WWE Roadblock, Source: WWE.com
This Sunday is WWE Roadblock: End of the Line, a Raw-exclusive pay per view event. Find out what’s in store for the last major event of 2016.
On December 18, Raw presents WWE Roadblock: End of the Line, hitting the airwaves from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Roadblock has a long and storied history, going all the way back to, uh, March.
Yes, the first Roadblock event took place less than a year ago. Then, it was one final obstacle on the Road to WrestleMania. Now, it’s the last major event for either brand in the year.
A pair of championship matches headline the show on Sunday. First up is a Universal Championship match, pitting two champions against each other. There’s no love lost between the combatants, but there’s been some question as to whether or not one man can win a match without help from his best friend. Sunday, he looks to prove that and prevent his opponent from becoming a dual champion.
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In the second match, two women who have a knack for making history look to do so again. After trading victories for the better part of a year – not to mention their time in NXT – the only way to settle this Women’s Championship feud is in a 30-minute Iron (Wo)Man match.
Also on the card are a series of matches that should live up to the event’s tagline – “End of the Line.” Lots of long-standing rivalries are coming to a head on Sunday. And it’s possible that a historic title reign may come to an end.
Please read on for everything you need to know about WWE Roadblock: End of the Line.
Source: WWE.com
Big Cass vs. Rusev (Kickoff Show)
It’s kind of amazing that a professional wrestling match can happen solely because someone was walking around naked. But, hey, 2016 has been a crazy year, so why not?
Yes, Big Cass is taking on Rusev because Enzo Amore got locked out of the locker room and hit on Lana while naked. You can’t make this stuff up. Rusev took exception to Enzo’s actions, and challenged him to a match.
The following week, the pair met again, with Rusev intentionally getting disqualified after a low blow to Enzo. But the real reason Cass is squaring off against the Bulgarian Brute at Roadblock is in retaliation for a prank pulled by Lana and Rusev.
The couple staged an argument in earshot of Enzo and Cass, prompting the Smacktalker Skywalker to make a move on the Ravishing Russian. While Cass was in the ring waiting to take on Rusev, Enzo went to Lana’s hotel room – where a trap was sprung.
Rusev laid Enzo out in the hotel room, then dragged him into the hallway. Clad only in his underwear, Enzo was left barely conscious outside the rooms. To get payback for his friend, Cass will meet Rusev on the Roadblock Kickoff Show.
Will Rusev be able to crush another opponent? Or does Big Cass have the unteachable skills necessary to get revenge for his little buddy?
Source: WWE.com
Raw Tag Team Championship MatchThe New Day (c) vs. Cesaro & Sheamus
This past Monday night on Raw, The New Day officially cemented their status in the record books. After winning a pair of triple threat tag team matches, Big E, Kofi Kingston, and Xavier Woods passed Demolition for the longest tag team title reign in WWE history.
Since August 2015, it’s been nothing but unicorns and cereal in the tag team division. But a new, unlikely team has started making waves – after a bit of a rocky patch to start their partnership.
Cesaro and Sheamus began teaming together after going to a draw in their best of seven series. Despite their animosity towards one another, after a few weeks some chemistry began to appear. In their previous championship opportunities, they’ve come up just short.
But with the opportunity for another title match at stake, the Swiss Superman and Celtic Warrior made sure to grab it. They were victorious in a fatal four way match at Tribute for the Troops, and have gotten one more shot at New Day. They’ll try to make the most of it at Roadblock this Sunday.
Have Cesaro and Sheamus learned to trust each other enough to capture tag team gold? Or will New Day find a way to extend their record-setting run even further?
Source: WWE.com
Sami Zayn vs. Braun Strowman
It isn’t too often that a mere ten minutes can seem like a lifetime. But for Sami Zayn at Roadblock, it’s entirely possible that ten minutes may seem like an eternity.
At Survivor Series, Zayn was unsuccessful in bringing the Intercontinental Championship to Raw. Never mind that he lost to The Miz due in part to some shenanigans. But Stephanie McMahon and Mick Foley decided to punish him by putting him in a match against Braun Strowman.
And Strowman did what Strowman does – beating Sami within an inch of his life. In fact, if Foley would not have come to the stage to stop the match, we might never have seen Sami Zayn again.
Not only was Sami upset that the match was stopped, he became infuriated that he couldn’t get another match with Strowman. Foley refused to allow it, claiming to be saving Sami from himself. This didn’t sit well with Zayn, who knows full well that if he were in the same position, Foley wouldn’t hesitate to fight a bigger, badder opponent.
In his quest to get a rematch with Strowman, Sami was nearly traded to SmackDown – or so he thought. Foley agreed to work out a trade rather than give Sami the match, but when the “equal talent” to be exchanged was revealed to be Eva Marie, Zayn went nuts. Of course, there was no trade, and Mick was trying to fire Sami up, because he gets a ten minute match against Strowman at WWE Roadblock.
Strowman claims no one can last two minutes in the ring with him. Will Sami be able to last the full ten minutes?
Source: WWE.com
WWE Cruiserweight Championship MatchRich Swann (c) vs. The Brian Kendrick vs. TJ Perkins
At WWE Roadblock, the Cruiserweight Championship will be up for grabs in a tripe threat match. The three men who have held the title since it was re-established after the Cruiserweight Classic will give it all they’ve got to leave with the title.
The current champion, Rich Swann, is riding high after winning the title on the first episode of 205 Live. Everyone knows that the outlandish Swann likes to have fun all night long, but he can also back it up in the ring.
Swann won the title from The Brian Kendrick, who’s the most seasoned competitor in the Cruiserweight division. Kendrick will stop at nothing to regain the title, which he sees as the one thing that legitimizes him as a wrestler. If he can’t win the championship again, he’ll start to doubt his abilities again.
And the inaugural champion, TJ Perkins, is caught in between the other two. TJP is friendly with Swann, but also thinks that the current champ has been fortunate and lucky thus far. Perkins has been quick to tell Swann that luck always runs out.
TJP’s relationship with Kendrick is well documented. Former friends turned bitter rivals, Perkins still hasn’t gotten over how Kendrick won the title from him in the first place. After failing to win it back in his rematch, now he’s stuck in the mix with Swann as well.
Cruiserweight action is usually exciting, and a triple threat match can only be moreso. At Roadblock, the 205 Live crew will look to make a statement.
Source: WWE.com
Seth Rollins vs. Chris Jericho
Since his return from injury in the spring, Seth Rollins has been a man possessed. All he wants to do is regain championship gold, because the world title was stripped from him due to injury.
At Money in the Bank, he briefly won the WWE Championship before he got cashed in on by Dean Ambrose. At SummerSlam, he failed to become the inaugural Universal Champion when he lost to Finn Balor. And he lost a fatal four way match for the vacant Universal Championship due to unlikely interference from Triple H – a former mentor to Rollins.
The Architect managed to get several title matches against Kevin Owens, but was unable to earn a victory. Much of the reasoning for that can be traced to one man – Chris Jericho, the “best friend” to Owens.
Several times, Jericho interfered on behalf of Owens. Each time, Rollins became more and more infuriated, until a parking lot confrontation led to Jericho taking a Pedigree on the hood of a car. If Rollins hadn’t already made The List, that likely would have earned him a spot.
Although Jericho and Owens seem to be going through a rough patch in their friendship, Y2J will still be looking to take out Rollins. No matter how much he may not be getting along with Owens at the moment, Jericho still wants retribution for the attack in the parking lot, among other things.
How will things play out at Roadblock when these two meet?
Source: WWE.com
Raw Women’s Championship Iron Man MatchSasha Banks (c) vs. Charlotte Flair
Main event Raw? Check. Main event pay per view? Check. First women to compete in Hell in a Cell? Check.
At Roadblock, Sasha Banks and Charlotte Flair will have the first main roster women’s Iron Man match, adding one more accomplishment to their resumes. The two will battle for 30 minutes, and the woman with the most victories walks out of Pittsburgh with the Raw Women’s Championship.
Banks regained the title on Raw several weeks ago in a falls count anywhere match. It was the fifth time Banks and Flair have traded the title in since the summer. That should give some indication of the lengths these two will go to for the title.
To add fuel to the fire, Charlotte’s father Ric Flair congratulated Sasha on her victory. The Queen didn’t take too kindly to this, verbally attacking The Nature Boy and physically assaulting The Boss.
With such animosity built up, and the amount of title changes between the two, an Iron Man match is the logical conclusion. There will be no fluke victories – the best wrestler will walk out with the gold.
Sasha has experience in an Iron Man match, though not totally positive. She lost to Bayley in 2015 in an Iron Man match for the NXT Women’s Championship. Maybe the second time will be the charm for the Boss.
One more wrinkle to the story – there will be no rematch after this contest. It truly will be the “End of the Line” for this long-standing rivalry.
Will Sasha Banks be able to stop Charlotte’s streak of pay-per-view victories to retain the title? Or will Charlotte send Sasha to her second Iron Man match loss?
Source: WWE.com
WWE Universal Championship MatchKevin Owens (c) vs. Roman Reigns
After Hell in a Cell, Roman Reigns decided that the United States Championship needed some company. So he challenged Kevin Owens for the Universal Championship.
Owens, however, tried everything in his power to get out of the match. First was the focus that needed to be placed on the epic Survivor Series match between Raw and SmackDown Live. But when Team Raw came up short, Owens – and his best friend Chris Jericho – put the blame on Reigns.
The Big Dog, though, knows nothing if not how to push buttons. He claimed that Owens was only Universal Champion because he ducked challenges left and right. In fact, Owens not only wasn’t a fighting champion, but on the rare occasions he would fight he got a hand from Jericho. So maybe he wasn’t fighting because he couldn’t win on his own.
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This made Owens irrationally angry, and he agreed to Roman’s request for a title shot – on the condition he could defeat Owens in a non title match. During that match, Jericho was a non-factor after the parking lot assault by Seth Rollins. That led to Reigns hitting a spear for the victory, and earning his title match at Roadblock.
With Owens and Jericho going through a rocky patch, it’s likely Owens will be on his own at Roadblock. Will he be able to prove he can win a match without help? Or will Reigns become a dual champion by capturing the Universal Title?
Be sure to follow Daily DDT for all of our Roadblock: End of the Line coverage this weekend!
