WWE Payback 2023: Seth Rollins survives, Judgment Day picks up more gold

Seth Rollins went into WWE Payback looking for vengeance for all the things Shinsuke Nakamura said he would do to him on Saturday night. Nakamura said he would leave him “different,” and while Nakamura couldn’t leave PPG Paints Arena with the world heavyweight title, he definitely left Rollins’ back in a much different state afterward.

Rollins took powerbombs, knees and various submission attempts to his spine throughout the match. Somehow, Rollins kept finding a way to power through and return fire. After landing a Pedigree and a Curbstomp onto his opponent, Rollins retained his title.

Meanwhile, The Judgment Day came in with two titles in their stable and eyed a third, the WWE tag team title held by Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. To get the belts off the champs, it would take a group effort as Finn Balor and Damian Priest took on the duo initially — but Rhea Ripley, Dominik Mysterio and even JD McDonagh all came in to push the odds in their favor to bring the belts into their faction. Yes, Balor and Priest are your new tag champions.

In other title matches, Rey Mysterio retained his United States title versus Austin Theory, and Rhea Ripley held off Raquel Rodriguez to keep her women’s world championship.

ESPN’s Eddie Maisonet broke down all six matches on the card at Payback, along with the announcement of Jey Uso returning to WWE and John Cena’s role as host and special guest referee for The Miz vs. LA Knight.