WWE TLC 2015

(Yeah, this is a little late. This was written ages ago, about a couple days after the RAW where Roman finally won the title.)

Has there ever been a more underwhelming WWE event than Sunday's TLC PPV? And look, I get it. It's the holiday season, not everyone is going to care about watching a wrestling PPV... but then that's the attitude with a lot of people over the past several months? years? However long it was... but, for the second time in a row, I found myself being heavily underwhelmed by a WWE PPV with no notably worthwhile matches and thus, no real reason to tune in to RAW as a result. As such, my thoughts on the show are quick and short... though I've a bit to say about the main event in light of the following Monday's RAW.



WWE Tag-Team champions The New Day defeated the Usos and the Lucha Dragons in a ladder match to retain the titles. This was your usual ladder match with plenty of high flying bits, lots of falling, and the usual craziness. Probably a good thing that the New Day won the match because they're the more interesting tag-team... or at least, the most entertaining. Good opener, no real complaints.

Rusev defeated Ryback with the Accolade... eh, it was fine. Nothing special. Didn't really care, but can't say it was too offensive.

U.S. Champ Alberto Del Rio defeated Jack Swagger in a Chairs match with a nice double-stomp on Swagger through a bunch of chairs to retain the title. Match was kinda meh... nothing special.

The Wyatt Family defeated the Dudleyz, Tommy Dreamer, and Rhyno in a Tables match when Bubba got put through a table... from TNA World Champion to being fodder to the failed experiment? Sure, why not? Look, this was a fun little hardcore match and, if nothing else, gave the Wyatts a much needed win. If only we got a much needed reason to care... oh well.

Dean Ambrose defeated Intercontinental champion Kevin Owens to win the title in a pretty good fight. I like the bit where Owens got hit with a Dirty deeds and as the ref is counting Ambrose's pinfall attempt, Owens breaks the count by putting his finger on the rope, which I thought was pretty funny and certainly unique. Would've liked to have seen KO get a longer title reign, but hey, Dean finally won a big one, so it's win-win either way.

Divas champion Charlotte defeated Paige to retain the title... look, I was so invested in this match that I went back and watched the pre-show match between Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch, which I enjoyed tremendously because Sasha Banks is the shit even with the baggage she's carrying and I'm starting to dig Becky Lynch a bit - I think it's the googles; they work. But this other match? Meh... couldn't care less. Especially if they insist on turning Charlotte into Baby Flair... which I don't see working all that well, but whatever.

WWE World Champion Sheamus defeated Roman Reigns in a TLC match to retain the title... and the crowd goes mild. Roman chokes again... even though they had him fend off a run-in from Del Rio and Rusev, they gave him a nice strong showing, but one Brogue Kick, Sheamus climbs up and of course, he retains. As much as I wanted to enjoy the match because of the brawling, I was apathetic more than anything.

And so they beat up on Reigns. Reigns goes nuts, spears Rusev, spears Del Rio, beats the crap out of Sheamus with a chair, out comes Triple h, out comes Nipple h, out comes triple refs, old Trips comes in to calms Reigns down, HE gets a bunch of chairs, and gets put through a table... kinda, sorta... and then as all these refs are helping McSon-In-Law to the back, Reigns comes back and gives him one more spear. The crowd chants "Thank You Roman" and for the first time in what seems like an eternity, there is some semblance of character development with Roman Reigns; there is emotion with Roman Reigns; there is a sliver of hope in that this could the drive, the reason to care that Roman Reigns has been lacking... and also for the first time in a good long while, I'm vaguely interested in where Roman goes from here. Because here's a guy who has been close to that mountaintop, has been given the slip so many times, he snaps, he goes crazy... now I'm interested.

I totally expected WWE to be "back to business as usual" and write off Roman's emotional ragetrip as a happy accident, but the following Monday night, Roman Reigns defeated Sheamus to finally, FINALLY become WWE World Champion and from the crowd reaction, it looks he might finally have gotten the acceptance he'd been desperately lacking all year round. Might have helped that the match was really bloody good from a story point of view and there was actual semblance of drama and anticipation; something that has been lacking on RAW (or WWE in general) for a long ass time. THIS is the Roman Reigns we should've gotten ages ago. THIS is the Roman Reigns we're getting now. And THIS is the Roman Reigns I expect to see at Wrestlemania 32... or whatever the fuck they're calling it now.

TLC 2015 is just there. It has a hot opening match, a hot finale, and everything in between was "take it or leave it" territory. Not much else to say, really.