WWE News & Spoilers: Two Huge ‘Payback’ 2017 Matches Announced On ‘Raw’ For Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins

On the latest episode of Monday Night Raw, several big matches were announced for the upcoming WWE Payback 2017 pay-per-view. While WWE fans already know of several matches on the card, these newest matchups could very well help determine who gets a WWE Universal Championship shot in the coming months. Both matches were announced early on in the show, with another set to be announced later on during the night.

According to ProWrestling.net when the latest Raw episode got started in Columbus, Ohio, the monstrous heel Braun Strowman arrived out to the ring to gloat over the damage and destruction he caused last week. That included destroying Roman Reigns backstage, shoving him off a dock area on a stretcher, and later flipping over the ambulance he was loaded into. It resulted in Reigns being taken to a hospital where it was later determined he has suffered a separated shoulder and cracked ribs.

WWE Raw General Manager Kurt Angle came out and confronted Strowman once he said he was going to continue tearing his way through the back locker room to show how much of a monster he is.

After asking Braun what he was trying to prove, Angle announced that he’s giving Roman Reigns what he requested: a match against Strowman at the Payback pay-per-view in less than two weeks. Once the match was made known to the WWE Universe and Braun, Angle told Strowman to take the night off because he didn’t want any more issues from him this week.

Per #Raw General Manager @RealKurtAngle, #TheBigDog @WWERomanReigns will be out for PAYBACK against @BraunStrowman in two weeks! #WWEPayback pic.twitter.com/0iWMvl4jqx

— WWE (@WWE) April 18, 2017

Not long after that match was made public, a second new match was announced for the WWE Payback card. It was learned that Seth Rollins will get another “revenge” match of sorts to follow up his victory over Triple H at WrestleMania 33. This time around, Rollins will take on the guy who put him out of action for weeks ahead of the big pay-per-view: Samoa Joe. The two have not really been involved in a one-on-one situation yet, but have been seen working opposite one another in tag team matches at WWE’s live events in different cities.

Rollins played the role of “guest commentator” on Raw during Samoa Joe’s match against Chris Jericho. During that, he got to watch firsthand as Joe locked a Coquina Clutch on Jericho to force a tap out. Reigns, who Kurt Angle said wasn’t present for tonight’s show, may have been watching from another location as Braun Strowman destroyed Goldust and R-Truth backstage. Strowman was even informed again by a referee that he had to leave according to the GM Kurt Angle, but Braun refused to do so.

The two Payback matches that were announced didn’t have any additional stipulations attached to them, but one has to wonder if the WWE might add something to the Reigns vs. Strowman matchup. There have been some WWE rumors floating around that the winner of this will challenge Brock Lesnar for the WWE Universal title at a later pay-per-view. Not only that, it would seem more fitting for these two behemoths of the ring to fight in something like a No Disqualification, Stretcher match or Ambulance match, based on what went down last week on Raw.

As for the Rollins vs. Samoa Joe match, it’s also going to be a one-on-one matchup as of this report. However, it seems it could lead to either star becoming a top contender for the Universal Championship down the road. It should be interesting to see if Rollins is able to follow up his big win over Triple H by defeating one of the newest stars on the roster, or if it gives Joe some momentum. There’s also that outside chance that “The Game” Triple H shows up to get involved after what happened to Stephanie McMahon at WrestleMania.

The two matches that were just announced on Monday evening join several other already announced matches. According to CBS Sports, other matches include Austin Aries vs. Neville for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship, The Hardy Boyz defending their Raw tag team titles against No. 1 contenders Sheamus and Cesaro, and Chris Jericho in a rematch opportunity against Kevin Owens for the United States title. Also, Randy Orton defends the WWE World Championship against Bray Wyatt in a “House of Horrors” match.

WWE’s Payback pay-per-view takes place on Sunday, April 30th, from San Jose, California.

[Featured Image by WWE]