It would have been very easy to shuffle him to the side after Fastlane. Ambrose comes out of this a more established, and more interesting, main event player. Even as a heel (which is even more debatable after Roadblock - getting cheered against Roman is one thing, getting dueling chants while working against a guy as over as Dean is another - and does not paint a pretty picture for Vince's top face on the remainder of the road to WrestleMania), Trips is the kind of character who will respectfully acknowledge that. He's in one of Mania's three biggest matches, and he can say he's pinned not only the champion, but one of the greatest champions of all-time in Triple H. It could be business as usual, 'he's CRAZY, Maggle' come Monday night.īut he's not getting shuffled to the side. We don't want Dean to be unbeatable we're pulling for him because he's human, and this match made him more capable while retaining the clay feet we love. Reverting to old habits after he'd had his dream yanked away from his is a flaw, but it's an interesting, relateable one. He went too far in trying for the announce table flying elbow, and then after Triple H dodged it, beat the ten count to run right into a Pedigree which cost him the title.īut as Cagesider Casey Fiore pointed out on Twitter, a smart, strategic Ambrose who succumbs to his wild instincts is more interesting than the crazy man we've been given for the past couple years. He flew from the top rope to the floor, crotch-chopping like D-X Shawn Michaels to celebrate. And at that point, the unhinged character we'd known before showed back up.

Of course, referee Cone immediately waved off his own count, realizing Ambrose's feet were under the ropes. And when Trips, weary from fighting off a Sharpshooter, walked into a Dirty Deeds and John Cone slapped the mat three times, you wondered for a second if Vince McMahon didn't finally see Dean that way too. Ambrose was presented as a threat he looked like championship material. Hunter got offense in, of course, but he was caught off-guard by this not-so-crazy version of the Lunatic Fringe. And when it became apparent that Ambrose approached his latest WWE title shot with a clear-cut strategy, the announcers were forced to recognize it.įrom the opening where he went hold-for-hold with the Game, to his targeting legs for submissions, the challenger controlled the action for most of the bout. Despite Cole, et al blathering on about what a crazy man he is, the psychology of the match told a different story. The 46 year old proved something to any critics who might have questioned his stamina by going 25 minutes, but he's still the same Authority guy and arrogant all-time great he's always been.ĭean Ambrose, on the other hand, seemed to turn a corner as a character.

Triple H is still the WWE World Heavyweight champ, and he's still headed to Texas for a showdown with Roman Reigns on April 3. That despite the fact that it, as much as anything, was seen as a foregone conclusion. Roadblock's main selling point, and the angle which is going to cause the most discussion coming out of the show, was the main event. For all Michael Cole, JBL & Byron Saxton's (mostly inane) talk about Roadblock changing WrestleMania 32, everything on that card is as it was.īut that doesn't mean nothing mattered, and some of what did might be tied into how this show was put together. Looking at the stories which were told and/or advanced, nothing Earth-shaking happened.

Probably, as my friend and your usual main roster weekend show recapper Geno Mrosko would say, we shouldn't get too caught up in all that. Was this a pay-per-view (PPV)? A loaded edition of Raw? A regular Saturday night?

Throughout the evening, fans online debated whether or not the fact that the action played out like a non-televised live show was a good or bad thing, and the Canadians in attendance often reacted as if they weren't sure of what was being presented to them.Īt times, WWE itself seemed to fall into that trap. Those doubts weren't swayed when there was no pre-show for the event on the streaming service, or when the broadcast began and it looked like every house show you've ever been to, but with better lighting. The biggest obstacle (thought I was gonna make a 'roadblock' joke, there, didn't you?) for Saturday night's WWE Network special from Toronto's Ricoh Coliseum was the impression that nothing which happened there would matter.

Wwe roadblock results 2016