On Sunday night, the WWE aired its Payback pay-per-view in Chicago, Ill., in which was met with mixed opinions. 

The pre-show match featured two superstars who have clearly gotten lost in the creative shuffle; Sheamus and Damien Sandow.  While Sandow dominated a brunt of the matchup, it was The Great White who prevailed with a clean win.

In a triple threat match for the Intercontinental title that featured Wade Barrett defending against the Miz and last-minute Fandango replacement Curtis Axel, it was the latter that prevailed.  While the Awesome one locked in the figure-four, Axel ended the match by pinning Barrett for the victory.

The Shield's Dean Ambrose won over Kane to retain his U.S. title.  The champion hit The Big Red Machine with a DDT, which resulted in a count-out.

In what was arguably the most unpredictable of all the night's outcomes, Alberto Del Rio overcame Dolph Ziggler to become the new World champion.  The Showoff was clearly making it a point to sell his previous concussion.  Ultimately, the Mexican Aristocrat gave him a kick to the back of the head to finish him off.

CM Punk made his return to the ring with a victory over Chris Jericho.  The self-proclaimed "best in the world" was finally able to hook Y2J for the pin after two straight GTS's.  The result wasn't a surprising one, as nobody expected Punk to job to Jericho in his hometown.

Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins beat the team of Randy Orton and Daniel Bryan to keep the tag team straps inside The Shield.  After a misqueue by Bryan had him inadvertently hitting The Viper with a suicide dive, Orton payed his partner back by shoving him into a Reigns' spear.

In one of the most highly entertaining matches of the night, it was John Cena who defeated Ryback in The Three Stages of Hell match.  The Feed Me More superstar won the lumberjack stage.  However, it was Cena who prevailed in the tables match and gave Ryback an Attitude Adjustment on top of the ambulance to give him the overall victory.

Interesting to note, it was announced on the show that Rob Van Dam will be making his return to the WWE at its Money In The Bank pay-per-view in July. 

Be sure to tune into Monday Night Raw tonight to see the Payback aftermath.  The 3-hour program will begin at 8 p.m. EDT on the USA network.