Roadblock: End of the Line

[goc]

Yes that is accurate. Owens decided to do his best Killer Brooks impression and grind the match to a halt with headlocks and chin locks.

[Jimmy James]

It's kind of a stupid idea even if it was to get heat, people don't like Roman as a FIP even though his selling is mechanically pretty good.

[Childs]

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.

 

This is nonsense. The best version of Ric was the one who fought his ass off when legitimately challenged. And you see that in his best feuds and matches. I'm not sure how you could watch him against Steamboat, Garvin, etc. and not see that athletic pride.

[stro]

 

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.

 

This is nonsense. The best version of Ric was the one who fought his ass off when legitimately challenged. And you see that in his best feuds and matches. I'm not sure how you could watch him against Steamboat, Garvin, etc. and not see that athletic pride.

 

Not in the same way that Charlotte has it. The Ric Flair character is not that of a super great athlete who wants to physically be the best. The Ric Flair character wanted to be the best but because that afforded him more money to spend. The only times the title and challenging himself seemed important to him was as a face or when he was past his prime and wanted to prove he still had it. The fame and fortune was almost always more important than the COMPETITION with Ric Flair. It feels the opposite when Charlotte is in a big match.

[Jordan]

Watched the Iron Man again and the first 20 minutes felt way better and in fact I enjoyed that more than the final 10. OT was pretty great and I know this sounds crazy but Charlotte turning the Bank Statement into the Figure 8 the way she did felt like something out of RINGS.

[El-P]

Only watched Charlotte Flair (since when ?) vs Sasha Banks, since I couldn't care less about the rest (Rusev in a stupid angle in the pre-show with a complete tool, what a waste of talent).

 

I thought it felt a little bit too choreographed after the opening matwork section, with both girls going through their dance. It did pick it up with the first serious submission. And that Sasha bump on the stairs from the apron was a thing of beauty. Then was very good. Ok, so first fall had a nice slow build into it and I didn't think the equalizer came too awkwardly.

 

Then the final third picked up and the match got excellent, then great despite... stupid booking. Which made the figue-four kinda weak in a way, and Sasha taping out three seconds before the bell doesn't make sense. A babyface either faints or just doesn't give up at this point. Of course one could argue she couldn't imagine the referee would be a complete dick a la Gorilla Monsoon with this sudden death overtime, which reeks of favoritism and kinda makes the whole thing booked like Sasha was the heel (really, giving up three seconds before the bell, and having to still defend her title with overtime).

 

That aside, that overtime was all kinda great, with the damn hardway adding a dramatic visual aspect. Sasha really grew as a babyface worker, although I really wish she had the opportunity to be all bitchy and mean again. Charlotte has improved so much on the facials and attitude that it makes up for some shaky execution at times (those low dropkicks), she really brought a lot in term of character (everything Randy Orton tried to be but never managed to in term of predatory tactics). She overdoes it a tad at time, but she's a lot of fun to watch react to the dynamics of the match. Very involving.

 

The booking is kinda baffling really, with Charlotte beating Sasha on PPV *again*. At this rate, Charlotte will beat her father's title record in a matter of two years. Only other negative, did this crowd suck or what ? They were dead for most of the match it seems. Did hurt the aura of the match, which deserved way better. Overall excellent, with a great final stretch. (despite the booking, but this company is useless on this matter anyway)

[The Thread Killer]

Yes that is accurate. Owens decided to do his best Killer Brooks impression and grind the match to a halt with headlocks and chin locks.

 

That was brutal. I counted at least three headlocks or rear chinlocks where Owens basically laid down on the mat next to or behind Reigns, and the action in the match basically ground to a complete halt. And it was really early in the match, so it can't be because he was already gassed, could it? Was he trying to get heel heat by doing that, or do the agents tell him to do it? I cannot for the life of me understand the logic behind wrestling like that in a Main Event on a PPV. So BORING.

[Childs]

 

 

 

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.

 

This is nonsense. The best version of Ric was the one who fought his ass off when legitimately challenged. And you see that in his best feuds and matches. I'm not sure how you could watch him against Steamboat, Garvin, etc. and not see that athletic pride.

Not in the same way that Charlotte has it. The Ric Flair character is not that of a super great athlete who wants to physically be the best. The Ric Flair character wanted to be the best but because that afforded him more money to spend. The only times the title and challenging himself seemed important to him was as a face or when he was past his prime and wanted to prove he still had it. The fame and fortune was almost always more important than the COMPETITION with Ric Flair. It feels the opposite when Charlotte is in a big match.

I think that's a real misread of the character, and I'll leave it at that.

[DMJ]

 

Yes that is accurate. Owens decided to do his best Killer Brooks impression and grind the match to a halt with headlocks and chin locks.

 

That was brutal. I counted at least three headlocks or rear chinlocks where Owens basically laid down on the mat next to or behind Reigns, and the action in the match basically ground to a complete halt. And it was really early in the match, so it can't be because he was already gassed, could it? Was he trying to get heel heat by doing that, or do the agents tell him to do it? I cannot for the life of me understand the logic behind wrestling like that in a Main Event on a PPV. So BORING.

I'm not going to defend it, but I tend to think it's both him trying to draw heat and probably agents telling him to do so. As little as I liked the main event, I will say, I kinda preferred it to his bout with Rollins at HiaC. By that point, I'd really tired of Owens wrestling these super spotfest matches where nothing registers or is sold - here, we got a match that actually had a clear story of Owens controlling and Reigns getting in small flurries before a comeback. It wasn't a great match, but at least it had an internal logic before the predictable schmozz finish.

[stro]

 

 

 

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.

 

This is nonsense. The best version of Ric was the one who fought his ass off when legitimately challenged. And you see that in his best feuds and matches. I'm not sure how you could watch him against Steamboat, Garvin, etc. and not see that athletic pride.

Not in the same way that Charlotte has it. The Ric Flair character is not that of a super great athlete who wants to physically be the best. The Ric Flair character wanted to be the best but because that afforded him more money to spend. The only times the title and challenging himself seemed important to him was as a face or when he was past his prime and wanted to prove he still had it. The fame and fortune was almost always more important than the COMPETITION with Ric Flair. It feels the opposite when Charlotte is in a big match.

I think that's a real misread of the character, and I'll leave it at that.

 

Ric Flair kind of sucks so . There's really no depth to his character or ring work.

[Coffey]

WWE is in this weird state where whenever they do finally decide to pull the trigger on someone & push them into the main event, I completely lose interest or feel like they chose the wrong person. I think this is a problem with me though & not WWE. I wanted Roman to be a top guy & the crowds have seemingly rejected him. I thought Cena was a good top guy & the crowds treat him the same way they treat Reigns - even still on a part-time schedule. I don't feel like Owens, Ambrose, Ziggler or Rollins work at all. I like Styles but the stuff with Ambrose & Ellsworth is just confusing to me. I want to see Rusev at the top for awhile & he's pulling pre-show duty against Big Cass, whom I see literal zero potential in. Before his injury, although I like him, I felt Finn Bàlor was on top way too soon. The roster feels thinner than ever because of the brand split & the main events just feel "meh" because to me it feels like they constantly feature all the wrong people.

[stro]

Owens was never made to be a top guy, not because of his look, but because his instincts are to go comedy or pop the crowd. He's fundamentally not someone you can take seriously 90% of the time. His look (particularly his height more than his weight) is part of that, but it's more his personality is like a lazy stoner guy at heart. More often than not, if he has the chance to do something brutal or deliver a crushing line, he's going to do a comedy spot or make a joke. He's a great mid card guy who can be plugged into main events from time to time, but I've never seen him as a top guy for years type of performer. I don't think WWE did, either. I'm sure he'd have had the title eventually, but I'm quite positive him holding the title from Summerslam to the Rumble was never even a possibility before Balor went down.

[Seabs]

Cass/Rusev was really weird. Cass has this perception of being great as a part of Enzo’s act but nobody really either wants to see him pushed as a singles guy or thinks he can work a singles match. So naturally in his first big singles match they book a DUD of a match that gets going in a literal sense but never actually has chance to actually get going.

New Day tag was really good. Could have been great if they actually sold the stories they were telling though. They have Cesaro start off hot from the get go and New Day for once are really on the backfoot and Cole and co are just calling the moves and talking about how great Cesaro looks rather than selling that this is the most vulnerable New Day have looked this early into a match. They even could have brought up the fact that New Day got caught off guard and conceded a quick fall the previous month at Survivor Series. So they work Kofi over for an extended period and Big E’s on the floor unable to tag in for a couple of spots and then he finally does make the tag and he works the exact same hot tag that he would have done had he been waiting ready on the apron for the entire time. On the plus side he managed to do that spear to the outside without it looking like death for him. Match develops into a really fun sprint at the end. Not this match but Cesaro had an all time great hot tag in the 3 way on the Raw before this show. Cesaro’s pretty good at this wrestling lark. I still can’t believe that we haven’t had a year yet of Cesaro just being given opponent after opponent in the midcard to have truly great matches with. Every year has felt like him having a great in ring year despite only being given the freedom to have a good year. Everyone seems to think that New Day are suddenly working like heels again with the Woods spots but they never stopped the 3rd man heel shtick when they turned babyface. That’s who they are and I actually like that they never dropped it. Just because they’re faces now doesn’t mean that they’re different characters. The babyfaces that don’t completely play by the rules and use that to beat the heels at their own game because they’re better at said game than the heels are is a good babyface act but it’s backfiring atm because they’re doing it on very popular babyface Cesaro. The finish was excellent on paper but it only came across good on TV because once again they didn’t sell the story of it. They just did it and then both teams reacted to the finish and not the spot. The announcers too. Isn’t it common sense for Cesaro and Sheamus to point out their brilliance of outsmarting the team who always outsmart their opponents including Cesaro and Sheamus multiple teams to keep the belts from them. That spot is about that moment not Cesaro celebrating in the crowd and Sheamus celebrating on his own. Instead of it coming off as a moment of brilliance from a reluctant but now well functioning team, it came off more as Cesaro having a great idea and Sheamus following up on it. And then they carry on with the two guys who don’t like each other shtick after the match when this should be the turning point for them as a team and dropping that as the main focus of their act. They should have done this match on Monday and had New Day lose the belts a day short. Because New Day breaking the record has done nothing for anyone because it’s not a memorable reign that people will remember, just the same as Demolition’s reign. But then again they wouldn’t treat that as a big moment to follow up on either.

Braun/Sami was awful. This should have been so easy and instead they got it so wrong. First off this match only works if Sami takes a beating which didn’t even come close to happen. You just can’t work this as a regular match with Braun doing his regular squash match moves. Sami took less of a beating than he would do in a match with Owens. Braun should have been hitting his finish 5 minutes in and then just launching him all over the outside area, through a table, on the ramp, into the steps, the ring post, the whole 9 yards. Instead we ended up with Strowman taking the biggest bumps in the match. WTF? Then Foley comes out dressed in god knows what and puts into action his and Zayn’s dastardly plan to distract Braun for long enough to wind the clock down and recover for a good minute. 1/10th of the time limit! And then the match ends with Zayn about to beat Strowman and the time expires right as Sami’s about to hit the kick for the second time and Sami’s not pissed at the time expiring. He doesn’t carry on attacking Braun and hit the 2nd kick and have to be restrained by Foley. He just takes survival as a victory and then trots off to the back. This should have been so easy to do something for at least one of them and instead it managed to do absolutely nothing for either.

Rollins/Jericho was awful too. Rollins has turned super robotic in the ring. He just does his moves and takes his bumps and that’s it. He’s turning into Finn Balor but without the look and the entrance so basically Finn Balor without any of the value. He actually wrestled as a better babyface when he was supposed to be working as a heel. This match made zero sense looking back on it after the finish of the main event.

Cruiserweights was just nothing. Crowds just do not care and they give them no reason to either. I’m in favour of matches being able to end at any point, especially off a kick to the head but they need to establish that as play in the playbook and not just a sudden finish. Adding Neville to the mix is better late than never but they’ve done borderline irreversible damage to the division with this horrible introduction. Turning him heel was a good move as well because it gives him a nice kick start in the division and it needs a better top heel.

Charlotte/Sasha was excellent. Best WWE match this year and would have been on par with the top few NXT matches this year had they done the finish properly. I know people are sick of them wrestling one another now but I don’t get that outside of fans thinking wrestling has a set of booking rules that are set in stone. The brand split has caused all these programs to be stretched out like this but it’s smart to do it like this because the alternative is they run through absolutely everything by Mania. They probably still will with barely anything left for the division outside of trades after Mania. The amount of title changes isn’t super but it also really doesn’t matter. They did another title change so we could have another great match and the best one yet between the pair of them. Woe me. Match was nothing more than ok for the first 10 with them doing their Guerrero/Malenko routine. Up to the first fall this was just good. Crowd was not into at all but what do you expect when you look at the 3 matches before it. What I like most about these Charlotte/Sasha matches is that everything they do feels impactful. It may not be as crisp or as robotic as a Rollins/Balor match would be but it has grit. Sasha gets flak for her bumping style but I’ll take that over bumping as safe as possible in a way that doesn’t look like it would ever hurt. Also they’ve never badly injured one another on a spot in their matches. Rollins/Balor are one for one. That bump on the stairs looked awesome. Ref kinda killed the impact of the spot a little by staying in the ring and not rushing out to check on Sasha.

Charlotte was out of this world great in this match. May be a bit of hyperbole but I thought it was a masterclass in character work over the course of a match. It reminded me of Austin during his heel run in 2001 the way she seemed obsessed with winning and was muttering to herself after every spot and every now and again she’d lose it and let out an outcry of emotion against Sasha and the fans. And not once did she get cheered! The leg work was awesome. I loved how with 4 minutes left Charlotte didn’t go straight into panic mode and straight into the Figure Four. She made sure that Sasha was crippled before going in for the kill. Leg worked looked nasty too. They did the end of the fourth fall totally wrong though and this is the only thing stopping me from calling it MOTY. It was so easy too. Have Sasha fight it and fight it until it gets down to the final 10 seconds and she either passes out or her shoulders fall to the mat for 3 and she’s so out of it she doesn’t even realise. That way Charlotte wins, Sasha gains by losing in that way and you create the same drama but better going into overtime. Instead Sasha came off as a total moron for tapping with 2 seconds left. Mere mortals wouldn’t have held on for as long as she did but once you’re at that point I’m pretty sure most people would just tough it out for another 2 seconds. And when people will think that it makes your wrestler who should be a larger than life opposite of a mere mortal nothing like that.

Overtime was great. I was listening to Meltzer’s review of the show and him and Bryan were both critical of Charlotte struggling to execute the Figure Four at the very end and it was maybe my favourite part of the match. 30+ minutes in I don’t want her working like she’s 5 minutes in to an easy match. I want it to look like a struggle to get every move executed. I mean I don’t know how intentional that was and how much of it was just genuine struggle but that’s what a 35 minute match between epic rivals should build up to. Did they even mention Charlotte’s PPV streak at the end of the match? It’s a nothing thing but once you brought it up at the last PPV surely you should be driving it home hard here. Charlotte’s had an amazing aura of a genuine star that carries herself as a champion from the moment she debuted in NXT but she keeps getting better and better and this was a good of an individual performance as there’s been in recent memory. One final note on this, those reaction shots are god awful but they actually caught a really great one at the end of this that was perfect. But then they also caught someone pulling a stupid face that totally killed the non existent heat in the match and made everyone laugh. Said it before but the wrestlers should be fuming with this because it diverts attention away from their work and in this case made the crowd giggle during their work. They continue to miss spots doing it and the wrestlers should just be fuming thinking why the fuck am I taking bumps on my body when these idiots in the truck are missing it because they’re cutting to the crowd hoping for someone to pull a goofy face that only takes away from me inflicting pain on my body even more when in one second you undo all the work that I’m trying to do by getting their attention and playing with their emotions by making them giggle by showing someone pulling a stupid face. Fans cottoning on to WWE’s desire for crowd reactions and working them into showing them on the big screen only to do something incredibly immature and vulgar can’t come soon enough.

Main event sucked. Probably the worst main event in recent memory. I mean there’s been some terrible ones but at least you can always say well they tried. I thought the Cena/Owens matches sucked but you can’t say they didn’t work their butts off. They didn’t even try here. I know that the headlock spot is kinda Owens’ thing but god how stupid could everyone be to think that doing several extended resthold spots with Roman Reigns in front of a PPV crowd would be a good idea. Owens could at least back up to the ropes and work the ropes and the ref but I guess that’s against WWE policy to do that. Owens just hasn’t been very good in the ring in WWE. And Reigns is getting worse as an in ring worker and falling into all the critiques that everyone throws at him. Between this and the Rusev matches I’m getting sick of him just spamming the same few moves and not selling and shrugging off the heel’s offence. The Reigns experiment is doing so much harm that I have negative interest in seeing him wrestle now because it’s just going to be a disinterested crowd with a horrible atmosphere. Finish sucked. They started building up some goodwill for main event finishes with Brock/Goldberg and in 2 shows they’ve killed that back dead. Why do people care about these main event matches when the chances of an actual finish that puts one guy over another basically come once or twice a year. As far as doing that finish it was a nice variation of it. But it’s still a better way of doing a bad finish. Owens not being in on it made no sense. Surely the shtick should be they both worked Reigns rather than Jericho worked everyone including Owens which makes him out to be the biggest idiot of the lot. Also feels like they’ve turned Jericho and Owens on one another so many times already that when they do it’s not gonna mean much.

New Day tag was really good. Charlotte/Sasha was brilliant. Everything else was garbage.