By Jason Powell
Dot Net Members are listening to the 80-minute WWE TLC audio review that Jake Barnett and I recorded last night, and they will also hear my audio review of WWE Raw and an NXT Takeover: London audio review on Wednesday along with additional audio shows throughout the week. Join us on the ad-free version of the website and special section of our free iPhone and Android apps by signing up for membership today via the Dot Net Members’ Signup Page.
WWE TLC Hits
Roman Reigns attacks Triple H: A strong post-match angle that caused the crowd to warm up to Reigns while setting the stage for wherever creative is going from here. It will be very interesting to see if the embracement of Reigns carries over tonight in front of the traditionally tough Philadelphia crowd. Either way, the angle left viewers satisfied by a show that featured all but one heel going over and left them curious to see what the fallout will be on Raw. Is this the latest spin on Austin vs. McMahon? Or will Reigns have to get through Hunter to get a title shot at the Royal Rumble, which would be a repeat of the way Daniel Bryan won the championship at WrestleMania 30? I hope that’s not the plan because Reigns vs. Hunter should be more than a setup match. I am curious to see where things go from here. Obviously, Reigns isn’t going anywhere, but from a storyline standpoint how does his character avoid being fired? Is it as simple as Hunter and Stephanie opting to make his life miserable? Could Vince McMahon show up and stop them from firing Reigns?
Sheamus vs. Roman Reigns in a TLC match: I was fearful that all the weaponry we saw throughout the show had left the crowd numb to it all. And it certainly felt that way during the opening minutes, but Sheamus and Reigns got the live crowd into their match by the midway point. This is the type of match where Sheamus and Reigns shine. I’m not talking about the hardcore style, but rather the good, physical fighting style. Sheamus is very good when he’s portrayed as a badass and I hope we get more of that than the gloating heel who backs down. Reigns came out of the show in a better place than he was going in despite the fact that he is booked as the dumbest top babyface in history. It didn’t bother me that he didn’t see the Seth Rollins cash-in coming at WrestleMania 31 because most of the fans did not see it coming either. However, his character should have had his guard up for that possibility at Survivor Series given what happened at WrestleMania. And even if you can look past that, you can’t ignore the fact that his character was oblivious to the possibility of outside interference in a No DQ match. Vince McMahon has preached to creative team members in recent years that the WWE audience is more sophisticated now than they once were, so surely he had to know that the vast majority of fans saw the League of Nations form, saw the match was No DQ, and put two and two together. As I mentioned last night, I really hope they take the time to show that King Barrett didn’t join Rusev and Alberto Del Rio in interfering in the match because he somehow barricaded Reigns’s friends backstage. There needs to be an explanation for why Dean Ambrose and even The Uso Brothers didn’t come out to help Reigns when the heels attacked. After all, we were told that the plan was for Ambrose to stick around and celebrate he and Reigns both winning championships on the same night, so where was he?
New Day vs. The Lucha Dragons vs. The Uso Brothers in a ladder match: An excellent spot fest match. I like the way New Day seemed to be seeking heat more than laughs during their pre-match promo. All six wrestlers went above and beyond the call of duty and delivered the best WWE ladder match in recent memory. The Salida del Sol off the ladder and through a second ladder was absolutely insane. In fact, it was way too much given the lackluster build that the creative team gave this match, though I do understand if the wrestlers feel as though a big spot like that and their overall performance might be the best way to grab the attention Vince McMahon and the creative team. Kudos to Xavier Woods for throwing a strike with the trombone. An errant toss could have resulted in an embarrassing moment at the finish of a match where six men went all out. It seems simple enough in theory, but so did these ceremonial first pitches.
Alberto Del Rio vs. Jack Swagger in a chairs match: One of the better chair matches you’ll see simply because the wrestlers opted to do more than just hit each other with chairs. Granted, this match really didn’t need to be a chairs match. Del Rio and Swagger are not at a point in their feud where they needed a gimmick match, and TLC would have benefitted from having the type of straight forward wrestling match that they could have provided.
Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens: The lone babyface win on an Empire Strikes Back type of heel dominated show. This wasn’t a long, classic Intercontinental Title match, but they made great use of the ten minutes they had to work with. I was convinced that Owens was going to retain the title when he got his fingertips on the ropes after taking Dirty Deeds, so the finish was a cool surprise and that’s coming from someone who wanted to see the Owens’ title reign continue. It will be interesting to see where they go with both men. I assume we haven’t seen the last of this feud. By the way, big props to the Owens pre-match sports fan promo, which was so much better than the expected Montreal native taunting the Boston Bruins in their home venue.
WWE TLC Misses
Broadcast team’s tone for TLC: WWE is so consumed with presenting their product as fun that they had their broadcast team constantly undermine the efforts of the wrestlers. Rather than sell the element of danger in the TLC main event, JBL spoke about how both wrestlers were going to beat the hell out of each other and then said, “I love it, I think it’s great!” The situation called for the broadcast team to express concern over the wellbeing of both men. Likewise, they treated the ladder match like it was all fun and games. WWE didn’t go so far as to have the announcers use the word “toys” instead of “weapons” repeatedly, yet the “everything is fun” tone they took to gimmick matches really took away from the sacrifices the wrestlers were making. I really wish WWE would pick a side. Embrace the TLC gimmick matches and put over the high risks the wrestlers take or don’t ask the talent to sacrifice their bodies while having the broadcast team act as if they are calling matches involving video game characters.
Ryback vs. Rusev: We’ve seen this match on Raw. We’ve seen this match on Smackdown. We’ve seen variations of the phony Lana injury finish on both shows. So why does the Ryback character keep falling for it?
The Wyatt Family vs. Team ECW: A minor Miss for a chaotic match that I didn’t even realize was an elimination match until it started (admittedly, I may have missed something). I didn’t understand the sudden focus on the age of Team ECW. Tommy Dreamer said age was just a number in his pre-match promo. The broadcast team made comments about the years of combined experience between the Team ECW members and made other age related comments. What purpose did this serve? Did it help the Wyatt Family to beat a bunch of wrestlers who were essentially labeled old guys? The Dudley Boyz didn’t have to be positioned as a nostalgia act when they returned, but that’s exactly what has happened. Pairing them with Tommy Dreamer and Rhyno and then spotlighting the age of all four veterans cemented that. If nothing else, here’s hoping the former ECW members are treated well in Philadelphia tonight.
Charlotte vs. Paige: The addition of Ric Flair worked from the standpoint that fans at least “wooo’ed” instead of sitting on their hands while wondering which heel they are supposed to cheer for. This was doomed from the start because of the strange call to make it a heel vs. heel match, but I saw enough of the Flair and Charlotte dynamic to make me feel like they will work as a strong heel act once they have a good babyface to work with. There’s no sign of Sasha Banks turning babyface, and there was no sign of Becky Lynch being built up as a strong challenger for Charlotte given that she lost her Kickoff Show match to Sasha. Are they calling up Bayley? Are they going to cast Natalya as the babyface challenger to set up a Flair Family vs. Hart Family feud perhaps with Bret Hart in the corner of his niece? Natalya carried Charlotte to her first great match (and we’re still waiting for a good one on the main roster) and I have no doubt that they could have a strong feud together if that’s the direction they take. However, as Jake Barnett pointed out last night in members’ audio, they need to keep the focus on the full-time female wrestlers rather than the men in their corner if they go in that direction.
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