Off Air Notes From Last Night’s WWE TLC PPV

Credit Kurt Zamora and Pwinsider.com: Crowd was probably close to 90% full. Smattering of seats in every level that were empty, but no groups or clumps of them that were very noticable. Considering it was a Smackdown event, I think they’d have to be happy with the size of the crowd.

– However, that crowd was VERY quiet for the majority of the show. I’m sure that came across on TV. They got loud for Ziggler/Miz, Becky, & Dean/AJ and that’s about it unless notated below.

– Pre-show match was fun. Crowd loved the spot where everyone kept tossing each other out of the ring.

– Crowd popped huge for Bray/Orton winning. Everyone in the crowd realized this was a big deal for Bray winning his first title.

– Nikki/Carmella was disappointing. I met Nikki in Oklahoma City and she said she was pretty sick, so don’t know if that played into this match at all. Crowd was dead and didn’t react to the Natalya news.

– Ziggler/Miz was good, and crowd did seem to really want Ziggler to win. Lot of Miz chants though, so people really respecting the work he’s put in. I really enjoyed the style they worked this match.

– Kalisto/Corbin was a pleasant surprise. I was bummed the crowd didn’t enjoy this one more. Considering how limiting the Chairs Match stipulation can be, this was a really good match. From where I was sitting, that last top rope spot from Kalisto taking the chair to the face looked gnarly.

– Becky/Alexa was a little slow paced for me. I didn’t understand why they didnt get the presentation of tables everywhere like the chairs & ladder match got. Crowd was stunned Becky lost. Whatever she said on the walkway in the post match interview, we couldn’t hear it live. Mic did not work.

– The TLC match was one of the damndest matches I’ve ever seen live. The crowd saved their energy for this one and were hot for it all night long. AJ’s “wardrobe malfunction” was unfortunate because no matter how much the crowd was into the match, they’d still laugh everytime they saw it. The 450 Splash to the outside got the biggest reaction of the night and it wasn’t even close. No one could believe that and AJ faceplanted hard it looked like. Didn’t seem like the crowd was expecting Ellsworth’s turn. Big pop for AJ winning, AJ can do no wrong.

– After the show ended, AJ just fell to the mat and a trainer came sprinting in to look at him, while another was already tending to Dean. AJ was pointing at his right foot and trying to flex it. He walked off with a very noticable limp and got a standing ovation on the way out, but did not acknowledge in any way. Dean on the other hand was carried/rushed to the back very quickly behind AJ. They did not play Dean off to his music, which typically they do for the babyface to get the last ovation of the night, so with that and the way they were rushing, I don’t know if he’s legit hurt or not. Both guys honestly could be, so it could be a tough night in Tyler tonight for the live event.

– WWE will be back in Dallas on Friday, February 17th for a RAW Live Event and they’re bringing The Beast, Brock Lesnar. Tickets go on sale Friday, but the presale until Thursday has the code BROCK