Road Block: End of the Line – A Raw PPV Recap

Live from the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, it’s WWE Road Block: End of the Line!

Kickoff Match: Big Cass Vs Rusev

The only worthwhile thing here is Enzo’s return to the show and the microphone.  If it were my decision, I’d have him in annex brace or wrapped in gauze.  I think he should still be selling that beat down, even just a little bit.

There’s fighting on the outside, which leads to a distraction from Lana and a lariat to Enzo. In all the commotion, Cass misses his opportunity to get back in the ring leading to a countout loss.

I did call that Rusev needed to win this. I just thought it would be a bit stronger.

For the main card, I’m going to skip around a bit.

Zayn vs Strowman

This went exactly how I was expecting. Well, not exactly. Zayn did get mercilessly beat for about 7 minutes. All the while, Braun refuses to pin Sami so he can prolong the beating.  At the 7 minute mark, Mick Foley comes down with a literal towel to throw in. They waste two minutes, during which time I thought Sami might pants Foley with his clutching at Mick’s sweats.

Sami used the moment to regroup and got Braun to charge at him twice, once into the ring post and another into the barricade.

Although they’ve definitely been outside the ring for more than a minute, the ref decides to start counting.  Braun beats the count, takes a Helluva kick, and the time limit is reached.

I wish it was framed as a no-contest instead of a Sami win but it still doesn’t really hurt Braun to consider it a loss.

Kendrick vs TJP vs Swann

I’ll be honest, I zoned out on this match. I do love the crusierweights but I thought this match was a little lackluster.  The story here is that TJP and Kendrick dominated the match with their own rivalry and Swann took advantage of it to retain the Championship.

If I had to search for something I really liked here, it would be this:

The big news here is Neville’s back!  He comes to the ring after Swann’s victory and just attacks everyone. He’s putting the entire division on notice.  I’m excited.  I hope it makes him being off tv for months worth it.

Rollins Vs Jericho

Speaking of lackluster, this one didn’t really do it for me either.  It was a decent match, not great, for a random episode of Raw, just not a PPV.  Even the finish felt like an episode of Raw. Owens came out yet again to distract but the unintended consequence is Jericho eating a Pedigree and a pinfall.

I get it. Owens is desperate and he needs to be that ex that’s still holding on.  It still didn’t lead to an exciting match, that’s for sure.

This was great though:

Iron Man Match: Sasha Vs Charlotte

This one is at the bottom of the list for good Sasha and Charlotte matches.  It was sloppy and filled with terrible lapses in logic.

The one thing I love about these two is that it looks like a fight, every time.  But Sasha tapping out to the Figure Eight two seconds before she would have won, is ridiculous.  Perhaps because under normal Iron Man matches the tie goes to the champ?  I hope that’s Sasha’s reasoning to tapping. If not, her actions are just incredibly stupid.

The ref ruled that this was going to Sudden Death.  Charlotte is your 4-time Women’s Champion.

At least there’s no rematch clause for Sasha to win it back tonight on Raw.

Reigns Vs Owens

A hint that Roman wasn’t going over was the location.  They were in Pittsburgh. If Texas is part of the Roman Empire, Pittsburgh is Gaul, filled with rebels, refusing to be enslaved.

It was an excellent match and worth a watch. Both Kevin and Roman kicked out of several of their power moves.

A highlight of the match was the two frog splashes onto Roman on the table, the second one breaking it.

Jericho comes out to interfere but gives a Code Breaker to Owens, causing a DQ loss for Roman.  As they celebrate, Seth invades the ring. Roman and Rollins retaliate, put Jericho through the Spanish table and Owens through the English table with the ok’ Shield double powerbomb.  It’s amazing to me how much instantly cooler this Roman is over singles competitor Roman.

Lingering questions remain. Where’s Triple H?  During the promo for the match, they shot new stuff with HHH matching Kevin Owens’ video.  He’s coming and he’s coming soon.  Is it possible that we get a Shield Vs Owens, Jericho, and HHH match at Royal Rumble?  I hope so.  I expect Dean to temporarily be out of the world title picture then anyway.

Sheamus and Cesaro Vs The New Day

I’ve been saving the match opener for the last but it was that damn good.

Most of New Day’s matches over their reign have been terrible.  Either their competition has been lackluster or they’ve been booked in terrible angles. It makes you forget just how good Big E and Kofi actually are.

And man, Cesaro really is a super man. He picked up Kofi into a Gotch Neutralizer like it was nothing.

The New Day wouldn’t go down without a fight or without trying every trick in their book. Tonight, Sheamus and Cesaro were one step ahead. Everytime Kofi or Big E took advantage of the third man, there was a kickout.

And it turns out, to beat them, you need to join them.  You have to trick the New Day to get the win and overcome the advantage.  Cesaro pulled his hand on a tag keeping Shaemus the legal man. Thinking a tag had been made, Kofi goes after Cesaro and Sheamus takes advantage for the win.

An excellent match that definitely belongs in the top 25 of the year for me.

And thank god for NEW TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS!!!!!