Sunday, March 13, 2016

WWE Roadblock 2016 (March 2016 WWE Network House Show Special)

I won't spend too much time on that here because there isn't a whole lot to talk about here; it's a WWE house show, er, Live Event eminating from Toronto and anyone hoping for a change in the narrative on the Road To Wrestlemania (R) will be disappointed, but for those who just want a good little wrestling show, you've definitely got that here. A nice 2 1/2 hour with a bunch of good matches and good action.


WWE Tag-Team champions The New Day defeated King Barrett and Rocksteady to retain the titles and hopefully both these groups will be able to move on and do other things. The match wasn't bad, but I wasn't feeling the feud. It felt like a holdover until WWE had something better for the champs to do. But that's just me.

Chris Jericho defeated Jack Swagger in a pretty decent match... unfortunately, despite a scathing promo designed to get people to hate him - the usual Canadian moves to America because... - you could still hear inklings of a Y2J chant and pockets of people chanting for Jericho. Maybe they should've had a show in Brazil and have him comment a national crime or something. That would get him some heat... nobody is going to get that.

NXT Tag-Team champions Dash and Dawson defeated Big Cass and Enzo Amore to retain the titles. Fun little tag team that I enjoyed a little more than the WWE Tag title match and I'm guessing this is the swan song for Cass and Enzo in NXT before they move onto the main roster, get to be funny for a couple weeks, and fall back on enhancement talent status for the rest of their stay. I hope not, but... yeah.

Divas Champion Charlotte defeated Nattie to retain the title in a pretty good match, which should come as no surprise considering whenever you put Charlotte and Nattie together and you give them time, you're bound to get something watchable and good. And we certainly got that here.

Brock Lesnar defeated Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper in a relatively quick handicap match with Luke Harper taking the fall. It is what it is. A short match where Brock did his suplexes and finished with an F5. Yay.

Sami Zayn defeated Stardust in what I would consider the worst match of the night, if only because I don't care for Stardust's interstellar gimmick or anything like that. Look, wrestling's always been this goofy thing, but even then, you have a limit. That having been said, this is a case where even the worst on the card is still pretty damn good and I'm glad to see the former El Generico back on his feet and hopefully, we'll get to see what a buddy of mine likes to call the Battle Of Quebec on the grander WWE stage.

And finally, WWE World champ Triple H defeated Dean Ambrose to retain the title and this was an exceptionally entertaining match with a lot of action and a couple close calls, including the big table spot. There's a bit where Dean Amrbrose hits Dirty Deeds on Hunter and gets the three-count, only for the decision to not count because a foot or leg was on the rope. Now, usually, I don't care for this sort of false finish because it does feel like a cop-out at times, but considering that WWE is sticking with their planned Mania main event of McSon-In-Law vs. Aquaman, this would be one of the few instances where it's okay and if nothing else, Hunter won clean, but came close to losing it all. The table, unfortunately, was not so lucky. But this was a pretty damn good match; this was a fine main event, almost Wrestlemania main-event worthy even.

So that was Roadblock and like most Network-exclusive shows, this was a fine show. Didn't move anything forward significantly, but it gave us 2 1/2 hours of action and it was entertaining all throughout. My only real stinging point would be in the commentary. Cole and Byron were as adequate as you'd expect them to be, but JBL needs to be dragged to the barnyard and shot because every time he'd bring up an old obscure reference, I roll my eyes and plant face firmly in palm.

John, seriously, tone it down, brutha.

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