This Sunday night, Pittsburgh will host the final pay-per-view event of the year, WWE Roadblock End of the Line. 7 matches are set to take place, and all of RAW’s titles are on the line.
Sami Zayn’s life and career are potentially on the line, Braun Strowman’s reputation is at stake and Kevin Owens’ friendship with Chris Jericho is in serious danger.
What will all of this mean for the PPV event on Sunday? Will there be twists and turns along the way that are shocking? Maybe a twist that is feasible, but you didn’t really think WWE would actually pull off?
As they always say, anything can happen in WWE.
#5 Paige returns to interfere in the Ironman match
Paige’s second Wellness Policy violation ended last week, so she is technically cleared to return to a WWE ring.
She may not appear to have much interest in it according to social media, but it could all be one big ruse to make people think she wasn’t going to be coming back anytime soon, when instead, she could be showing up on Sunday night.
If she does return, it would only make sense for her to interfere in the match for the title that she has not yet had the chance to fight for. Will she actually cost one of these women the match?
Maybe not, but she could attack them both just to make a statement. It would just turn out to be a double DQ, so the scores would offset.
Paige needs to do something big upon her return to really get herself back into the spotlight after so much time away. Appearing during the Ironman match and physically interjecting would certainly be a good way to get all eyes on her.
#4 Charlotte Wins The RAW Women’s Championship
Now that Sasha Banks has regained the RAW Women’s Title and has started her third run as champion, it looks like she has the whole world’s worth of opportunities ahead of her, just as soon as she finishes her business with Charlotte on Sunday.
Conventional wisdom dictates that on the final PPV event of the year, in a match that is being promoted as their final confrontation, and at a show with the subtitle “End of the Line”, that Charlotte will finally take a one-on-one loss on pay-per-view.
But will she? That seemed like a given at Hell in a Cell, but Sasha failed to get the job done in her hometown and Charlotte remained champion. The same can happen this weekend, with Charlotte, not Sasha, leaving Pittsburgh as the RAW Women’s Champion.
Maybe WWE wants Charlotte to be the top star of the division, and Sasha only won so many times in order to create moments. If that’s the case, then Charlotte will end up winning the match and the title, because Sasha Banks has already had her time to shine.
#3 Sami Zayn defeats Braun Strowman
Sami Zayn has been trying to get a true one-on-one shot at Braun Strowman for months. First, he was ignored by Strowman, then he was denied by General Manager Mick Foley. He eventually got his match, but it was stopped short by the GM, who feared for Sami’s safety.
After weeks of petitioning to get a rematch that doesn’t get stopped, Zayn finally received approval from Mick Foley and is going to get 10 minutes to try to survive in the ring with Braun Strowman.
You might expect that the two most likely outcomes would either a straight up victory for Strowman or a time limit draw that sees Sami Zayn successfully last 10 minutes in the ring with the big monster.
What if, instead of going with the obvious, Sami grinds out a victory over Strowman within the 10-minute time constraint? Nobody would see it coming, and it would be an absolute shocker.
#2 Chris Jericho intentionally costs Kevin Owens the Universal title
So far, even though their relationship has become very rocky, the worst thing that has really happened to Jericho and Owens was on Monday night when they miscommunicated on a number of occasions. It cost them the Tag Team titles and eventually got Kevin Owens beat up by Roman Reigns.
It doesn’t appear that there has been any intentional, willful interference for one man to cause the other to lose, but Kevin Owens’ interference in Jericho’s match for the US Title distracted Y2J enough that he got hit with a spear and lost his opportunity.
That is what really drew the line in the sand between the two men, and Jericho may cross that line on Sunday.
Will Jericho intentionally cost Kevin Owens the title out of spite? We'll have to wait and see.
#1 Chris Jericho defeats Seth Rollins
This is a match that feels like one with a foregone conclusion. Rollins is chasing the WWE Universal Championship and wants his hands on Triple H. In order to get there, by his own decree, The Architect has to start by exorcising the demon of Chris Jericho.
What if that's not the plan? What if Jericho is gunning for a Universal Title match against Kevin Owens (if he doesn't cause him to lose the belt) and a win over Seth Rollins is what makes Mick Foley and Stephanie McMahon believe that he has earned a shot?
It's certainly a possibility, but would they actually run with it?
If this does happen, though, where do they go with Rollins? Maybe a triple threat with Jericho and Owens that sees him winning the title on his way to WrestleMania? I could go for that.
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