WWE TLC

 

St. Petersburg, Florida

BIG E, DANIEL BRYAN, CHAD GABLE & OTIS vs. KING CORBIN, SAMI ZAYN, CESARO & SHINSUKE NAKAMURA (8:35): This was the pre-show match. It was basically just a random, Smackdown main event type of a match. If this had went 20 minutes or so it might have been great, actually. I haven't watched a lot of RAW or Smackdown lately, so I don't know too much about feuds and things going on. I did notice that Chad Gable isn't being called Shorty G anymore. Thank God. I'm really surprised Nakamura is still around, as I never predicted a long run for him in the WWE. He's stuck in a tag team with Cesaro, though, which is kind of how things work in the WWE. Take two great singles wrestlers and never figure out they should be champions in main events and so they're stuck in a random tag team doing nothing of value. I haven't seen Daniel Bryan wrestle lately so it was cool to see him back in the ring. I guess they've been pushing Big E as a singles wrestler, although we all know how that Kofi push turned out, so don't expect big things for Big E. This was the first ppv at Tropicana Field, the indoor baseball stadium that the Tampa Bay Devil Rays play in. You would never know that they moved the Thunderdome from Orlando to St. Petersburg, though, because the set up is the same. This was a good show, though, and will always be famous for being the show where someone was murdered in the main event. **1/2

DREW McINTYRE vs. AJ STYLES vs. THE MIZ "TLC MATCH" (27:05): Good match. Towards the end, The Miz ran out and cashed in his Money in the Bank contract to turn the match into a 3-way dance. The Miz thought he'd just waltz in and climb up the ladder and grab the belt but AJ's security guard, this 7 foot tall black dude, grabbed The Miz off the ladder and threw him over the top rope and through a table at ringside. McIntyre also threw AJ over the top rope and through a table at ringside, which was apparently the only spot they could think of in this match. AJ is great in ladder matches, though, so this was exciting. McIntyre retained his title. ***

SASHA BANKS vs. CARMELLA (12:10): Did Carmella get bigger implants? I haven't seen her in awhile. She was dating Corey Graves, who was announcing this match. Hot goss! I guess they're still together. Sasha of course is a phenomenal wrestler, so that helped. Carmella either has no idea what she's doing or just likes to work dangerous, because there were three spots where she planted Banks hard on her skull. This was fast paced at least. Banks retained the women's title. I honestly don't even know if it's the RAW or Smackdown title and don't really care. **

CEDRIC ALEXANDER & SHELTON BENJAMIN vs. THE NEW DAY (10:00): The Hurt Business won the tag titles here. The Hurt Business is all black guys for whatever reason. I mused earlier in the year that the group probably came to fruition because of the Black Lives Matter protests. This was entertaining but nothing spectacular. Benjamin must be in his 40's by now, right? **1/2

ASUKA & CHARLOTTE FLAIR vs. NIA JAX & SHAYNA BAZSLER (10:05): This wasn't very good. Asuka's surprise partner turned out to be Charlotte, who's been gone for 6 months for whatever reason. Ric Flair was backstage watching the match for some reason. Charlotte did a top rope moonsault. Nia Jax looked fatter than usual, perhaps her outfit was too tight or something. Shayna is very boring. This was the worst match on the show. *1/2

ROMAN REIGNS vs. KEVIN OWENS "TLC MATCH" (24:45): Good match. Jey Uso was basically in this match, attacking Owens constantly. The story was that Reigns destroyed Owens throughout but Owens wouldn't quit. Reigns put Owens through like five tables or something ridiculous, even slamming him through two chairs set up together and onto the top of a sideways, sitting ladder. They made this out like Owens was this huge, babyface underdog but hasn't he always been a heel? This was brutal and pretty crazy. I'm still wondering how live crowds will react to a heel Reigns. It does work a lot better than a good guy Reigns. Will fans cheer him now? Reigns retained the title. ***

RANDY ORTON vs. THE FIEND "FIREFLY INFERNO MATCH" (12:00): They've actually done two Inferno matches before with Kane. I remember in the one match, Kane's boot caught fire. The rules are you have to set your opponent on fire. Usually the opponent isn't engulfed in flames, but they can do that kind of stuff now since these matches are taped and edited beforehand. And because of that, this match will go down in history as the match where someone was murdered. Yep. And this isn't the first WWE match where someone was murdered. It isn't even the first WWE match where someone was murdered this year. At the Money in the Bank show, two wrestlers were tossed off the roof of the Stamford WWE building. Sami Zayn was thrown in a trash truck and crushed to death at the hands of Braun Strowman recently as well. In this match, after The Fiend's jacket caught fire and Orton RKO'd him, The Fiend was out cold. Orton then doused him with gasoline and set him ablaze and his corpse burned while the show ended. Yes, you heard that right. This show ended with Randy Orton killing Bray Wyatt. Don't kids watch this show? And lately, 3,000 people have been dying in the U.S. every day from Covid. Maybe killing someone on TV isn't exactly the best thing to do at this juncture. Or...ever, considering The Fiend is obviously going to be back in a ring wrestling soon like nothing happened. While this wasn't a great match or anything, it was certainly interesting. Visually it was cool. They had rows of flames around the ring and poles on fire. After big moves the flames all grew bigger at once. The WWE always has been better at production values than, say, stories or character development. The one pop culture website had a headline tonight that read: "WWE TLC Results: Randy Orton Murders Bray Wyatt Live on PPV." Should I also mention that The Fiend lit a strap on fire and tried to whip Orton with it? He put Orton in a rocking chair then lit a trail of gasoline on fire that led to the chair but Orton jumped up before he was burned? That The Fiend had a pickaxe and tried to kill Orton with it? This was pretty bonkers, even for the WWE. I guess they thought this would get people talking. Though the WWE has so much stupid shit happen on their shows all the time then probably no one will really care about this. R.I.P. Bray Wyatt. They should do a funeral on RAW and Wyatt pops out of the casket. **1/2