WWE Roadblock preview & predictions: The end of the line
The final PPV event from WWE this year is a Raw production, as Roadblock: End of the Line will emanate from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
In the main event, we’ll have WWE Universal Champion Kevin Owens square off against United States Champion Roman Reigns. In another era, two champions going at it would be kind of important, but Reigns’ title will not be on the line, so it doesn’t matter much. We’ll also see Raw Women’s Champion Sasha Banks defend her title against Charlotte in a 30-minute Iron Man match. It promises to be a blow off of a feud that has lasted the better part of six months.
Other matches on the show feature The New Day looking to continue their record-breaking streak by defending the Raw tag team titles against Cesaro & Sheamus, Big Cass looking for revenge against Rusev, Cruiserweight title action featuring Rich Swann defending against TJ Perkins and Brian Kendrick, Sami Zayn battling Braun Strowman, and Chris Jericho squaring off against Seth Rollins.
Current tallies:
- Kyle S. Johnson: (Columnist) (75 points)
- Bryan Rose: (New Japan/205 Live reporter) (73 points)
- Steve Khan: (WWE SmackDown Live recapper) (72 points)
- James Cox: (WWE Main Event recapper & WWE DVD reviewer) (68 points)
- Jeremy Peeples: (Lucha Underground recapper) (53 points)
- Brian Hoops: (Daily Pro Wrestling History) (53 points)
- Ryan Frederick: (UFC reporter) (45 points)
- Paul “Gramps” Fontaine: (MMA writer and recapper and new grandfather) (27 points)
- PeachMachine: (University of Phoenix Online Mascot) (17 points)
- JJ Williams: (NXT reporter) (6 points)
Big Cass vs. Rusev
Bryan Rose: Hey, if they want to give Big Cass a push, then he should win. Simple as that.
Winner: Big Cass
Brian Hoops: Rusev should win but they love Cass.
Winner: Big Cass
James Cox: This could be a main event program later down the line, I think they could have Rusev win via some distraction.
Winner: Rusev
Jeremy Peeples: Rusev’s falling a bit on the card, but this just appears to be filler before they do something better with him. Credibility-wise, Rusev should win this, but they’re building up Cass, so I’ll go with him to win.
Winner: Big Cass
Paul Fontaine: Rusev has been one of the best parts of Raw lately and really deserves better than this. I think he’ll eventually win this feud but Cass will probably take the first match to keep it going, probably with interference from Enzo.
Winner; Big Cass
Steve Khan: As much as they like Big Cass, I don’t see him beating Rusev outright here. Cass picks up the win via countout or DQ or something.
Winner: Big Cass
Kyle S. Johnson: I’m not sure WWE realizes what they have in Rusev, but they seem to think they’ve got something big (pun intended, I guess) in Cass. Rusev should win here, but it seems more likely that they would give Cass a big singles win over a former champion to push the idea that he’s ready to vie for a title.
Winner: Big Cass
Ryan Frederick: They should give Rusev the win. I think they’ll give Cass the win, maybe due to interference from Enzo. Pre-show match so I don’t expect a clean win, maybe a countout win.
Winner: Big Cass
Sami Zayn vs. Braun Strowman
Bryan Rose: Everyone says Braun. Given how they have pushed this, I say Zayn gets some sort of countout win. Not pin Braun clean in the middle, but give him some sort of win so this can continue without Zayn looking like a total loser.
Winner: Sami Zayn
Brian Hoops: Zayn should win but they love Strowman
Winner: Braun Strowman
James Cox: It isn’t too early to beat Strowman, because he’s barely got any momentum and certainly isn’t over, but they won’t beat him yet. Zayn is too good with this nonsense.
Winner: Braun Strowman
Jeremy Peeples: Sami has shined brightly with his promo work on Raw, but he seems doomed to get a draw here — or just get squashed. The former seems far more likely, but since this doesn’t have a time limit draw and the idea is he can last 10 minutes — I’ll go with him lasting 10:01 before losing.
Winner: Braun Strowman
Paul Fontaine: It’s definitely not time to end Braun’s unbeaten streak. I feel like Sami is eventually headed to SmackDown and Mick Foley’s tease of that happening on Monday could be leading to something. Sami will last almost till the end of 10 minutes before falling to the behemoth.
Winner: Braun Strowman
Steve Khan: If this really is a 10-minute time limit match, they can either go the distance, or Zayn will come really close but just barely lose. 10 minutes isn’t really that long, and after everything they’ve done with him, Zayn can’t lose now.
Winner: Time limit draw
Kyle S. Johnson: Dropping in the idea of a hard 10-minute time-limit suggests that this is a no-win situation for Sami Zayn, which it basically is. The likelihood of Sami scoring an upset victory does not seem particularly good, but positing the idea that lasting more than 10 minutes is some kind of moral victory gives him a way to win while losing, sort of.
Unless, of course, he just gets ragdolled for 10 minutes and only manages to barely break the 600-second mark by will of instinct. The bigger question here seems to be whether Sami can drag a passable 10-minute match out of this guy.
Winner: Because I’m not entirely clear on the time limit stip, Braun Strowman if the match exceeds 10 minutes and a draw if it does not.
Ryan Frederick: I think the play is to have Zayn last as long as possible but not the full 10 minutes. No way they have Strowman lose to Sami as he’s being built for something bigger.
Winner: Braun Strowman
Raw Tag Team Titles: The New Day (c) vs. Cesaro & Sheamus
Bryan Rose: I say we get new tag team champions. Seems like Cesaro and Sheamus are just going around in circles, giving them the titles is the right step forward.
Winners: Cesaro & Sheamus
James Cox: Although everyone says they should lose the titles now they’ve broken the record, I think we might be strung along a little longer with this.
Winners: The New Day
Jeremy Peeples: Cesaro and Sheamus really need more time to actually get over before winning the titles, but they seem to want to end the reign ASAP — so I’ll give them the nod here.
Winners: Cesaro and Sheamus
Paul Fontaine: It seems to obvious that Cesaro and Sheamus win the titles now that the streak is broken. New Day will lose soon, probably at the Royal Rumble, but not here.
Winners: The New Day
Steve Khan: Before New Day were getting close to the record, I predicted their matches wrong pretty much every time. It feels like Cesaro and Sheamus will win here, but that would feel kind of cheap. I’ll stick with the New Day.
Winners: The New Day
Kyle S. Johnson: Pushing The New Day right past Demolition’s record only to have them drop the titles immediately seems like such a cop out that I would not be even remotely surprised if it happens. That said, I feel like Cesaro and Sheamus are the team to take the belts off of these guys, but I don’t think it should happen just yet. It’s not like it’s outside of the realm of possibility that we’ll just rematch at Royal Rumble, so let’s say that’s what we do.
Winners: The New Day
Ryan Frederick: It’s time to take the titles off of The New Day, but I really don’t see it happening here. I see more heel tactics being used by them, and them getting a cheap win by beating Cesaro, and then building up the loss more.
Winners: The New Day
Cruiserweight title: Rich Swann (c) vs. Brian Kendrick vs. TJ Perkins
Bryan Rose: Swann retains. Don’t see much of a point in switching the title right now..
Winner: Rich Swann
Brian Hoops: Would not make sense to continually change the title.
Winner: Rich Swann
James Cox: Rich Swann gets all their focus right now. It could be a good match but these Cruiserweights are already an afterthought and the new show is, unfortunately, just very underwhelming.
Winner: Rich Swann
Jeremy Peeples: It would make no sense to change the title…so that’s at least a possibility, except that neither TJP or Kendrick have any tangible momentum. I’ll pick Swann for an “outlandish” win.
Winner: Rich Swann
Paul Fontaine: The champ really needs to retain here. Kendrick and TJP feel played out already and it’s time for some new challengers.
Winner: Rich Swann
Steve Khan: I met Rich Swann once and he was real nice.
Winner: Rich Swann
Kyle S. Johnson: They’d be stupid to change the title here again. Let Rich Swann carry the thing and build him up for Austin Ares.
Winner: Rich Swann
Ryan Frederick: They can’t possibly be switching the title again, can they? I wouldn’t put it past them. However, Swann is the right guy to be holding that title right now, and I don’t think he loses it yet.
Winner: Rich Swann
Seth Rollins vs. Chris Jericho
Bryan Rose: Rollins makes the most sense if they are going with a future Triple H/Seth Rollins showdown.
Winner: Seth Rollins
Brian Hoops: Rollins needs the win, Jericho doesn’t.
Winner: Seth Rollins
James Cox: Seth has lost so much since he turned babyface. Logic says Jericho puts him over and I hope this is really good.
Winner: Seth Rollins
Jeremy Peeples: Seth is theoretically a top guy, while Jericho is lower on the totem pole and there to put guys over.
Winner: Seth Rollins
Paul Fontaine: Definitely Rollins here although I’d be very happy to be wrong in this case. I’m so beyond sick of Rollins, Reigns, Jericho, and Owens that I just want the four of them to be separated so badly. But I don’t think it’s happening any time soon.
Winner: Seth Rollins
Steve Khan: Chris Jericho is the best. Seth Rollins should win.
Winner: Seth Rollins
Kyle S. Johnson: Seth Rollins has to win this match.
Winner: Seth Rollins
Ryan Frederick: They can’t possibly have Rollins lose here, especially if the end game is Triple H at WrestleMania. Jericho can always afford losses. Rollins doesn’t need one.
Winner: Seth Rollins
Raw Women’s title, 30-minute Iron Man match: Sasha Banks (c) vs. Charlotte Flair
Bryan Rose: I say Charlotte. They’ve traded the title way too much, but they seem keen on a Bayley/Charlotte program next so it makes the most sense.
Winner: Charlotte
Brian Hoops: I think the next program is Bayley chasing the title from Charlotte, expect a title change here.
Winner: Charlotte
James Cox: A difficult one to call and not necessarily for good reasons. This is the blow off, we’re told, and Bayley is waiting in the wings. I see Charlotte as the obvious choice for that match, unless there is some kind of double turn.
Winner: Charlotte
Jeremy Peeples: Sasha really should have one single title defense amid three title wins — so I’ll go with a win for her here. I could see Ric turning on Sasha to give Charlotte the win though.
Winner: Sasha Banks
Paul Fontaine: Charlotte is going to keep her PPV strike alive and take the win over Sasha, probably in overtime. She won’t be beaten until a Mania (hopefully this year’s) as they’ve been pushing the streak to hard to end it on a random “B” show.
Winner: Charlotte
Steve Khan: Charlotte can’t possibly win again, can she?
Winner: Sasha Banks
Kyle S. Johnson: I don’t think it would be smart to change the title yet again, but I could foresee some circumstance where they do a swerve at the end and have Ric interfere on Sasha’s behalf, winning Charlotte the belt back by virtue of disqualification.
Or perhaps they’ll pay off this vague idea of other wrestlers revolting against the never-ending Sasha/Charlotte feud by having a big shmozz at the end that leaves no conclusive winner, which would be an even cheaper and less satisfying pay-off. Let’s have Sasha win here and cool it with the title changing hands until Mania or so, shall we?
Winner: Sasha Banks
Ryan Frederick: This has to be the end. They keep pushing Charlotte being unbeaten in PPV singles matches, but to hot shot the title again would be dumb. They’ve already rotated it five times since the brand split. Don’t do it for the sixth time.
Winner: Sasha Banks
WWE Universal title: Kevin Owens (c) vs. Roman Reigns
Bryan Rose: Owens wins somehow. I’m betting the latest Owens/Jericho rift may be yet another ruse to set up the finish of this match, but who knows. I don’t see Reigns leaving with two titles.
Winner: Kevin Owens
Brian Hoops: They so badly want Reigns to get over and get the title and fans continue to reject him. Seems like a rematch at Royal Rumble and a title win would be more meaningful.
Winner: Roman Reigns by DQ
James Cox: I would keep the title on Owens heading into WrestleMania, keeping it on a heel makes more sense. Therefore, Reigns can win here but won’t win the title and Owens and Jericho can continue their feud.
Winner: Roman Reigns via DQ
Jeremy Peeples: No chance Roman wins the title on Roadblock, so I’ll go with Owens retaining via some kind of shenanigans.
Winner: Kevin Owens by distraction cradle
Paul Fontaine: There’s one of two ways this goes and they both involve Chris Jericho. Either he interferes and costs Owens the title or he helps Owens win the title and this has been a ruse all along. Ratings have been hurt with Owens/Reigns/Jericho and Rollins in the main event picture so naturally Owens is going to take the blame for this. I think we get a title change.
Winner: Roman Reigns and he becomes the new champion
Steve Khan: I’m thinking Jericho will help his best friend and everything will be right again. Owens retains either way
Winner: Kevin Owens
Kyle S. Johnson: Is WWE really so diluted that they could think it would be a good idea to put the Universal Championship on Reigns right now? I would certainly hope not.
Still, I could imagine Jericho interfering in the conclusion and setting up a four-way at the Rumble, which would then provide a platform for 1) Roman to win the belt back after having a chance to drop the U.S. Title to someone 2) pushing forward with the Owens/Jericho feud 3) bringing Triple H back in and reigniting his thing with Seth. Doesn’t really matter who wins here, because this is the wrong show to change the title.
Winner: Kevin Owens
Ryan Frederick: I think Chris Jericho gets involved in the finish. They shouldn’t put it on Reigns here though that’s the obvious direction. Owens should keep the belt until Triple H comes back and states his motivation and intentions. I could see a DQ win.
Winner: Roman Reigns but Owens retains the title