7 Ups And 5 Downs From WWE Roadblock

Are we now finally on the Road to RomanMania?

In the preview column posted earlier Saturday, the overarching theme of the questions was clear: Would WWE Roadblock be a speedbump, or a dramatic left turn on the Road to WrestleMania?

We got our answer Saturday night, as WWE put out a Network special event that saw four title matches with no new champions, a special attraction match that was changed on the fly moments before it began, and two other unannounced bouts that will likely have no impact on existing storylines going forward.

All that being said, Roadblock was an enjoyable event that produced multiple good matches that focused more on the in-ring product than backstage vignettes, slick video packages and other distractions. If you like a nice wrestling show, then Roadblock is worth checking out for the Divas Championship, NXT Tag Team Championship and WWE World Heavyweight Championship matches.

But if you wanted to see a radical departure from the current top storylines for WrestleMania, then you will be sorely disappointed. Although Triple H and Dean Ambrose put on a match that seemed to provide everyone (including WWE) with the evidence that their program should be the Mania main event, it looks like that ship has sailed, and we€™re getting Roman Reigns in the role of hero overcoming the odds whether we like it or not.

Since expectations for an Earth-shattering event three weeks before WrestleMania were low, the weight was on the actual wrestling, and Roadblock delivered there.

So what cruised down the road smoothly and what hit every pothole on the street? Let€™s get to it

Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.