By Mat Elfring on Apr 26, 2017 10:23 pm
WWE's first post-Wrestlemania event is the Raw brand-exclusive PPV Payback. It takes place on Sunday, April 30, at the SAP center in San Jose, California. The show starts at 8PM ET/5PM PT. There are a few rematches from Wrestlemania to look forward to, as well numerous title defenses. Here's who is on the card and our predictions for Payback.
Big Cass & Enzo Amore vs. Gallows & Anderson (Kickoff Match)
The former Raw Tag Team Champions--Gallows and Anderson--take on the fan favorites Enzo and Big Cass for the Kickoff Show to Payback. There isn't a whole lot to say about this match. Both teams feel a bit overshadowed in the tag team division as of late with the return of The Hardy Boyz. It feels like WWE is trying to build a solid mid-card tag team match. We want both these teams to succeed, and we're giving this one to Gallows and Anderson in hopes of continuing the rivalry. Prediction: Gallows & Anderson win dirty
Neville (c) vs. Austin Aries
(For the Cruiserweight Championship) At Wrestlemania, Neville and Austin Aries put on one of the best matches of the evening. Sadly, some fans missed it because they passed on the Kickoff Show. Now, the two will fight one more time for the Cruiserweight Championship, but this time, it will be on the main Payback card. No matter who comes out on top in this match, the fans are going to be the real winners. The last match was great and by far, the best Kickoff Show match in WWE's history. That being said, we think Aries is going to come out on top here, with a rematch coming at the next PPV. Prediction: Austin Aries wins
The Hardy Boyz (c) vs. Cesaro & Shemus
(For the Raw Tag Team Championship) When The Hardy Boyz returned at Wrestlemania, fans were stunned. They were even more stunned when the duo won the Raw Tag Team Championships. Now, former champs Cesaro and Sheamus get their rematch. What's really cool about this match is that it's all babyfaces. There are no "bad guys" in this match. To make sure the Hardy Boyz aren't just a flash in the pan, they have to win this match and retain the titles. While Cesaro and Sheamus have come a long way and make great champions, the Hardy Boyz reign needs to be longer. Prediction: The Hardy Boyz win
Seth Rollins vs. Samoa Joe
After Seth Rollins beat Triple H at Wrestlemania, we all thought their story was done. However, Triple H had his own hitman in the wings, Samoa Joe. His attacks on Rollins have led to this match at Payback. This is a pretty cool way to continue the storyline without having Triple H in the spotlight. While Rollins is on the rise, we think this is the perfect time to give Joe a huge push. It will be good for his career and a reason to continue the rivalry between these two stars. Prediction: Samoa Joe wins dirty
Kevin Owens (c) vs. Chris Jericho
(For the United States Championship) The Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho saga continues, even though Owens was moved to Smackdown. The two put on one hell of a show at Wrestlemania, so a rematch is welcomed. Can Jericho win the United States Championship or will Owens cement his legacy here? With all the rumors of Jericho leaving WWE to tour with his band, it seems like Owens will come out on top. Sure, Jericho could win, then lose the title at Smackdown's next PPV, Backlash, but it seems the most logical step here is to have Owens retain, then go on to fighting someone else, maybe Shinsuke Nakamura or Tye Dillinger. Prediction: Owens wins
Bayley (c) vs. Alexa Bliss
(For the Raw Women's Championship) Alexa Bliss made the jump from Smackdown to Raw, and she already has her sights set on the Raw Women's Championship. Bayley will defend the title against the newcomer, who thinks she deserves to be champ. We've seen Bayley overcome a lot of odds since she joined the main roster. That's part of the appeal of her character. While Bliss winning this match makes sense, it feels like this could be another situation where Bayley will come out on top. It will be a nice ego check to Bliss as well. Prediction: Bayley wins
Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman
Braun Strowman has been on a bit of a tear, flipping over ambulances and dumpsters while people are inside of them. When it comes to flipping over heavy objects, Strowman is king. However, can he best Roman Reigns? There has been nothing more entertaining on Raw than what's going on with Strowman right now. It's over-the-top and ridiculous, but it's what the Monday night show needs right now. That being said, we're giving the win to Reigns. Why? Because it will lead to another moment of Strowman smashing everything--and everyone--in sight, much like after his loss to Kalisto in the recent Dumpster Match. Prediction: Reigns wins and Strowman destroys everything
Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt (House of Horrors Match)
Randy Orton ended up beating Bray Wyatt at Wrestlemania in quite a shocker. During the Superstar Shakeup, Wyatt was moved to Raw, and even though the stars are on two separate shows, they have some unfinished business. Orton agreed to fight Wyatt in a House of Horrors match. What is a House of Horrors Match? As Orton so eloquently put it on the April 25 episode of Smackdown, "I don't exactly know what a House of Horrors match is, but for some reason, I feel like Sunday, I'm gonna find out." We facepalmed too. There are little to no details about this match. Maybe it has something to do with the weird effects that took place during their match at Wrestlemania? One thing we do know is that it's going to be bizarre and hopefully interesting. Everything about this match is set up for Wyatt to win, and we don't think Orton will overcome the odds. Prediction: Bray Wyatt wins
By GameSpot Staff on Apr 26, 2017 09:30 pm
GameSpot recently attended an event at Pixar Animation Studios in California where we were shown the first 40 minutes of the upcoming Cars 3. We talked to the directors, animators, and designers to find out as much as we could about the upcoming movie, as well as to try and find out exactly what challenges face Lightning McQueen this time around. Cars 3 opens in theaters on June 16, 2017. Warning: Minor spoilers follow.
Meet Lightning McQueen's new rival
Just as Lightning McQueen was s young and hungry racer in the original Cars, a new challenger has arrived in Cars 3 to vie for the Piston Cup. His name is Jackson Storm, and he's a high-tech racing machine that, at least initially, leaves an older car like McQueen in the dust. Pixar character production designer Jay Shuster said Storm was specifically designed to make McQueen look outdated. "Storm is a weapon on wheels, so we want all his lines to be super aggressive, creased and stealthy," Shuster said. "We wanted Storm's graphics to be different. His graphics had to be bold and as elegant as possible. Storm's character actually had to read through to his graphic design. Like McQueen has his iconic lightning bolt, we wanted Storm to have his own icon. We took the international symbol for a hurricane and transformed that into Storm's iconic S." Storm, like McQueen was in the first film, is an arrogant character, and this comes across in how he moves and talks, according to directing animator Jude Brownbill. "The one thing that really helped us define Storm was just the contrast between what his eyes were saying and what his mouth was saying. There will be times in the movie where he will come to McQueen and say: 'Hey McQueen, how you doing? Hope you have a great race.' And he is smiling, and it sounds like he is being honest, but really his eyes are actually telling a different story. It just adds to that feeling of like, I'm not sure if you are a nice character or not. We tried to put that into Storm as much as we could."
About that big crash we see in the Cars 3 trailers...
During an intense race with Storm and other new cars, Lightning pushes himself harder than ever. Due his eagerness to win, he ends up in a serious accident that takes him out of the race. Despite the seriousness of his injuries, McQueen is determined to be the one that decides when he is finished being a racer. And this struggle is the central one in Cars 3; how does a once successful athlete deal with the ravages of age? According to story supervisor Bob Peterson, there are plenty of parallels to be drawn between McQueen's story in Cars 3 and real-world sportspeople. "Any athlete as they get older, they just don't have the legs anymore. What do they do? Do they crumble, or do they try to rise up? In any endeavor of life that's the case. You have people that are either nipping at your heels, or your own abilities fail you, or whatever. And you have a choice to make of whether to crumble or endeavor."
The new management at Rust-eze
With new determination, McQueen declares this will be his best racing season yet. He heads over to Rusty and Dusty's training center to find they sold Rust-eze (who were McQueen's long-time sponsors). Sterling is the new owner. He's a big fan of McQueen's and has brought new high-tech equipment into the facility. Sterling is supportive but also makes it clear he's running a business. He shows McQueen a huge pile of merchandise with the famous racer's image, and Sterling informs McQueen that merch could be his legacy. worried about the brand. If he doesn't win the big race in Florida, he's finished.
McQueen gets a personal trainer
After his crash, Lightning McQueen is forced to work with a trainer, Cruz Ramirez, who, much to McQueen's displeasure, treats him like he's an old car. Cruz is a very enthusiastic character, one who prefers to focus on racing simulations, treadmills, wind tunnels, and virtual reality. In other words, everything other than a race track. Directing animator Jude Brownbill says a lot of Ramirez's on-screen personality was influenced by the comedian who voices her, Cristela Alonzo. "[Ramirez] is determined, smart, and funny, someone who comes from a modest beginning and is seeking success in an unconventional field. The animators went straight to the source and we started looking at Cristela Alonzo's TV show, her stand up clips. We went to watch her stand-up. We just tried to immerse ourselves with everything we could Cristela Alonzo just to really see if there were facial expressions or acting choices, or the comic timing that we could steal and put into the character of Ramirez."
McQueen enters a demolition derby and meets Miss Fritter
After a bit of "virtual" training with Ramirez, McQueen discovers a racing opportunity is close by at Thunderhollow. Covering himself in mud as a disguise, McQueen enters the race, which actually turns out to be a demolition derby. McQueen experiences the dangers of the event and faces off against the deadly Miss Fritter--a tricked-out school bus that shows no mercy. This demolition derby will be one of the key action sequences in the film, and showcases one of the biggest technological hurdles the Pixar team had to overcome for the making of Cars 3: effects supervisor John Reisch said that figuring out how to show mud was the hardest thing the effects team had to contend with for the film. "Mud is one of those substances that, it's not really a liquid, it's not really a solid, it's kind of somewhere in-between. That sort of in-between state is something that's really hard to capture in the theater and simulate correctly. [In this sequence] the audience needs to understand that if you're not moving through this puddle of mud really fast you're going to get stuck, and there are consequences to that. You really don't want to be stuck there with Miss Fritter on the loose," Reisch said.
Ramirez secretly wanted to be... a racer
After the near disaster that was the demolition derby, McQueen takes out his frustration on Ramirez. It's in this scene where we find out a little more about Ramirez's backstory, including the fact that she dreamed of being a racer herself when she was younger, but never had the confidence to follow through on her aspirations. According to the writers of Cars 3, that confidence gap that many young girls seem to experience was one of the key issues they wanted to explore with a character like Ramirez. "I started reading about confidence and the new evidence about girls being less confident and why that is. The confidence-gap, self limiting, and the phenomenon of showing up at try-outs or art class or whatever. Looking around and seeing everyone else's work and just going, 'I'm not good enough.' And walking away," Cars 3 writer Kiel Murray said. "So we were trying that out with Cruz as a potential way to go. [There's a scene] where she asks McQueen at the end of it: 'What was it like for you? How'd you know you could do it?' And he says: 'Well, I just never thought I couldn't.' We played that for women in the studio. A lot of the women, particularly in leadership positions, said that they felt that way. That they wished that they felt as confident as they should be in their position, and that they had this self-doubt that plagued them."
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