WWE TLC

Minneapolis

HUMBERTO CARRILLO vs. ANDRADE (12:45): There were a ton of wrestling shows this weekend and this one kind of got lost in the mix. It probably didn't help that they didn't even announce a card until a week ago and the card turned out to be pretty forgettable. It did help that there were ladder matches and TLC matches involved, otherwise I probably wouldn't have cared about any of them. Ring of Honor had their PPV, Final Battle, on Friday. PCO won the title, Dragon Lee won the TV title, and Jay Lethal and Jonathan Gresham won the tag titles. Ring of Honor did have a super match on that show with Bandido and Flamita vs. Marty Scurll and Flip Gordon. Saturday had AAA's Guerra de Titanes show, NWA had their first PPV, and CZW had their annual Cage of Death. Sunday had a Ring of Honor house show at the ECW Arena that I actually went to. The main event was good, which had Marty Scurll and PCO facing Jeff Cobb and Dan Maff. PCO did his sick, top rope, Swanton Dive onto the edge of the ring. He's about to turn 52 and looked like he was going to die in the ring during the match. Jonathan Gresham and Alex Shelley had a pretty good match, as did Flip Gordon and Rey Horus (who was in AAA on Saturday night...and Marty Scurll was on the NWA show on Saturday...so everyone was everywhere!). So it was an exhausting weekend if you actually had the time to watch any of it. Which meant I finally finished watching this TLC show on Wednesday. In hindsight, I probably should have never watched this train wreck of a show. This was a pretty good pre-show match, though. They pushed Humberto Carrillo to the moon for some reason. He's good and better than most of the dull roster but nothing special. Was he even in NXT at one point? Because usually these young, fresh faces toil in NXT for years and show up on the main roster and die a quick death. Andrade should've never left Mexico, honestly. **1/2

THE NEW DAY vs. THE REVIVAL "LADDER MATCH" (19:20): This was a typical brutal ladder match that was both entertaining to watch and hard to watch. Big E. got suplexed onto a ladder bridge and missed the ladder but his elbow hit the edge. That looked gruesome. Dash or Wilder (I seriously don't know who's the bald one) fell off the ladder and onto the ladder bridge to end the match. This was a good opener, though you could kind of tell The Revival are traditional, classic wrestlers and totally out of their element around ladders. **1/2

ALEISTER BLACK vs. BUDDY MURPHY (13:45): This was the match of the night. Which probably tells you something considering there were matches with people climbing ladders and going through tables and yet this, a basic match, was superior. If the WWE ever had brains then a match like this would be the main event for the title. But that's never going to happen. Black got his nose busted and was bleeding. Murphy, who seemed missing in action for months after leaving 205Live, is apparently getting TV time these days (because he's exciting? shocking!), although not a push since he lost. ***

THE VIKING RAIDERS vs. LUKE GALLOWS & KARL ANDERSON (8:30): So let's face it; nobody was paying any attention to this match because at ringside there were random people sitting at a table eating KFC. I guess it was an advertisement for KFC? But it was stupid because you couldn't really care about this match you just wondered who the fuck those strange people were. Gallows and Anderson eventually put one of The Viking Raiders through the KFC table. That was about the only thing good about this. 1/2*

KING CORBIN vs. ROMAN REIGNS "TLC MATCH" (22:20): I finally cracked the code. I'd been wondering why all of these great wrestlers aren't pushed but Baron Corbin has been pushed like he's Hulk Hogan. He retired Kurt Angle at WrestleMania. He was the RAW general manager. He won the King of the Ring. Now he's beating Roman Reigns and is the face of Smackdown. Corbin is always involved in dumb comedy and is an evil heel. Well Vince McMahon loves dumb comedy and loves being the evil heel. But Vince is too old to be actually out there doing that shit every week so he's vicariously living through Baron Corbin. Corbin brought out a guy in a dog mascot costume and had the dog on all fours bowing to Corbin on Smackdown. Because Roman is the big dog. Get it? Yeah, it's fucking juvenile. But that's the exact kind of idiotic comedy Vince loves. Also the pouring dog food onto Roman. Vince was probably cracking up backstage at that. So that's why Baron Corbin is pushed. Vince writes himself into Baron's storylines. And Baron Corbin won this match. He also got help. Ziggler and The Revival came out to beat up Reigns. Did they even use a ladder? Reigns did put Corbin through the announce table. This was amusing but not particularly good. I will admit that I think Corbin is funny but I never want to see him wrestle. **

BRAY WYATT vs. THE MIZ (6:40): So The Miz wrestled Bray Wyatt and not The Fiend. No, I don't know why. After the match, the lights went out and when they came back on Daniel Bryan was in the ring with a buzz cut and no big beard and he beat up Bray. Okay. This wasn't for the title, either, which was vexing. I'm still also curious why The Miz is a face now. I thought everyone hated him? *

BOBBY LASHLEY vs. RUSEV "TABLES MATCH" (13:30): This is the first match in the feud with no end. Was it ever amusing? I guess, in a train wreck sort of way. You just kind of wonder if this is really going to break up Rusev's marriage in a few years. Because apparently it's happened a lot in wrestling. So this was a tables match but they used a Singapore Cane and a guardrail, too, for no reason. Lashley hasn't been in a good match since returning and Rusev deserves better then to have to watch his real life wife cheating on him at work. *

ASUKA & KAIRI SANE vs. CHARLOTTE & BECKY LYNCH "TLC MATCH" (26:00): Kairi Sane got injured in this match and it was probably a concussion because she was so sloppy and out of it during most of this. Besides that, why are Charlotte and Becky even a tag team? And why was this even the main event? I literally just watched this and am trying to think of some cool stuff that happened and can't. I know Kairi Sane laid Charlotte and Becky on a table at ringside and jumped on them and the table didn't break. And Sane tried to throw chairs into the ring and one hit the ropes and bounced back and hit her and Charlotte and Becky just stood in the ring awkwardly staring at her wondering what to do. This almost went a half hour. Jesus! After the show went off the air, some fan posted footage he took on his cell phone of Becky rolling Sane under the ring. I guess to protect her from taking any more bumps because she was concussed? I'm not sure why the refs didn't either stop the match, cut to the finish early, or just pull her out of there. I don't know...this was pretty much a mess. Great way to end a show! *1/2