WWE Payback: Roman Reigns, AJ Styles battle; Charlotte courts controversy

CHICAGO, May 2 (UPI) -- Rivalries came to a head during WWE Payback as Roman Reigns finally defended his title against AJ Styles.

With the WWE World Heavyweight Championship on the line Sunday, Reigns and Styles held nothing back in the main event, trading Phenomenal Forearms and Superman Punches throughout the match that had to be restarted twice.

After Styles had planted Reigns through the announcer's table, he won by count-out after being unable to roll the champ back into the ring before the count of 10. This gave The Phenomenal One a victory but not Reigns' championship. Shane McMahon, who was named co-general manager of Raw alongside his sister Stephanie earlier in the night, demanded the match be restarted with no count-outs to determine a true winner.

Later, Reigns would accidentally strike Styles below the belt ending the contest once again in disqualification and again awarding the challenger a victory with no title. Stephanie then restarted the match, this time with no disqualifications. This led to Styles' Bullet Club friends, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, to interfere in the match attacking Reigns to give their former partner an advantage.

Reigns' cousins, The Usos, then charged to the ring to even the odds and amid the chaos, Reigns was able to strike Styles with a Spear for the three count. "#AndStill #WWE World Heavyweight Champion...@WWERomanReigns!" the company wrote on Instagram alongside a backstage photo of Reigns and The Usos holding the coveted title.

The Women's Championship was also on the line Sunday as Charlotte, alongside her Hall of Fame father Ric Flair, defended her title against Natalya, who brought along her Hall of Fame uncle Bret "The Hitman" Hart for backup.

Despite pulling out all the stops, Charlotte remained unable to keep Natalya down, as she refused to quit, even handily reversing the long-running champ's patent submission maneuver, the Figure-Eight. Feeling desperate, Charlotte then mocked Natalya and Hart by applying the Sharpshooter when suddenly referee Charles Robinson called for the bell and ended the match despite Natalya never tapping out to her own move.

Declared the winner in controversial fashion, the scene echoed the infamous events of Nov. 9, 1997, when Hart's championship match against Shawn Michaels, known as the Montreal Screwjob, was ended early after he was put into the Sharpshooter and declared the loser despite never tapping out. The event was orchestrated by Vince McMahon at the time to strip Hart of his title as he was moving onto a rival organization.

Seeing how Natalya got cheated out of a championship the same way, Hart entered the ring much to the crowd's delight and knocked out Flair who was celebrating his daughter's victory. The Hart family then applied the Sharpshooter the correct way to both Flair and Charlotte who repeatedly tapped the mat in pain."Sharpshooters in stereo!!" WWE wrote on Twitter alongside a video of the closing moments.

Other notable moments from Payback included Kevin Owens defeating his longtime nemesis Sami Zayn, Dean Ambrose getting a victory over Chris Jericho and The Miz retaining his Intercontinental Championship over Cesaro.

WWE Superstar Enzo Amore suffered a concussion at the event during his match with partner Big Cass against the Vaudevillians to determine the No. 1 contenders for the WWE Tag Team Championships. Amore since been reported to be able to walk, talk and use his extremities.