"YOU STILL SUCK.": Monday Night RAW (3/28/16)

Oh boy. A year ago, the go-home show of Monday Night RAW ended on Lesnar and Reigns' infamous tug-of-war with the WWE WHC belt. What can top that moment? How about this? The entire crowd chanting "YOU STILL SUCK" to Reigns in the middle of the ring, after the roster tried to separate him and HHH from each other to end the show. They tried to recreate that moment with Lesnar and Taker last year except this feud lacked the heat, largely attributed to Reigns not connecting with the crowd and HHH being cheered because he's the father of NXT. That's how the show ended.

RAW actually started off great with Undertaker and Shane McMahon kicking off the show. Shane even did a freakin elbow drop from the turnbuckle to hit Taker on the announcer's table. This helped get the crowd excited for their feud, even though the build to it was been pretty inconsistent. And after that, as usual, RAW starts to go downhill. The results can be found here.

Rather than sum up what happened, I'm going to pull some choice quotes from other websites that thought the go-home episode was disappointing:

AV Club:   

"[... ] this is the worst kind of go-home show, where everyone who wrestles Sunday is stuck wresting their opponent on Raw for some reason." 

F4W/Wrestling Observer: 

"Tonight was the final straw for a year's worth of work. The verdict is in: Reigns is not the guy." 

RollingStone:  

"It is what it is. Hunter vs. Roman was the most logical way to go in light of limited roster maneuverability, but it hasn't translated as an electric weekly drama." 

Prowrestling.net: 

"Vince McMahon developed a reputation over the years for doing his best work when his back was against the wall. He did not rise up to the challenge this year. WrestleMania may still turn out to be a great show, but WrestleMania Season was flopped."

You know what made the show a little interesting to watch? The Brooklyn crowd. They were loud and smarky and their chants were heard loud and clear. This crowd actually had a 4-hour taping with Superstars, Main Event, AND Smack Down right before RAW. I think the best reaction was the surprise addition of Eva Marie, thus completing the 10-woman Total Divas match for the Kickoff show. It was reported that WWE thought Eva Marie (a heel on NXT) joining the face team would get cheers and they were floored at the opposite reaction. The reaction has been same for Reigns, who was met with boos, silence, and deafening chants. WWE has protected Reigns so much that he barely cut any promos or wrestled for the last 2 weeks.

Oh, and Ambrose came down with a red wagon to load it up with weapons without making eye contact or speaking with either Lesnar and Heyman. It got a great reaction from the crowd - even Lesnar looked amused - but it was just really disappointing to see that this is the last time they interact before Sunday.

So, am I hyped for WrestleMania not really. I'm actually looking forward to what's going to happen for NXT TakeOver: Dallas with the major debut of Shinsuke Nakamura and seeing Austin Aries again. I am dreading - DREADING - that Ambrose and Lesnar's match will get interference shenanigans so that the match doesn't get a clean finish. We'll see what happens.

WHAT A LUNATIC

Weekend Recap (3/25/16 - 3/27/16)

Friday (3/25):

• We went to Sen of Japan for dinner. We just wanted have great and fresh sushi after having some mediocre sushi at Makino's last week.
• Played L4D2 with Dan and Corrine. Dan has been on Diablo III for 3 weeks and he doesn't know why.

Saturday (3/26):

• We stayed home nearly the whole morning. Decided to do some house shopping.
• We checked out a few houses and ended up falling in love with one unique house at Central Park estates. I know it's advisable to have other house as choices in case this falls through but we really REALLY wanted it.
• Went to Fry's afterwards
• Went to Wal-Mart to buy some socks.

Sunday (3/27):

• Woke up early to watch the 10 am showing of "Batman vs Superman." It was pretty disappointing. The major fight sequence occurred in the last 30 minutes of the film. Ben Affleck as Batman and Bruce Wayne was great. I disliked Henry Cavill as Superman because he was damn grumpy for almost the entire movie. Lex Luthor was the WORST character of them all. Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman was exciting but too short. Reportedly the 3 hour director's cut of the film might be better so we'll probably wait for that. Vince was just bored with the film.
• Went to meet up with Joel and Pam at her auntie's place for a kids birthday/Easter Sunday party. Their place was really nice (it was previously a model home). We had some decent food. Played some games and just played in the pool for a bit before going home. I also talked to a kid who was a wrestling fan. He was a diehard Cena and Reigns fan and kept showing me videos of Undertaker. I tried to break kayfabe to him - saying that Reigns used fake blood after HHH beat him up - after he called Dean Ambrose "weak."
• We both took a long nap and woke up just in time for "The Walking Dead." Next week is going to be the mid-season finale AND the introduction of Negan! I made this after realizing what's happening next week.
• Watched ROH, which was the 2nd episode filmed in Vegas for the 14th Anniversary Show. Man, you can't really see us on TV :/

What to expect for Monday Night RAW:

WrestleMania is next Sunday, which means RAW tonight will be the go-home show. Everyone - including Shane, Taker, and Lesnar - are appearing tonight in a last ditch effort to create hype. Will Chris Jericho accept AJ Styles offer to have a match again but this time at WrestleMania? What hardcore legend will stop by to give Ambrose the rub and pass on this week? What heelish thing will babyface Reigns do next to HHH?

There is currently a lengthy discussion on Wreddit on how WWE views Ambrose, in where they like him but they don't see him as a "top guy." This pretty much confirms that Ambrose is not going to win against Lesnar AND it'll be subjected to a Wyatt Family run-in since it's not believable that Ambrose can win on his own. No, they're saving Lesnar's clean loss to Reigns this year or next year. It'll be mighty disappointing for Ambrose to dip back to lower mid-card territory after WrestleMania.

On a major plus side, WWE is bringing Money In The Bank to Las Vegas on June 19! And the best part is that it's going to be at the newly built T-Mobile Arena and not at the Thomas and Mack Stadium. Hopefully this will allow WWE to bring more tapings and PPVs. Seriously, last year there were only 2 house shows and the year before had 1 house show and a RAW taping. Tickets go on sale on Vince's bday so I need to work on this fast!

"KO-Mania": Monday Night RAW (3/21/16)

Last night's Monday Night RAW showed a lot of promise in the first hour. It kicked off with Stephanie cutting a promo about HHH not being present tonight before being interrupted by Roman Reigns, who of course got tremendous boos from the Philly crowd. Reigns actually came off a little better here, shushing Stephanie to make his short promo and even stopping her from slapping him in the face again. Kevin Owens vs AJ Styles was the first match of the night, which was a ridiculously amazing and hard hitting spot fest, only for it to be ruined when Jericho interrupted the match. Owens would then cut a promo about KO-Mania before being interrupted by Dolph Ziggler, The Miz, and Sami Zayn, causing Owens to go to the Authority to arrange a triple-threat match so that the winner would be the #1 contender for his IC title. Later on in the show, Owens would accidentally piss off Stephanie, causing her to book Owens into a 7-man ladder match for the IC title at Wrestlemania, which includes Stardust, Sin Cara, and Zack freakin Ryder.

And that's where RAW, as many describes it best, falls off the cliff. The results can be found here.

Save for a wonderful taped segment with Dean Ambrose and another hardcore legend Terry Funk in a Philly bar, where Funk just flat out gives Ambrose a chainsaw, the rest of RAW was once again filled with random matches and an unusual amount of video packages. This was flat out a mostly terrible show. There are just 2 weeks left before WrestleMania and 5 of the main event performers didn't make an appearance (Shane, Taker, and Lesnar) or wrestled in the ring (HHH and Reigns). Ambrose was the only main eventer who wrestled last night and his opponent was Braun Strowman. BRAUN STROWMAN WAS THE MAIN EVENT OF RAW.

There was also one weird segment that involved Stephanie. She was suddenly apprehensive of Reigns and called Hunter to pick her up. This was HHH's only appearance by the way. They went into the car and waited for the garage door to open up, only to reveal Reigns wearing a hoodie, blocking their way. He approached the car, pulled out HHH, and started beating him up - with Stephanie screaming bloody murder in the background. HHH managed to get one hit on Reigns before getting back into car and driving off. The crowd was dead silent during the segment and when the camera panned to Reigns, they all booed him. Reigns is finally acting like the silent bad-ass but it came WAY too late. These out-of-the-ring and backstage brawls are ok but it's not doing much for Reigns. He's back to tag-teaming with Ambrose for the house shows but he hasn't done a solo match since his return.

The wrestling quality was great (even though most of the matches ended poorly) but the the horrible booking and creative decisions, not to mention the endless commercial breaks and video packages, really brought down the show. Even the normally smarky Philly crowd was dead at the third hour, chanting "THIS IS BORING!" and "WE WANT LESNAR!" The cheered for Ambrose when he abruptly ended the match by hitting Braun with a chair. Neither Ambrose or an unannounced Paul Heyman (who was seen at commentary) got any mic time, which was one of the dumbest things to do for 2 great talkers.

And to make things worse, tonight saw yet another possible and major injury. The dark match was The Wyatt Family vs Reigns, Ambrose, Zayn, and Ziggler. For some unexplained reason, Harper appeared to have sustained an ankle injury as soon as he got into the ring. The babyfaces couldn't really celebrate (not to mention some of the crowd was already leaving and Reigns got the win, of course) and they all looked pretty concern with Harper.

Thank god this was not the go-home show. Now I'm looking forward to Smack Down to see what Lesnar and Ambrose will be doing, and hopefully, it'll be a lot better than what was showcased last night.

Weekend Recap (3/18/16 - 3/20/16)

Friday (3/18):

• We wanted to eat at Bachi Burger but it was pretty crowded. We tried Khoury, a Mediterranean restaurant nearby.
• Played L4D2 with Dan and Corrine.

Saturday (3/20):

• Woke up early to head to Makin's for an early lunch with Vince's parents and his bro (who was in town for a few days for seminar)
• Went to Fashion Show Mall, where his parents bought him a new Super Dry leather jacket as an early Bday present
• We went our separate ways and went to Town Square to get some boba. I bought new Pusheen pajama pants from H&M.
• Went home. I took a nap, woke up to edit the kayak video and got started on a few episodes of the 2nd season of Daredevil.

Sunday (3/21):

• We caught the 12:30 pm showing of "10 Cloverfield Lane." It's a spiritual successor to "Cloverfield" and it has nothing to do with the monster or the characters. It was a great thriller with a sci-fi twist of an ending.
• Went to Costco to get some ingredients to make some Chicken and Pork Belly Adobo.
• Saw a Corgi on the road. Vince wanted it.
• Went to Trader Joe's to get the rest of the ingredients before heading home.
• Watched more episodes of Daredevil. Also, I just learned that Jon Bernthal is Kurt Angle's nephew by marriage. It's true!
• Watched "The Walking Dead" where a semi-regular character got a major character's death from the comics. It completely surprised us. Also, the show introduced Dwight, a character introduced into the comics that was inspired by Daryl (a TV original character). SO META.
• Finished up the kayak video. I noticed that I accidentally hit Jonathan's kayak numerous times that day.

What to expect for Monday Night RAW:

WrestleMania is now 2 weeks away and it still doesn't feel like it's a major event happening. It looks like a majority of the card has already been filled, and we still don't even know who else is entering the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal (ATGMBR). Also, this event is going to be 7 HOURS LONG. We're going to need a lot more chips and dip.

It looks like the build will be focusing solely on Reigns and HHH, and Reigns has major shoes to fill. Just 2 weeks ago, Ambrose provoked HHH into giving him a title shot in Reigns' absence. It was the most exciting last-minute program to watch, culminating to their match at Roadblock which left Ambrose looking damn strong even in defeat. I can't imagine how Reigns is going to top that - which I'm sure he can - but it's hard to get invested in him after a nearly 3 week absence. Also interesting to note, he has indeed abandoned his SHIELD entrance and is coming down the ramp now. Better late than never.

I'm guessing Ambrose might have nothing to do on RAW tonight since he called out Lesnar to come down to Smack Down. I really don't want to see Ambrose and Reigns team up again.

"He's baaaaaaaack": Monday Night RAW (3/14/16)

Last night's Monday Night RAW kickstarted their road to Wrestlemania. And boy, was it awkwardly paced. The results can be found here. The first hour was started off with The New Day defending their title against Alberto Del Rio and Rusev of League of Nations. The New Day retained but proceeded to get beaten down by the rest of "The Lads." This seems to signify the New Day becoming babyfaces, as they fought back valiantly against the rest of The League, and the audience was audibly booing them. This segment went on for a pretty long time but it was clear what they were trying to do here. 

This was quickly followed up with Ambrose coming out to do a promo about the controversy at Roadblock. He pinned HHH but his foot was underneath the ropes, so it was overruled. The important thing about Ambrose's promo is that even though he lost, all that mattered to him was that he proved that could beat HHH. Personally, I'm upset that they dropped the controversy quickly but they had to continue his feud with Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman. Ambrose didn't getting any ring action but he had 2 awesome segments. First, Ambrose brandished a freakin crowbar from his jacket when Lesnar started to approach him in the ring, quickly reminding the fans about their street fight. Second, Ambrose was greeted by a familiar legend, Mick Foley, in a backstage segment. Foley wanted Ambrose to take Lesnar on a journey at WrestleMania, a journey to Ambrose's dark past. He gives him a unique gift: Cactus Jack's beloved "Barbie", a barb-wired baseball bat.

Dolph Ziggler was suddenly thrust into the spotlight, with him pissing Stephanie off enough to get him a non-title match with HHH. Vince and I noticed that HHH and Ziggler did a lot of loud spot calling in their match. Anyways, HHH retained and his victory was immediately interrupted by Reigns' theme music playing. A vengeful looking Reigns (sans swat vest and walking from the ramp instead of through the audience) went berserk to get back at HHH for bouncing his pretty face unto the announcer's table last month. And judging by the reaction, this bad-ass Reigns came at the wrong time, getting boos and mixed reactions as the beatdown segment went on. This might be a step in a new direction for Reigns but he still has the tough job to win over the crowd for the next 3 weeks. It doesn't seem like he's turning heel - at least not yet.

RAW unfortunately saw another wrestler getting injured. In a freak accident, Neville suffered a fractured ankle doing a baseball slide in his match against Jericho. Being the veteran that he is, Jericho called an audible to end the match. He even had to get physical with the ref Charles Robinson to get DQd. Neville joins Bray Wyatt on the newly injured list and this is terrible timing considering how close WrestleMania is.

Overall, this was an all right episode and WWE, like Reigns, is going to have a tough road ahead of them. The normally smarky crowd of Pittsburgh quickly died out after the 2nd hour and got just as worse with Reigns' return. While anticipation for Ambrose vs Lesnar's match remained strong (even with the brief Roadblock detour), the same couldn't be said for Reigns vs HHH and Shane o Mac vs Undertaker, which turned into the most unintentionally funniest segment of the night. The Wrestlemania card is slowly shaping up to fill their 4 four timeslot.

Weekend Recap (3/11/16 - 3/13/16)

Friday (3/11):

• Ate at Sweet Tomatoes for dinner.
• Played L4D2 with Dan and Corrine.
• I borrowed the company GoPro to take for our kayaking trip. Vince bought a strap for it.

Saturday (3/13):

• Woke up early to make protein pancakes for ourselves and headed out to pick up Ren and Andrew. We were joining Joel's group for the kayaking trip at Lake Mead.
• Our group consisted of: Joel, Pam, Josh (birthday boy), Jothan, Kevin, Ren, Andrew, Vince and I. We were the only tandem kayak. Holy crap, it was fun! And my arms aren't tired at all!
• We ate at KoMex for early dinner afterwards
• After we dropped off Ren and Andrew, we watched WWE Roadblock. The special was only 2 1/2 hours long and we missed the first 3 matches. A few of the matches were enjoyable and some just didn't make sense, even for exhibition matches. The main event with HHH and Ambrose was great - he even managed to pin HHH with a 3 count but was overruled due to his feet being underneath the ropes - but in the end, HHH retained.

Sunday (3/13):

• We stayed home the whole day
• Watched ROH, which was solely focused on a tag team gauntlet. The winning tag team will be the #1 contender for the tag team title, currently held by War Machine. Looks like the Vegas episodes will be next week!
• The Walking Dead was great as usual. There's no doubt that a major character is going to die by the finale. My predictions are Abraham, Carol, Glenn (like the comics) or Maggie, purely because the characters have shown a little bit more development this season.

What to expect for Monday Night RAW:

I did say nothing was going to change on Roadblock and that was pretty much confirmed on Saturday. WWE teased again that there might be a change but there wasn't one; none of the title changed. They certainly wouldn't let Ambrose change WrestleMania. One thing's for sure, Ambrose came off more confident and legit in his loss. Even HHH was struggling to stand tall at the end. Ambrose now has Lesnar to look forward to. I feel this is Ambrose's last chance to prove if he can be a main event guy with all these losses.

Reigns finally returns to RAW tonight after his surgery. I sincerely wish that Reigns returns as a different character. Don't talk, don't smile, don't make jokes. Be the "Samoan Badass" and go after HHH. Don't fall back on Ambrose, it'll hinder both of them.

I was tremendously bummed out for Ambrose on Saturday. I was wondering how he'll do for the Sunday live show before RAW. And then I saw this wonderfully silly moment between him and The New Day. Only Ambrose can pull off being a confident bad-ass on one night and being a goofy dork the following night. Honestly, this made me stupidly happy.

http://dadotnetofficial.tumblr.com/post/141027793234/i-just-cannot-credit-emiiyproctor

What I expect from WWE Roadblock

THIS WILL NEVER, EVER HAPPEN.

After my immense disappointment with Fastlane, I am trying very hard to keep my expectations low for WWE's PPVs. Just once, I would like something new and exciting to happen in WWE, and it seemed like we were getting a glimpse of that when Shane McMahon made a surprise return a few weeks ago. That was also the same night that HHH took out Roman Reigns. 

Since then, Ambrose has stepped up and was granted one final title shot, getting the audience more invested in this sudden feud than the ongoing storyline with Reigns vs HHH. It was enough for WWE to quickly rebrand a special house show in Toronto into the network exclusive, WWE Roadblock. Ambrose even did another sit down interview with Michael Cole, where he said he owns this company. The very thought of Ambrose winning the title from HHH will seriously change things up at Wrestlemania.

And it is so damn transparent that nothing is going to change. Again.

Ambrose is just a placeholder until Reigns returns from surgery, and it gives the fans a babyface to cheer for instead of cheering HHH, the heel champion. They won't do a title change in a network exclusive, and WWE will not radically change their card to accompany Ambrose in the title match. PWTorch noted that Ambrose is only popular now because Reigns is absent and if the fans really wanted change, they would do so, much like how Wrestlemania 30 had to change to have Daniel Bryan pull double duty and end the event as a champion.

TL;DR: I expect nothing to change. That's not going to stop me from rooting for Ambrose.

"The face of your company": Monday Night RAW (3/8/16)

Last night's Monday Night RAW felt like a go home show, with a face standing tall at the end. It was more of a go home show before Roadblock, the network exclusive special taking place in Toronto this Saturday. Compared to last week's leap year episode, this show was thankfully enjoyable and exciting. There were some mixed reviews for this show, which is understandable considering they were focusing on Roadblock and Wrestlemania. The results can be found here.

There were a few great moments here. The first was Kevin Owens vs Neville in a non-title match. There were a few great spots from both Owens and Neville - with Neville even pulling off a Phoenix Splash from the middle rope! - but he lost to Owens via roll up. Owens has been clamoring for weeks that he doesn't have any opponents for Wrestlemania, which strangely excluded Ambrose or invoking a rematch clause, but last night saw a surprise return from an old foe, Sami Zayn. They really are destined to do this forever.

The best match of the night came from Y2AJ vs The New Day for the Tag Team Championship. It was ridiculously exciting and fast pace. AJ was at his freaking best here and so was Big E, who not only countered Jericho's Codebreaker but effortlessly reversed it to do the Big Ending and win the match and retain the title. After the New Day left the ring, AJ and Jericho were left in the ring. And it finally happened; Jericho turned heel and did the Codebreaker on AJ Styles. He did it 2 more times and even grabbed the Y2AJ shirt he wore earlier and stuffed it in AJ's mouth. Suddenly his behavior towards Ambrose and Reigns from Night of Champions last year made sense. He wasn't trying to start a feud with Ambrose, he was being a sore loser. Losing to AJ in their 2 out of 3 matches and then losing again as a tag team was the final straw.

And finally, my guy Ambrose. He's been on fire the last 2 weeks. He cut a pretty lengthy, angry, and passionate promo about coming away as the new champion after March 12. Once again, it's creating excitement and making Wrestlemania look less predictable when someone as volatile as Ambrose is set for a match against Lesnar and is getting a title shot against HHH in the network special.


Unfortunately, there has been a consistent pattern with Ambrose whenever he goes after a title: he cuts a great promo, he looks good and/or stands tall at the end of the go-home shows, and when the main event rolls around, he loses. That's what happened at Survivor Series and Fastlane, so I stopped getting my hopes up that Ambrose would win again. He is currently the placeholder for Reigns until he returns to action, possibly after Roadblock. WWE won't let anything change their plans for Reigns' coronation at Wrestlemania. For now, the fans are getting what they wanted to see after the Royal Rumble: Ambrose vs HHH for the title, Lesnar vs Wyatt, and quite possibly Owens vs Zayn.

Interesting to note, Busted Open on SiriusXM had a very heated debate about Ambrose just now. They've maintained that they don't buy Ambrose as a main eventer RIGHT NOW due to the booking and injuries. They don't hate him either but he hasn't done anything yet that can elevate him to that top tier RIGHT NOW. And I have to agree with them. As I told Vince, this is not a push, this is WWE in panic mode and it's very transparent. For now, booking decisions aside, I'm just enjoying all the exposure Ambrose has been getting.

YEEE! YEEE! YEEE! YEEE!

Weekend Recap (3/4/16 - 3/6/16)

Friday (3/4):

• Vince finally got a reason to upgrade his phone. He accidentally dropped a dumbbell on his phone so it's shot.
• We ate Lola's Louisiana Kitchen. We liked eating here the first time and the second time was somewhat disappointing. We're not going to eat here for a while.
• Dan got us to play Nostalrius, which is World of Warcraft at its most infant and vanilla stage. We wanted to play Diablo III but Blizzard was down. 

Saturday (3/5):

• We watched "Zootopia." That was a super fun and smart movie. It actually touched upon racial and social political issues and their characters were great. It broke so many stereotypes and was a bit fourth-wall breaking.
• We went to Verizon to look for phones. Vince was thinking of getting the Samsung Galaxy S7 but I told him not to hastily buy a phone he didn't look into when he was set on getting the Google Nexus. So that's what he did.
• Went to Seafood City to buy ingredients to make Beef Nilaga.
• I wasn't feeling well the rest of the day so I took a nap, woke up to be a sous chef for Vince, had dinner, and watched Vince play Destiny til I passed out on the couch.

Sunday (3/6):

• Went to Vince's parent's place for lunch. I got a copy of Turbo Tax to do my taxes. Vince was parental tech support.
• Went to Wal-Mart to buy a few things. I saw Kevin Owens and Bayley figure but I didn't buy it. I'm secretly waiting for a Becky Lynch figure.
• Went to Costco to do more grocery shopping.
• The Walking Dead was pretty good but it's putting off the appearance of Negan dammit
• Watched ROH where Lio Rush is the new top prospect and the main event saw Dalton Castle losing to Christopher Daniels. It looks like they won't air the ROH 14th Anniversary episodes til the end of March or early April.

What to expect for Monday Night RAW:

After last week's super disappointing leap day episode of RAW (save for Ambrose and HHH's segments), it looks like tonight is going to be super exciting with the return of Shane O Mac, The New Day defending their title against Y2AJ, 3 of the NXT Horsewoman are now in a Wrestlemania match, and most importantly, no Roman Reigns. On top of that, it's taking place in Chicago, one of the smarkiest wrestling cities, and hometown to a certain former Best In The World wrestler who pegged the infamous phrase, "Make Roman look strong."

Speaking of Reigns, I think I've reached a point where I don't hate his character, just his booking (again). I still think it's bad timing for him to be absent while Ambrose fights in his place against HHH. On one hand, it's protecting Reigns from the continuous poor reaction from the fans. On the other hand, this is getting Ambrose even more fan support in Reigns' absence. He's returning for tomorrow's Smack Down, where the crowd is a lot nicer to him. I can't imagine how his character will look for the next 4 weeks whereas Ambrose is on fire right now.

And speaking of Ambrose, even though he teased that he might win the WHC title from HHH and screw everything up, I don't fully expect him to win at Roadblock. After what happened at Fastlane, where everyone was hoping to see Ambrose win the contendership, I'm trying to keep my expectations (and hopes) low.

"Thanks": Monday Night RAW (2/29/16)

Last week's RAW saw Brock Lesnar beating down Dean Ambrose, who demanded a street fight match for Wrestlemania, HHH literally beating Reigns to a (fake) bloody pulp, and also the surprise return of Shane McMahon. It seemed like WWE was going into a new, gritty, and unpredictable direction on the road to Wrestlemania. And then we hit a "Roadblock."

Literally.

The previously named "March to Wrestlemania" Toronto network special was abruptly changed to Roadblock as of last night. Along with the name change, the main event also changed from HHH vs Roman Reigns vs Sheamus to... HHH vs Ambrose for the WHC. Let me repeat that: Ambrose, who lost at Fastlane to Reigns to be the #1 contender for the World title, was given a title shot by HHH, in what is basically a televised house show 3 weeks before Wrestlemania.

RAW was unsurprisingly terrible and disappointing in comparison to last week. Aside from the great interactions with Ambrose and HHH in the opening segment, Stephanie's incredible promo, and the ending segment with HHH beating Ambrose, a majority of the matches just happened. The results can be found here. The wins and losses didn't mean anything or didn't make sense. Why did Ziggler lose to Miz? Why did Kalisto (current US Champ) lose to Del Rio? Why did Owens (current IC Champ) lose to The Big Show? And how the hell did Sasha "pass out" from doing the sunset flip on Becky, resulting in a double-pin?! 

It doesn't make sense for WWE to focus on building up for a network special again. They did the same thing last year for the Brock Lesnar tour, where Big Show suddenly had to look strong a week before the Madison Square Garden network special before predictably losing to him. Ambrose vs HHH sounds great but it makes no sense for Ambrose to start going after HHH when he's already in a feud with Lesnar. So after this special ends in a predictable manner next Saturday, then they'll resume building up for Wrestlemania 32, which still only has 3 confirmed matches. Nothing has been announced for the Tag Team, Divas, US and IC titles yet. How they're going to sell the remaining 30,000+ Wrestlemania tickets is beyond me.

If there's anything important to note here, it's the difference in the crowd reaction to the main event from last week. Ambrose got laid out by the League of Nation. HHH comes to the ring and belittles Ambrose, who quickly pops up to punch him and starts wailing on in the corner. HHH retaliates with the pedigree and angrily grants him his title shot. Ambrose then crawls up to the mic that HHH dropped on him and said, "Hey, Hunter! Thanks!" HHH then throws Ambrose on the announcer's table and starts beating him up, though not as viciously as what he did to Reigns. The entire arena was booing at HHH and cheering for Ambrose.

Once again, there's that false hope that Ambrose might actually win the title. Seeing how it's a live show and HHH's first title defense in a long time, he ain't losting to Ambrose. Then again, the same was said for the NXT Championship match with Kevin Owens and Finn Balor for the Beast In The East special, and the title changed hands there. There's a serious booking dilemma and to be honest, I really don't care. Ambrose is in main event mode and WWE can't ignore the pop and chants he consistently gets, especially last night. When Reigns returns, it's not going to be pretty.

LET'S GO AMBROSE!