WWE Roadblock: End of the Line 2016 PPV Review

Introduction: Going into this show I wasn’t that excited but the quality of the wrestling on the card looked strong and it was. Cesaro & Sheamus versus New Day was a good opener, Rollins and Jericho produced a good match, Sasha and Charlotte had a very good match in the Ironman for the Women’s Title and Owens and Reigns had a solid main event for the Universal Title. So the quality of wrestling was again good like it has been from the Raw PPV’s since the brand split. However the problem with Raw PPV’s is how they are booked and that was the case again here. Again several of the matches ended in a fashion I wasn’t a great fan of, SmackDown seems to produce good wrestling and logical booking, Raw produces just as good wrestling but falls down with how their PPV’s are booked. Clash of Champions and Hell in a Cell were the same, you could say this was very much a typical Raw PPV to close out 2016.

Owens Leaves Champion Via DQ As 2016 Closes With Solid Raw PPV

Kickoff: Big Cass vs. Rusev: On the kickoff show Big Cass went one on one with Rusev. This match was a whole load of nothing, short, didn’t do a lot in the time they were given and

had a lame ending. Cass chased Rusev through the crowd before Rusev just got back in before the ten count as Cass was checking on Enzo. Obviously they didn’t want either guy losing clean to the other but it was just a lame finish to a pretty lame kickoff match if I’m honest.

Match Rating: *1/2

WWE Raw Tag Team Championship Match: The New Day © vs. Cesaro & Sheamus: To open the show we got New Day defending the tag titles against Cesaro and Sheamus. This was a good opening match, these teams have worked with each other a lot recently and have obviously built a decent chemistry with each other. New Day were pulling out every trick in the book using a variety of heel shenanigans to retain although they are supposed to be babyfaces so that doesn’t make a lot of sense. But nevertheless Cesaro and

Sheamus kept surviving every trick in New Day’s book and it built the drama of the match well because there were multiple times I thought New Day were going to steal the victory. In the end though we finally have new Raw Tag Champions when Cesaro avoided making the tag to Sheamus sacrificing himself so his partner could make the pin to win the titles. I must admit I am glad New Day’s reign is over, I don’t dislike them but they broke the record and there was no longer any reason for them to hold the titles, they had been champions for more than long enough. Although I do maintain I think an actual team like Gallows and Anderson should’ve ended this record setting reign instead of Cesaro and Sheamus who have been forced to team together. Cesaro and Sheamus aren’t a bad duo at all and have pretty good chemistry as partners but Cesaro could be doing much better things however clearly they have plans for him and Sheamus as a team going forward. But nevertheless it was a very solid opener and we finally have new Raw Tag Champions so I can’t complain.

Match Rating: ***1/4

Ten-Minute Time Limit: Sami Zayn vs. Braun Strowman: Up next was Zayn versus Strowman with the ten-minute time limit. I had mixed feelings about this, first off I liked what

they did in the ten minutes. Sami’s selling of Braun’s offence was wonderful and the whole thing with Foley coming down wanting to throw the towel in for Zayn but Zayn refusing to let him do it told a good story. And Sami lasted the ten minutes and then was announced the winner and that’s the bit I didn’t get. I don’t get how Sami lasting ten minutes made him the winner of that match. He didn’t do anything to beat Strowman, he didn’t actually defeat him. So apparently the stipulation was if Sami lasted ten minutes he would win but neither man actually won the match so surely the official result must be a draw. A football team wouldn’t get three points for drawing a match, I’m sure football fans will understand that! So a good ten minutes that told a good story but the official result made absolutely no sense in my mind.

Match Rating: **1/2

Seth Rollins vs. Chris Jericho: Up next Seth Rollins took on Chris Jericho one on one. This was a good match as I knew it would be but I just wasn’t very interested or excited by it. And that’s because we’ve already seen this match twice in recent weeks on Raw, if we hadn’t have already seen it before I’m sure I would have felt more positive about this match. I’m

not knocking the quality of wrestling Seth and Jericho produced here, that was very good stuff and they clearly have a decent chemistry together but there was just no excitement going into the match, there was no added stipulations or gimmicks so it made the whole thing slightly underwhelming. The finish was also pretty predictable, Owens coming out in an attempt to help Jericho but in the end providing a distraction that allowed Seth to pick up the victory. So you could see the finish coming a mile off in a match we’ve already seen multiple times before so nothing special about this but very solid wrestling from the two men.

Match Rating: ***1/4

Triple Threat Match for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship: Rich Swann © vs. The Brian Kendrick vs. TJ Perkins: Up next Swann defended the Cruiserweight Title against Kendrick and

Perkins. This match was a major let down to me, looking at the card before the show this was one of the matches that stood out to me. I thought it had the potential to be the best cruiserweight match since the reintroduction of the division to the main roster but it was massively underwhelming. It was far too short, they didn’t do bad in the time they got but the crowd could care less about it and

it came off very flat. What half-saved it was a decent post-match beat down by Neville when he came out and laid waste to everyone in sight. They haven’t been using Neville at all lately so getting him in the Cruiserweight Division is the best thing for him. I’d like to see Neville pushed as a monster of the division and hopefully he can spark it into life because it badly needs it.

Match Rating: **1/4

30-Minute Ironman Match for the WWE Raw Women’s Championship: Sasha Banks © vs. Charlotte Flair: Up next Sasha defended the Raw Women’s Title against Charlotte in the thirty-minute Ironman Match. As with this entire feud and every match these two girls have had recently it’s been mixed feelings. Again the quality of wrestling was really good, I knew it was going to be a really good match even if I was sick of seeing it by this point. I would say it was match of the night, not on the same level as the Ironman Match Sasha had with Bayley in NXT but nevertheless still really good between these two. Sasha took a really nasty looking spot flying off the apron with her face bouncing off the steel steps and near the end of the match she had a lot of blood coming from the mouth but the story of the match and the drama was entertaining to

watch. But I did of course have my problems with this, first of all Sasha was on the verge of winning and just had to last literally two more seconds in the figure-eight to win the match two to one but she tapped out with literally seconds left, just why would you do that? And then the match went into overtime, set up for Sasha to pull out that last fall and end the feud as champion but of course that didn’t happen. Charlotte scored the final fall to win back the title again, yes again! Since this feud began these two have had six championship matches and the title has switched every single time. Three times Sasha’s won it on Raw and three times Charlotte’s won it right back again at the following PPV, it’s absolutely ludicrous by this point. I’m all for drawn out, well told feuds but you don’t have to hot potato a title back and forth to further a feud. I know Bayley is the next No.1 Contender and they probably want her challenging the heel but what would you rather have people Charlotte versus Bayley or Sasha versus Bayley? For me this has confirmed Charlotte is the most over-pushed member of the roster, people say they shove Roman Reigns down our throats but nowhere near like they shove Charlotte. I’m glad the feud is done, the work in the ring these two women have done has been very good but they really have done their best to try and ruin it with the way they’ve booked it and again this was another very good title match hurt by the wrong woman going over again.

Match Rating: ***1/2

WWE Universal Championship Match: Kevin Owens © vs. Roman Reigns: In the main event Owens defended the Universal Title against Reigns. This was a good main event,

maybe not as good as I hoped but still pretty entertaining for the most part. The match got better as it went on, Owens pulled out two frog splashes from the barricade finally breaking the announce table and there was a number of cool moments in this match. I’ve always thought these guys match up well and I think they’re capable of better than this but not to discredit this match as it was a solid main event. However yet again with the Universal Title it was soured by another interference loaded finish. Jericho came out and hit Owens with the codebreaker which disqualified Reigns as Jericho hugged Owens seemingly reuniting them as a partnership. Rollins then came out and the show ended with he and Reigns laying waste to Owens and Jericho. I suppose I should just be relieved Owens didn’t drop the belt to Reigns and I am but they really do try their best to make Owens look like the weakest champion ever. He’s literally not defended that title once without Jericho’s help now, I know he’s a heel and a dirty win is necessary now and then but he’s never defended it clean and on his

own once. It just stunk of let’s just throw this match away with a DQ ending because we just need to get through this PPV and they really are trying to make the worst job possible with Owens as champion which is a shame when you’re as talented as him. This would signal to me at least a four-way at the Rumble, we’ll just have to see what direction they head in but again with Raw a good match with a not so good ending.

Match Rating: ***1/4

Overall Thoughts: Like I said a very typical Raw PPV, good wrestling but poor booking in a lot of areas so a bit of a mixed way to end the PPV year for 2016 but at least now we can start to build towards the Road to WrestleMania.

Overall Rating: 7/10