Welcome to my Payback 2023 blog. Pittsburgh is jacked, over 14,000 in the house. We are opening with the Steel Cage match, as Becky Lynch takes on Trish Stratus.
Great video to open the show. As I said on audio this week, Trish has had a hell of a run. These two women took a beating on Raw on Monday. Now they are heading inside the cage. Let’s go!
Becky is out first. Trish is out next. Tiffany Stratton is at ringside. Both of these women look ready to go.
These two seem like they want to show us what we should have seen at SummerSlam from them. They are killing it. Trish has a lump on her head from the abuse. They are trying to steal the show. And they might.
This is good. Soooo good that I am not typing much. They are sitting on the top of the case and throwing hands. Becks hit the mat and Trish tried to leave but Becky climbed up like a cat and grabbed her. This is nuts!
Becky just hit a superplex from the top of the cage. WHAT THE HELL AM I WATCHING??? This is great!
Trish kicked out at two and why not! If this is it for Trish, man what a way to go out.
Zoey came out and tried to pull Trish out but Becky stopped her. Becky hit the Manhandle but Stark broke it up. Becky is fine with that and closed the cage door. She wants to beat them both. She hit the manhandle slam on Zoey and then grabbed Trish as she was trying to get out of the cage and hit the Manhandle off of the ropes and got the pin. THAT WAS AWESOME!
After the match, Zoey helped Trish up. Trish was pissed and slapped her. She told Zoey to leave the cage. Instead she closed the door and then laid Trish out. This looks like the end of this run for Trish and damn, what a way to go out. Nothing but the highest praise for Trish and Becky. Damn, what a match.
So after the match, the host of the show came out, John Cena. He was tardy to the party! He just announced he will be the guest ref between LA Knight and The Miz, which is up next.
Miz came out and went after Cena for “pandering to the audience”. Cena asked why. Miz said you don’t make yourself a guest ref. Then Miz mocked him for being a Merman. John doesn’t like Miz but he respects him so he asked him for advice. Miz said be more involved. Bad move. John said like making myself the guest ref. John is doing Yeahs. Guess who he is giving the rub too? Yep, here he comes. LA Knight. Gotta say this before the match. Cena giving back is awesome.
Miz ran away early but Knight caught him and then went to work, much to the crowd’s delight. But Miz then took control and went to work.
The story then because that Miz would kill any attempt at comeback. Cena is letting them fight.
On the floor Miz charged and got back dropped over the barricade. Knight tossed him to ringside and hit a clothesline off of the barricade. Cena is letting them fight. He is actually not letting Knight abuse the rules, and Miz attacked LA, so when he wins there is no love from the ref.
I said with Eps today that this should the close. We got serious Miz leading up to this, not the clown. That’s what it is, and I get it. You don’t want to bury a good soldier like Miz. With that said, this is too long and should have been competitive but much shorter.
Near the end, Miz tried to use the ropes and Cena stopped him. They argued. Miz managed to hit a SCF when Knight stopped short of running into Cena. This has gone way too long. Now Miz is mocking Cena. That allows Knight to put him down. Then he hit his finisher and won. The crowd was live for it. They worked hard. It was just too long for me since Miz isn’t really someone that has taken anyone that long to beat recently.
Please Click to Page Two for more thoughts from tonight’s show!
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