WWE TLC 2015: Sheamus vs. Roman Reigns is Least Anticipated Main Event Since Survivor Series 2013

By Rob Wolkenbrod | Nov 24, 2015

Why the main event at WWE TLC of Sheamus vs. Roman Reigns may be the least anticipated headliner in over two years.

Before Survivor Series, WWE was going in the right direction with some booking strategies. They booked a No. 1 Contender’s tournament for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship before Seth Rollins suffered a knee injury which saw Roman Reigns go over. Then they started making every match and segment meaningful for a few weeks, which was great.

All this went away at Survivor Series on Sunday, though.

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Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose being in the title tournament finals opened infinite possibilities for how WWE could book the ending. However, these two were only given 9 minutes for a match that culminated a 16-man tournament to determine the company’s new champion. Reigns winning fell flat and Sheamus’ subsequent cash-in may have been worse.

The Celtic Warrior’s cash-in was at a proper time. Reigns was coming off two matches and wouldn’t be able to withstand much more punishment, which turned out to be the case. The only problem was earlier in the show, Sheamus jobbed out in a mid-card 5 vs. 5 elimination match that meant nothing. His promo before the match may have been worse. 1-2 hours later, he became the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion.

Even before this, Sheamus was barely used on TV. He didn’t have a feud since going head to head with Randy Orton at WWE SummerSlam and was left off the WWE Night of Champions and WWE Hell in a Cell pay-per-views. This made fans barely remember he owned the Money in the Bank briefcase.

All this is why Reigns vs. Sheamus at WWE TLC may be the least anticipated main event in nearly two years.

The match being referred to is Randy Orton vs. Big Show for the WWE Championship at WWE Survivor Series 2013. Show was feuding with The Authority in a very uninspiring program, leading to a title match at the show, which was a dud. The World’s Largest Athlete bolted the main event scene afterwards and hasn’t headlined a PPV since (not counting the Survivor Series 2014 elimination match). Reigns vs. Sheamus has a chance to be worse than this.

It’s never fun to complain about wrestling because we’re all fans and want to see a good product, but how can we expect much of a build for the TLC main event next month? Last night’s episode of Raw was the first bit of evidence, as the show failed on all levels (including 2.964 viewers, a new low). While the segments involving Sheamus and Reigns weren’t terrible, they didn’t grab anyone’s attention and certainly won’t for the next two episodes of Raw.

Next: WWE TLC 2015: Updated Match Card

Survivor Series may have been considered the worst PPV of the year on Sunday but WWE TLC has the potential to top that. It all starts with Sheamus vs. Reigns and works its way down with other feuds that people aren’t going to care about given the state of WWE.