The event took place during Labor Day weekend on Saturday, September 2, 2023, at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and was the first Payback held since 2020.

It also marked the first Payback held on a Saturday and in September, and the first major WWE event following the deaths of Terry Funk and Bray Wyatt.

This was also WWE's first PPV and livestreaming event held in Pittsburgh since Extreme Rules in July 2018, which was at the same arena.

In the main event, Seth "Freakin" Rollins defeated Shinsuke Nakamura to retain Raw's World Heavyweight Championship.

On June 16, 2023, however, WWE announced the revival of the event, with the seventh Payback to take place during Labor Day weekend on Saturday, September 2, 2023, at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and feature wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brand divisions.

This was also WWE's first pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event held in Pittsburgh since Extreme Rules in July 2018, which was at the same arena.

[19] On the June 19 episode of Raw, Raquel Rodriguez took issue with Women's World Champion Rhea Ripley assaulting Natalya before their match.

This attack subsequently cost Rodriguez and Morgan the Women's Tag Team Championship in a match later that night.

[19] On the July 28 episode of SmackDown, Santos Escobar faced fellow Latino World Order (LWO) stablemate Rey Mysterio in the finals of the United States Championship Invitational tournament to earn a title match against Austin Theory.

[12] This led to a match on the July 17 episode of Raw, where Owens and Zayn successfully defended the championship against Priest and Mysterio.

[13] Also during this time, Mysterio won the NXT North American Championship[26] and successfully defended the title against Zayn after a distraction from Priest and Ripley, who attacked and injured Owens.

[14] Zayn's rivalry with The Judgment Day would continue through the next month, and on the August 21 episode, Owens would make his return.

[19] The following week, Owens and Zayn were scheduled to defend the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship against Bálor and Priest at Payback, and later, Owens and Zayn announced that after talking with WWE official Adam Pearce, the match would be a Pittsburgh Steel City Street Fight.

[27] During the Payback Kickoff pre-show, it was announced that John Cena would be the special guest referee for the match between LA Knight and The Miz, in addition to his hosting duties for the event.

This led into the second match in which SmackDown's LA Knight faced Raw's The Miz which featured Cena as the special guest referee.

After the match, Mysterio celebrated with the Latino World Order (Santos Escobar, Cruz Del Toro, Joaquin Wilde, and Zelina Vega).

[1] In the next match, Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens defended the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship against The Judgment Day (Finn Bálor and Damian Priest).

[1] Backstage, Payback host John Cena, who partially reenacted his Lance Catamaran character from WWE's YouTube series Southpaw Regional Wrestling, interviewed new Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions The Judgment Day (Finn Bálor and Damian Priest).

[1] In the main event, Seth "Freakin" Rollins defended the World Heavyweight Championship against Shinsuke Nakamura.

[1] Kevin Pantoja of 411Mania gave the event a 7 out of 10, praising The Judgment Day's performance and Jey Uso's return.

[31] Hours before WrestleMania 39 Night 2 began, CNBC reported via multiple sources that a deal between WWE and Endeavor, the parent company of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) via Zuffa, was imminent.

The deal involved a merger of WWE with the UFC into a new publicly traded company, with Endeavor holding a 51% stake.

[32] The sale was confirmed the next day on April 3[33] and was finalized on September 12, with WWE merging with the UFC to become divisions of TKO Group Holdings.

The 2023 Payback was in turn the final pay-per-view and livestreaming event held in which WWE was still owned and controlled by the McMahon family.

[35] Also on Raw, Shinsuke Nakamura stated that he underestimated Seth "Freakin" Rollins and he would eventually win the World Heavyweight Championship.

[35] The Judgment Day (Finn Bálor, Damian Priest, "Dirty" Dominik Mysterio, and Rhea Ripley) celebrated their championship wins on Raw.

Sami Zayn then interrupted and noted that it took all five of them for Bálor and Priest to beat him and Owens for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship.

[35] Owens and Zayn then received their championship rematch against Bálor and Priest on the September 25 episode, however, Mysterio and McDonagh interfered once again, leading to Judgment Day retaining.

[38] Also on Raw, Raquel Rodriguez confronted WWE official Adam Pearce about a rematch against Women's World Champion Rhea Ripley due to "Dirty" Dominik Mysterio's interference.

[39] Following more weeks of feuding, Ripley, Rodriguez, and Jax were scheduled to take part in a fatal five-way match for the title at Crown Jewel also involving Zoey Stark and Shayna Baszler.