WWE Payback 2016: Predicting Match Card, Most Likely Swerves at PPV

Although traditionally a pay-per-view built around revenge and WrestleMania retribution, WWE Payback 2016 will this year focus on some of the company's hottest new feuds as the company moves on from WrestleMania 32.

With Shane McMahon in charge of Raw, at least for the past two weeks and probably through to Payback, it seems as if WWE is on the edge of a new era.

With new stars debuting on a frequent basis since 'Mania, there is the possibility for some great matches and some pretty significant swerves. Here's a look at what we can expect from the card itself and what twists the night will throw up.

Likely Match Card

What we already know from this Monday's Raw is there are two matches locked in for Payback. First, it seems as if Zack Ryder's push lasted nothing more than 24 hours, as The Miz vs. Cesaro is confirmed for the show with the WWE Intercontinental Championship on the line.

Elsewhere, the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match will be Roman Reigns vs. AJ Styles after Styles saw off Sami Zayn on Raw to prevent him from becoming the third man in the main event. But what else will we get?

Well, we know with a good degree of certainty we're going to get The New Day taking on the winners of the tag team tournament that is currently taking place. At the time of writing, there are six teams left in the running, but you can probably discount The Ascension and Goldust and R-Truth from the running, as they seem like genuinely unlikely winners.

Enzo and Cass and The Dudley Boyz seem headed for a feud of their own, which leaves us with The Usos and The Vaudevillains. The brackets are confusing, as those two sides will meet in the semifinals, but out of the six sides that remain, it could end up being The New Day vs. The Vaudevillains. Why? Well, The Usos could end up being drawn into battle with Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson after Raw this past week, which suggests the NXT side will get the push.

Then there's the WWE Women's Championship, but after Raw this past Monday, Charlotte vs. Natalya in another meeting of those two seems fair, as Natalya was admittedly screwed by Ric Flair. Enzo and Cass vs. The Dudley Boyz seems like another locked-in match, as does Chris Jericho vs. Dean Ambrose following their segment on Raw. Finally, even though he wasn't on Raw this past week, Baron Corbin vs. Dolph Ziggler should be on the cards.

Swerves

Where are we likely to get some twists? The most obvious location seems like the main event. Will Reigns lose clean to Styles? That seems almost impossible.

So the question then is whether Styles will cheat a win, or whether Reigns will pin Styles clean. If WWE has anything about itself when it comes to its booking, it won't put a clean loss on Styles, so there has to be an element of controversy.

Given Styles' history with Gallows, Anderson and The Bullet Club, could the subplot for the title match be staring us in the face? The Usos, who were attacked by Gallows and Anderson on Raw, are Reigns' family.

Did Styles send that order out to weaken Reigns' standing? It would be an absolutely incredible swerve if WWE pulled it off properly, having Styles join forces with a new Bullet Club in WWE.

We're likely to see a swerve in the Women's Championship, too, probably involving Charlotte getting yet another controversial victory. However, those kinds of wins are running thin now for WWE fans, as Charlotte surely has to be beaten clean at some point.

Finally, could another swerve involve a promotion from NXT? Maybe Charlotte will win controversially again but will be confronted by Bayley post-match? It would be a great moment to have her debut on pay-per-view, that's for sure.