Payback 2015
Michael Cole welcomed everyone to the show following the opening promo and pyro display. Before he could even finish his introduction, Stephanie McMahon's music hit, drawing a muted cheer from the fans, almost as if they wanted to cheer her but found it difficult to actually do it given how long they had hated her for.
"Here comes Stephanie McMahon," Cole announced as she walked towards the ring, dressed in an expensive black suit with the jacket buttoned up. "I still can't really believe that this past week on Raw, thanks to Ronda Rousey, the returning Stephanie McMahon became the WWE Divas champion. Guys, we can only assume that Stephanie is going to come out here later tonight and defend her Divas title against Sarita Lopez. JBL confirmed earlier this week that Sarita has demanded the rematch she is entitled to, and will definitely be involved in a Divas title match here tonight at Payback. We know that Lopez has been beside herself with rage all week, but in my opinion it's not really fair that she gets the first rematch. We know that Ronda Rousey is owed a one on one title rematch, and we know that Nikki Bella is owed a one on one title rematch as well."
"The Divas division really is a mess," Saxton moaned. "And you know who I blame? Ronda Rousey. This is all her fault."
"How on Earth do you figure that?" Lawler asked. "It's Lopez and her so called teammates that have reduced everything to chaos around here. It was a joke that Sarita was even the champion to start with."
By this point, Stephanie was climbing the ring steps. She stepped through the ropes into the ring and then opened her suit jacket to reveal that she was actually wearing her Divas title, drawing a cheer from the crowd as Stephanie smiled. "Stephanie McMahon is the Divas champion," Cole said, as if still trying to convince himself of the fact.
"Welcome to WWE Payback!" Stephanie began loudly, drawing another cheer. "Payback. A rather appropriate name for the event tonight, I think you'll agree. Payback. That's definitely what Ronda Rousey got on Sarita Lopez last week on Raw. You see, when Sarita spat in my face I lost control of myself and attacked her, I didn't do it with the intention of competing in a match, and certainly not with the intention of winning the Divas title. No, I did it because I wanted to kick Sarita's ass, which I have to admit, I wasn't doing a very good job of. But, thanks to Ronda Rousey, I walked out of that match as the WWE Divas champion." She paused and looked proudly at the belt which she held in her left hand, before placing it over her shoulder.
"Thanks for the history lesson," Saxton whined. "It was bad enough seeing it the first time."
"Now," Stephanie continued, "I'm very proud have won the Divas title, but I make no claim to be a wrestler. I've only competed twice in the past ten years. So, with that in mind, I'm out here right now to announce that I am relinquishing the Divas title." The crowd booed in disappointment. "I can also announce that the winner of tonight's Divas match will be the new and undisputed WWE Divas champion. I have decided that..."
At that moment Ronda Rousey's music played, interrupting Stephanie, and the crowd went wild.
"Listen to this ovation for Ronda Rousey," Cole yelled as Ronda walked down the ramp as quickly as she could with her heavily bandaged knee, microphone in hand.
"I'm getting tired of Rousey coming out here when she has no business doing so," Saxton moaned.
"I think this is about to get interesting real quick," Lawler said as Ronda got in the ring.
"I'm certainly no fan of The Authority, so I never thought I'd say this," Ronda began, pacing around the ring as she addressed Stephanie. "But, with the way JBL has been running this place for the past couple of months, it's kind of good to see you back out here, you crazy bitch."
"I think that was some kind of compliment," Cole laughed as the crowd cheered loudly.
"Now, I was listening in the back, and what I heard you say was that you are relinquishing the Divas title, and taking yourself out of the match later tonight."
"That's right," Stephanie confirmed.
Ronda continued pacing the ring. "What I'm out here to propose to you is, that what I'll do, is take your place in that Divas title match and take back what's mine, that title belt you've got right there on your shoulder." The crowd roared their approval of that idea.
"Ronda, nothing would please me more than to set you loose on Sarita Lopez, believe me. I know that's what you want, and I certainly know that it's what they want." Stephanie gestured at the fans who began to chant Ronda's name. The chant quickly spread through the area, until it reached an almost deafening volume.
"I've never seen anything like this in my life," Lawler said, even though it was blatantly not true. "I know I'd love to see Ronda get her hands on Sarita tonight."
When the chant died down, Stephanie continued. "You and I both know that I can't make that match tonight, Ronda. You have a knee injury, and you're not cleared to compete."
The crowd booed loudly, and then the boos intensified even more as JBL's theme music played, with Sarita's entrance video.
"Now we've got Sarita Lopez coming out here, the former Divas champion," Cole announced.
"Could you not sound so biased?" Saxton asked, annoyed.
Sarita walked into the arena with Anna and Alex trailing behind. The trio stopped half way to the ring and made no attempt to come any closer. "You're damn right you're not going to make that match," Sarita barked at Stephanie. "The two of you stole my Divas title from me last Monday on Raw."
"As if Lopez didn't steal it from Rousey to begin with," Cole snorted in disgust.
Sarita continued addressing Stephanie, "What you're going to do is come out here later on tonight, and you're going to give me back my title, along with an apology."
The crowd roared once more as May Devany's music played.
"Now what's going on?" Saxton demanded as May walked out and stood on the stage.
"I'll keep this short and sweet, just like me," May said, grinning as she addressed Sarita. "Sarita, you're not going to face Ronda tonight, and you're damn sure not going to get the title given to you. You're going to have to win it, against me." The crowd roared their approval of their second favourite Diva getting her first title opportunity. "My advice to you is, stop running your mouth out here and go get ready. I know I will be."
Sarita was shown looking furious at having to compete, as she ranted at Anna and Alex while May walked back through the curtain, having delivered her simple message.
In the ring Ronda turned to Stephanie. "Are you in charge of this place or not? I want my title match, damn it!"
"You'll get your chance, Ronda. You'll get it. But, you've got to heal your knee first. So, why don't we do this: Ronda, you'll get your chance to face the winner of the Divas title match later tonight. That Divas title match will be between May Devany, and you Sarita Lopez, and I'm not rewarding you, believe me. I hope to see May kick your ass just as badly as I know Ronda would do if she was able to go tonight." The crowd roared at that.
Sarita snorted derisively. "Fine, I'll come out here tonight and I'll beat May Devany, but you know what? Screw you, Stephanie!" The crowd booed.
"Oh, screw me?" Stephanie asked, faking surprise. "No, Sarita, screw you. Because I've just decided that there's going to be a special referee in the Divas title match later tonight," without pausing Stephanie turned to face Ronda, voice rising in anger at the disrespect Sarita had shown, "And her name is Ronda Rousey!"
The crowd erupted and Sarita was shown going wild with rage.
"My God what an announcement," Cole yelled. "Ronda Rousey is going to be the special referee in the Divas title match. I can't believe it. And look at Sarita Lopez. She's beside herself."
"This isn't fair at all," Saxton griped as in the ring Ronda began to loosen up her right shoulder, as she would when preparing to deliver her clothesline finisher. The noise from the crowd rose and then Ronda threw an imaginary clothesline in Sarita's direction. "Boom!" Everyone yelled in unison. Ronda then pointed at Sarita as her music began to play.
"Guys, there's no way that Sarita's walking out of here tonight with that title," Lawler said. "It's just not happening. Stephanie McMahon just made sure of it."
Prior to the promo for the Divas title match, Sarita, Anna and Alex were shown in their locker room. Sarita had a very simple message to deliver. "The two of you had better make sure that I walk out of here with my title, because if I don't? Your asses are going back to NXT faster than you can say 'yes, Sarita.' Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, Sarita," the two women mumbled back, clearly absolutely hating having to do so.
"Good," the former champion said smugly, before walking out of the shot.
Anna and Alex looked at each other for a moment before Alex mumbled, "To hell with her. I'd rather be on NXT if this is how it's going to be."
"Right," Anna agreed. "Let's get out of here." They too walked out of the shot.
Cole laughed. "Good job, Sarita. You just lost yourself your backup."
To the obvious surprise and dissatisfaction of the fans, Ronda had called the Divas title match right down the middle for nearly ten minutes, counting near falls for both women. Sarita had taken control of the match and had spent the last couple of minutes with the upper hand, hitting May with several moves. But, May managed to block and then reverse a vertical suplex, gaining herself some momentum to mount a comeback. Sarita whipped May into the ropes, but when she came off, May attempted to deliver a cross body to the former champion. However, Sarita reacted very quickly and dropped flat to the mat, causing May to fly over her and instead collide with Ronda, sending her through the ropes and to the floor, taking an awkward looking bump on her injured knee in the process.
"Oh no," Cole said in surprise. "May took out Ronda. It looks like Ronda's in pain. She's hurt that bad knee again."
"That was accidental," Lawler hastened to clarify.
In the ring, May had made the mistake of looking through the ropes to try to check on Ronda, who was now writhing around on the floor, holding her knee and pounding the floor in agony with her other hand. When May turned around, Sarita kicked her in the stomach and got her in position to deliver her finishing move, a sit down powerbomb. However, when Sarita lifted May into the air, May managed to escape her grasp and drop to her feet behind her opponent. Before Sarita could even react, May delivered her signature move, which looked vaguely similar to Dolph Ziggler's Zig Zag, but was actually delivered as a kick to the back of the opponent's head.
"That's the Mayday!" Cole yelled as Sarita collapsed to the mat and the crowd cheered May on. May grabbed Sarita by her ankles and dragged her across the ring, into a very deliberate position in the centre. When this was done, she pointed above the turnbuckles in one corner of the ring, bringing the crowd to their feet as they roared her on, knowing what was coming next.
"Here we go," Lawler enthused. "May's going to fly!"
May jumped up to the top rope, rather than climbing, and got in position to deliver her finishing move. Camera's flashed throughout the area as May launched herself a truly improbable distance into the air, before crashing back down on Sarita's chest.
"Perfectly executed five star!" Cole yelled as May rolled around, holding her own stomach in pain. "Cover her, May!"
May crawled over to Sarita and made a cover, hooking her leg. The crowd began to count, but there was a very obvious problem.
"No referee," Lawler called out. "Ronda Rousey is still down on the outside."
The crowd booed loudly as two familiar figures ran to the ring. "Oh, give me a break," Cole moaned. "Here come Sarita's hired help, or whatever the hell they are. I thought they took off."
Anna and Alex slid into the ring and went to work on May, who tried valiantly, but futilely, to defend herself.
"Get someone out here and stop this!" Lawler yelled as the beat down continued for a full minute. Alex hauled May to her feet and set her up for Anna, who got her Killswitch finishing move. Alex was already dragging Sarita over towards May as Anna turned May over onto her back.
The fact that it was only now that referee Charles Robinson came running to the ring looked a little too convenient to be true, as Anna and Alex bailed from the ring and took off through the crowd, leaving Sarita on top of Alex in the ring.
"Oh, come on," Cole moaned in disgust. "Not this way."
"Come on you idiot, count!" Saxton urged as Robinson slid into the ring.
"This is not fair," Lawler protested. Almost no one in the crowd joined in with the count.
"One."
"Two."
"Three."
"Damn it!" Cole exclaimed. "Sarita Lopez is the Divas champion. This is pathetic."
"Two time Divas champion," Saxton clarified gleefully, as JBL's music began to play.
It took a moment for Sarita to get up and to have her hand raised by the referee, to a loud volley of boos and abuse from the crowd. Disrespectfully, she kicked May's limp body out of the ring to the floor in front of the commentary table and stood there, leaning over the ropes and gloating over her beaten opponent, with the title belt in her hand.
"Sarita Lopez is a repulsive human being," Cole said.
Unexpectedly, the crowd suddenly began to cheer loudly. "Sarita! Look out!" Saxton called out, seeing that Ronda was back in the ring and standing in the middle of it, looking like she wanted to murder Sarita.
Sensing what the reason for the sudden cheering might be, Sarita turned around in an attempt to defend herself, but it was already too late for that. Ronda was already running at her, and she delivered a devastating clothesline which sent Sarita for a loop before she came crashing down to the mat like a piece of wet cardboard. As with everything she did, the crowd cheered Ronda's actions loudly as she grabbed a microphone from Lillian Garcia.
"Your winner, Ronda Rousey!" she announced. Even though it was obviously not true, or even possible, the crowd went wild anyway as Ronda walked across the ring and then dropped under the bottom rope.
"I suppose you think that was funny, don't you Michael?" Saxton demanded. "Well laugh at this, Sarita's the Divas champion, and there's nothing you, Ronda Rousey, or anyone else can do about it."
Ronda had now almost reached the stage. Her music cut off abruptly, and then Brie Bella's music hit, causing another eruption from the crowd.
"Wait!" Cole yelled. "Here's someone who can definitely do something about it!"
Brie ran past Ronda as she headed to the ring with her Money in the Bank briefcase in hand and Nikki by her side. Brie and Nikki slid into the ring and Brie thrust her red briefcase into Charles Robinson's hands. The crowd were still cheering loudly as Robinson walked over to the corner of the ring with the briefcase and passed it through the ropes to Lillian Garcia, who then had an announcement to make.
"Ladies and gentlemen, Brie Bella is cashing in her Money in the Bank briefcase for the WWE Divas championship!" The crowd roared once more.
"Brie's cashing in!" Cole yelled, close to losing control of himself completely. "Come on Brie! Do it for Daniel!"
The referee ordered for the bell to be sounded to start the match, but he made sure that Brie couldn't get to Sarita until the new champion was at least on her feet to have some kind of chance to defend herself. Brie had no intent to force the issue anyway, knowing that Sarita was a sitting duck thanks to the damage that Ronda's clothesline had done. Brie was standing in the centre of the ring, in position to run at Sarita and deliver her running knee finishing move, but out of the blue, Nikki grabbed her sister from behind, spun her around and knocked her lights out with a devastating forearm to the face.
"What the... That was blatant!" Cole yelped as the crowd howled in surprise and horror.
"What are you doing?" King shrieked. "That's your own sister."
Charles Robinson turned around, having already missed what Nikki had done. Sarita had also not seen it, but she saw Brie lying flat on her back on the mat and crawled over there.
"Don't let this happen, please," Cole said as Sarita collapsed on top of Brie. Nikki was already heading across the ring towards the timekeepers side of the ring to fetch the Divas title. This time no one could bring themselves to join in with the count.
One.
Two.
"Kick out, Brie!" Cole urged desperately.
Brie got her shoulder up at the last possible moment, bringing a thunderous reaction from the crowd.
"Yes! Yes! Brie is still in it!" Cole shouted.
Sarita was still in worse shape than Brie, and Brie struggled to her feet, only for Nikki to hit her right in the face with the Divas title. "What the hell are you doing?" Robinson could be heard yelling at her, but he didn't call for the disqualification that he should have done, clearly not wanting to waste Brie's Money in the Bank opportunity by throwing out the match. "Get out!" Robinson yelled, and Nikki was now more than happy to do so, looking at her fallen sister with pure hatred in the process.
"I don't believe this," Lawler mumbled as Sarita crawled over to Brie once more. This time the count was academic.
One.
Two.
Three.
The crowd groaned in disgust, repulsed by what they had just witnessed. "Lopez is still the champion," Cole choked out. "Why? Someone tell me why?"
Apparently this was too much, even for Saxton. "Nikki just cost her sister her Money in the Bank match. We all know what that meant to Brie. This is appalling."
"What kind of... What kind of animal is Nikki Bella?" Lawler asked as Sarita was handed her title belt by Robinson. She sat on the mat and held onto her belt like it was the most precious thing in the world.
"Sarita Lopez makes me physically sick," Lawler said, his voice hushed.
"Don't blame Sarita for this, blame that woman," Saxton said as Nikki was shown looking back at the ring from near the entrance with the same look of hatred on her face.
"Why Nikki, you miserable bitch?" Cole demanded bitterly.
