Predicting the match order at Payback 2020

It’s one thing to predict the winners and losers at Payback 2020, but how about taking a guess at the match order on that card?

WWE has announced seven different segments for the main card of Payback.

Here is my subjective view of how important each of these seven segments rank, ordered from most important to least important.

1. Wyatt vs. Reigns vs. Strowman
2. Keith Lee vs. Randy Orton
3. Rey & Dominik Mysterio vs. Rollins & Murphy
4. Banks & Bayley vs. Jax & Bazsler
5. Apollo Crews vs. Bobby Lashley
6. Matt Riddle vs. King Corbin
7. Big E vs. Sheamus

It is important to come up with a list like this to get an idea of which matches are going to be placed in the key spots on the card or take up the most time, and which matches might end up in the cool-down spots or be given the least amount of time.

I’m ranking the Mysterios ahead of the women’s tag because I expect it will get far more time.

Big E vs. Sheamus is last since it was just announced.

Main event

In this era where the WWE brand is the top star, sometimes it’s not so easy to identify which match will main event a WWE pay-per-view. That is definitely not the case at Payback. Roman Reigns’ match is going to be the main event; there is no other viable option.

Opening match

The opening match of the night is usually one of the mid-level attractions with good work rate that doesn’t require a dedicated video package ahead of time to hype it up.

Any match outside of Reigns and Orton has a chance to open the card. A high work rate tag team match is usually a better option than most, so I’m going to select the Mysterios match for this spot.

That gives me the following card:

Segment 1: Rey & Dominik Mysterio vs. Rollins & Murphy
Segment 2:
Segment 3:
Segment 4:
Segment 5:
Segment 6:
Segment 7: Wyatt vs. Reigns vs. Strowman

Upper card

Without a live audience, WWE really doesn’t need to bother with the concept of cool-down matches. Therefore I’m going to place the next most important match of the night in Segment 6, right before the main event. That would be Lee versus Orton.

The women’s tag is now the most important remaining match left to choose from, so I’m going to place it in Segment 5.

That gives me the following card:

Segment 1: Rey & Dominik Mysterio vs. Rollins & Murphy
Segment 2:
Segment 3:
Segment 4:
Segment 5: Banks & Bayley vs. Jax & Bazsler
Segment 6: Keith Lee vs. Randy Orton
Segment 7: Wyatt vs. Reigns vs. Strowman

Everything else

After opening the card with a very long Mysterios tag match, the next two segments can be relatively short. Segment 2 should be shorter than Segment 3, so I think Lashley’s match makes more sense in Segment 2. Riddle and Corbin can go in Segment 3.

That leaves Segment 4 open for a longer match, which I think is a good fit for Big E vs. Sheamus.

Finalized card

So here is my final prediction for the match order at Payback, along with guesses on the bell-to-bell match times:

Segment 1: Rey & Dominik Mysterio vs. Rollins & Murphy (16)
Segment 2: Apollo Crews vs. Bobby Lashley (9)
Segment 3: Matt Riddle vs. King Corbin (10)
Segment 4: Big E vs. Sheamus (11)
Segment 5: Banks & Bayley vs. Jax & Bazsler (10)
Segment 6: Keith Lee vs. Randy Orton (16)
Segment 7: Wyatt vs. Reigns vs. Strowman (20)

That’s my prediction for the match order at Payback 2020. What’s yours?