WWE Payback results: CM Punk returns, beats Chris Jericho in Chicago

There was a truly unbelievable amount of hype created by CM Punk's return to WWE for his match against Chris Jericho at tonight's (Sun., June 16, 2013) Payback pay-per-view (PPV) at the Allstate Arena in Chicago, Illinois, not only because Punk was returning in his hometown but because there was very real doubt that the match would actually take place.

WWE played that up to the fullest by having Cult of Personality run for an unusually long amount of time before Punk stepped through the curtain and made his way to the ring to a thunderous ovation.

And proceeded to have a mostly sloppy match with a guy he normally has great chemistry with.

The commentary team was playing up the ring rust factor, and Punk was certainly selling the fact that he was winded much earlier than he would normally be, but it it was sloppy regardless. That doesn't mean it wasn't still worth the time. Indeed, the two went back and forth with plenty of near falls and good reversals into trademark submissions and all that good stuff.

In the end, it took Punk hitting the Go To Sleep about six times but he picked up the victory in front of his hometown crowd. Now everyone can be happy that he's back to doing what we all love.

For complete WWE Payback results and coverage of every match on the card click here.