Roadblock (March 2016)

Roadblock (originally titled March to WrestleMania: Live from Toronto)[3] was a professional wrestling event produced by WWE, an American-based promotion, that aired on the WWE Network. The inaugural event took place on March 12, 2016 at the Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.[1]

Roadblock
Promotional poster featuring Triple H and Dean Ambrose
PromotionWWE
DateMarch 12, 2016
CityToronto, Ontario, Canada
VenueRicoh Coliseum[1]
Attendance~9,000[2]
Tagline(s)Road Closed Ahead
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Roadblock chronology
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Nine matches (including two dark matches) were contested at the event. The main event saw Triple H defeat Dean Ambrose to retain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Other prominent matches included The New Day (Big E and Kofi Kingston) retaining the WWE Tag Team Championship against The League of Nations' Sheamus and King Barrett, The Revival (Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson) retained the NXT Tag Team Championship against Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady, Brock Lesnar defeated Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper in a 2-on-1 handicap match, and Charlotte retained the WWE Divas Championship against Natalya in the last televised defense of the Divas Championship.

Storylines

The card consisted of seven matches that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches, with results predetermined by WWE's writers.[4][5] Storylines were played out on WWE's primary television programs, Raw and SmackDown, along with WWE's developmental branch NXT.

On the February 29 episode of Raw, Dean Ambrose challenged Triple H to a match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Later that night, Triple H interfered in Ambrose's match against Alberto Del Rio, causing a disqualification. Ambrose attacked Triple H, but Triple H stopped his onslaught with a Pedigree. He then accepted the challenge before attacking Ambrose again.[6] The match was scheduled for Roadblock.[7]

On the March 2 episode of NXT, NXT Tag Team Champions The Revival were scheduled to defend their titles against Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady at Roadblock.[8]

At the Royal Rumble, Brock Lesnar eliminated Luke Harper, Erick Rowan, and Braun Strowman of The Wyatt Family from the Royal Rumble match. However, the trio re-entered the ring and eliminated Lesnar from the match.[9] On the March 3 episode of SmackDown, a match between Brock Lesnar and Bray Wyatt was scheduled for Roadblock.[10]

On March 8, WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day were scheduled to defend their titles against Sheamus and King Barrett (of The League of Nations) at Roadblock.[11][12]

On March 11, a non-title match between Divas Champion Charlotte and Natalya was scheduled for the event.[13] In a pre-recorded segment aired immediately before the match, Natalya goaded Charlotte into putting her title on the line in what would be the last televised Divas Championship match.

Event

Preliminary matches

The event opened with The New Day (Big E and Kofi Kingston) defending the WWE Tag Team Championship against The League of Nations (Sheamus and King Barrett). Big E executed a Big Ending on Barrett to retain the title.

Next, Chris Jericho faced Jack Swagger. Jericho forced Swagger to submit to the Walls of Jericho to win the match.

After that, The Revival (Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder) defended the NXT Tag Team Championship against Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady. The Revival executed the Shatter Machine on Amore to retain the title.

In the fourth match, Charlotte defended the WWE Divas Championship against Natalya. Charlotte pinned Natalya with a roll-up using the ropes for leverage to retain the title.

The fifth match, originally pitting Brock Lesnar against Bray Wyatt, was changed into a 2-on-1 handicap match also involving Luke Harper. Wyatt remained outside the ring throughout the match. Harper executed a Big Boot, two Superkicks and a Discus Clothesline on Lesnar for a near-fall. Lesnar executed five German Suplexes and an F5 on Harper to win the match.

In the penultimate match, Sami Zayn faced Stardust. Zayn executed a Helluva Kick on Stardust to win the match.

Main event

In the main event, Triple H defended the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against Dean Ambrose. During the match, Ambrose executed Dirty Deeds on Triple H, but the referee voided the count as Ambrose's foot was underneath the bottom rope. In the climax of the match, Ambrose executed a Diving Elbow Drop on Triple H, who was standing outside the ring. Ambrose attempted an Elbow Drop off the barricade on Triple H, who was draped on the announce table, but Triple H rolled off and Ambrose fell through the announce table. Triple H then executed a Pedigree to retain the title.

Reception

The event received mixed reviews. Jason Powell of Pro Wrestling Dot Net commented, "Overall, Roadblock is what most of us thought it would be. They weren't going to shake up the WrestleMania lineup three weeks away. I know some fans convinced themselves it was possible, but it just never struck me as being realistic regardless of whether it would have made for a better WrestleMania lineup".[14]

James Caldwell of Pro Wrestling Torch wrote that Roadblock was a "glorified house show for the most part, but the toned-down, less-corporate production value was refreshing for a WWE broadcast". Regarding the main event, Caldwell said that the "false finish for Dean was interesting in that WWE is lacking goodwill heading into Mania and going that far with a false finish straddled the line of being more of a turn-off than heat-generator".[15]

John Powell of Canoe.ca summed up that there were "no surprises at a solid Roadblock... Although the overall show was far better than any of the WWE's recent pay-per-views, Roadblock did nothing at all to fuel any kind of excitement for WrestleMania or its feuds". For the main event, Powell wrote, "In the match of his career, Ambrose proved beyond a shadow of a doubt he is main event material, perhaps soon to be following in the legendary but demented footsteps of another unorthodox superstar, one Mick Foley". Powell also praised Canadians "Natalya, Chris Jericho and Sami Zayn all putting in exceptional performances", as well as the four NXT wrestlers who proved "why NXT is still the show to watch each and every week". However, commentator JBL was criticized after he "literally loses his mind and starts yelling". His grade went to Triple H vs. Dean Ambrose with 8 and a half out of 10 while Brock Lesnar vs. Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper got the worst with a 5 out of 10.[16]

Larry Csonka from 411mania.com gave the event a 7 stars out of 10 rating. The highest rated match was Ambrose vs. Triple H (4 stars), judging that the match "was a lot of fun and felt fresh, but it wasn't without its problems", while Stardust vs. Zayn was rated the lowest (1 star). Csonka also praised the NXT Tag Team Championship match (3 1/2 stars) and the WWE Tag Team Championship match (3 stars).[17]

Results
No. Results Stipulations Times[15]
1D Mark Henry defeated Randy Sharp Singles match 3:35
2D Goldust (with R-Truth) defeated Viktor (with Konnor) Singles match 6:44
3 The New Day (Big E and Kofi Kingston) (c) (with Xavier Woods) defeated The League of Nations (King Barrett and Sheamus) Tag team match for the WWE Tag Team Championship[11] 9:49
4 Chris Jericho defeated Jack Swagger by submission Singles match[18] 7:54
5 The Revival (Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson) (c) defeated Enzo and Cass (with Carmella) Tag team match for the NXT Tag Team Championship[8] 10:17
6 Charlotte (c) (with Ric Flair) defeated Natalya Singles match for the WWE Divas Championship[19] 13:37
7 Brock Lesnar (with Paul Heyman) defeated The Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper) 2-on-1 handicap match[20] 4:03
8 Sami Zayn defeated Stardust Singles match[21] 12:33
9 Triple H (c) defeated Dean Ambrose Singles match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship[7] 24:43
  • (c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match
  • D – indicates the match was a dark match

References
  1. "WWE ROADBLOCK NETWORK SPECIAL". RicohColiseum.com. Retrieved March 2, 2016.
  2. "WWE Roadblock « Events Database « CAGEMATCH – The Internet Wrestling Database". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 12 February 2019.
  3. "WWE Title match official for re-named Network special". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved March 2, 2016.
  4. Grabianowski, Ed. "How Pro Wrestling Works". HowStuffWorks. Discovery Communications. Archived from the original on November 18, 2013. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
  5. "Live & Televised Entertainment". WWE. Archived from the original on February 26, 2009. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
  6. Tedesco, Mike. "WWE RAW Results – 2/29/16 (Undertaker confronts Vince)". wrestleview.com. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
  7. Clapp, John. "WWE World Heavyweight Champion Triple H def. Dean Ambrose". WWE. Retrieved March 13, 2016.
  8. Clapp, John. "NXT Tag Team Champions The Revival def. Enzo Amore & Colin Cassady". WWE. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
  9. Caldwell, James. "1/24 WWE Royal Rumble PPV Results – CALDWELL'S Complete Live PPV Report". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
  10. Martin, Adam. "WWE Smackdown Results – 3/3/16 (Ambrose vs. Owens)". wrestleview.com. Retrieved March 3, 2016.
  11. Clapp, John. "WWE Tag Team Champions Big E & Kofi Kingston def. Sheamus & King Barrett". WWE. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
  12. "Heel vs. Heel title match added to WWE Roadblock special". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
  13. Flair, Charlotte (March 11, 2016). "Headed to Toronto... Tomorrow my career will come full circle against @NatbyNature #WWERoadblockpic.twitter.com/2wipG5du1E". @MsCharlotteWWE. Retrieved 2017-11-27.
  14. Powell, Jason. "3/12 Powell's WWE Roadblock live review". prowrestling.net. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  15. Caldwell, James. "3/12 WWE Roadblock Results – CALDWELL'S Complete Live Report". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
  16. Powell, John. "No surprises at a solid Roadblock". Canoe.ca. Slam! Wrestling. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  17. Csonka, Larry. "Roadblock review". 411mania.com. 411mania. Retrieved 13 March 2016.
  18. Clapp, John. "Chris Jericho def. Jack Swagger". WWE. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
  19. Clapp, John. "Divas Champion Charlotte def. Natalya". WWE. Retrieved March 13, 2016.
  20. Clapp, John. "Brock Lesnar def. Bray Wyatt & Luke Harper in a 2-on-1 Handicap Match". WWE. Retrieved March 13, 2016.
  21. Clapp, John. "Sami Zayn def. Stardust". WWE. Retrieved March 13, 2016.
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