I’d like to share a quick story before we begin. I was taking a nap and I was really out of it. I had that morning breath smell so I decided to put some mouthwash in my mouth. However, I decided to grab the Windex and I nearly put it in my my mouth when I saw the Listerine right next to it. Just something I thought I’d share. Do with it what you will. Anyways, I forgot they were having this show today, and I wasn’t expecting anything big in terms of title changes or anything, but the card looked decent from what I saw, so I figured I’d give it a watch. So, here we go.
Big E (C) and Kofi Kingston (C) def. Sheamus and King Barrett – WWE Tag Team Championships
These two teams worked a pretty basic match, but since both teams are heels, it would be interesting to see who the crowd would support, and if the opening segment wasn’t obvious enough, they were rooting for The New Day. There wasn’t any realistic chance that the League of Nations would be the ones to end the reign of The New Day, so that was team that played the team in peril, especially Kofi. However, they also used the 3 on 2 dynamic that they always have used to give them an advantage which paid off for them. Overall, it was a solid bout to me with some good reversals. Nothing seemed forced, and while it wasn’t the quality that Jericho and Styles had with The New Day, I really found nothing to really complain about. The ending could have been a little better, but it didn’t hurt the match. Good start. ***
Chris Jericho def. Jack Swagger
Chris Jericho exhibited tonight what a true heel looks like. Just because you are beloved in a certain arena, you do not play up to them. You need to make them hate you no matter where you are. It’s crazy, because Jericho hasn’t been a full fledged heel since 2012, so it has felt so long since we’ve seen this, and I have missed this so much. Now all we need for him is to put on a suit and start calling the fans hypocrites, sycophants, and my personal favorite, gelatinous parasites again just for old times. Anyways, the match was pretty average. There wasn’t really anything particularly interesting, and while it wasn’t, I guess, bad per say, it just lacked energy sadly. I really didn’t get into it and the sequence where the match was supposed to pick up just wasn’t there. Swagger just doesn’t connect with the crowd. Oh well. By the way, this was Chris Jericho’s first singles victory over Jack Swagger. I know you guys care. Don’t lie to me. **1/4
Dash (C) and Dawson (C) (The Revival) def. Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady – NXT Tag Team Championships
I think you saw the difference between an NXT tag team match and a main roster tag match on the same night. It started off slow, but all four men knew when it was time to to pick business up. The big man/little man dynamic between Amore and Cassady was great to see, but Dash and Dawson used underhanded tactics to win once again, and that tag team move on Cassady on the outside was something to see. It sort of reminded me of a Randy Orton RKO from out of nowhere. There was some very good near falls and the two teams showed their chemistry in the ring tonight, and it was a very good thing to see. The crowd seemed to be very into it towards the end as well. If you aren’t into NXT, if you saw this match, this is a little taste of what the difference is on a wrestling scale. ***1/2
Charlotte (C) def. Natayla – Divas Championship
It’s rather pathetic that Charlotte almost always resorts to cheap heat to get a reaction. Whether it’s bringing up Daniel Bryan in her Brie Bella feud or bringing up the Toronto Maple Leafs’ ineptitude, she needs to learn to start making something about her as to why the fans should hate her. This match showed what these women were capable of in NXT. No matter how awkward Charlotte looks when she does, well, anything, she’s proven to have great chemistry with Natayla. It also helped that Natayla is a relative of Canadian poster boy Bret Hart, so the crowd would be into it, as they were with the ending. Charlotte couldn’t seem to decide which body part to work over as she started on Natayla’s shoulder and eventually to her legs (which she should have done from the beginning since her finisher involves, you know, legs). I didn’t like the typical cop-out interference ending, and I think the fans deserved something better than a simple roll-up finish, but needless to say, it was refreshing to see a great Divas match for a change. It wasn’t awesome as the crowd suggested, but it was indeed very good. Bravo. ***1/2
Brock Lesnar def. Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper – 2 on 1 Handicap Match
If you wanted to know what happened at the live event last night, this was it. I do have to lay into WWE for this though for the false advertising. You advertise Brock Lesnar vs. Bray Wyatt. But this match was Brock Lesnar vs. Luke Harper with Bray Wyatt. Why even bother advertising it as a handicap match when one man isn’t even on the outside of the ropes to make the tag? Imagine the heat TNA would get for this. Anyways, if there was any good I can take from this, it was that Luke Harper is one great worker. The way he sold those German suplexes reminded me of how Rollins sold them, rolling through on his back, which is extremely impressive for a man his size and physicality. Otherwise, nothing to write home about here. Don’t like it when WWE does the false advertising bit, though. It’s just wrong to me. *
Sami Zayn def. Stardust
Wasn’t really into this one. Stardust is a great worker, but I think the crowd was starting to get exhausted and there was nothing worth seeing here. This was really just a warm up for the main event, if anything else. The wrestling was okay, but I don’t think there is anything worth going into here. Passable. **
Triple H (C) def. Dean Ambrose – WWE World Heavyweight Championship
It was sort of weird to see Dean Ambrose reverting to targeting a body part, because we are normally accustomed to seeing him being a brawler and just fighting without reservation, but here he changed up his style and did play into the finish. Now, Dean had little chance of pulling off an upset, but you wouldn’t know it based on the close false finishes at the end. This match also provided us with a little imagery of some of the events that took place during their feud in this match, including Dean’s Dirty Deeds that he hit nearly in the same place, with the only difference being that his foot was under the rope (I never get why the referee continues to count to 3 just to waive it off immediately after. Perhaps to give the crowd a moment, I suppose), and Dean’s assault on Triple H over the announce table, which also backfired on him as he elbowed the table, and not Triple H. I thought these two had a very good main event with about 2-3 weeks worth of storytelling coming into it. Dean did all he could with the Figure Four and Sharpshooter, which is way out of his comfort zone, but with the stakes, WWE wanted us to show that Dean had to pull out all the stops, and it wasn’t enough as Triple H used the slightest opening to get the Pedigree and the subsequent victory, as he has his entire career. Good storytelling, great main event. So it appears that the main event of WrestleMania is set and that Dean Ambrose/Brock Lesnar is still a lock for WrestleMania. ****
Conclusion
This was a glorified house show, so if you were expecting this to be booked on the same level of a normal PPV, then I suggest you temper your expectations. Hopefully, you were not realistically expecting title changes or something to drastically change the course of WrestleMania, but for what this show was, I thought it was a good watch. There was little bad on the show, the main event delivered, Natayla/Charlotte was a good surprise, and the tag team matches had great energy to it. Overall, I cannot complain. While it did feel a bit long with all the matches and the false advertising to go with it, I have to say, I was very impressed with the end result. So this will get a mild thumbs up from me.
So next up on WWE’s plate is the Super Bowl of their company, WrestleMania. WrestleMania is on April 2nd, which gives WWE about 3 weeks to sell their biggest show of the year. I think Roadblock was at least a good prelude to the show.
Until next time, guys.
