WWE’s new annual PPV, Roadblock returns representing the Monday Night RAW brand (and with a new tag line). Featuring matches such as Roman Reigns vs Kevin Owens for the WWE Universal Championship, Sasha Banks vs Charlotte Flair for the WWE Women’s Championship, The New Day putting up their WWE Tag Team Championship record against the new dynamic duo of Sheamus and Cesaro, and many more.
WWE Roadblock: End of the Line is an 2016 Professional Wrestling event, it is produced by WWE and currently airs exclusively on the WWE Network.
WWE is doing a new (actually kind of old) two PPVs a month scheduling block, and for the most part it works as far as content is concerned. However, there’s going to be times when these brand specific pay-per-views will feel like just another Monday Night RAW or Tuesday Night SmackDown (still feels weird to say), and unfortunately Roadblock’s first go as a brand exclusive event is the first casualty to suffer this.
THE GOOD:
Sami Zayn vs Braun Strauman 10 Minute Time Limit: Originally thought to be a nothing match, Sami/Braun ended up being a fairly entertaining affair. While Braun dominated Zayn for most of the match, Zayn perfectly played his role as the underdog, selling everything Strowman had to throw at him. It wasn’t until the latter part of the match that Zayn actually got a surprising amount of offense in, and even a Helluva Kick. Fortunately for Sami the match was on a 10 minute time limit, and as the survivor of a merciless beat down from Strowman, Zayn picked up the victory and was able to walk away with both guys looking strong (please push Sami). 5 out of 5 stars.
The New Day (c) vs Sheamus & Cesaro WWE RAW Tag Team Championships: After a near 500 day run as WWE RAW Tag Team Champions, The New Day’s title reign comes to an end in an entertaining defeat to Sheamus & Cesaro. This was definitely a highlight match on the show with some fun spots and a fair amount of story telling. Sheamus really should be babyface full on right now as he & Cesaro are actually amazing together. 4 out of 5 stars.
Seth Rollins vs Chris Jericho: Jericho continues the foreshadowing of Shield’s impending reunion with a feud that involves himself, his ‘best friend’ Kevin Owens, and Shield mates Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns. Being the performers they are it’s no surprise that Jericho and Seth were able to give a good showing in a decent PPV. 4 out of 5 stars
THE BAD: Rich Swann (c) vs The Brian Kendrick vs TJ Perkins for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship: Since its relaunch earlier this year, the Cruiserweight division on RAW has been admittedly (and predictably) disappointing. I figured they wouldn’t be booked like they were for CWC, but man it’s much worse than anticipated. The triple threat was a nothing six minute match, aka a snack break, etc. 2 out of 5 stars.
Sasha Banks (c) vs Charlotte Flair: 30 Minute Ironwoman Match for the WWE RAW Women’s Championship: Honestly, I want to like this feud I really do, but it feels more and more redundant with each match, and it feels like creative are throwing every gimmick in the book to make these two women feel like huge stars, and it feels more annoying than awe inspiring. 3 out of 5 stars.
Cass w/Enzo Amore vs Rusev w/Lana: A nothing match that really could have given Rusev a strong win, thankfully though neither men came out looking too bad at finish time. 1 out of 5 stars
Main Event: Roman Reigns (c) vs Kevin Owens (c) WWE Universal Championship Match: While both Roman Reigns and Kevin Owens did a fine job as far as performance is concerned, the match itself felt like it was melodramatic and just there which is what at least 1/4 of this pay-per-view felt like. 3 1/2 out of 5 stars.
OVERALL THOUGHTS: Nothing too eventful really happened at Roadblock: End of the Line, and it didn’t necessarily suffer because of this, but I couldn’t help but feel like I was watching RAW the entire time (and I’m quite aware this is a RAW branded PPV). Still though, this certainly isn’t the worst WWE PPV of the year by any means. Otaku Dome gives WWE Roadblock: End of the Line an 69 out of 100.
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