Nice Poster!
Ladies and Gents welcome
to another edition of Seanomaniac's wrestling reviews, tonight we look forward
to the detour on the road to Wrestlemania known as Roadblock. Will it be a
predictable show? Will there be twists and turns? Will we all complain about
the product but still watch on Monday? There is only one way to find out so
let's do this!
Opening Video Hype for tonight's matches, focusing on the championship
match and Bray Wyatt vs Brock Lesnar. We are live from Toronto and this is
going to be a fun show(I hope!).
The New Day
vs League Of Nations(Tag Team Title Match)
Promo from The New Day, I am unsure how to feel about a face turn
for everyone's favorite tag team, I am confident they can make it work as they
are set to face Sheamus and Barrett. Standard tag match from both teams here as
Kingston is worked over as the face in peril while Big E awaits the tag. Big E
runs wild before things break down with Sheamus and Kingston battling in the
ring. Kofi takes a nasty bump, leaping from the top rope to jump over Sheamus
but he lands head first on the canvas. League of Nations have Big E beaten but
Xavier Woods jumps up to the apron distracting the referee, allowing Big E to
recover and hit The Big Ending on Barrett for the win. It was a good match,
nothing special and they treated it like a glorified house show match. Solid
opener for me.
Chris Jericho
vs Jack Swagger
A match I was not expecting and I was wondering why Jericho was
mentioning Swagger in his promo haha. Yeah so to bring out Jack Swagger was a
terrible idea, one for the fact that not one person gave a damn or believed he
could win and secondly, an all american is not going to be cheered against a
canadian in Canada, especially a legend like Jericho. What really struck me
about this match is the fact that Swagger has been in WWE for almost 10 years
now, Miz, Kofi and Dolph have all been there for longer than Swagger but I
always lump them all in together as emerging around 2008/2009(even though Miz
was around since 2006). My point about this is Pro Wrestling Noah and All Japan
Pro Wrestling were often criticized for not building new stars or pushing stars
too quickly and I cannot help but see the similarities with the WWE as they
have struggled to build new stars for so many years and it seems that the likes
of Swagger, Kofi, Miz and Ziggler for all of them, their best days could be far
behind them. Anyways, there was zero heat for this match, the fans were simply
waiting for Jericho to win this match and when it happened, they still could
not care about it. Walls of Jericho and Swagger taps out. A Dud but it is
understandable, WWE has to make Jericho look good to get him ready for Styles
and Swagger was the sacrificial lamb.
The Revival vs Enzo &
Big Cass(NXT Tag Titles)
A promo detailing the history of the rivalry was a
nice touch as some fans may not be familiar with NXT(I know if you are reading
this it would be hard to believe). I have to wonder whether this was a test by
Vince to see what all the hype was about Enzo and Cass by putting them on this
show. This was a good match from both teams, the ending seemed to come out of
nowhere but was nicely done by The Revival. Not sure what is next for Enzo and
Big Cass, their NXT time must be coming to an end and they might not hold the
titles before leaving NXT. The crowd seemed dead for most of the match though
and it seems they were not trying to steal the show on this occasion. As for
The Revival, I imagine they are dropping the titles to American Alpha in what
should be a great match.
Charlotte vs Natalya( Divas Title Match)
Nice touch by WWE bringing up the past
history between these two who fought for the NXT Women's championship. As
Nattie walks to the ring, I wish she was treated better by the company, she is
one of the most senior members of the Divas roster and can put on a match with
the best of them. The two start off with a wrestling exchange which ends with
Natalya bringing the pain to Charlotte. Really good work by Charlotte in this
match but that crowd just did not care at all which is such a shame. It makes
me fear for the likes of Bayley, Becky and Sasha in the future as they will do
everything within their power to change the opinion of women's matches simply
meaning piss break time. Fair play to both women as they managed to turn the
crowd towards the end with some great back and forth action. As Natalya locked
in the sharpshooter, the crowd became unglued but Ric Flair distracts Nattie
allowing Charlotte to roll up Natalya with her feet on the ropes.
Brock Lesnar vs Bray Wyatt
Good to see some continuity from WWE as Lesnar goes after the man
who eliminated him from the Royal Rumble, Bray Wyatt. Could this match have
taken place at Wrestlemania? Yes it could have but based off the booking of Wyatt
and his family, no, not in a million years, Wyatt has been looking like a waste
of space for months now. Besides, it is better for Wyatt to lose here rather
than have a 3rd consecutive loss in a row at Wrestlemania. A two on one match?
Hmmm ok but I guess we knew Bray would not fight fair in this match. Ah well,
that was not a handicap match at all now was it ? So one of the matches we were
all looking forward to did not happen. The name glorified house show has never
been so appropriate, it is so fitting for a show like this, I mean they are
holding off on Bray vs Brock so I guess it raises the question of when?
However, if I bought a ticket for Roadblock and was there live, I would be
pissed about that match so let's move on from that abomination.
Sami Zayn vs
Stardust
To give credit to the announcers, they have been very
informative on this night, giving backgrounds on established stars as well as
NXT talents. The best part of this match for me was seeing Stardust use the
Billy's Goat Curse on Zayn. Another decent match from the two performers. Zayn
picks up more momentum on his way to facing Owens while Stardust falls deeper
into a slump that will seemingly never end, perhaps he will change back to Cody
Rhodes someday but I feel I am clutching at straws with that statement.
Dean Ambrose
vs Triple H (WWE Championship Match)
Finally, we come to our main event, this special has been by the
book so far and mostly boring. Will there be a twist at the end of the night?
Seeing Triple H with the belt in 2016 is so surreal in so many ways, I imagine
for many it must be a nightmare come true. Ok it is not that bad but it is
still ridiculous. Did I ever tell you that Ambrose is great? My god he is made
for this role, he is made to be the one to beat Triple H, from the promos to
his intensity and the way he just carries himself as a character, Ambrose
should be headlining for the title. I do not know how the company do not see it
but this is not a rant, this is about this match. Ambrose plays dirty,
frustrating Triple H as he continues to get the better of the champion. Ambrose
seroes in on the leg of Triple H. In an act of desperation, Triple H sends
Ambrose into the steel steps and then into the barricades. Crossfaces and
suplexes are on the menu for today for Ambrose as he writhes on the canvas in
pain. As Triple H presses his advantage, he is met with a flying elbow from
Ambrose as both men are down. Ambrose fires back as pedigrees and dirty deeds
are attempted with no success, slingshot clothesline by Ambrose. Only two count
as Triple H hits a wicked clothesline nearly taking Ambrose's head off. Ambrose
hits the dirty deeds and gets the 1..2..3 but Ambrose's feet were under the
ropes so the pin doesn't count. Irate at the decision, Ambrose goes on a
rampage beating Triple H to a pulp. Planning to put the game through a table, Ambrose
goes for the elbow but the game avoids the elbow as Ambrose crashes through the
announce table. Beating the ten count from the referee at 9, he walks right
into the pedigree as Triple H retains the title. Great match from these two as
we knew it would be. Bit disappointing the way The Game at 46 years of age and
in semi retirement is booked so strongly which makes so many others look like
complete geeks. However, Triple H's ego would never allow him to be booked
anything but strong so I guess I cannot win on that one. For Ambrose, that's
either the second or third time he should have been champion, having previously
almost beaten Seth Rollins and again, maybe WWE should have pulled the trigger
on Ambrose. This may not have the right time as the story is set for Triple H
to battle Roman and if Dean did win this match tonight, it would have rendered
a year's worth of building up Roman(regardless of the fact that it failed) to
win the title at Mania. I just hope Vince is seeing that there is so much money
to be made with Ambrose as a face or heel , it does not matter, he was
fantastic tonight and was easily the star of this whole show.
In conclusion, this was truly a glorified
house show. Without the title match at the end, you missed nothing, absolutely
nothing. There were tv quality matches in the form of Jericho vs Swagger and
Zayn vs Stardust, I was not thrilled with the NXT tag team title match and the
Lesnar match if you could even call it a match, was basically an extended
squash. The divas match was solid from Nattie and Charlotte and the main event
was great thanks to Ambrose. The road to Wrestlemania continues on Monday and I
guess until the next review, I will see you later!
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