Except for the few disappointments, WWE TLC was a pretty enjoyable pay-per-view, especially if you consider the lackluster build-up to the show. It definitely surpassed the low expectations, but it could have been better if it wasn’t for some questionable bookings. Nobody expected much from TLC as it is holiday time and wrestling, in general, is on the back burner. That is always the case with all the December PPVs, but having a stipulation heavy show like TLC still brought in a lot of eyes to the show.
Here is my assessment of the show and what I think were the best and worst things coming out of TLC 2019.
Best: Opening Match
The show started with the SmackDown tag team championship between The New Day vs The Revival. The match had everything that a good ladder should have. All the four wrestlers involved gave everything to come out of the match with a victory. They took some horrible bumps as well, like bumps on a laid-out ladder by Big E and Dash Wilder with Big Ending from the top of the ladder. It was a fast-paced match with great action to provide the perfect start to the show.
Kofi Kingston was the MVP of the match as he was involved in many of the big spots and was the one who got the victory for The New Day in the end. It was a good way to end a very successful year for him.
Worst: King Corbin Going Over Roman Reigns
Baron Corbin and Roman Reigns’ storyline is generally getting a negative reaction from the fans. It is one of those storylines that fans want to end as soon as possible so that the wrestlers can move to something meaningful. The match itself didn’t feel like a TLC match. It was just a no disqualification match. The stipulation was obviously added to get Dolph Ziggler and The Revival involved.
The match itself was decent, but the ending took everything away from the competitors. The finish of the match came when Dolph Ziggler, The Revival, and Baron Corbin hit their respective finishers for Corbin to get get the pinfall victory over Roman. Because of that, the feud will go on for more weeks to come and we again have to sit through those 20-minutes Corbin’s promos where he makes fun of Roman’s dog gimmick.
Here’s to more dog costumes and dog food.
Best: Aleister Black vs Buddy Murphy
Aleister Black vs Buddy Murphy stole the show last night. It was exactly the way it was promised to the fans. The bout was a hard-hitting affair and both wrestlers went all out. There wasn’t much in terms of the storyline, but if there are any wrestlers who can do without one, it is these two. Even though there wasn’t much crowd support at the start of the match, Aleister Black received a standing ovation when he got the pin over Murphy at the end. He is now undefeated on the Raw brand.
We also learned that Aleister Black is cool if you break his jaw, but if you touch his coat, he will kill you.
Worst: OC Being The Mystery Opponents
For the biggest wrestling company in the world, WWE is finding it hard to grasp the concept that, ‘fans expect a big name if you don’t reveal the name of the opponents in advance’. There was no need to keep The OC a secret. They are a regular part of Raw and were heavily featured in the last few weeks alongside AJ Styles. OC and Viking Raiders has a lot of history between them as Viking Raiders’ only loss in the main roster has come against The OC.
They could have built up the match on Raw and could have had the match at TLC. The OC got no crowd reaction when they came out as people were disappointed to not see a returning team to accept the challenge. On top of that, the match was just an advertisement for KFC. Commentators were using chicken puns throughout the course of the match and the match ended with a double count-out just so that WWE could book another match between the two on Raw. So now we are using pay-per-views to build towards a match on weekly shows?
Best: Women’s Tag Team Match Main-eventing The Show
It was a great idea to let the women’s tag team match main event the show. The ladies tore the house down and it had some of the most innovative spots of the night. Kabuki Warriors tying Becky Lynch to the table outside the ring was a clever tactic as it took her out of the match. Main eventing a pay-per-view would bring a lot of value to the women’s tag team titles moving forward and Kabuki Warriors winning at the end was another good decision as it would keep the belts in the limelight. If Becky and Charlotte Flair would have won it, the spotlight would have been on their friendship rather than the title.
This was inarguably the best Women’s Tag Team Championship match in history. Becky is now the only woman to main-event four pay-per-views (WrestleMania, Extreme Rules, Survivor Series, TLC) in a single year.
Worst: Bray Wyatt vs The Miz
"I'm really excited about this!!!!"
We bet you are, @WWEBrayWyatt…#WWETLC @mikethemiz pic.twitter.com/Qd0LSqNyRJ
— WWE (@WWE) December 16, 2019
It is baffling to see how WWE managed to ruin a great character like Bray Wyatt twice. When Bray Wyatt returned with his new gimmick after WrestleMania this year, he quickly became the hottest thing in wrestling by a huge margin. The Fiend became the talk of the town when he made his wrestling debut at SummerSlam to defeat Finn Balor. But, everything went downhill from there.
Now, all his matches are the same. He let his opponents get the offense at first before he could hit them with a move to win the match. It was the same last night as well, except that he was without his Fiend’s mask. Wyatt’s character work was great, but the match itself was a downer. Daniel Bryan was the saving grace of the entire match. The Universal Champion needs to come up with something good if he wants to stay as the face of WWE.
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