the World Titles and the breaking up of the Brand Extension. We have watched Daniel Bryan go from Team Hell No to being screwed by The Authority, a feud with the Wyatt Family all the way to being World Champ at Wrestlemania. A guy like Alberto Del Rio who won the World Title back at Payback is now losing every other week on RAW. I am not sure if this is a result of multiple hours of wrestling television being broadcast every week. That combined with the internet maybe over exposes the talent and the audience has less patience with the stories. Whatever it is a year isn’t what it used to be in wrestling.
Written By
Keith B. Holt
Follow on Twitter @Kholtjr
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