WWE TLC 2016 Review: What The Ell’s Going On Here?

Hi, I’m Justin Watry. You may remember me from such classic columns as March 2012’s “WWE WrestleMania 28: Sheamus Should Defeat Daniel Bryan in Less Than a Minute” and October 2015’s “WWE NXT: Bobby Roode, You’re Next.”

Backstory

Basic stuff today – my WWE TLC 2016 pay-per-view review! Didn’t watch the Kickoff Show, so…

WWE TLC Main Card Thoughts

Randy Orton/Bray Wyatt Win Tag Team Titles – Good way to start the show. You get some star power out there to pop the crowd early. If Randy Orton does indeed need to get back home, he can leave fifteen minutes into the event. Plus, it gives us a title change right off the bat. Truthfully, I didn’t care for Heath Slater and Rhyno as tag champs from the beginning. I knew it spelled BAD NEWS for the division. Figuring Smackdown LIVE was intended to be the ‘wrestling’ brand, it never made sense. The comedy act was fun in small doses but not holding titles. Oh well, time to move on to The Wyatt Family Saga. First championship for Bray in WWE I believe. Cool. Where Luke Harper fits into the picture (is he a champion too?) may be the key to this all. We’ll see.

Nikki Bella Gets Revenge – Yep. Carmella won most of the feud and had the number of Nikki Bella, so the payoff had to go the other way. I am fine with that. It was my prediction, and the NoDQ stipulation was fitting. The live crowd in Dallas seemed interested enough, thus this could all go down as a success in my book. As for the post-match bombshell that Carmella dropped? Eh, I think most of us suspected it was Natalya that attacked Nikki last month anyways. Now that it has been teased though, maybe not. Seems like a red herring and just something to throw us off. Any chance Becky Lynch did it? Or somebody from RAW like JBL said? WWE has me thinking.

The Miz Is Awesome – This was a tough one to watch and review. Dolph Ziggler vs. The Miz is something we have seen 475,292 times before. Yeah, I looked it up. Legitimate numbers there. They have usually been pretty good, and when you add a ladder to the mix, it MUST be even better, right? Right? Well, yeah. It was definitely lengthy. However, this thing delivered. These two know how to be safe yet take risks at the same time. Worked with the TLC themed pay-per-view and a hug payoff to their year long story line. Where Ziggler goes from here I already discussed in a previous column. Where The Miz goes? Who knows? Daniel Bryan has to have somebody in mind to beat him for the IC Title…

Baron Corbin/Kalisto – Again, the right winner. Baron Corbin gained a bunch from this victory if you ask me. It was on a big stage against a fairly known opponent in a gimmick match that featured some memorable spots. Lots of check marks there off the ‘Do I care?’ list. Yes, yes, yes, and yes. Smackdown will need to find a good spot for Corbin during the next few weeks before the Royal Rumble because I would love to see him land on the WrestleMania 33 card following his battle royal win from April. Hey, maybe Dallas is his second home away from home. Nice work from both men here; Kalisto will be alright.

Note: Sadly, this may have been when the audience in Texas decided they had enough. Got quiet for awhile until the main event. Too bad. I am planning on attending FastLane 2017 and will do my darnedest to not disappoint the WWE Universe with a lack of energy.

Alex Bliss Stands Tall – Good thing I changed this prediction earlier on Sunday to go perfect again with picks, haha! The Tables Match stipulation was pretty telling where WWE was leaning here. Becky Lynch is pretty much set in stone as a star. They have succeeded in that for the Blue Brand. Any amount of losses will not do her harm. Adding in the fact that she could lose her belt by NOT being pinned or submitted was the icing on the cake. Alex Bliss was getting the title, clean or not…and I have no issues with that. She has excelled these past few months and really made the most of the brand split. It is quite interesting to see how much different July is compared to December. Just reminds folks that things take TIME! It is a ‘now now now generation,’ but patience does pay off. Happy for Alexa getting her moment.

Main Event: What The Ell’s Going On Here? – First off, amazing main event! This entire card was solid, but like most shows, it all came down to the closing moments. If the final match came through, the evening would end on a high note. If not, folks will be left with a sour taste in their mouths. Lucky for us, AJ Styles and Dean Ambrose know what they are doing. With tables, ladders, and chairs involved? Oh yeah, we were in for quite the treat. Ridiculous spots all around and really did start to push the boundaries of what I want to see from these guys. As my buddy said (a casual fan), these guys have to regret some of this stuff years later. Even if just a little bit, they have to. Ask Edge why he repeatedly threatened management to stop doing ladder matches and that early retirement of his. Ouch. No surprise AJ Styles is banged up (again). He has spent more time in 2016 in the air than on his feet.

About the finish – not too surprising. Right when James Ellsworth came out, you knew where this was headed. My buddy called him Ralphus from WCW and said he better be a temporary character. That’s from a casual fan, so take that for what it’s (ells)worth. A clown in the main event. We got the heel turn, and honestly, it was fine. He is more of an idiot and delusional than bad, so if he thinks he has a better chance to win the WWE Championship over AJ than Dean, it makes sense. In some twisted way, the logic pans out. He actually believes in his own mind he will beat Styles fair ans square. This was all mentioned on Smackdown LIVE last week for those who watched. I won’t hate on the turn but will continue to hate on the entire story. End this now. Move on after Tuesday please! Like Colin Delaney and his pointless hire (and eventual heel turn), the main event scene is not the place for this nonsense.

Overall, yet another phenomenal main event showing for AJ Styles. Hope he is healthy and tones it down just a notch. He is far too valuable to be on the sidelines for six months with an injury.

Summary: Two thumbs up on TLC. Like always, predictability wins out as the correct and right winners take it home. Shocks and swerves are fine on occasion but have never EVER been a staple for the business. Keep it simple stupid.

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