WWE Roadblock: End of the Line — the second Roadblock pay-per-view of the year, so you might as well start calling them “In Your Street” — airs this Sunday, December 18, live on WWE Network. The Raw-exclusive event features a history-making ironman match for the Raw Women’s Championship, the United States Champion taking on the Universal Champion, a triple threat for the Cruiserweight Championship and more.
Here’s the complete card as we know it.
WWE Roadblock: End Of The Line card:
1. WWE Universal Championship Match: Kevin Owens (c) vs. Roman Reigns
2. 30-Minute Iron Man Match for the Raw Women’s Championship: Sasha Banks (c) vs. Charlotte Flair
3. Seth Rollins vs. Chris Jericho
4. WWE Cruiserweight Championship Match: Rich Swann (c) vs. The Brian Kendrick vs. TJ Perkins
5. Sami Zayn vs. Braun Strowman
6. Raw Tag Team Championship Match: The New Day (c) vs. Sheamus and Cesaro
– Kickoff Match: Big Cass vs. Rusev
As always, here’s our complete rundown of the card, and what we think will and should happen for all seven matches. Make sure you’re back here on Sunday for our full event coverage, results and open discussion thread, and be sure to drop down into our comments section to let us know what you think’s going down.
Kickoff Match: Big Cass vs. Rusev
What Should Happen: If you haven’t been following along, this is a feud based around Cass doing a “shower prank” to Enzo and locking him out of the locker room naked. Naked Enzo ran into Lana, who got weird about standing next to a naked guy and was kinda sorta looking at his dick like a kid playing doctor, so her husband showed up and beat Enzo in a match. Enzo showed up the next week and was like, “your wife wants to fuck me, I bet,” so Rusev beat him up again. The next week Lana and Rusev pretended to fight so Enzo would think he was gonna hook up with Lana, and when he went to the hotel room to do the deed and took off his clothes, Rusev beat him up again. Cass is now gonna fight Rusev for Enzo’s honor, instead of just being like, “yeah, my friend is an idiot, sorry.”
As for what should happen, Rusev should win, because Rusev should always win.
What Will Happen: The most reasonable guess here is Rusev winning after some sort of distraction or cheap shot. It allows Rusev to stay strong and win the match, but gives Cass an out to keep the feud going and not just get straight-up nerfed like Enzo. Although I guess it’s not fair to use “nerf” for Enzo because dude came out of the womb made outta nerf. Rusev wins, unless they’re bonkers ridiculous.
Staff Picks
Chris Trew – Honestly pretty stoked to see the main event of Wrestlemania 40 (Over The Hill and Over The Top) as a kickoff match in 2016. Rusev now, Rusev then.
Scott Heisel – It seems like a foregone conclusion that Cass wins here to defend his buddy’s libido instead of Rusev winning to ostensibly defend his wife’s honor. Face and heel motivations in 2016, everybody! However, I could see this spinning into a tag team feud, with Rusev recruiting someone to go into battle with him. Perhaps a debuting Samoa Joe? I mean, if three straight Kinshasas don’t send you up to the main roster, I don’t know what the hell will.
Justin Donaldson – I don’t know if he will, but Rusev should take it. I’m going with my heart and predicting Rusev.
Bill Hanstock – It’s the first match between these two, and it’s the Kickoff Show, so let’s stretch this dick-based fetish feud out another month and give Rusev the win through somewhat-shady means.
Raw Tag Team Championship Match: The New Day (c) vs. Sheamus and Cesaro
What Should Happen: Sheamus and Cesaro should get into an argument about beer preferences or who paid for gas last or whatever during the pre-show, causing them to storm off and leaving The New Day without opponents. Then, when New Day shows up to gloat about it, some TOP GUYS show up, break their legs and become the new Tag Team Champions on their first day on the main roster. I don’t care if they’ve got NXT matches scheduled, they can show up to those with the WWE tag straps. Revival puts New Day on the shelf until at least Royal Rumble so we can maybe get fond of them again, and we get the Top Guys vs. Sheamus and Cesaro feud of our dreams.
What Will Happen: New Day just wins again? I don’t know. I know the Demolition record is broken, but it seems too easy even for WWE to take the belts off of them on the first show after it is. Plus, Raw’s tag team division is by definition just two teams that lose to New Day, so why should that suddenly change because of a historical footnote?
Note: Cesaro and Sheamus are probably winning, because that would be the ultimate in underwhelming Sheamus victories.
Staff Picks
Chris Trew – The New Day retain but only because they are keeping the belts warm for The Revival who should debut on Raw yesterday and destroy the record The New Day just set in half of the time which I know is impossible but it’s also impossible anyone is as good for tag team wrestling as The Revival is so let’s make this happen.
Scott Heisel – holy jesus fuck please let the titles change hands please please please please please please please please
Justin Donaldson – After months of wanting to see New Day lose the belt, after their amazing performance on Monday I want to see them retain. But I’m going with Cesaro and Sheamus.
Bill Hanstock – This is actually a very tough match to call. You would think that after setting that damned record, WWE would hurry to get the actual tag team division moving again, and Cesaro in particular is red hot right now. But Roadblock: A Thief’s End is such a throwaway pay-per-view that they may actually save the title change for next month and the Royal Rumble (a recurring theme in my predictions for this show!). Oh, the hell with it. I’ll pick Cesaro and Sheamus to take the titles here, just because I guess I have to predict that SOMETHING will happen on Sunday.
Sami Zayn vs. Braun Strowman
What Should Happen: This is the feud I’m most interested in heading into A SECOND ROADBLOCK: CRUEL CLOSING. The stipulation is that Sami Zayn is getting 10 minutes with Strowman, so of course you’ve gotta have it go the full 10 minutes. Sami hangs on by the skin of his teeth, and Strowman is so enraged by the insult that he powers up for a rematch at the Royal Rumble. I figure Strowman just murders him there, putting him on the shelf for a February pay-per-view they’ve got no room for Sami Zayn on, and then Sami returns triumphantly to win an undercard match people actually give a shit about in Orlando, where Sami Zayn is basically Jesus Our Lord.
What Will Happen: That’s the old school booking. The new school booking is to give Sami Zayn 10 minutes to prove himself against Strowman, then having Strowman still beat him in like, six. And then Sami Zayn doesn’t know how to handle the loss on Raw, and we repeat essentially the same cycle leading into the Rumble, where Sami maybe eliminates Braun. And then Sami loses in February AND March, and probably April.
Staff Picks
Chris Trew – While I’m very much on board with the tone and build to this match, I now can’t get Eva Marie out of my mind. Can she be Sami’s next feud? Can she get romantically involved with Braun? Or maybe she’s Braun’s sister? Or maybe two out of those three suggestions?
Scott Heisel – Sami goes the distance here, hitting that 10-minute time limit, but is stretchered out afterward. Where does the story go from here, though? Royal Rumble is still over a month away, and that’s a hell of a long time to wait for a rematch, unless Braun beats down Sami so badly that he’s written off TV for six weeks and is a surprise entrant in the Rumble match, where he takes out Strowman (and probably himself at the same time). Hey, that sounds like storyline would actually be effective in both getting over Braun as a monster and Sami as the ultimate underdog! Guess that means WWE won’t do it…
Justin Donaldson – Their storyline has been surpringly good. Sami’s gonna put up a great fight, but I think Braun wins it in the end. Though I do foresee a future where we’re at the Royal Rumble and Sami eliminates Braun after Strowman has eliminated like, fifteen guys.
Bill Hanstock – Zayn will take Braun all the way to the 10-minute time limit. It feels like they may not give Sami his win over Braun until the Rumble, but it’s a fine line as to whether another month of this will feel like overkill. I’ll pick Sami to win the match right as time is about to run out, and … I dunno … then he’ll move on to the tournament for the vacated United States Championship, or something.
WWE Cruiserweight Championship Match: Rich Swann (c) vs. The Brian Kendrick vs. TJ Perkins
What Should Happen: Rich Swann should Rich Kick both of these guys back onto Impact Wrestling, and we should focus on like, Rich Swann vs. Akira Tozawa for the next three months.
What Will Happen: Unless God is somehow dead and Friedrich Nietzsche was right, Swann will retain. He’s got a great story, he connects with audiences (which the cruiserweight division desperately needs), he’s great in the ring, etc. etc. Kendrick and Perkins are forever circling the drain of the first few months of the division that didn’t work. I like Kendrick a lot and would like Perkins if he wasn’t the most disingenuous character in the entire company, but they need to head to the background for a while. Give Rich the win, have Perkins go to the darkside and become Kendrick’s non-video game-themed lackey for a while, and gives us some cruiserweight matches we can actually enjoy and remember. All the ones that’ve been good so far have Swann in them.
Staff Picks
Chris Trew – If Rich Swann doesn’t retain the belt here I’m Venmo’ing $1 to everyone who screencaps this and sends it to me on Twitter or Instagram (@chirstrew).
Scott Heisel – Swann is life. Swann is love. Swann forever and ever (that is until Jack Gallagher is ready to put his old timey dukes up for the belt).
Justin Donaldson – I’m going with Swann to retain, probably pinning Perkins. The belt’s just changed hands a few times already. It needs to stick with Swann for a while.
Bill Hanstock – Kendrick or Perkins will somehow cost the other one the match, allowing Swann to retain, and freeing Kendrick and Perkins to dimensionally teleport to a pocket universe, where they only wrestle each other, forever. It’s like if a Dolph Ziggler feud was the end of Doctor Strange.
Seth Rollins vs. Chris Jericho
What Should Happen: Seth Rollins had three Universal Championship matches against Kevin Owens. All three of them ended with Chris Jericho showing up and running interference, even when he was banned from ringside. The story has been that Jericho keeps saving Owens but Owens won’t do the same for Jericho, so it makes sense to have Jericho need Owens’ assistance here and not get it. Rollins wins to keep him strong for Triple H’s sudden appearance at or in the Royal Rumble, and the Jericho vs. Owens feud that will absolutely culminate at WrestleMania and send Jericho packing on a Fozzy tour continues to simmer.
What Will Happen: The same. It’s the only thing that makes sense to me. I can’t even snark about another option.
Staff Picks
Chris Trew – Seth Rollins wants HHH and Chris Jericho can sometimes look like HHH so this is going to have to do for now, Seth. Wrestlemania is just a few months away, can you please be patient? Geez Louise, Seth, you’re gonna get your match. Seth Rollins wins this one with a pedigree, on the list, in slow motion, while moaning “give me HHH.”
Scott Heisel – All due respect to AJ Styles for having an insane year, but for me, 2016 was all about Chris Jericho. This year was the career renaissance Y2J so desperately needed, and his heel turn has been executed splendidly. Who else could get a clipboard and pen more over than half the Raw roster? Part of me thinks you gotta give him the win here, just to keep him as a credible villain (too many Jericho return runs devolve into “put everyone over, all the time,” and it loses its luster quickly). But at the same time, we all know Rollins is being moved into his WrestleMania feud with Triple H, and I expect that to start kicking up around Royal Rumble, so you might as well end this storyline with an emphatic Rollins victory.
Justin Donaldson – They love having Jericho go over these younger guys. AJ Styles, Sami Zayn … it happens all the time. But I’m going to go with Rollins.
Bill Hanstock – No, Triple H isn’t running out to cost Rollins the match. Papa Hunter won’t be back until Royal Rumble, so Rollins wins this match clean and continues to build himself up to his big showdown with Triple H at the biggest show of the year. Then maybe we’ll finally put this whole “Authority” thing behind us. For like a month or so.
30-Minute Iron Man Match for the Raw Women’s Championship: Sasha Banks (c) vs. Charlotte Flair
What Should Happen: History will be made by history-making history makers! LOOK AT THE HISTORY! THEY MADE IT! I mean, Sasha and Bayley made it first, especially if the Iron Man match goes on last and they end up main-eventing again, but … shut up, history!
Look, the joke (and the very true observation) is that Sasha Banks wins the championship on Raw and then loses it on pay-per-view. It’d make a hell of a lot of sense to keep that going here, especially with the “no rematches” vibe they’ve been pushing, and while we’re stupid to think there won’t be a rematch within the next couple of months, it’s a great excuse to move forward (finally) to Charlotte vs. Bayley. That’s your WrestleMania feud, or at least it should be. Sasha got all of her historical moments in a row. Give Bayley her WrestleMania moment, with Hayley Williams playing her to the ring surrounded by a giant diamond of inflatable tubesmen.
What Will Happen: Gonna go with Charlotte, possibly in overtime. Possibly with Ric Flair showing up and helping her, because why the hell not? THE LONG FLAIR CON.
Staff Picks
Chris Trew – This may be asking too much but can Sasha and Charlotte trade pin falls and submissions in this match in ways identical to every one of their matches during this feud? I know that’s asking a lot but it would be really cool. Look, I know it’s extremely unlikely but I never ask for stuff like this. So just this once?
Scott Heisel – Nothing pains me more than to pick against Charlotte ever, but it’s time for her PPV singles match win streak to end here and finally establish Sasha as a powerful women’s champion, one who can then step into a readymade feud with Nia Jax. Sasha wins with a final fall count of 3-2.
Justin Donaldson – It kind of seems like a joke at this point to go with Charlotte, but I think I’m gonna go with Charlotte. I smell Ric Flair double-crossing Sasha. Thirty years of watching wrestling has taught me that you just can’t trust that guy. If only Sting had ever learned what I have.
Bill Hanstock – This match has NO REMATCHES EVER as a clause, and is a pay-per-view match, so Charlotte Flair will win the title back, then move on to a feud with Bayley, leading us into either Bayley vs. Sasha at Mania, or a three-way match in Orlando for the title. Sorry, Sasha, you deserve better than hot potato, but I’m definitely looking forward to this match and I think they’re going to knock our socks off once again.
WWE Universal Championship Match: Kevin Owens (c) vs. Roman Reigns
What Should Happen: Kevin Owens should retain and not lose the belt until the Royal Rumble to build some kind of WrestleMania feud that matters, possibly to Chris Jericho. Preferably to Chris Jericho. I want Jericho has WWE Lord Zedd Champion in 2017. I also want Roman Reigns to be okay having the United States Championship and make something out of it and not have to have everything all the time.
What Will Happen: Lord, I don’t know if I can pick against Roman Reigns. It would mean the world to give Owens a clean win over him, especially if you want anything Owens does at Mania to have an impact, but asking for that’s like asking for a pair of goddamn Christmas Shoes.
I’m guessing the safer bet is Owens retaining in a way that’s not 100% on the level but doesn’t necessarily involve Jericho, giving him a reason to do the “I can do this without you!” bit and setting him up for a massive fail at the Royal Rumble, to whoever. Roman again, probably.
Staff Picks
Chris Trew – Roman Reigns continues to get hated out of the building, and Kevin Owens continues having one of my favorite title reigns in recent memory.
Scott Heisel – Apathetic feelings toward Roman Reigns aside, I can’t stand it when one champion challenges another champion without both belts on the line. However, this is actually why I think KO is gonna win at Roadblock, because the US strap isn’t on the line. (Will it be clean? Highly doubtful.) Schedule a rematch at Royal Rumble as a Universal/US Championship unification match, however, and expect Roman to win big, leading him into his first successful title defense at WrestleMania. It’s so boring even typing it out, but whatevs, here we are.
Justin Donaldson – I’m going with Kevin Owens. It just doesn’t feel like anything’s going to happen on this show. So I don’t think the Universal Title’s going to change hands. We’ve also seen Roman beat Owens so many times that it feels like it’s time for Owens to get the win.
Bill Hanstock – Let’s be honest: it’s pretty unlikely that Owens will get all the way to WrestleMania without losing the Universal title at least once. But the heart wants what it wants, and I want that to happen. I’m picking Owens to retain until Mania, with the desperate hope that he’ll look like a competent heel champ at some point. The most likely thing is that Reigns wins, I suppose, and Owens gets the title back at the Rumble or something, but I don’t want to jinx my beautiful dream.
There you have it. Don’t forget to let us know what you think should and will happen in our comments section below, and we’ll see you on Sunday for ROADBLOCK: WHERE WE’RE GOING WE WON’T NEED CARS.
