Botched Spot

So a quick note about this post- I’ve been doing my predictions for a while now, but while I will often talk about an upcoming Pay Per View, I rarely go back and talk about it afterwards. So, this is the first of potentially many write ups about my Pay Per View reactions and how all of my predictions were wrong! Are two to three days too long to wait and post PPV reactions? Let’s find out!

I saw a lot of people on Twitter criticizing Roadblock by calling it a glorified house show, but I’m going to do something different: I’ll complement it by calling it a glorified house show. House shows are awesome! Sure, maybe the results are mostly safe, but you know you’re going to get some solid in ring action AND special lighting. I liked it anyway.

The New Day vs. Sheamus and Barrett from the League of Nations

First up we had The New Day coming out and promoting their new box of Bootie-O’s cereal! Of course if you look it up online, you know that the box isn’t really for cereal, but their new t-shirt with the same “Bootie-O’s” cover on it. Why didn’t they actually pull out and display the new shirt? The world may never know.

The New Day also fought Wade Barrett and Sheamus in a less memorable performance afterwards. While I knew that New Day would win, they did make me a doubt it a couple of times. Other than Xavier distracting the ref one time, The New Day mostly wrestled as faces, playing up to the crowd and everything, so we may just see them as good guys from now on.

I predicted that New Day would win aaand… I was right!

Chris Jericho vs. Jack Swagger

I’m not sure if Chris trying to get a Canadian crowd to boo him and cheer Jack Swagger was part of a dare or something, but he did it for the most part. Jericho cut a solid heel promo about how glad he was to move away from Canada and how stupid Jack Swagger is, which seemed really random until Swagger was revealed as his opponent. Chris won, of course, but I guess it was nice to see Swagger’s still alive and can still get crowds to chant “We the People”.

No prediction- it was a surprise match! Lucky us!

The Revival vs. Enzo and Cass (featuring Carmella!)

It was great seeing Enzo and Co. come out to such a large audience that seemed really into their act. The match was great overall, and a good incentive for fans to check out NXT. I was upset that Enzo and Cass didn’t win, and even more upset that Cole and JBL commented on Enzo’s hair by saying he had the same barber as Donald Trump and that his hair had something to do with some pandas getting pregnant (literally what Cole said). I saw some chatter claiming that Enzo and Cass not winning the titles bode well for them being called up to the main roster soon, but Kevin Owens and Paige were called up while holding NXT titles, so I’m not sure it means anything for Enzo and Cass.

I predicted that Enzo and Cass would win the titles aaand… I was sadly mistaken.

Charlotte (with Ric Flair) vs. Natalya

This was a gem of a match, and a great showcase how great Charlotte can look with the proper amount of time and opponent. It was also great to see Nattie in this match, since her matches are few and far between anymore. To give credit to everyone in the match, Ric also added a lot to the presentation by flipping out whenever Charlotte was in trouble. It was no surprise that Charlotte won, but that certainly didn’t take away from the match.

No prediction because this match was also a surprise!

Brock Lesnar (with Paul Heyman) vs. Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper

Now on to the first big disappointment of the night, where the advertised match between Bray and Brock was not only changed to a handicap match, but a handicap match where Bray never even tagged in! I’m not that upset because I’m sure it will lead to something else, but the lack of any storyline reason for changing the match makes it obvious that the decision was last minute. I was glad that Luke Harper got in some good offense before Lesnar took over though.

I predicted Brock Lesnar would win aaand… I was right!

Sami Zayn vs. Stardust

Another unannounced match! While I thought it was good, if not at Sami’s typical high level, the crowd was noticeably antagonistic during this match, chanting trollish things like “JBL” over and over again. Since this was one of Sami’s first matches on the main roster I was hoping for a better showing, but I’m confident that with his ability he’ll get back on track.

This was yet another surprise match, so no prediction!

Triple H vs. Dean Ambrose for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship

Even though the ending was predictable, this main event delivered in every way! I loved seeing just a straight up match with no run ins, weapons, or gimmicks, just two guys delivering in the ring. While I knew Triple H was going to walk out with the title, I was completely fooled when Dean “won” before the referee noticed his foot barely being under the rope. While it was disappointing, hopefully the crowd’s reaction to Dean pinning Triple H showed that he can be a champion.

I predicted Triple H would win aaand… I was right!

 
So in addition to watching an enjoyable Pay Per View Special Event thing, I also got three out of four predictions right! Not too bad, although I would’ve been happy to be wrong on the main event. I guess the whole thing was a little predictable too. The good news is that now I have a good enough idea of what Wrestlemania will look like to start planning for a certain Wrestlemania board game…