Friday 30 December 2016

WWE Roadblock: End of the Line Review

WWE Roadblock: End of the Line took place last Sunday at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh. Will RAW end the year on a high? Let's take a look.

The match on the Kick Off Show was Big Cass with Enzo Amore taking on Rusev with Lana. Big Cass is dominant for most of the match before it goes to the crowd. Lana pushes Enzo and he gets creamed with a clothesline by Rusev. When Big Cass checks on him, Rusev slides in and wins by countout. What the fuck was that?! It was looking like it was going to be a decent match thrn we suddenly get a shitty finish out of nowhere. Such a fucking disappointment
Winner: Rusev (1 for 1)

The first of the PPV was for the RAW Tag Team Championship as Cesaro and Sheamus challenge The New Day. Cesaro and Sheamus focus their offence on Kofi Kingston before he gets to tag in Big E. Later on, Cesaro hits the Neutraliser on Kofi but Big E breaks up the pin. In the end, Sheamus goes to tag in Cesaro but he moves his hand out of the way. Kofi hits Cesaro with Trouble in Paradise and covers him, thinking he's the legal man. Sheamus then rolls up Kofi to get the win and the 483 day reign of The New Day. This was a good match and I quite liked the ending.
Winners: The New Day (2 for 2)

Next is Sami Zayn taking on Bruan Strowman with a 10 minute time limit. Zayn uses his quickness but that lasted than a minute before Strowman proceeds to destroy him. After 6 minutes, Mick Foley comes down with a white towel. Zayn, however, persuades him not to throw in the towel then manages to avoid Strowman's attacks and survives the 10 minutes to win? I think? Isn't that technically a draw? Anyway, an interesting match to watch
Winner: Sami Zayn (2 for 3)

Now a match I was really looking forward to: Seth Rollins versus The Gift of Jericho. After some back and forth, Jericho hit a springboard dropkick sending Rollins off the apron. Rollins does get back into it and after a while, Kevin Owens comes in to try to help Jericho. When Jericho tells him to go to the back, Rollins hits him with a pedigree to win the match. To be honest, this match was a bit of a disappointment. It went too slow for me and nothing really stood out. Saying that, I quite liked that Owens keeps failing to help Jericho win matches yet Jericho doesn't seem to have that problem.
Winner: Seth Rollins (3 for 4)

Next is a triple threat match for the Cruiserweight Championship as Rich Swann faces the challenges of TJ Perkins and The Brian Kendrick. The match goes at a fast pace with all 3 guys heavily involved. There was a weird bit where Perkins has Swann in the kneebar and Swann gets to the ropes. Michael Cole says that that doesn't count in a triple threat yet the referee tells Perkins to release the hold. Anyway, in the end, Perkins and Swann superkick Kendrick then Swann pins Perkins after hitting him with a roundhouse kick. Except for the bit with the referee, it was a good match. However, it is overshadowed by what happened afterwards as Neville returns and beats the fuck out of Swann and Perkins. This was great and exactly what Neville needed. He has been criminally underused since he was called up to the main roster. Hopefully, he can go on to be the top heel in the division.
Winner: Rich Swann (4 for 5)

The penultimate match is a 30 minute Iron Man match for the RAW Women's Championship as Charlotte Flair challenges Sasha Banks. Charlotte is dominant for most of the match but it's not til the 20th minute that we get our first fall. Charlotte takes the lead after hitting a natural selection from the top rope. In the 22nd minute, Sasha manages to get a pinfall out of nowhere to make it 1-1. In the 25th minute, Sasha avoids a moonsault and gets Charlotte to submit to the Banks statement to take the lead at 2-1. It looks like, even with an injured knee, Sasha might just survive. However, Charlotte puts her in the figure 4 in the 29th minute and, despite her best efforts, Sasha submites with just 2 seconds left, ending the match at 2-2. The referee decides that the match will go into overtime. Sasha starts bleeding but she manages to apply the Banks statement. However, Charlotte gets out of it and gets the win with the figure 8 in the 5th minute of overtime.

This was a really good match and it was the match of the night. However, even though I predicted it, I'm not happy with Charlotte winning. Sasha has been a 3 time Womens Champion yet has never succesfully defended it. They have had some tremendous matches and it would have been my feud of the year. However, the Championship being passed around like a hot potato has ruined it a little for me.
Winner: Charlotte Flair (5 for 6)

The main event is Roman Reigns challenging Kevin Owens for the Universal Championship. During the match, Owens has Reigns in a chinlock for what seems like a year but Reigns does go back into it. Later on, Owens sends Reigns through the German announce table. In the end, Jericho comes in and Owens with the codebreaker, ending the match in a disqualification. Afterwards, it turns out to be a ruse. Rollins comes in and, along with Reigns, powerbomb Jericho through the Spanish announce table and Owens through the English announce table.

I thought that the match wasn't great to be honest although the ending was pretty good.
Winner: Kevin Owens (6 for 7)

I didn't think that Roadblock wasn't a great event. The women's match was really good but a lot of the matches were not that great. RAW PPVs have been a mixed bag this year. Hopefully, they will improve next year.

No comments:

Post a Comment