Hey, I respect your right to dream and hope for bigger and better things on the grandest stage of them all. In my opinion, Ambrose doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell at Roadblock. Do you really think HHH is going to be a transitional champion to Ambrose who THEN transitions to Reigns? I do not.
The same people that would cheer Ambrose at Mania as champion over Reigns will cheer HHH as champ. You can turn Reigns regardless. Additionally, your scenario of a mini tournament just happened in November, and nobody involved really benefited. The Wrestlemania card will not be heavily altered, and the card in place at Mania (regardless of whether anyone likes it or not) is the one we will be getting.
WWE is not doing Roadblock to make up for a lackluster FastLane in a desperate attempt to appease fans. Roadblock is a glorified house show to generate a live gate and attempt to reel in more subscribers. Period.
Do I think Triple H is willing to be a transitional champ to a transitional champ? Yes... because information has changed since that plan was put into place.
1 - Shane was brought back to give The Undertaker an opponent with actual name recognition, thus creating a match that should legitimately have more of Triple H's attention than the WWE Title.
2 - Triple H failed to draw any heat whatsoever. He has one job, and it's not to put the title on Reigns. It's to get Reigns over. As the heel, that means he's supposed to be so reviled by the audience that they cheer Reigns just because they want to see someone kick Triple H's ass. That clearly didn't happen two weeks ago. The fans have spoken. They'll cheer for anyone who kicks Reigns' ass... even if it's Triple H.
I understand that they did something similar at Survivor Series. Mind you, the situation at SS was similar... not identical. There's actually a champion in play with this scenario. There wasn't at SS. The payoff is also different. Instead of using Ambrose as mere fodder with the focus being placed on a Sheamus cash-in, the pay-off here is a legitimate Ambrose/Reigns feud that not only carries the company through the spring time, but also carries them into the summer months when Rollins returns and adds an extra layer to it. It's called long-term booking, something that really isn't possible right now because there aren't any main event heels over enough with the audience that can work a long-term program with a face champion.
And I never suggested that they're doing Road Block to make up for a lackluster Fast Lane. I'm saying that Fast Lane was lackluster because they knew they were going to go all-in with Road Block. Had the WWE put up an amazing effort with Fast Lane, and then stunk of the joint with Road Block, it would take a lot of steam out of the final 3 weeks before WrestleMania. So I'm maintaining that the WWE tanked Fast Lane so that they could play all their cards at Road Block.
Now, you continue to mention the reason why the WWE is holding this event. To that, I have already agreed with you. But you continue the ignore the obvious fact that the Road Block was planned LONG before Fastlane. They've known for at least a year that the gap between Fast Lane and WrestleMania would hurt network subscription numbers in March unless they held an event like this. So again, they booked Fast Lane knowing full well they were going to do Road Block just three weeks prior to WrestleMania, and that Road Block had to outdo Fast Lane. Perhaps it's cheating that they're trying to accomplish this task by setting the bar as low as they did, but there's a very real possibility that that's what happened.
