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Csonka’s WWE TLC Review 12.04.16
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Csonka’s WWE TLC Review 12.04.16
OFFICIAL RESULTS
– American Alpha, Apollo Crews & The Hype Bros defeated Curt Hawkins, The Ascension & The Vaudevillains @ 12:45 via pin [**½]
– Smackdown Tag Team Title Match: Orton & Wyatt defeated Champions Heath Slater and Rhyno @ 6:10 via pin [**¾]
– No Disqualification Match: Nikki Bella defeated Carmella @c8:10 via pin [**¾]
– WWE Intercontinental Title Ladder Match: Champion The Miz defeated Dolph Ziggler @ 25:15 [***¾]
– Chairs Match: Baron Corbin defeated Kalisto @ 13:20 via pin [***½]
– Smackdown Women’s Championship Tables Match: Alexa Bliss defeated Champion Becky Lynch @ 15:35 [***]
– WWE World Championship TLC Match: Champion AJ Styles defeated Dean Ambrose @ 31:30 to retain [****¼]
American Alpha, Apollo Crews & The Hype Bros vs. Curt Hawkins, The Ascension & The Vaudevillains: Hawkins and Crews kicked things off, renewing their mini-feud from Main Event and Smackdown. Team Hawkins then took the heat on Ryder, which is his job in tag matches. Mojo got the tag, danced a wacky dance and then got rushed to the heel’s corner. Mojo fought back, because the heels weren’t hype. Alpha tagged in, cleaned house; it broke down and bodies flew to the floor. We got the big brawl, and a commercial break. I really hoped that more would have been made of the Hawkins and Ryder interactions and their past; little things like that can really help random matches like this. The heels then took the heat on Gable after the break. The Ascension took most of the heat, which was fine. As Gable was close to a tag, the heels pulled his partners to the floor. English in to ground Gable, but Gable fought back and got the hot tag to Jordan. Jordan ran wild with dropkicks and suplexes, hype Ryder to a Villain, it breaks down again as Crews tossed Hawkins to the floor, onto the pile; Alpha hit grand amplitude on Gotch for the win. American Alpha, Apollo Crews & The Hype Bros defeated Curt Hawkins, The Ascension & The Vaudevillains @ 12:45 via pin [**½] This was a rock solid opening match, with a fun closing stretch. Alpha picking up the pin was the right decision
Smackdown Tag Team Championship Match: Champions Heath Slater and Rhyno vs. Randy Orton & Bray Wyatt: Bray and Randy have a mash-up theme now, so they are a super official team. I love completely annoyed Luke Harper, who you can tell does not trust Orton and wants to kill him for stealing Bray’s attention away from him. Rhyno started for the champions, he ran wild for a bit and then Slater tagged in, picked up the pace and worked a nice back and forth with Orton. Orton and Wyatt then took the heat, just beating the hell out of Slater in their corner. Slater showed good fire here, kicking out of the snap slam before Wyatt returned. He clubbed away, Slater made a good comeback and Rhyno got the tag and worked some power spots with Wyatt. Orton again saves Wyatt, on the floor Harper takes the gore to save Orton; back in and the RKO to Rhyno connects and we have new champions. Orton & Wyatt defeated Champions Heath Slater and Rhyno @ 6:10 via pin [**¾] Post match, Harper held the titles and had a stand off with Orton, basically reminding him that they have the titles because of him. the match was pretty good overall, but I loved the booking/interactions between Wyatt, Orton and Harper. They’ve done a good job with those three, and I am more interested in Wyatt, Orton and Harper than I have been in a long time. Slater was a fun story, but it felt like time to change the titles. It as what it needed to be, with some good angle development.
– We get backstage promos from Styles & Ambrose; they both plan to win.
No Disqualification Match: Nikki Bella vs. Carmella: They have been feuding for three months, and it broke down into a shoot fight on Smackdown, where Nikki busted up Carmella. They brawled right away and then to the floor. Carmella started to attack Nikki’s leg after sending her into the steps. Back in the ring, Carmella kept on the attack, suplexing Nikki into the ropes. Carmella sets Nikki into the tree of WHOA, got a kendo stick and laid in shots to the midsection and the leg she has been attacking. Nikki fought back and they spilled to the floor, with Nikki hitting the disaster kick off the barricade. Nikki then got to use the kendo stick, getting some revenge for earlier. Nikki then grabbed s fire extinguisher and sprayed Carmella with it. Nikki then hit the rack attack 2.0 (TKO) for the win. Nikki Bella defeated Carmella @ 8:10 via pin [**¾] I felt that this was a pretty good match playing well off the feud, keeping a good intensity and never getting too slow. It was far from smooth at times, which is ok for the stipulation, but the intensity was there.
– Post match, Nikki Bella vs. Carmella cut a promo on Nikki, saying she didn’t attack Nikki at Survivor Series, and revealed that Natalya was the mystery attacker. They then immediately show a video of Natalya helping a fan propose.
– Bryan admits that he wants Miz to lose because he likes Ziggler better.
WWE Intercontinental Title Ladder Match: Champion The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler: They brawled right away, teased signature stuff and then fought to the floor. Good intensity to start here, with Ziggler slamming Miz into a ladder. Ziggler tried to crush Miz’s head in the ladder, but Miz hit the drop toehold, sending Ziggler crashing into the ladder. Miz dropkicked a ladder into Ziggler. Thy fought over a ladder on the floor, shoving it into each other as they fought for control, which led to Ziggler hitting a tornado DDT onto the ladder. Back in the ring, Miz took control, using the ladder to punish Ziggler. Miz looked for a suplex off of a ladder bridge, got shoved of and Ziggler hit the elbow drop off the ladder. Ziggler slammed Miz into the ladder, grabbed another and climbed but Miz stopped him. Ziggler dumped him to the floor, climbed but Miz tipped over the ladder with Ziggler bouncing off the ropes. Miz grabbed a ladder, he slammed it into Ziggler and mocked Bryan and hit shotgun dropkicks into the ladder. Ziggler shoved the ladder into Miz to start his comeback. Ziggler looked to climb, Miz joined him and they fought back and forth and Miz gets knocked to the mat. Mia then attacked the knee of Ziggler, wrapping it up in the ladder. Miz then hit the Flair knee breaker onto the ladder and kept attacking the knee, slamming it onto the ladder again before sandwiching it into the ladder. Miz then applied a figure four in the ladder, just being a general dick as he attacked the knee. Miz then countered a superkick, hitting the skull-crushing finale onto the ladder. Miz climbed, Ziggler shoved the ladder and Miz hung for a minute and then fell onto the ladder and yelled MOTHER FUCKER as he landed. Miz rolled to the floor, Ziggler climbed slowly and had to hop as Miz returned to stop him. Sling shot powerbomb by Miz onto the ladder bridge. Miz tried to fire up and climb, set up an extra ladder, Miz hopped up to climb, Ziggler up as well and they battled for the belt. Ziggler worked head butts to send Miz to the mat. Miz again climbed and low blowed Ziggler twice, sending him to the mat. Miz grabs the belt and retains. Champion The Miz defeated Dolph Ziggler @ 25:15 [***¾] I felt they had a very good math here, playing into their feud well and Miz winning by playing to the rules of the match, while still being a complete asshole.
– Miz then dedicated his win to Bryan or pushing him to be the best.
Chairs Match: Kalisto vs. Baron Corbin: Kalisto attacked at the bell, but Corbin cut him off. Kalisto grabbed a chair and jumped off of it, hitting a dive to the floor. Corbin then started o toss Kalisto around ringside, slamming him into some chairs. Back in and Corbin wedges a chair in the corner. Kalisto fired up, trying to use his speed but ran into a chokeslam. Corbin grabbed more chairs, set them up and then got tripped into the chair in the corner. Kalisto then hit a spiked RANA onto a chair and followed with a seated senton onto the chairs Corbin set up. Corbin to the floor, and Kalisto hit a dive, which Corbin caught and turned into deep six on the floor. Back in and Corbin gets a near fall. Corbin is pissed and showing a good mean streak. He makes a pile of chairs, but Kalisto avoids chair shot, basically running for his life as Corbin stalks him. RANA off the barricade by Kalisto, shotgun dropkick to the barricade follows. Smash mouth by Kalisto, Back in the ring and Kalisto hits a springboard leg drop and then lays a chair on Corbin. Moonsault into the chair by Kalisto scores a near fall. Kalisto grabs a chair and lays in some shots on Corbin. Kalisto makes a pile of chairs now, fights off Salida del sol, Kalisto up top and swats him with a chair. Corbin then hits end of days onto the pile of chairs and Corbin wins. Baron Corbin defeated Kalisto @ 13:20 via pin [***½] Chairs matches tend to suck, but I enjoyed this and felt it was a very good match. Kalisto was presented well as the resilient babyface, and this is likely Corbin’s best singles effort to date. Quality work from both men.
– Natalya wished Lynch luck tonight, and denies attacking Nikki at Survivor Series, calling Carmella a liar.
Smackdown Women’s Championship Tables Match: Champion Becky Lynch vs. Alexa Bliss : This is a “whoever goes through the table first match.” Lynch attacked right away, leading to the two brawling in the floor. They have a good intensity here, playing well off of their feud. Lynch teased a powerbomb on the floor, but Bliss escaped. Back into the ring and Lynch cuts off a leapfrog and then works some suplexes and sets up a table on the floor. They then brawl on the apron, teasing the table spot. Back in the ring as Bliss takes control. Lynch up top, they continued to tease the table spot as Bliss bit Lynch’s hand to fight that off. Bliss then did the repeated stomps to the back of Lynch’s head; to the floor and Bliss posts Lynch and maintains the heat. Back in the ring, Bliss connects with strikes. This is solid so far, but they are having issues stringing things together, leaving dead time between the spots. They teased the table bump well throughout, Bliss set up a table in the corner but Lynch fired back with uppercuts. Lynch almost put herself through a table, teased the XPLODER, and Bliss hit the double knees to the gut. Bliss then hit a DDT onto a table that was upside down. Looked like it sucked for Bliss’ lower back. Lynch then applied disarmher with the help of the table legs. Lynch then hit the uranage, set up the table in the corner like a bridge. Lynch went up top, but Bliss fought back with kicks and slammed Lynch to the mat. Lynch would then hit a drop toehold on Bliss, who hit the table. To the apron and they battled back and forth, Bliss then slipped out and powerbombed Lynch off the apron and through the table. Alexa Bliss defeated Champion Becky Lynch @ 15:35 [***] They worked very hard and had to overcome a disinterested crowd early. I felt that they kept the intensity of the feud here and overall played to the stipulation well. If they could have filled in three blanks a bit better the match comes off even better. It was good, but far from great.
– Lynch was upset post match for letting herself down and didn’t want to be interviewed.
WWE World Championship TLC Match: Champion AJ Styles vs. Dean Ambrose: Frantic start with running wild to begin. Ambrose quickly introduced the toys, leading to them teasing climbing early. Ambrose sends AJ to the floor, beating him down with the toys and slamming AJ to the floor. Ambrose then climbed a ladder on the floor and teased the elbow drop. He also put a trashcan on AJ’s head, and they brawled though the crowd. AJ hit the dropkick on the floor and then a clothesline. They continued to brawl at ringside, and Ambrose crotched him on the barricade. Ambrose then charged at AJ, hitting him with a chair. Ambrose teased climbing but got cut off. AJ then hit Ambrose with the ladder, slammed him onto it and hit the knee drop. AJ set a ladder against the ropes but Ambrose catapults AJ into it and out of the ring. Ambrose then threw the ladder at AJ, looked to set up a table, but AJ attacked with a chair to stop that. AJ then hits a aide slam onto a open chair. He then laid the boots to Ambrose and also used the chair to beat down Ambrose. AJ set up some chairs, looked for a suplex but hit a dump suplex on AJ onto the chairs. HE DEAD (and his tights are ripped). Ambrose continued to attack, hitting the elbow drop with the chair. Ambrose then set up a table in the corner, but AJ fought back an hit a suplex through the table. They battled back and forth, up top and pulls AJ up with him, they battle up top and then to the mat, teasing finishers and Ambrose sends AJ to the floor. Ambrose hits the suicide dive, dismantles tables and AJ fights back, sets up a ladder on thee announcer’s table and then lays in rights and head butts. Ambrose climbs the ladder, elbow drop connects! Ambrose gets a ladder, into the ring and looks to climb but AJ is up and hits the springboard forearm to stop Ambrose. They both look to climb, trading strikes up top and then both fall to the mat. Ambrose fights off the clash and spins AJ into the ladder. AJ then stops Ambrose and gets sent to the floor. They brawl on the floor, with AJ hitting the asai DDT to the floor. AJ then lays Ambrose on a table, and hits the springboard 450 to put Ambrose through the table. AJ Styles, pretty good. Back in, and AJ looks to climb. James Ellsworth makes his way out now. AJ attacks him, and Ambrose saves him from a clash off the steps. Ambrose looks to climb, but AJ is back in and climbs with him. Ambrose then shoves him off, but Ellsworth shoves the ladder over as Ambrose climbs to stop him and Ambrose flied through tables. AJ climbs and grabs the belt to retain. Champion AJ Styles defeated Dean Ambrose @ 31:30 to retain [****] I am not a huge fan of the finish, but it does make sense in terms of the story they had been telling. Ambrose was a bit of a dick this past week with Ellsworth , admitting that he used him to fuck with Styles. Also, Ellsworth has mentioned his record against Styles and holds a title shot. Ellsworth has now allowed his fame to get to him, believing if Styles is champion that he can beat him again and win the title. In my opinion, it hurt the match even if there is a good storyline explanation. With a better ending, focused on Styles and Ambrose, this woks its way into MOTY contendership (****½) The match was an excellent main event and Styles continues to get the very best out of Ambrose.
“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”
