WWE Roadblock 2016 Review

Match 1: WWE Tag Team Championships - The New Day (c) vs. League of Nations
Big pop for The New Day as the champs come out to open up Saturday night's special. King Barrett & Sheamus are the representatives of League of Nations and look to dethrone the champs. Bit of a short opener but a good one to get our mouths wet before they clash again at WrestleMania. New Day score the win after Xavier Woods distracts the referee which allowed Big E to hit his Big Ending finisher. Good action as both sides managed to get in a good amount of offense and keep the match going on a nice flow. Not a fan of New Day winning with Woods being a distraction, isn't this the type of stuff people normally boo about? Regardless, nice opener with a very hot crowd.
Winners: The New Day
Rating: **3/4

Match 2: Chris Jericho vs. Jack Swagger
Before the match, Chris Jericho comes out and denounces the city of Toronto for not having his back. He also referenced how they cheered for Jack Swagger when he beat Jericho for the World Heavyweight Championship to which the crowd popped in laughs and in confusion because oh yeah, that actually happened in 2010. Like the last match, this was fairly short and while the action wasn't amazing, the crowd was definitely vocal and made things easier to get into it. However, the CM Punk chants get pretty damn annoying at times. Jericho gets the easy win by submitting Swagger with the Walls of Jericho.
Winner: Chris Jericho
Rating: **1/4

Match 3: NXT Tag Team Championships - The Revival (c) vs. Enzo Amore & Colin Cassidy
Love the fact that some NXT guys are getting a little bit of a rub by being placed on a big card like this one. Feel like they should do this more often. The Toronto crowd were receptive of both teams as the fandom of NXT continues to grow and grow. You could just tell how hungry these guys looked in there. Pulling out all the marquee moves in their arsenal and this was fun to watch. Love their enthusiasm they show throughout the match and love the chemistry the teams have with each other. The Rival retain the gold after hitting their sweet finisher on Colin Cassidy outside the ring and following it with another one to Enzo Amore in the ring. Good stuff and nice to hear the big crowd reactions.
Winners: The Revival
Rating: ***1/4

Match 4: Divas Championship - Charlotte (c) vs. Natalya
Before the match, Natalya convinces Charlotte to turn this match into a Divas Championship match after she called the Flair family cowards. Is it always that easy to get a title shot? Regardless, Charlotte comes down to the ring with Ric Flair and the ovation for the two is big. These two ladies have fought against each other before including a match where the NXT Women's Championship was up for grabs. Fine match here that fell a tad bit short of what we have become accustomed to seeing from these two. The emotion just wasn't all there and with Ric Flair becoming a main reason to why Charlotte keeps winning, everything just gets so repetitive. Charlotte gets the pin to retain her title all the way to WrestleMania in Texas.
Winner: Charlotte
Rating: ***

Match 5: The Wyatt Family vs. Brock Lesnar
After The Wyatt Family eliminated Brock Lesnar from the Royal Rumble along with his chance at headlining the event, he was seeking for some revenge. Bray Wyatt came out along with Luke Harper and declared that the two would take out Lesnar. While the match was officially The Wyatt Family vs. Brock Lesnar, it was really just Luke Harper vs. Brock Lesnar. Harper was able to put on his best offense against Lesnar who ended up sucking it all in before beating the life out of Harper and ending his misery with an F5. They wanted to protect Bray and they wanted to give Brock the win, this was their way of doing it and it was fine for what it was. Nothing we haven't seen and gets a *1/2 for the spectacle in all of it.
Winner: Brock Lesnar
Rating: *1/2

Match 6: Sami Zayn vs. Stardust
Didn't realize how over Sami Zayn was until I heard the pop the Canadian crowd gave him. Shame I can't say the same about Stardust and his lame gimmick. As big of a pop they gave Zayn, the crowd just absolutely could not get into any part of this match. I'm not really sure what it was. Was it the placement of this match on the card? Was it Stardust? Was the match just too slow for the audience after watching Brock Lesnar toss The Wyatt Family around? Or was it simply a combination of all three? Whatever it was, the crowd was bored out of their minds for the better part of the match and it really sucked the life out of things. And that's unfortunate because the action in the ring was pretty good. Just wasn't as fast or exciting as the crowd was hoping for between these two. Zayn scores the win after hitting his Helluva Kick in the corner. Time for the main event!
Winner: Sami Zayn
Rating: **3/4

Match 7: WWE World Heavyweight Championship - Triple H (c) vs. Dean Ambrose
Lots of implications on the line for this one. If Triple H wins, his bout against Roman Reigns stays puts at WrestleMania and Dean Ambrose's match against Brock Lesnar is made official. However, Ambrose winning could turn everything into turmoil. Triple H's entrance never gets old, definitely a spectacle and also really cool to see the crowd react to the sound of Motorhead echoing throughout the arena. Lots of cheers for both men in this one as Triple H was seemingly making Ambrose look like an amateur early on as the crowd grew restless. But the pace definitely picked up fast and they never looked back from that. Ambrose turned the tides against The Game and when it looked like he had the win, the referee waved off his count after seeing that Ambrose had his feet under the bottom rope for a pin. The intensity of the match picked up from there and Ambrose then tried to take out Triple H through the announcers table before crashing through it as Triple H rolled out of the way. Ambrose beat the count back into the ring only to run into a Pedigree from Triple H. Normally not a fan of fishy finishes like the referee taking back Ambrose's pin but it worked here and the crowd really reacted in turn. However, I think a Lesnar appearance for this match would have made more sense than just Triple H beating Ambrose clean. Still a great match as the main event for WrestleMania is now set in stone.
Winner: Triple H
Rating: ****1/4

Overall Show Thoughts and Rating:
Like I've said before, I am definitely a sucker for these live event specials on WWE Network and this one was no different. They all offer a different feel and a different ambiance from all the other PPVs and shows we have become so accustomed to seeing. The card itself didn't necessarily deliver on all cylinders and that's likely because of the very slim roster. But the matches served their purposes and the main event was great. Match quality isn't always everything. A nice appetizer to WrestleMania 32.
Rating: 6.75/10