The announcement was made on the pre-show.
WWE is presenting their Payback Premium Live Event from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and as the Kickoff show was underway, a graphic was shown which promoted John Cena as the special guest referee for The Miz and L.A. Knight’s singles match.
Cena returned to WWE television on the 9/1 Friday Night SmackDown and it was announced that he would be hosting Payback.
John Cena arbitro especial de la lucha entre LA Knight vs The Miz en Payback 2023 #WWEPayback
Creo que esto era una sorpresa 🤣 Porque recientemente solo hablaron de la lucha y les sorprendio al momento de ver a Cena en la match card del Kickoff pic.twitter.com/bnTRgiZH93
— Deportes Y Luchas WWE (@DeportesYLuchas) September 2, 2023
As of this writing, here’s the advertised lineup for Payback:
- Steel Cage Match: Becky Lynch vs. Trish Stratus
- Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships — Steel City Street Fight: Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn (c) vs. The Judgment Day (Damian Priest & Finn Bálor)
- WWE Women’s World Championship: Rhea Ripley (c) (w/ Dominik Mysterio) vs. Raquel Rodriguez
- WWE United States Championship: Rey Mysterio (c) vs. Austin Theory
- L.A. Knight vs. The Miz (John Cena to guest referee)
- Grayson Waller Effect with Cody Rhodes
- WWE World Heavyweight Championship: Seth Rollins (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
