Welcome to the Roadblock: End of the Line PPV, which is exclusive to Raw. This is the final PPV of 2016 with the hopes of ending the year on a high note. As you know, that means that the Royal Rumble is around the corner. With the Royal Rumble coming up, that means the beginning of the Road to WrestleMania. With Smackdown Live having a very successful TLC PPV, hopefully the Raw brand can match it or raise the bar a little higher. Coming into this PPV, I thought this was a throwaway to finish the year with a pair of matches I was looking forward to. With that being said, let’s get started and see how this PPV turned out.
We kicked the PPV off with the Tag Team Championship match. On the previous Monday Night Raw, the New Day defended their titles twice in one night. After successfully winning both matches, they became the longest reigning tag champs in WWE history. They surpassed Demolition, who held the title for 478 days back in the day. Cesaro and Sheamus earned another shot at the titles by pinning the Shining Stars at the Tribute to the Troops special on Wednesday. As far as this match, it exceeded my expectations and then some. All five of these guys, yes five because Xavier Woods got involved in this match. We saw nearfalls, great spots and super human strength from Cesaro in this match. In the end, Cesaro & Sheamus outsmarted the New Day and became the new tag team champs. Winners and New Tag Team Champions: Cesaro & Sheamus
Match Rating: 4/5- Excellent way to start the PPV off on the right foot. In the end, New Day handed the titles to Cesaro, hugged him and congratulated him.
We have the triple threat match for the cruiserweight championship. The newly crowned champion, Rich Swann defended his title against former champs Brian Kendrick and T.J. Perkins. I thought this match had potential to be a pretty good match as they started off pretty quickly. After about 7-8 minutes, Swann retained his championship. Winner and Still Cruiserweight Champion: Rich Swann
Match Rating: 3.5/5- After the match, we saw the return of Neville and it seemed like he was going to congratulate Swann. He hit the ring and beat down Swann and Perkins before leaving and not saying a thing. This could be what the division need, hopefully they start building some feuds, start getting more time and making an impact in the WWE.
This was billed as their “Last Encounter” as Sasha Banks defended her title against Charlotte. These women have definitely raised the bar for the women’s division because they’ve done it all. From main eventing Raw and the Hell in a Cell PPV, Falls Count Anywhere Match and now an Ironman Match. The match was as physical and hard hitting as their previous matches. With Banks battered and bloody, Charlotte had the Figure Four on her for well over a minute before she tapped out with a couple of seconds left. With the time expired, that left the match 2 to 2 and they went into overtime. Within five minutes, Charlotte made Sasha tap again to become the 4-time Women’s Champ. Winner and New Raw Women’s Champ: Charlotte Flair
Match Rating: 3.75/5- Another really good match between these two. I’ll go as far as to say that they had the feud of the year in the WWE.
We have the ongoing feud between Sami Zayn and Braun Strowman. In this match, Zayn didn’t have to defeat Strowman, but last ten minutes in the match. As far as the match, Strowman manhandled Zayn to the point where Mick Foley came out with a white towel. Braun got in the face of Foley and told him to throw in the towel, but Zayn said no and tossed the towel away. Strowman told Foley that the blood of Zayn’s is on his hands and proceeded to attack Sami. As he tried to squash Zayn against the ring post, Zayn moved and went on the offensive. He was able to withstand Strowman by hitting a pair of Helluva Kicks and survived the match. Winner: Sami Zayn
Match Rating: 2.75/5- I’ll be honest; I don’t know where this feud is going, but I guess I’ll play the waiting game.
This match came about because Jericho has cost Rollins the Universal title on a couple of occasions. Coming into this match I knew this would be a pretty technical match because these are two of the best in the world. Trust me, I wasn’t disappointed at all as they beat the hell out of each other and had so many counters throughout the match. The match was determined when Owens hit the ring, but Jericho got furious and yelled at Owens to leave and stop interfering in his match. As Jericho turned around, he was met with the Pedigree from Rollins. Winner: Seth Rollins
Match Rating: 3.5/5
Its main event time as Kevin Owens defended his Universal title against Roman Reigns. For me, this main event didn’t disappoint as they pulled out all stops for this match. We saw broken tables, crazy spots, counters and Superman Punches throughout the match. After about 20 minutes of action, Jericho hit the ring while both men were down. He was debating on who he should attack and then he hit the Codebreaker on Owens to everyone’s surprise. The referee called for the bell and Jericho just stared at Owens like he was pissed at him. Owens looked confused, but Jericho grabbed the belt, handed it to Owens, he laughed and hugged Owens as he saved him again. Winner by DQ: Kevin Owens
Match Rating: 4/5- After Owens and Jericho left, the music of Rollins hit so Owens and Jericho ran back towards the ring. Owens was met with a spear from Reigns and Rollins met Jericho in the ring and hit him with the Pedigree. Afterwards, Rollins & Reigns brought Jericho to the announce table and hit him with a double powerbomb. They turned their attention to Owens as he tried to escape up the aisle, but Rollins caught him and they beat him down. They eventually hit the double powerbomb through the table by the aisle to close out the show.
Overall Rating: 7.5/10- I didn’t have high expectations for this PPV, but I was pleasantly surprised. The only match I may have a gripe is the Strowman/Zayn match, but I’ll see how this one plays out. Below are my top 3 matches of the PPV!!!
- New Day© vs. Cesaro & Sheamus
- Kevin Owens© vs. Roman Reigns
- Sasha Banks© vs. Charlotte Flair
What did you think about the Roadblock: End of the Line PPV? What was your favorite match of the night? What did you think about the Charlotte/Sasha final encounter? Head to the comments section and give me some feedback.
