The 2013Payback was the inauguralPaybackprofessional wrestlingpay-per-view (PPV)event produced byWWE. The event took place on June 16, 2013, at theAllstate Arena in theChicago suburb ofRosemont, Illinois. It replaced WWE's previously well-known event,No Way Out. The concept of the event was the wrestlers seeking payback against their opponents.

Payback
Promotional poster featuringRandy Orton
Promotion	WWE
Date	June 16, 2013
City	Rosemont, Illinois
Venue	Allstate Arena
Attendance	14,623[1]
Buy rate	186,000[2]
Pay-per-view chronology
← Previous Extreme Rules Next → Money in the Bank
Payback chronology
← Previous First Next → 2014

Eight professional wrestling matches were contested at the event, including one on the Kickoff pre-show. In the main event,John Cena retained theWWE Championship against Ryback in aThree Stages of Hell match. In other prominent matches,Alberto Del Rio defeatedDolph Ziggler to win theWorld Heavyweight Championship andCM Punk defeatedChris Jericho.

The event received 186,000 buys, down from theprevious year's No Way Out pay per view of 194,000.^[3]

In 2012,WWE reinstated theirNo Way Outpay-per-view (PPV), which had previously ran annually from 1999 to 2009. The following year, however, No Way Out was canceled and replaced by a new event titled Payback. The concept of the event was the wrestlers seeking payback against their opponents.^[4] The event was held on June 16, 2013, at theAllstate Arena in theChicago suburb ofRosemont, Illinois.^[5][6][7]

The event comprised eight matches, including one on the Kickoff pre-show, that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayedheroes,villains, orless distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows,Raw andSmackDown.^[8][9]

After theirLast Man Standing match atExtreme Rules in May, which ended in no-contest,Ryback drove anambulance into the arena on the May 20 episode ofRaw, challengingJohn Cena in anAmbulance match for hisWWE Championship. A week later onRaw, Cena responded by turning the challenge intoThree Stages of Hell, with the first fall being alumberjack match, the second fall atables match, and the originally-decided Ambulance match as the third fall. Ryback accepted the new stipulation, making the match official.^[10]

On the April 22 episode ofRaw,AJ Lee won a divas battle royal to faceKaitlyn for theDivas Championship at Payback. The next week onRaw, after a confrontation with AJ, Dolph Ziggler, andBig E Langston backstage, Kaitlyn began receiving gifts from a secret admirer,^[11] and a rose bouquet on the May 3 episode ofSmackDown.^[12] On the June 10 episode ofRaw, Kaitlyn's secret admirer was revealed to be Langston, although it turned out to be a mind game AJ planned to get inside Kaitlyn's head before their Divas Title match.^[13]

On the May 27 episode ofRaw,Chris Jericho hosted "The Highlight Reel" segment withPaul Heyman as his guest, where he inquired the latter about one of his clients,CM Punk's absence from the WWE since April and May, and much like in theirfeudearly the previous year, disputed with Heyman on who between the two of them was the "best in the world". To put that argument to rest, Jericho issued a challenge to Punk at Payback, which Heyman subsequently accepted on Punk's behalf.^[14] On June 3, 2013, during an episode ofRaw, the contract for the match was signed between Jericho and Heyman, again on Punk's behalf. On the June 7 episode ofSmackDown, Curtis Axel defeated Jericho after Heyman, Axel's manager, distracted him by playing Punk's theme tune. After the match, Jericho hit Axel with his finishing maneuver, the Codebreaker.

On the April 8 episode ofRaw,Alberto Del Rio defeatedJack Swagger and hismanager,Zeb Colter in a two-on-onehandicap match, and was subjected to a post-match beatdown from the duo, allowingDolph Ziggler a chance to cash-in hisMoney in the Bank contract for theWorld Heavyweight Championship that was held by Del Rio; after a short match, Ziggler pinned Del Rio to win the title for thesecond time. This started a triangular feud amongst Ziggler, Del Rio (who wanted a rematch for the title as per his championship rematch clause) and Swagger (who claimed to be the number one contender to the title), which was to culminate in aTriple ThreatLadder match for the World Heavyweight Championship at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view on May 19. However, heading into that event, Ziggler suffered alegitimateconcussion in a non-title match against Swagger at the May 7tapings ofSmackDown (aired on May 10), thereby preventing him from competing at Extreme Rules. Instead, Del Rio and Swagger faced off each other in an"I Quit" match to decide the number one contender to Ziggler's title, which Del Rio won. Ziggler returned on the June 10 episode ofRaw, and announced he would defend his championship against Del Rio at Payback.

On the May 20 episode ofSmackDown,Fandango attackedThe Miz during anIntercontinental Championship match against the championWade Barrett. During a match between Barrett and Fandango, the WWE universe voted for Miz to be the special guest referee for the match. Barrett shoved Miz, which caused Miz to intentionally attack Barrett to allow Fandango to pin him, but then Miz proceeded to attack Fandango. As Miz still had his rematch clause from theRaw afterWrestleMania 29, he invoked it for Payback, thus setting up a Triple Threat Match between himself, Barrett, and Fandango. On the June 7 episode ofSmackDown, Fandango suffered a concussion, therefore he was removed from the triple threat match. It was revealed on the June 10 episode ofRaw byPaul Heyman that Fandango would be replaced with his client,Curtis Axel.

Also, on the June 7 episode ofSmackDown,Kane had a falling out withDaniel Bryan, leading to the apparent breakup ofTeam Hell No. Bryan was teamed withRandy Orton to faceThe Shield'sSeth Rollins andRoman Reigns, winning the match by disqualification afterDean Ambrose attacked the two. Meanwhile, Kane faced Ryback, winning by disqualification after Ryback put Kane through a table, sending a message to John Cena. On the June 10 episode ofRaw, it was announced byRaw Managing SupervisorVickie Guerrero that Bryan and Orton would face Rollins and Reigns for theWWE Tag Team Championship, and Kane will face Ambrose for theWWE United States Championship.

During the Payback Kickoff pre-show, which was the first pre-show for a WWE pay-per-view to use the "Kickoff" name,Sheamus defeatedDamien Sandow after a Brogue Kick.

The actual pay-per-view opened with a triple threat match for the Intercontinental Championship involving defending champion Wade Barrett, Curtis Axel and The Miz. Axel won the match after Miz applied thefigure-four leglock on Barrett and Axel pinned Barrett to win the title. Axel celebrated his win by looking to the sky and kissing the title, in memory of his fatherMr Perfect, a former Intercontinental Champion.

Next, Kaitlyn defended the Divas Championship against AJ Lee. In the end, Kaitlyn stripped AJ of the belt on her jeans and when the referee was distracted, AJ struck Kaitlyn with the belt. Kaitlyn attempted a spear but AJ forced Kaitlyn to submit to the Black Widow to win the title.

After that, The Shield's Dean Ambrose defended the United States Championship against Kane. The match ended when Kane attempted a Chokeslam on Ambrose but Ambrose reversed into a Snap DDT onto the floor. Ambrose retained the title by countout.

In the fourth match, Dolph Ziggler defended the World Heavyweight Championship against Alberto Del Rio. Adouble turn took place during this match, with Del Rio playing off Ziggler's legitimate concussion by targeting Ziggler's head. In the end, Del Rio performed a Superkick on Ziggler, who was kneeling, to win the title.

In the fifth match, Chris Jericho faced CM Punk. During the match, Punk attempted a GTS but Jericho blocked the move and applied the Walls of Jericho, but Punk escaped from the hold. Jericho performed a Codebreaker on Punk for a near-fall. Punk performed a GTS on Jericho for a near-fall. Punk attempted a Springboard Clothesline on Jericho but Jericho countered into a Codebreaker in mid-air for a near-fall. The match ended when Punk performed the GTS twice on Jericho, and then pinned him for the win.

In the penultimate match, The Shield (Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns) defended the WWE Tag Team Championship against Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton. In the end, Bryan applied the No Lock on Rollins but Reigns broke the hold. Reigns attempted a spear on Bryan but Orton stopped Reigns. Reigns countered an RKO and speared Bryan. Orton executed a RKO on Reigns but Rollins attacked Orton. Rollins performed the Blackout on Bryan to retain the titles.

In the main event, John Cena defended the WWE Championship against Ryback in a Three Stages of Hell match. The first fall was a Lumberjack match. Ryback executed Shell Shocked on Cena to win the first fall. The second fall was a Tables match. Cena executed an Attitude Adjustment through a table on Ryback to win the second fall. The third fall was an Ambulance match. Cena executed an Attitude Adjustment through the roof of the Ambulance on Ryback to win the third fall, thus Cena retained the title.^[15]

The next night onRaw, John Cena challenged anybody to step forward for a shot at the WWE Championship.Mark Henry returned to seemingly announce his retirement before attacking Cena with a World's Strongest Slam. Later, Mr. McMahon announced that Cena would defend his title against Henry atMoney in the Bank.^[16]

CM Punk, along with Paul Heyman, came out to challenge Alberto Del Rio to a match the next night onRaw. Afterwards, Punk told Heyman that while he was still a Paul Heyman guy, he did not want Heyman to be at ringside for any more of his matches. Later that night, Punk defeated Del Rio in that match via countout. During the match, Del Rio tried to back away from the match, but Dolph Ziggler attacked him from behind. After that,Brock Lesnar came out and attacked Punk with an F-5.^[16]

On the June 21 episode ofSmackDown, Alberto Del Rio defeated Chris Jericho via disqualification as Dolph Ziggler assaulted him. Upset that Ziggler interfered, Jericho gave Ziggler a Codebreaker and Del Rio kicked him in the head.^[17] It was announced on the June 24 episode ofRaw that Del Rio would face Ziggler for the World Heavyweight Championship at Money in the Bank.^[18]

Kane was given another shot at the United States Championship against Dean Ambrose. He won via disqualification when Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns interfered, but the title did not change hands.^[16]

Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton faced each other in a no disqualification match, but Bryan suffered nerve damage, giving Orton the victory by match stoppage. Afterwards, Bryan got into an argument withTriple H backstage because of Triple H stopping the match.^[16] Four days later onSmackDown, the two men faced each other again with Bryan getting the countout victory over Orton. Bryan, however, was dissatisfied with the result.^[17] Three days later onRaw, Bryan and Orton faced each other again in a match, but it resulted in a double disqualification, soVickie Guerrero, with the advice of Triple H, granted the rematch with the WWE Universe voting on the stipulation. Later in the night, they faced each other in a street fight, with Bryan defeating Orton by submission.^[18]

On the next night'sRaw, Sheamus faced Team Rhodes Scholars (Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow) in a two-on-one handicap match, but lost.^[16] Four days later onSmackDown, Rhodes faced Sheamus in a losing effort, and after the match, Sandow attacked Sheamus.^[17] Three days later onRaw, Sheamus teamed withChristian to defeat Team Rhodes Scholars.^[18] OnSmackDown, Sheamus defeated Sandow in a Dublin Street Fight.^[19]

Christian returned on the June 17 episode ofRaw. Four days later onSmackDown, after beatingDrew McIntyre, The Shield attacked him,^[16] setting up a match between Christian and Dean Ambrose on the June 26 episode ofMain Event. Christian won after Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns attacked him, untilThe Usos saved him.^[20] On the June 24 episode ofRaw, The Usos won a triple threat tag team match to determine the number one contenders to the WWE Tag Team Championship.^[18] Christian and The Usos defeated The Shield on the June 28 episode ofSmackDown.^[19]

On the June 24 episode ofRaw, Chris Jericho and Ryback fought over being left off the card for Money in the Bank, so Vickie Guerrero put them in a match against each other at the PPV.^[18]

The feud between AJ Lee and Kaitlyn continued at Money in the Bank, where AJ (with Big E Langston) defeated Kaitlyn (with Layla) to retain the WWE Divas Championship.^[21]

Payback returned the following year,^[22] becoming an annual PPV for WWE until the2017 event,^[23] which was the final Payback until it was reinstated in2020.^[24]

Lumberjacks for 3 Stages of Hell match (stage 1):Alex Riley,Antonio Cesaro,Big E Langston,Brodus Clay,Cody Rhodes,Curt Hawkins,Curtis Axel,Damien Sandow,Darren Young,Drew McIntyre,Epico,The Great Khali,Heath Slater,Jey Uso,Jimmy Uso,Jinder Mahal,JTG,Justin Gabriel,Kane,Primo,R-Truth,Sheamus,Sin Cara,The Miz,Ted DiBiase,Tensai,Titus O'Neil,Wade Barrett,Yoshi Tatsu, andZack Ryder.

• Payback Official Website