Roadblock: End of the Line

[WingedEagle]

Not about to argue that this match approaches any of their prior matches to this point, but the Pittsburgh crowd just could not care less.

[cpst]

Not about to argue that this match approaches any of their prior matches to this point, but the Pittsburgh crowd just could not care less.

They seem to be popping for Sasha's comebacks, so maybe they just laid out the match wrong for the crowd. It's also hard to build up an athletic endurance contest right after a HIAC match. That's somewhat backwards booking.

[cpst]

That might be the best hardway we've seen in a long time.

[hammerva]

Not about to argue that this match approaches any of their prior matches to this point, but the Pittsburgh crowd just could not care less.

 

Well that goofy fan with the bugged eyes and open mouth that the crowd laughed at would disagree with you. Can't way for the day someone flips off the camera and end this abortion of constantly showing fan reactions in middle of matches

 

I wonder how countries that don't allow phrases like "Elimination Chamber" handle "Natural Selection" and "Genetically Superior" that always happens in a Charlotte match

[KawadaSmile]

I found this match to be very good, really. It's hard to compare this match to their previous ones since they are different in nature, but the closing moments really got me. That knee work and the bloody nose made for an amazing last third, IMO.

[El Dragon]

I hate the "babyface taps out with less then 5 seconds left in order to retain their belt" thing. I don't like babyfaces tapping out in general, but knowing they just have to survive for a few more seconds and tapping anyway always bugs me.

 

Real good finishing stretch though.

[Jmare007]

I thought the first 20 minutes were kinda boring, I wasn't compelled by anything they did. It picked up for the final third, the OT was really good.

[Parties]

Sasha Banks [c] vs. Charlotte (30-Minute “Iron Man” Match, Women’s Title)

• “A person who challenges you more than anyone else.” “Together, Charlotte and I have made history.” “Together, Sasha and I have raised the bar for the women’s division to unprecedented heights.” Come on, that stuff would read as excessively forced in a Steph-written press release about this match.
• First 5 mins: slow but steady. Charlotte’s heeling is a bit goofy at times, but at least she’s going for it and the thirst for pins is good.
• 10 mins in: heating up. Well-paced, and the big turning point spot 11 mins in is great. Also liked Sasha’s straitjacket submission. It felt obvious when Banks kicked out after getting essentially KO’ed that this was gonna be a tie game.
• 20 mins: Crowd has been pathetically dead for this. It’s an arena that has given nothing to matwork and submissions all night, and this match calls for a lot of matwork and submissions. This is way better than the response it’s getting. Some would argue Iron Man is a flawed concept as crowds don’t care until the last 2 minutes, but this deserves better.
• 25 mins: Charlotte’s throws and suplexes have been surprisingly awesome. Sucks that they botched the 1-1 tie, especially as it came too quick after Charlotte’s first pin. Crowd is still unfairly dead for this.
• Corey Graves accidentally gets the funniest moment of the night: “This is supposed to be the End of the Line!” Banks is not always a natural babyface (see “Your dad loves me more than he loves you!”), but this was a fantastic performance, blood and all. I really liked this one, but it's still the wrong winner at the wrong time, early response online suggesting that they’ve gone to this well too many times, with a title that feels more like a hot potato than a competitive division. So in that sense, maybe they really are trying to mimic UFC.

[Superstar Sleeze]

 

 

The Sami Zayn/Braun Strowman is one of the worst stories in a long time.

I actually thought they did a decent job laying out the story on paper, but it came off very forced with Foley resorting to his intense, end of days style promo without much provocation. But this match didn't do anyone any favors.

I meant the actual storyline. A one on one match is not unfair and is not punishment. If Zayn was to be a world champion, he would have to defend against Braun. I get that Zayn is standing up to Foley but I hate these stories. If Zayn can't beat Braun, he doesn't deserve championship matches. This is a storyline for a rookie not an established star that beat Owens in a blowoff.

 

The layout was basic. Zayn's shine was weak not much fire or urgency. Flat artificial. Braun was fucking awesome! Love him! Foley nonsense was horrible. Finish sucked.

[Strummer]

Pittsburgh crowds of course have negative reputations of not reacting to anything but then you have Royal .Rumble 2014 that changed wwe history

[KawadaSmile]

I feel that sometimes Roman is in an island in the main event scene.

[...TG]

I liked the beatdown after the match but man what a cheap finish.

[RCS1988]

Triple H will show up in 2017.

[Strummer]

As someone predicted a few weeks back looks like we are getting Owens v Jericho v Rollins v Reigns at the Rumble or even the first Raw of the new year. Reigns is going to win that one

[Parties]

Kevin Owens [c] vs. Roman Reigns (Universal Title)

• Announcers at times seemed baffled at what to call or how to even talk about it for the first half of the match. Owens was so dominant for so long that it started to feel odd.
• Once Reigns’ comeback started, things improved: both had some good timing and camerawork in their favor. Owens’ top rope scoop suplex, the Superman punches, and the Drive-By all looked solid.
• I guess the finish was like, fine? If only as a way to weasel out of the show and into the Rumble, which seemed the point of this entire night altogether? I'm someone who's pretty big on ending the calendar year in a crowd-pleasing way, so in some respects two Shield Guys putting a popular comedy team of smarky pseudo-heels through tables is a fitting end to a weird and in many ways trivial year of RAW. Anyway, this was all pretty dumb and will be forgotten by next week, which is the true objective. Still, it really built to nothing beyond more Jericho-Owens teasing and the company entering year #4 of their blue balls for Reigns. At journey’s end, the Road was soundly Blocked, but was the Line properly Ended? Only the planks of semi-flattened table can say for certain.

[goc]

I liked the tag titles match and thought the finish was great.

Really dug the Zayn/Strowman match and thought it had good storytelling and did everything it set out to do.

I thought the women put on a clinic on how to have a great WRESTLING match that isn't just a 50/50 bomb throwing no selling festival of 2.9 kickouts. LOVED that match and think it's honestly one of the best WWE matches of the year. Sasha tapping with 2 seconds left was really stupid, would have worked a lot better to do that with 45-30 seconds left and then have Charlotte not be able to put her away to break the tie. But that's really the only flaw in the match for me.

The rest of the card was either forgettable or downright bad. The main event stunk and was easily the worst match Roman Reigns has had on PPV and no real surprise to me that it was with Kevin Owens who I find to be really NOT good.

 

 

 

Pittsburgh crowds of course have negative reputations of not reacting to anything but then you have Royal .Rumble 2014 that changed wwe history

 

Royal Rumble has a fly-in crowd just like Mania.

[Coffey]

I feel that sometimes Roman is in an island in the main event scene.

 

Can you elaborate on what you mean by this?

[KawadaSmile]

 

I feel that sometimes Roman is in an island in the main event scene.

 

Can you elaborate on what you mean by this?

 

From the 4 main guys RAW has right now - Roman, Jericho, Rollins and Owens - Reigns is the only one who is actually having constant good to very good matches, and when he does have to be against any of the other three, he pretty much needs to compensate for the others' faults, working twice as hard to get the best result possible. Today was an exception because Owens' performance was just shit, which is a shame because they had way better matches against each other.

 

It was like this against Jericho and Owens a few weeks, and against Rollins at MitB. I could argue that he also brought more than anyone else did from Balor, too.

[cm funk]

I thought Sam Roberts was pretty good on the pre-show. Bayley & JoJo looked great.

 

JoJo is currently the ring announcer. The lady on the pre/post-show and doing backstage interviews is Charly Caruso. I think she's really good at it and the best they've found since Renee Young. I hope she sticks

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BNHaGioBv5A/?taken-by=charlycarusowwe&hl=en

[WingedEagle]

As someone predicted a few weeks back looks like we are getting Owens v Jericho v Rollins v Reigns at the Rumble or even the first Raw of the new year. Reigns is going to win that one

 

That post occurred to me last night as well. Hopefully it does come through and leads to a solid pair of Mania matches.

[stro]

Rollins/Jericho literally almost put me to sleep. I was in bed watching and started dozing multiple times during it. Ironman was quite good. I listened to it with the volume off so I don't know how the commentary took away from it, but it felt like a big time match. There are times when I think Charlotte gets being a champion more than Ric ever did. I never got the feeling Ric was passionate about being the champion as a competitor. It was more for bragging rights and so he'd have more money for his jet setting life style. Meanwhile, Charlotte is an athlete who lives to truly be the best competitor, and it is the most important thing in the world to her.

 

I'd also argue there are times where I think Charlotte understands pro wrestling storytelling more than Ric, too, but I'm down on Ric a lot more than pretty much anyone I've ever known. Not that I'm saying Charlotte is better than Ric (yet), but there are flashes of brilliance from time to time. All that said, I have no desire to see another Sasha/Charlotte match for many months.

[Ricky Jackson]

Only watched Sasha vs Charlotte but I thought that was an amazing match. Really dramatic climax, like a team giving up the lead on a 4th down td as time expired and then finally being overwhelmed in ot after a grueling battle. I thought the leg work on Sasha was done extremely well

[Coffey]

 

I thought Sam Roberts was pretty good on the pre-show. Bayley & JoJo looked great.

 

JoJo is currently the ring announcer. The lady on the pre/post-show and doing backstage interviews is Charly Caruso. I think she's really good at it and the best they've found since Renee Young. I hope she sticks

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BNHaGioBv5A/?taken-by=charlycarusowwe&hl=en

 

 

I meant Bayley and JoJo. I know who is who. I feel like, because she's the ring announcer, people forget about JoJo a lot but she always looks great.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Amen, Kelly! Badass match between two badass chicks. New Day/Cesaro & Sheamus was the only other worthwhile match. The rest of the card was shit. Poor Roman.

[stro]

What I'm reading places is that KO totally shit the bed in the ME and it's still being blamed on Roman. Is that accurate? I went to bed right after the ironman.