Sean Ross Sapp's running WWE Roadblock blog!
Pre-show
- Rusev vs. Big Cass, fart noises. Enzo implied he was a male prostitute. Cool, man.
- We get this tomorrow on Raw, too? Why?
- I'm cool with Sam Roberts, Peter Rosenberg and the like appearing on pre-shows. Fun fact, I reached out to both of them about possibly doing podcasts on Fightful, but we landed Riddle and Helms.
RAW Tag Team Championship
New Day (c) (w/ Xavier Woods) vs. Cesaro & Sheamus
- I wonder how much New Day spends on gear annually.
- Cesaro and Sheamus could have been such an over team. They really needed more segments like the bar brawl.
- I fear Big E's career will end with the YOLO dive.
- Speaking of Big E, the guy has a big solo run in his future.
- Is there a more beautifully executed move than Cesaro's springboard uppercut?
- New Day cheating in an attempt to retain. I love it.
- Cesaro vs. Big E is also a program I want to see. This match is getting unreal.
- Cesaro and Sheamus win! Woah. Congrats to The New Day on a hell of a reign and run.
- I thought we were past the Sheamus/Cesaro 'odd couple' deal.
Jericho and Owens
- Jericho turns down a scarf? Oh they're working everyone.
Sami Zayn vs. Braun Strowman
- Zayn wouldn't have lasted 2 minutes with Crazzy Steve. He killed a man that Strowman simply defeated.
- This is a great way of accentuating the positives and hiding the negatives of Strowman
- Braun Strowman doesn't half ass anything, does he?
- Zayn wins....by lasting the ten minutes. Okay? They should have had Foley pull him away, or force him out of the match.
- Winning by not losing. As a Bengals fan, I'm quite familiar with that. And the opposite.
- I wouldn't be surprised to see this last until Mania. Zayn eliminates Strowman from the Rumble, some tomfoolery at the next PPV, then he finally gets a win at Mania.
Seth Rollins vs. Chris Jericho
- I couldn't get into this match, either before or during. I often have a tough time getting excited for Jericho matches despite loving him as a character. Usually he gets me back with a great match, but this one started a little too slow for my liking.
- Rollins wins when interference backfires. Not a fun watch.
WWE Cruiserweight Championship
TJ Perkins vs. Rich Swann (c) vs. Brian Kendrick
- Austin Aries is on commentary and pretty much confirms he'll participate in the cruiserweight division.
- TJP let go of a kneebar and the commentary team letting him have it, as they should. It's a No DQ match. You can't gain a submisson there, though. Someone's got to tell the fans the rules so there's no more confusion.
- Swann retains in a match that really had an opportunity to get the crowd back after the last match, but didn't.
- Neville comes out, and as I've been begging for months, turns heel and beats the living shit out of everyone. It's about time!
Raw Women's Championship
30 Minute Iron Man Match
Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte
- Really pumped for this match. Some people will hate it no matter what. This match could literally be the best of all-time and people would be ANGRY that you enjoyed it. Whether it be because they're women, or they've wrestled a bunch. It's weird.
- Sasha hits an incredibly difficult sunset flip spot from Charlotte's shoulders.
- A reminder: Not a damn thing wrong with a bunch of pins happening after the first one happens. That's the way human fatigue works.
- Sasha Banks is so smooth with those double knee spots.
- No pins through ten minutes. That makes me happy.
- There was a hilarious reaction from the crowd when they cut to a guy in disbelief over Charlotte being put in the Banks Statement.
- Weak kickout from Sasha Banks after she's tripped face first onto the stairs.
- Charlotte gets a pin at 19 minutes in with an awesome super Natural Selection. Sasha gets one at 21 minutes in to tie it. Crowd is asleep.
- The "disrespecting the babyface opponent while smacking them and taunting" deal is overdone in WWE women's matches.
- My WWE Network really started shitting the bed here. Sort yourself out, Network.
- They should really institute rules against inactivity in Iron Man Matches. Otherwise, why wouldn't wrestlers just run after getting a lead?
- Sasha taps with one second left to tie it up. Crowd isn't happy. Kind of an insult to the viewer's intelligence to think Sasha couldn't hang on any longer.
- Sasha is busted open from her face and is fighting out of a figure four. SICK! Really good match, but that should have happened five minutes earlier.
WWE Universal Championship
Kevin Owens (c) vs. Roman Reigns (U.S. Champ)
- I can't be the only one who hates Reigns' clotheslines, right?
- Owens countering the Drive By with a superkick was nice.
- Owens failed to break the announce table with his first splash, went up and did it again. The crowd loved it. That was a great move.
- Who are the people saying Reigns only does a few moves and can't go in the ring? Get at me on Twitter so I can make you look like fools.
- Jericho comes out and gets Owens disqualified, saving the title for Owens!
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