WWE Roadblock 2016 wasn’t very hotly anticipated by neither fans nor critics but the show ended up being a huge surprise. The matches were enthralling from beginning to end, other than a certain triple threat match which didn’t get any love from the crowd.
The headlines on the show delivered, as did the opening match which got the crowd hot for the rest of the show. With the show having ended just a couple of hours ago, let’s take a look at the winners and losers from Roadblock 2016 before we gear up for the next episode of WWE Raw.
Loser #4: The New Day
The New Day spent the last couple of months trudging their way to breaking Demolition’s record while they held onto the Raw Tag-Team Championships by hook or by crook. They finally broke the record earlier this week after holding onto the titles on Raw last week despite defending their titles twice on the night.
However, New Day losing the titles less than a week after breaking Demolition’s record doesn’t look good. It proves what fans have believed for the last few months to be true – that they were just holding onto the belts to break Demolition’s record to wipe them from the top of the record books.
New Day should have retained the titles at Roadblock to cement their run and cold have finally lost the titles after more buildup and on a bigger stage like the Royal Rumble.
Winner #4: Sami Zayn
Sami Zayn had one of the matches of the year at WWE Battleground against Kevin Owens but WWE failed to capitalize on his momentum after the match and let him fade back into the background. For most of his current feud with Braun Strowman, he’d been portrayed as not having the ability to compete against a monster like Strowman with Raw GM Mick Foley specifically pointing it out and even threatening to trade Zayn to SmackDown.
However, Zayn finally managed to convince Foley to put him in the ring against Strowman last week on Raw and he gave a good account of himself at Roadblock. He took a beating from Strowman but kept getting back up and hitting back with whatever he could. The 10-minute time limit match ended as a draw but just as Sami was beginning to get the upper hand, having just hit Strowman with a Helluva Kick right before time ran out.
Loser #3: Rusev
Rusev may have won his match against Big Cass but it was by DQ, and the very fact a man with Rusev’s talent was on the pre-show counts as a loss for the Bulgarian Brute.
The man who rode into Wrestlemania on a tank to face John Cena was forced to be on the pre-show of a B-PPV in December. I’m not even counting the face that Rusev got pummeled for large parts of the match and had to resort to escaping into the crowd to trick Cass into getting counted out.
Winner #3: Cesaro and Sheamus
Cesaro and Sheamus’ unlikely partnership has been one of the highlights of WWE programming during the last few months of 2016. What started off as a Best of 7 series against each other that no one wanted to see ended up as a one red-hot tag-team winning the Tag-Team gold from the longest reigning WWE tag champions of all time.
Masterful long-term booking or happy accident? Either way, Cesaro, and Sheamus have constantly impressed during their fledgling partnership and with them now Raw Tag-Team Champions it freshens up Raw’s tag team division.
Loser #2: Rich Swann, Brian Kendrick, and TJ Perkins
Let me just get this out of the way first – it isn’t any of these guys’ fault that they’ve ended up on this part of the list. With the way that the Cruiserweight Division has been booked on Raw, they never stood a chance.
The crowd at Pittsburg didn’t care about the match at all and were more into it after the match than during. More on that later.
Is there any hope for the Cruiserweight Division? Yes, considering the level of talent in the division, but WWE has to do something drastic to turn things around.
Winner #2: Neville
Neville has been aimless since he returned from injury after the WWE brand split. He has been barely featured on WWE television since then and it was great to see him come out after the triple threat match at Roadblock.
It got even better when he showed his ruthless side and destroyed Rich Swann and TJ Perkins with the listless (till then) crowd chanting “Thank you Neville” at him. This seems like the beginning of a big push for Neville and it’s more than deserved for the man formerly known as PAC.
Loser #1: Roman Reigns
Roman Reigns ends up on this list purely because he got screwed over at Roadblock. Reigns and Owens were having an intense match when Chris Jericho came out and “attacked” Kevin Owens, resulting in Owens getting DQ-ed.
Apart from him ending the night without his much-sought-after Universal Championship, the crowd in Pennsylvania wasn’t on the side of the ‘Big Dog’, clearly siding with Owens.The only redeeming factor of the night for Reigns was the fact that if he’d won and become double champion, the hatred from the crowd in Wrestlemania season would have just gotten worse.
Winner #1: Charlotte and Sasha Banks
You have to hand it to these two women – they’re just incredible in the ring together. They really are this generation’s Flair-Steamboat. Roadblock was the 6th time these two women met this year in a title match and once again the result was a shock, with Charlotte continuing her unbeaten streak on PPV to 15-0.
The two women gave it everything they had in the ring and even though Sasha ended the night dethroned, bloody and defeated, there is no shame in losing in this manner.
The two women took each other to overtime before the match finally ended. If this isn’t a women’s revolution, what is?
