WWE Payback 2015: Booking Mistakes That Must Be Avoided

In just over two weeks, WWE's 2015 Payback event will be held at Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, Maryland.

While it may seem like that is quite a bit of time to work out any kinks along the way, keep in mind that there are only a handful of television episodes in which to fully set things up—chiefly two episodes of Monday Night Raw.

That doesn't leave much room for error and can lead to a rush job. In that case, the end result would likely be riddled with problems that hinder the show greatly.

To navigate around as many obstacles as possible, WWE must plan ahead and not fall victim to many past mistakes with such a small window between shows.

In that process, there are a few things that immediately stand out as potential headaches that could easily turn into migraines and ruin the pay-per-view.

Don't Simply Rinse and Repeat

Only two matches have been properly announced so far: The WWE World Heavyweight Championship is on the line in a Triple Threat match, and the United States Championship up for grabs in an "I Quit" match.

Out of the six men involved in those, five have already faced off at the past two events, if not more.

Randy Orton was victorious over Seth Rollins at WrestleMania but lost to him at Extreme Rules. To help spice things up a bit, Roman Reigns has been added into the mix, but that isn't exactly breaking new ground considering all the tag team matches they've been involved in recently.

Even worse, though, is that John Cena and Rusev will have their fourth singles match together for the United States title, tossing all thoughts of a rubber-match "best of three" concept out the window.

Credit: WWE.com

One of the biggest drawbacks to having so much programming in WWE is that a lot of it ends up being a repeat of what the audience has already seen. Whether it be rewinds and flashbacks to old segments or just the same match done to death, it just keeps happening.

At a certain point, people get tired of watching what's become familiar over and over again.

Even when you ignore all the years in which the same story has been told of Cena's getting beaten down and then finding the courage and willpower to get up and win, his feud with Rusev has been no different.

Is it really necessary to watch that for a fourth time, when the outcome is fully known? Wouldn't WWE just be going through the same motions?

These matches are probably set in stone and will not change, but WWE can't just fill the rest of the card up with the same booking mentality.

Yes, it's bad to abandon feuds too quickly, but an entire event consisting of nothing but rematches feels superfluous. Why watch it if you've already seen it?

Dolph Ziggler and Sheamus shouldn't have a generic singles match, and nor should Neville and Bad News Barrett or Nikki Bella and Naomi unless there is a valid reason to repeat, outside of laziness.

When it comes to the other matches on the card, WWE needs to put some fresh ideas out there and not simply rehash what has been done for months on television.

Don't Wait Until the Last Minute for Match Announcements

If the build to a pay-per-view is meant to get the fans excited and interested in checking out the show, the audience needs to be given a chance to anticipate it.

One of the biggest killers of intrigue is the absence of something intriguing.

The longer WWE waits to announce some of the matches, the more it looks like the creative team only cares enough about the two matches mentioned above and that everything else is an afterthought.

Sure, those are the marquee matches that will grab the most attention, but if they are all that matters, there's no point in investing four hours in the program.

After all, if two half-hour segments are all WWE can muster up the energy to care about promoting, why should fans care about seeing what is so clearly filler?

Whenever WWE quickly announces the majority of the matches to bulk out a thin card only a few days before an event, it always reeks of desperation.

It's as if the creative team suddenly woke up Monday morning and realized that only a small portion of the show was booked and went into panic mode, scrambling to add matches retroactively based on what has happened the previous week on Raw.

Movie trailers are released well in advance to get people talking and let their anticipation snowball; studios don't announce that a film is coming out later that week and hope everyone hears the message.

If you happened to miss the go-home episode, you'll have no clue what feuds you should be interested in checking out that weekend on the pay-per-view.

With Bray Wyatt essentially spitting out utter nonsense for the past few weeks and then picking a fight with Ryback—who has had no real interaction with him lately—WWE is running out of time to make this mean something beyond a simple retaliation for a minuscule attack.

Credit: WWE.com

For Extreme Rules, WWE waited so long to officially cut Daniel Bryan from the card that there wasn't enough time to make the replacement match serve a more significant purpose than acting as a consolation prize.

Luckily, that match ended up being entertaining, but the situation created more pressure than necessary for it to deliver. It had to fight an uphill battle against the prejudice of backup status, that it wasn't good enough to be the first choice.

Fans should be heading into an event feeling that a great show is definitely in store for them because WWE will do what has been advertised, instead of being hopeful and trusting that the missing puzzle pieces will show up and fall into place.

Don't Overcomplicate Things

Planning ahead is a necessity, but too much planning can be counterproductive.

One big mistake WWE needs to avoid is running into an issue where the event itself is inhibited by overbooking.

The Superstars should be expected to deliver on their performances and craft a good show without having to be micromanaged and babied each step of the way.

Meddling too much with how a segment is supposed to go down often leads to an oversaturation of ideas.

For example, with the steel cage match at Extreme Rules, so many stories were being told that they all got in each other's way. Was the focal point the banning of the RKO, the possible interference of J&J Security blocked by the cage or Kane's role as the gatekeeper while disliking Rollins?

In the end, Kane's story overruled everything else. Orton's inability to use his finisher barely came into play.

Sometimes it's better to let the matches speak for themselves and not saddle them with too many outside factors.

Yes, the stacked deck helped build to the pay-per-view, but the shows themselves still need to be able to do the job.

The ends justify the means in many ways, and just as the last match of the night can ruin what came before it by leaving a bad taste in fans' mouths, a bad setup can be forgiven if the finished product is good.

Alternatively, a great setup with a poor payoff will be even more disappointing because fans got their hopes up.

It's also important to keep in mind that while simplicity can be boring, making something complex for the sake of complexity isn't a surefire guarantee that it will be better by default.

Too often, complexity leads to an erratic mess that gets in the way, whereas straight-line booking would accomplish something more efficiently.

There's a fine line between booking the same way for Cena to defeat Rusev time and time again in comparison to concocting some convoluted method to end the match just to avoid making either person look weak.

Don't book Ziggler and Sheamus in a Kiss Me Arse match if you don't want the winner to do what the stipulation states. Think of the ending you want to do, then work backward.

Credit: WWE.com

Don't Forget About Money in the Bank and SummerSlam

It's not all about working backward from the intended results of the pay-per-view but about looking forward, too.

In the end, if everyone is honest with each other, Payback is pretty much the textbook definition of a B-level event.

At its best, even if the card looks fantastic going into the show, it still won't be viewed by the general audience as something special that cannot be missed, because it just isn't one of WWE's priority pay-per-views.

WrestleMania has a different mystique than anything else in the company, but even Royal Rumble has more weight to it than something like Night of Champions.

Two of the biggest shows of the year directly follow Payback: Money in the Bank and SummerSlam. Those two cannot be ignored, and Payback should whet the audience's appetite for them, not take it away.

WWE is a progressive company that is always supposed to build up to the next show, and those are two of the most important of the entire year. There's no reason not to use Payback to help prepare the audience for Money in the Bank as much as possible.

Theoretically, if Payback has a match for a vacated Intercontinental Championship, WWE should make sure the man who walks out with the title is the person who will hold it going into SummerSlam.

The main talent used to promote SummerSlam should look strong at Payback just as they should at Money in the Bank. WWE shouldn't rush to build two months of credibility at the latter show alone.

With proper foresight, there shouldn't be any need to backpedal when setting up Money in the Bank to correct a mistake at Payback.

WWE has its work cut out for it to truly set up a great pay-per-view with Payback 2015, but if the above mistakes don't come into play, there's as good a shot as there ever for the company to pull it off.

What problems do you see WWE running into with Payback? What steps would you take to ensure those errors don't occur? Tell us what's on your mind in the comments below!

Anthony Mango is the owner of the wrestling website Smark Out Moment and the host of the podcast show Smack Talk on YouTube, iTunes and Stitcher. You can follow him on Facebook and elsewhere for more.