Post by Assman on Mar 14, 2016 19:55:08 GMT
Spoilers ahead of course, so stop reading if you haven't watched it yet and still want to.
Jason Powell of Pro Wrestling Dot Net commented, "Overall, Roadblock is what most of us thought it would be. They weren't going to shake up the WrestleMania lineup three weeks away. I know some fans convinced themselves it was possible, but it just never struck me as being realistic regardless of whether it would have made for a better WrestleMania lineup".
This paragraph pretty much sums up my thoughts. I give it a 3/5 rating as it was a solid event with a couple of standout matches.
____________________________________
I enjoyed this one, it was good seeing The New Day work as a face tag team despite their antics being no different from their usual work. Seeing Big E get the hot tag was really strange, but the match was solid throughout. The League of Nations are being amde to look like chumps though, not helped by Barrett very publicly handing in his notice.
Nothing much to this contest, the interesting part was before the match when Jericho solidified his heel change in Canada by declaring his embarrassment by being Canadian. Swagger was trying to be the face but the 'All American American' went over like a fart in church with the Toronto crowd, I did cringe when at one point he tried to hype up the crowd for his "we the people" thing while getting boo'd mercilessly, but otherwise this match only served to further Jericho's inevitable match with AJ Styles at WrestleMania. Interestingly Jericho did soundly out-wrestle Swagger which didn't go unnoticed by JBL on commentary.
This was the match of the night for me, Enzo and Cass were really over with the crowd and should get a call-up to the main roster soon which I think it what this match was primarily put together for - to see how they got along with a proper WWE crowd. They definitely lived up to the challenge as did The revival it has to be said, with back and forth action from start to finish and a couple of cool spots too, in particular a gnarly tackle on Enzo from Dawson as he tried to jump to make a tag. It's always risky having two tag team matches on a card, especially following The new Day but this turned out to be a good choice.
These two fought each other in the finals of an NXT Womens Championship tournament in 2014 after Paige vacated it, which JBL rightly said put Charlotte on the map. What he didn't say was that it was thanks to Natalya back then as it was at Roadblock, I've always maintained that Charlotte is only as good as her opponent makes her out to be and is vastly overrated as a wrestler. This match was slow to start but when it got going it was excellent, but there was little chance of Natalya winning as she has nothing going for her from a storyline perspective.
In what was supposed to be a one-one-one match between Lesnar and Wyatt after "making a deal with the devil" it became two on one. What this meant is Luke Harper took on Lesnar while Wyatt looked on from the outside, but to my surprise Harper got in some reasonable offence including his finisher and despite the match being short it was fairly even throughout. Bray not being involved was a huge letdown, him chickening out of the match made his character look even less threatening than the joke it already is.
This was a weird one, the crowd were hot for Zayn when he made his entrance but dead throughout the match, highlights included chants for CM Punk and The APA strangely. To make matters worse Zayn was dominated by Stardust for more than 12 minutes until a quick turnaround and the Helluva kick to finish. If he is supposed to be a threat to Kevin Owens he needs to look stronger in future matches leading up to WrestleMania.
This one well and truly exceeded my expectations, I assumed Trips would get in most of the offence before winning comfortably. What went down was a back-and-forth war, and a title change was teased when the referee counted 3 but then immediately changed his mind when he saw Ambrose's feet under the ropes while pinning The Game. After missing an elbow through the announcers table Ambrose just beat a 10 count to be greeted by a Pedigree for his trouble, and Triple H then immediately collapsed outside the ring after a hard fought win. What I liked most about this match was how good Triple H sold Ambrose's attacks, for once Ambrose looked really strong and will hopefully go into WrestleMania with a good chance against Brock... unless he's routinely annihilated on Raw leading up to the event. But yeah, excellent match and a solid event for a glorified house show, I give it a 3/5 overall.
Jason Powell of Pro Wrestling Dot Net commented, "Overall, Roadblock is what most of us thought it would be. They weren't going to shake up the WrestleMania lineup three weeks away. I know some fans convinced themselves it was possible, but it just never struck me as being realistic regardless of whether it would have made for a better WrestleMania lineup".
This paragraph pretty much sums up my thoughts. I give it a 3/5 rating as it was a solid event with a couple of standout matches.
____________________________________
The New Day (Big E and Kofi Kingston) (c) (with Xavier Woods) defeated The League of Nations (Sheamus and King Barrett) to retain the WWE Tag Team Championships
I enjoyed this one, it was good seeing The New Day work as a face tag team despite their antics being no different from their usual work. Seeing Big E get the hot tag was really strange, but the match was solid throughout. The League of Nations are being amde to look like chumps though, not helped by Barrett very publicly handing in his notice.
Chris Jericho defeated Jack Swagger
Nothing much to this contest, the interesting part was before the match when Jericho solidified his heel change in Canada by declaring his embarrassment by being Canadian. Swagger was trying to be the face but the 'All American American' went over like a fart in church with the Toronto crowd, I did cringe when at one point he tried to hype up the crowd for his "we the people" thing while getting boo'd mercilessly, but otherwise this match only served to further Jericho's inevitable match with AJ Styles at WrestleMania. Interestingly Jericho did soundly out-wrestle Swagger which didn't go unnoticed by JBL on commentary.
The Revival (Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder) (c) defeated Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady (with Carmella) to retain the NXT Tag Team Championships
This was the match of the night for me, Enzo and Cass were really over with the crowd and should get a call-up to the main roster soon which I think it what this match was primarily put together for - to see how they got along with a proper WWE crowd. They definitely lived up to the challenge as did The revival it has to be said, with back and forth action from start to finish and a couple of cool spots too, in particular a gnarly tackle on Enzo from Dawson as he tried to jump to make a tag. It's always risky having two tag team matches on a card, especially following The new Day but this turned out to be a good choice.
Charlotte (c) (with Ric Flair) defeated Natalya to retain the WWE Divas Championship
These two fought each other in the finals of an NXT Womens Championship tournament in 2014 after Paige vacated it, which JBL rightly said put Charlotte on the map. What he didn't say was that it was thanks to Natalya back then as it was at Roadblock, I've always maintained that Charlotte is only as good as her opponent makes her out to be and is vastly overrated as a wrestler. This match was slow to start but when it got going it was excellent, but there was little chance of Natalya winning as she has nothing going for her from a storyline perspective.
Brock Lesnar (with Paul Heyman) defeated The Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper)
In what was supposed to be a one-one-one match between Lesnar and Wyatt after "making a deal with the devil" it became two on one. What this meant is Luke Harper took on Lesnar while Wyatt looked on from the outside, but to my surprise Harper got in some reasonable offence including his finisher and despite the match being short it was fairly even throughout. Bray not being involved was a huge letdown, him chickening out of the match made his character look even less threatening than the joke it already is.
Sami Zayn defeated Stardust
This was a weird one, the crowd were hot for Zayn when he made his entrance but dead throughout the match, highlights included chants for CM Punk and The APA strangely. To make matters worse Zayn was dominated by Stardust for more than 12 minutes until a quick turnaround and the Helluva kick to finish. If he is supposed to be a threat to Kevin Owens he needs to look stronger in future matches leading up to WrestleMania.
Triple H (c) defeated Dean Ambrose
This one well and truly exceeded my expectations, I assumed Trips would get in most of the offence before winning comfortably. What went down was a back-and-forth war, and a title change was teased when the referee counted 3 but then immediately changed his mind when he saw Ambrose's feet under the ropes while pinning The Game. After missing an elbow through the announcers table Ambrose just beat a 10 count to be greeted by a Pedigree for his trouble, and Triple H then immediately collapsed outside the ring after a hard fought win. What I liked most about this match was how good Triple H sold Ambrose's attacks, for once Ambrose looked really strong and will hopefully go into WrestleMania with a good chance against Brock... unless he's routinely annihilated on Raw leading up to the event. But yeah, excellent match and a solid event for a glorified house show, I give it a 3/5 overall.