WWE Roadblock - March 2016
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into tonight's show, Triple H holds the WWE World Championship, Kevin Owens is the reigning Intercontinental Champion, Kalisto holds the United States Championship, and Charlotte is the WWE Divas Champion. The New Day are the reigning WWE World Tag Team Champions, while Dash and Dawson, the Revival, are the NXT Tag Team Champions (which I only mention because they defend the titles on the show).
COMMENTATORS: Michael Cole, Byron Saxton, and JBL
Unfortunately, unlike the Network special from Japan this past summer, tonight's looks and feels like most other programs the WWE produces. The shows kicks off with The New Day (with their Booty-O cereal) defending the WWE Tag Team Championships against the League of Nations' Sheamus and Wade Barrett. A good-not-great match is had, a bit too by-the-numbers to leave much of an impression beyond the usual "New Day is really fun" and Barrett and Sheamus are pros, but obviously not super enthused about where they have landed on the WWE totem pole. (2/5)
Chris Jericho arrived next to some expected cheers (the show being held in Canada and all), but proceeded to rundown the crowd with a trollish promo. After bashing Toronto and stating that he is embarassed to call himself a Canadian (at one point even telling the crowd, who began chanting for the Hitman, that "Bret was never coming back"), one would expect the WWE to trot out a popular Canadian talent to make him eat his words - but Tyson Kidd's injured, Edge and Christian are retired, and it's no longer the early 2000s (when it felt like you couldn't swing an upside down American flag without hitting a grappler from the Great White North). Instead of opting for the next best thing and having a popular babyface come out - like a Neville or Goldust - they went with the All-American American, Jack Swagger, guaranteeing that the fans would be completely disinterested for the duration of the contest (save for Pavlovian chants of "We The People" whenever Swagger put his hand to his chest). While Jericho and Swagger worked hard, it didn't amount to much. While making this match competitive would, on paper, seem like the right idea not to bury Swagger, having them wrestle a competitive match that goes too long just made it seem like a time-filler. Like the opener, passable but even less important (and the crowd treated it as such). (1.5/5)
Finally, a match in which all the participants seemed energized and eager to steal the show - Dash and Dawson (aka The Revival) defending the NXT Tag Team Championships against Enzo and Big Cass. This isn't the teams' first meeting and I'm not even 100% positive it was their best match, but it was interesting to watch them present this match in front of a crowd not made up of NXT die-hards and they did an excellent job of cleary defining their characters, the importance of the stakes, and the intense heat between the two in a relatively small window of time. Dash and Dawson did a number of little things excellently, particularly Dawson shoulderblocking face-in-peril Enzo out of the ring at one point and dishing out two particularly awesome double-team moves (one on the arena floor, no less). Big Cass may not be the most fundamentally gifted athlete on the NXT roster, but he's solid in his role in the team, coming in to hit the big offense on hot tags. Enzo reminds me of a less cheesy, more watchable Scotty 2 Hotty, which may not seem like a compliment but really is one. Easily the match of the night up to this point and the first one I'd ever want to give a second look to. (3/5)
The WWE Divas Championship was on the line in our next contest, Charlotte defending against Natalya. The match began with some solid mat wrestling, Charlotte and Natalya trading submissions to try to get an early advantage, but the crowd didn't seem to care too much. Things picked up a step once Natalya started landing some more hard-hitting offense, Charlotte showing in her selling why she shouldn't be overlooked as the most important diva on the roster right now. I really liked the pace of the match as well, both women doing something the guys seem hesitant to do - mainly, slowing things down so that the high spots (which weren't over-the-top, "This Is Awesome"-baiting daredevil moves) actually had impact. As the match progressed, Natalya continued to tease the Sharpshooter and showed some real toughness by refusing to lay down or tap to Charlotte's Figure 8, including one particularly good sequence in which Charlotte had the finisher locked on and eventually added some extra punishment by keeping it locked in as she found her way to the outside. This led to a nice nearfall when Charlotte followed it up with her running neckbreaker (I forget what Cole called it). Natalya eventually landed a big powerbomb that may have been performed at half-speed compared to what the male wrestlers do, but had a greater significance because of it. By this point, the crowd was engaged and the requisite "This is Awesome" chant started. I wouldn't necessarily say it reached the level of awesomeness that would make me want to chant that, but giving credit where it's due, this was the most smartly worked singles match of the evening thus far. I would've preferred more interference out of Naitch to lead to the finish, but I did like to see Charlotte get the victory with a cheap pin. These two have great chemistry and I'd love to see them expand the program this summer. To be honest, I'm not sure there is as much of a rush to get Sasha involved when Charlotte is progressing so nicely as a dominant champion who can beat you clean, dirty, or something in between (like in this match). (3.5/5)
Brock Lesnar vs. Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper was next. Wyatt cut a meandering promo to start things off, which helped explain why Luke Harper was involved (noticeably absent were Erick Rowan and Braun Strowman). Lesnar came out to a huge ovation and the match began with Lesnar and Harper coming to blows, Harper landing a nice bit of offense that Lesnar sold well without ever actually looking like he was in much danger. If Harper was more over and credible, I'd love to see these two wrestle a more competitive match, but I'm not surprised that this was essentially a squash once Lesnar took control. Bray Wyatt slunk his way backstage the whole time, refusing to step into the ring against the Beast as he tossed Harper around with suplex after suplex. I usually enjoy the Lesnar squashes a bit more, maybe because they typically seem to matter more. His match in Japan this past summer, for example, came across as funner in that more unique setting, while this one lacked a hook to make it a "must see" bout. Points awarded because of Lesnar's initial selling of Harper's impressive superkicks and clotheslines as well as the Beast's always-impressive suplexes, but I'd call this the least consequential match of his second WWE run. (2/5)
Sami Zayn was up next, taking on Stardust. Like the Swagger/Jericho from earlier, this one was just a bit off, the crowd politely cheering for some of the better moments, but definitely not riveted by the action. I'm a Cody Rhodes fan and, in the right context, I can get behind Stardust to at least some degree, but this was just the wrong match, at the wrong time, in front of the wrong crowd. As much as I like Zayn, this is an unfortunate example of him not quite being as good as his biggest supporters would want the rest of the world to believe. The fact is, while it's a tall order, he didn't elevate this one even to a "TV worthy" level. At close to 15 minutes, this one overstayed its welcome and underwhelmed a crowd that seemed amped to see something more special out of NXT's "Heart and Soul." (1.5/5)
Main event time - Triple H defending the WWE World Championship against Dean Ambrose. For some reason, the Champion entered first, something the WWE has been inexplicably doing lately. I recently completed a ballot ranking the Top 100 Wrestlers Ever at a message board I spend (too much) time on. Now, I kept my list to performers I had seen a considerable amount of footage on - meaning, despite their accolades, I didn't include guys like Bruno Sammartino, Buddy Rogers, or really anyone from the world of puroresu and luche libre. This explains why Triple H and Ambrose both made the list (at #52 and #60 respectively), but it also shows that I'd put 50-60 guys above them in terms of delivering quality matches consistently. They both can be great, but they can also both be grating. Triple H put forth good effort and showed no signs of ring rust, but he also succumbed to his usual and unfortunate habit of trying to deliver an "epic" whereby he shows little vulnerability and doesn't necessarily wrestle with a clear purpose. For example, was he trying to escape with the title here? Was he trying to embarrass Ambrose? Was he trying to prove that he was still the Cerebral Assassin? What effect would it have had to have him bully the ref a little considering that Triple H is essentially the poor sap's boss? Wrestling the match in a "straight-up" fashion added nothing new to either guy's character or momentum heading into WrestleMania. Similarly, Ambrose fought valiantly and did mix it up (by attacking Triple H's leg), but then seemed to go against his own strategy by trying high-risk maneuvers when, in the first half of the bout, it was clear that his purpose was not to necessarily punish The Game, but wrestle the title away from him cleanly. While this lack of purpose didn't make the match unbearable (in fact, it was still above-average), I don't see how anyone would be eager to revisit it. (3.5/5)
The WWE Divas Championship was on the line in our next contest, Charlotte defending against Natalya. The match began with some solid mat wrestling, Charlotte and Natalya trading submissions to try to get an early advantage, but the crowd didn't seem to care too much. Things picked up a step once Natalya started landing some more hard-hitting offense, Charlotte showing in her selling why she shouldn't be overlooked as the most important diva on the roster right now. I really liked the pace of the match as well, both women doing something the guys seem hesitant to do - mainly, slowing things down so that the high spots (which weren't over-the-top, "This Is Awesome"-baiting daredevil moves) actually had impact. As the match progressed, Natalya continued to tease the Sharpshooter and showed some real toughness by refusing to lay down or tap to Charlotte's Figure 8, including one particularly good sequence in which Charlotte had the finisher locked on and eventually added some extra punishment by keeping it locked in as she found her way to the outside. This led to a nice nearfall when Charlotte followed it up with her running neckbreaker (I forget what Cole called it). Natalya eventually landed a big powerbomb that may have been performed at half-speed compared to what the male wrestlers do, but had a greater significance because of it. By this point, the crowd was engaged and the requisite "This is Awesome" chant started. I wouldn't necessarily say it reached the level of awesomeness that would make me want to chant that, but giving credit where it's due, this was the most smartly worked singles match of the evening thus far. I would've preferred more interference out of Naitch to lead to the finish, but I did like to see Charlotte get the victory with a cheap pin. These two have great chemistry and I'd love to see them expand the program this summer. To be honest, I'm not sure there is as much of a rush to get Sasha involved when Charlotte is progressing so nicely as a dominant champion who can beat you clean, dirty, or something in between (like in this match). (3.5/5)
Brock Lesnar vs. Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper was next. Wyatt cut a meandering promo to start things off, which helped explain why Luke Harper was involved (noticeably absent were Erick Rowan and Braun Strowman). Lesnar came out to a huge ovation and the match began with Lesnar and Harper coming to blows, Harper landing a nice bit of offense that Lesnar sold well without ever actually looking like he was in much danger. If Harper was more over and credible, I'd love to see these two wrestle a more competitive match, but I'm not surprised that this was essentially a squash once Lesnar took control. Bray Wyatt slunk his way backstage the whole time, refusing to step into the ring against the Beast as he tossed Harper around with suplex after suplex. I usually enjoy the Lesnar squashes a bit more, maybe because they typically seem to matter more. His match in Japan this past summer, for example, came across as funner in that more unique setting, while this one lacked a hook to make it a "must see" bout. Points awarded because of Lesnar's initial selling of Harper's impressive superkicks and clotheslines as well as the Beast's always-impressive suplexes, but I'd call this the least consequential match of his second WWE run. (2/5)
Sami Zayn was up next, taking on Stardust. Like the Swagger/Jericho from earlier, this one was just a bit off, the crowd politely cheering for some of the better moments, but definitely not riveted by the action. I'm a Cody Rhodes fan and, in the right context, I can get behind Stardust to at least some degree, but this was just the wrong match, at the wrong time, in front of the wrong crowd. As much as I like Zayn, this is an unfortunate example of him not quite being as good as his biggest supporters would want the rest of the world to believe. The fact is, while it's a tall order, he didn't elevate this one even to a "TV worthy" level. At close to 15 minutes, this one overstayed its welcome and underwhelmed a crowd that seemed amped to see something more special out of NXT's "Heart and Soul." (1.5/5)
Main event time - Triple H defending the WWE World Championship against Dean Ambrose. For some reason, the Champion entered first, something the WWE has been inexplicably doing lately. I recently completed a ballot ranking the Top 100 Wrestlers Ever at a message board I spend (too much) time on. Now, I kept my list to performers I had seen a considerable amount of footage on - meaning, despite their accolades, I didn't include guys like Bruno Sammartino, Buddy Rogers, or really anyone from the world of puroresu and luche libre. This explains why Triple H and Ambrose both made the list (at #52 and #60 respectively), but it also shows that I'd put 50-60 guys above them in terms of delivering quality matches consistently. They both can be great, but they can also both be grating. Triple H put forth good effort and showed no signs of ring rust, but he also succumbed to his usual and unfortunate habit of trying to deliver an "epic" whereby he shows little vulnerability and doesn't necessarily wrestle with a clear purpose. For example, was he trying to escape with the title here? Was he trying to embarrass Ambrose? Was he trying to prove that he was still the Cerebral Assassin? What effect would it have had to have him bully the ref a little considering that Triple H is essentially the poor sap's boss? Wrestling the match in a "straight-up" fashion added nothing new to either guy's character or momentum heading into WrestleMania. Similarly, Ambrose fought valiantly and did mix it up (by attacking Triple H's leg), but then seemed to go against his own strategy by trying high-risk maneuvers when, in the first half of the bout, it was clear that his purpose was not to necessarily punish The Game, but wrestle the title away from him cleanly. While this lack of purpose didn't make the match unbearable (in fact, it was still above-average), I don't see how anyone would be eager to revisit it. (3.5/5)
With an overall rating of 2.43-out-of-5, it is hard to recommend the wholly inconsequential and generally underwhelming Roadblock to anyone but the most avid WWE viewer. While Roadblock wasn't a pay-per-view, there's no reason it couldn't have hit the same peaks as the NXT show from London earlier this year or Brooklyn last summer. Instead, through some head-scratching booking decisions (having Jack Swagger defend Canada's honor against Jericho, booking Sami Zayn to take on the ice-cold Stardust in his first spotlight match since returning, the false advertising of Wyatt/Lesnar), the show just seemed to hit one pothole (err..roadblock?) after another. While I could understand the live crowd enjoying the show for what it was (a glorified house show), viewers at home were treated to repetitive video packages between matches and little else to keep them glued to their seats. With only the fresh and energetic Natalya/Charlotte match really standing out to me as something worth seeking out, picking out this show's rank was fairly easy...
FINAL RATING - High Risk Maneuver
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