5 Predictions Heading Into 2023 WWE Payback

Having enough of people getting into his affairs, Nakamura did the unthinkable and attacked Seth Rollins out of nowhere. This didn’t sit too well with Rollins, obviously, so he decided to confront Nakamura in the ring on Raw. Once Nakamura challenged Seth Rollins, it didn’t take long for The Visionary to accept the King of Strong Style’s challenge. Oh, and by the, the match is for the World Championship. It would be absolutely insane and unexpected to watch Nakamura win the title this early into Seth’s reign. I wouldn’t mind seeing either of these guys carrying the title on the red brand, but I’m going with Seth Rollins keeping his championship simply on the basis that it is still too early in his run. 

After having enough of the bickering and the back and forth that all members of The Bloodline are doing to one another, Jey Uso decided last SmackDown to walk away from it all. He clearly has had enough. Losing to Roman Reigns at SummerSlam at the hands of his brother Jimmy, the man they call Main Event Jey, quit the WWE. This, in my opinion, means that this will more than likely lead to Jey becoming an outsider that does his own thing and shows up on any show whenever he feels like it. Being an unofficial member of the roster means he can cause havoc whenever he pleases. Will this mean he will set his sights on a particular member of The Bloodline, or just swing at anybody that moves?

We shall see, but I think this will lead to him at some point being reinstated on the roster, and a revenge match will go down between one of the members of The Bloodline. But before that occurs, I see Jey causing chaos as a person that is on the outside looking in first.

For the past few weeks, Alpha Academy has been clicking on all cylinders. They had an amazing win against The Viking Raiders, and now they appear to be moving on to gold. After Maxxine Dupri slapped Ludwig Kaiser in the face, their feud switched to Imperium. And in the middle of all of this, Chad Gable has thrown down the gauntlet at Gunther. Not only does he want a match against The Ring General, but he also wants it to be for the Intercontinental Championship. Alpha Academy along with Maxxine Dupri has been riding a wave of momentum as of late, and I believe that this will indeed lead them to championship gold. However, I don’t see Chad Gable picking up the win against Gunther in their first bout against one another. I see this feud lasting for a little bit, with Gable being the one that eventually takes the title off of Gunther at the end. 

When Maxxine Dupri was still in the Maximum Male Models, she was fascinated by Otis’ build. Fast forward to today, and she is in the Alpha Academy getting into the ring and having matches, as well as winning in them for her new faction. During the backstage segment that saw Ms. Dupri slap Ludwig in the face, you could just feel that this moment was going to lead to a confrontation between Otis and Ludwig Kaiser. I see this setting up the two in a couple of matches against each other. And Ludwig will win a match or two against Otis for fear of upsetting Gunther if he fails to do so. But, Otis will win the majority of them with Maxxine by his side. 

This is going to be my long-shot prediction out of these five. As much as I enjoy watching Drew McIntyre as a good guy, I just can’t see Matt Riddle joining forces with another tag team that isn’t RK-Bro. I realize that Randy Orton is still out with back issues, but I’m banking on him eventually returning to the company someday. And if that is the case, in my opinion, this will lead Matt Riddle to convince Drew McIntyre to start a new tag team with him, and eventually stab Riddle in the back either during a match or right after one.

There are my five predictions heading into WWE Payback.