WWE RoadBlock 2016
Ricoh Coliseum – Toronto, Ontario
March 12, 2016
Watch: WWE Network

Come Monday night, what we witnessed tonight with WWE Roadblock will not matter in the grand scheme of things. There were no title changes, the main event served the purpose of keeping everything as it has been for months, and the WrestleMania 32 card remains in tact as it was. There was nothing of consequence on the show tonight, after all. Perhaps the lone real surprise was that Dean Ambrose lost the main event without any interference. A “clean loss,” if you will.

I mean none of that in the negative, by the way. WWE didn’t need to use this event in any significant way, so they didn’t. It was pretty cool to see Triple H wrestle a singles match – against Dean Ambrose no less. It ended up being a great match … the best of the night, albeit in a close race with the NXT Tag Team Championship match.

That NXT Tag Title match, between The Revival (Dawson & Wilder) and Enzo & Big Cass, was further evidence that The Revival are pretty damn great. Some think they’re boring, while other, more advanced specimen amongst us, know their wealth. After having excellent matches on TV and live events against more than just American Alpha lately, it is time to see The Revival as brand stalwarts in NXT and not just a flash in then pan title team. Enzo & Big Cass, to their credit, brought their A-Game as well. This team isn’t just an entrance, which has been the worry among many, myself included. They may just have main roster staying power.

It could be said, as I am about to, that Enzo & Big Cass, along with The Revival, were the big winners coming out of WWE RoadBlock 2016. Other than that match, this was the epitome of a glorified house show being shown live on WWE Network. To the house show set being used versus the WWE TV/PPV set, to JoJo acting as ring announcer, to a lack of backstage segments, and to blatant bait & switching in the case of Wyatt vs Lesnar … this was a fun, easy to digest but utterly meaningless, WWE live event.

There isn’t anything wrong with that.

WWE Tag Team Championships
New Day (Kofi Kingston & Big E) def. League of Nations (King Barrett & Sheamus)

The Lads, as Barrett and Sheamus have taken to calling themselves, put up a solid performance against the reigning tag champs. The match, going about ten minutes, was a fun opener but nothing special. Before the start, New Day revealed their latest piece of merchandise – BootyO cereal. It’s real, and can be purchased now on WWE Shop.

Chris Jericho def. Jack Swagger

Eight minutes of Jack Swagger being the Mr. We-The-People, pro American in Canada versus Chris Jericho, Canadian turncoat now living in the United States. The fans were favorable to Jack Swagger, who is just awesome. The guy has turned into somewhat of a cult hero amongst WWE hardcores, too, as we’ve seen him at the top, and we’ve seen him at the bottom. He’s had a long WWE career relatively speaking, but can one more run be in his future down the line? Maybe, maybe not. If so, there are fans ready, willing, and able to participate in it.

NXT Tag Team Titles
The Revival (Dash Wilder & Scott Dawson) def. Enzo Amoré & Colin Cassady

It appears there won’t be an Enzo & Big Cass appearance at NXT Dallas in any tag title match. It appears we’re getting American Alpha vs Revival solely, indeed. I never thought Enzo & Cass would win the titles here, although my Shake Them Ropes co-hort Jeff Hawkins did. He had many viable reasons for his thinking, too. But I had my gut. And my ever growing gut has only gotten wiser and wiser as years pass (or maybe not.) Anywell, Revival won and our Alpha vs Revival tag match, which should be fantastic, is still on for NXT Takeover: Dallas. This was the second best match of the night behind the main event, and one you should go out of your way to see. ****

https://twitter.com/DeathToAllMarks/status/708836145510162434

WWE Divas Championship
Charlotte def. Natalya

So many title matches on this show, which is actually normal for live events (house shows). Also normal for live events, the champions retain every time. When’s the last time a WWE title changes hands at a live event? Is it still Booker T vs Christian back in the mid-2000s? I could probably research this and answer it for you, giving you much needed information you didn’t even realize you wanted, but I lack that will and Brandon Howard is on assignment. So if you know of any more recent house show title change, let us know in the comments!

As for the Divas title match, it was subpar of their really good NXT Takeover match back in the day. Fine for a live event, but not PPV quality, despite its lengthy match time of 13:37.

Brock Lesnar def. Luke Harper & Bray Wyatt

Yep, Bait & Switch City. Not that I’m upset – the match was better with Luke Harper in it. Not just in it, I should add … but in place of Wyatt, basically. Before the match, Wyatt announced that Luke Harper would be added to the match, making it a handicap affair. However, Wyatt never entered the bout. It was Harper vs Lesnar the whole way, with Wyatt standing off, looking in awe of the former UFC Champion. It was almost an obvious sell job to a future Wyatt vs Lesnar match, although how obvious can it be if Wyatt vs Lesnar is actually unlikely to happen anytime soon. This basically added credence to the fact that this RoadBlock show was a special, and not an in-canon WWE event of any consequence.

The actual bout lasted only four minutes, with Harper gaining a surprising amount of offense early before Lesnar dominated with suplex and suplex until the F-5 finish.

https://twitter.com/DeathToAllMarks/status/708846603969425408

Sami Zayn def. Stardust

Surprise, Sami Zayn on the show. Surprise, Stardust dragged Zayn to an average match. It wasn’t bad, despite the folks on my Twitter timeline yelling that it was so. It was a standard house show match, pretty good actually. The crowd just didn’t want to watch it. Maybe we’re used to Zayn being in the ring with super-fun, hardcore names … the likes of Kevin Owens, Neville, and Samoa Joe, for example. Stardust isn’t those guys, and this crowd reacted as such.

Going nearly thirteen minutes, Zayn and Stardust had a ton of time. On Raw or Smackdown, these two probably should have had eight minutes, with Zayn being showcased. But this was a live event which happened to be shown on the Network – so they got thirteen to play with. At times, Stardust looked as if he was set out to prove his could not only hang with Zayn, but that he was actually better than Zayn. That failed. Thus, Stardust is now added to a growing club of those who have had an average-to-poor match in WWE with Sami Zayn. **1/2

WWE World Heavyweight Championship
Triple H def. Dean Ambrose

These two had the best match of the night, with Triple H pinning Dean Ambrose clean in the middle with the Pedigree. The big moment in the match was the nearfall of Ambrose over Triple H, perhaps the lone topic of conversation to come from this show in days to come. Really, the final six minutes were fantastic, headlined by Ambrose hitting Dirty Deeds on Triple H for what looked like the win. However, Office Referee John Cone stopped his count right before the three … the reason being that Ambrose’s feet were under the ropes as he covered Triple H. So Office Ref called for a rope break, effectively, meaning Ambrose didn’t get the win. As the match continued, Triple H hit the Pedigree as Ambrose entered the ring after some work outside. The work outside included Ambrose going for an elbow drop onto Triple H, laying on the announce table. Ambrose would miss that elbow drop, as Triple H moved out of the way. As Ambrose limped into the ring, Trips caught him for the finish. ****1/4

https://twitter.com/DeathToAllMarks/status/708857073753313281

While it has no effect on the future, really, this match is worth going to check out. Ambrose now goes back to the Brock Lesnar program, while Roman should return soon to restart WrestleMania hype with Triple H. It is as if RoadBlock never happened.

Roman Reigns did not appear on the show, at all.