WWE TLC 2017 Results: Highlights, Analysis, and Grades

Main Event TLC Match. Photo Source: WWE.com

Follow along with our live WWE TLC 2017 review here.

Reunions, alter-egos, and viral infections, oh my! It’s finally time for WWE TLC 2017. The past 48 hours or so have been wild in the WWE Universe, and it’s led to a very different TLC card than was expected. But it’s also a very intriguing card, too – even if there’s only one stipulation match on the card.

In the main event, we’ll have a 5 on 3 handicap Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match. On on side, The Miz teams with Cesaro and Sheamus, Braun Strowman, and the recently returned Kane. On the other side, we have Shield Lite: Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Kurt Angle. Yes, the Raw GM is stepping in to replace Roman Reigns due to medical issues.

In another recently switched up match, Sister Abigail/Bray Wyatt is also out for medical reasons. Instead, Finn Balor will take on The Phenomenal One, AJ Styles. The two fan favorites have never crossed paths in a WWE ring. Despite that, there’s a lot of history between the two men that could be part of the match if WWE were so inclined. Say, what are Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows up to during TLC?

The third marquee match is the main roster debut of Asuka. The Empress of Tomorrow, undefeated in NXT, will face off against Emma. It should be a great introduction to the WWE Universe who may not be familiar with Asuka’s work. In fact, the only person who may not enjoy the show is Emma, because she’s probably getting her head kicked off.

Other action on the night will see two championship matches. First, Alexa Bliss defends the Raw Women’s Championship against Mickie James. Mickie is a six-time Women’s Champion, looking to make history by winning a seventh title. Bliss has spent the past several weeks telling everyone that Mickie is old. James scored a pinfall over Bliss in tag team action last week on Raw, so this one is wide open.

The other championship match is one of two cruiserweight bouts on the card. Kalisto defends his recently won Cruiserweight Championship against the man he defeated, Enzo Amore. Plus, Rich Swann and Cedric Alexander team up against The Brian Kendrick and Jack Gallagher. On the Kickoff Show, Sasha Banks and Alicia Fox go one on one, and Drew Gulak will present a championship edition of his PowerPoint presentation.

Must Read: WWE TLC 2017 Predictions

Be sure to join us here at 8pm EDT for all the TLC results, highlights, and analysis.

Photo Source: WWE.com

Emma vs. Asuka

Result: Asuka defeated Emma via submission

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

If ever a performer was built for a big stage, it’s Asuka. Everything about her persona screams charisma, and it’s all larger than life. Kudos to WWE for making her entrance seem like a big deal tonight.

When the match got started, everything about the chain wrestling sequence at the beginning was terrific. Asuka is insanely fast, and so precise in all her movements. Emma did a great job to keep up and hang for a bit. Still, up until the action went outside the ring, Asuka was in complete control – a few slaps here and there notwithstanding.

But Emma took advantage thanks to having the high ground. Some vicious kicks with Asuka in the tree of woe led to the Emmamite Sandwich running splash. It’s probably the most offense anyone has gotten in against Asuka in about a year. But The Empress made a quick comeback thanks to her “sudden offense” – apparently the commentary code for “she hits you fast.”

A long ankle lock sequence where Asuka kept countering Emma’s counters showed how proficient at technical wrestling Asuka is. And how often do you see a German suplex with the leg trapped for a possible submission? Emma tried to fight out of the incoming punishment, but Asuka kicked her head in and cinched in the Asuka Lock for the submission victory.

It was a solid debut for Asuka, and a great performance by Emma to make it even better. Here’s to much more of The Empress on Raw coming up.

Photo Source: WWE.com via Twitter

The Miz Delivers A Pep Talk

The Miz is the greatest character in WWE today, and you can’t convince me otherwise. He nails everything about this segment, from facial expressions to the perfect words for the situation. I think he’s definitely the perfect captain for this squad tonight.

Anyway, Miz wants the team to be the best they can be. Braun Strowman wants nothing to do with the pep talk, he just wants to hurt people. You know, I’m totally on board with that.

Kane, too, wants to hurt the opposition. Miz wants to take them out so he and his teammates can “run Raw,” but no one else seems to care about that. They just want to cause pain and suffering. Braun and Kane leave, and The Miz and The Bar mock The Shield fist bump one last time.

Elias: Live In Concert

It was nice of Elias to pay tribute to Minnesota’s favorite son Prince at the top of his concert. He really seems to focus on his craft, which is admirable. And whoever has been giving Elias lessons since his NXT debut deserves a raise – the man can actually play the guitar now!

But ultimately, the segment is completely useless (unless an impromptu match happens later tonight). While Elias is performing, someone throws a bunch of vegetables at him. Seriously. The camera pans back and the lights go up, and it’s Jason Jordan. This of course stems from a run-in on the Kickoff Show, but does it really matter?

We’re less than thirty minutes into the pay per view and it’s literally already a standard episode of Raw. Backstage segments, meaningless in-ring segments with no match, it’s all there.

Photo Source: WWE.com

The Brian Kendrick & Jack Gallagher vs. Cedric Alexander & Rich Swann

Result: Cedric Alexander & Rich Swann defeated The Brian Kendrick & Jack Gallager via pinfall

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

This one got started off pretty quickly, with some high flying from the babyfaces early on. After Gallagher tripped up Alexander on the outside, Swann countered with a running senton off the apron. Cedric followed up with a tremendous tope con giro, landing on his feet and sticking the landing.

Back in the ring, Kendrick and Gallager took over. The Man With The Plan especially worked over Swann with no let up. He and Gallagher were able to cut the ring in half and isolate Swann, and some quick tags kept Swann in trouble.

Swann was able to fight his way out and send Kendrick to the arena floor. Gallagher was the legal man and briefly kept Swann from tagging out, but he was able to wriggle free and make the hot tag to Cedric.

And Alexander came in like a house on fire. A handspring roundhouse kick staggered Gallagher briefly, but Kendrick made his presence felt. Swann tried a leaping attack from the ring steps, but Kendrick reversed into a release northern light suplex on the floor.

Back in the ring, Kendrick caught Alexander in the Captain’s Hook, but Swann helped break it up with a Phoenix Splash. Gallagher took Swann out with a headbutt, and all four men ended up down for a bit. Alexander recovered to catch Kendrick with the Lumbar Check for the victory.

This one started and ended hot, but the middle dragged a bit. The match couldn’t keep up that pace the whole time, but it could have been a little stronger in the middle. But overall, it was really good.

Photo Source: WWE.com

Raw Women’s Championship Match

Alexa Bliss (c) vs. Mickie James

Result: Alexa Bliss defeated Mickie James via pinfall to retain the Raw Women’s Championship

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Before the match, Bliss once again ridicules Mickie for her age in a backstage segment. It’s probably not a great strategy, since we already know how Mickie feels about that.

The match got off to a great start from a psychological standpoint. Michael Cole was killing me saying, “MICKIE DOESN’T PLAY GAMES, GUYS” when she got her start in WWE as a literal stalker. But Mickie spent the early part of the match just toying with Alexa – constant kip ups leading into hitting Alexa with her own move, doing whatever she could to rock Alexa.

But Bliss didn’t win the Raw Women’s Championship by getting easily rattled. She came back strong, and began tearing Mickie apart piece by piece. A series of arm wrenches and attacks to the arm seriously weakened the challenger, who could be seen favoring her arm through much of the contest.

Things broke down into a slap fest, and each superstar went for a big blow that the other avoided. As Mickie finally landed a big kick, Alexa hit her with a big forearm smash, sending both competitors to the mat. They narrowly avoided a double countout, and Mickie took over after that.

Mickie hit a series of kicks, but wasn’t able to put Bliss away. Alexa caught Mickie with a sunset flip bomb, but Mickie kicked out. Alexa missed Twisted Bliss, and Mickie countered with a flying dropkick. But it was just a glancing blow, and Bliss was able to kick out.

Amid crowd chants of “WE WANT SABLE,” (which, really?) Bliss managed to use the referee as a distraction and pull Mickie into the turnbuckle. A DDT later, and Bliss had retained. Strange decision in my opinion, but it was a really good match.

Photo Source: WWE.com

WWE Cruiserweight Championship Match

Kalisto (c) vs. Enzo Amore

Result: Enzo Amore defeated Kalisto via pinfall to become the new WWE Cruiserweight Champion

Rating: 2.75 out of 5 stars

(As far as the rest of the non-match segments between the Women’s Title match and this one, I’m not going to recap literally the exact same segment between Elias and Jason Jordan, sorry. But hey, Kurt Angle got a flak jacket!)

So Enzo Amore lost his voice, huh? That’s like Usain Bolt pulling a hammy, or Nolan Ryan blowing out his rotator cuff, or Brad Pitt getting a zit. That’s his bread and butter, and it’s gone. He did okay for himself tonight – in fact, the poor voice may have made him more careful with what he said, resulting in a pretty good pre-match promo tonight.

And color me surprised, but Enzo is actually improving in the ring, too. I know, I’m as shocked as you are. Maybe all that time being kept out of the locker room is paying off. Still, this was my least favorite match of the night thus far. It had its moments, but the crowd wasn’t into it, and it just didn’t always click.

The DD-G by Enzo that got a near fall looked pretty good. I also enjoyed Enzo’s various counters to the Salida del Sol. But when all was said and done, Enzo can only win a match via cheating, and now he’s Cruiserweight Champion again. Props for the Austin Aries shoutout with the thumb to the eye, though.

Photo Source: WWE.com

AJ Styles vs. Finn Balor

Result: Finn Balor defeated AJ Styles via pinfall

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

First off, MICHAEL COLE JUST SAID THAT BOTH STYLES AND BALOR ONCE LED THE SAME FACTION. Shots fired!

All kidding aside, the crowd was 110% correct in chanting “THIS IS AWESOME” before anything even happened. And once it did get started, it was most certainly awesome from the onset.

Hey, let’s be real, folks: It doesn’t matter what I write here, it won’t do this match justice. So rather than run down everything in a play-by-play format, I’m just going to mention how great the match was in general.

Judging from what we saw, and the style the match took, I’m guessing that this match was both called on the fly, and had less backstage producer input than most WWE matches. Styles, even in his short WWE career, has earned the trust of the higher-ups (aka Vince) to basically do what works for him. And if he was summoned last minute from South America, how much time could he have had to work things out with Balor and, say, Dean Malenko?

No, this was basically an indie match in front of a WWE crowd, on a WWE stage. Things were fast-paced, intense, and had very little down time. Both guys got their “stuff” in, and it was a crowd pleaser from bell to bell. For a last minute match, you couldn’t ask for anything better.

Finn taking the victory is absolutely the right call here, too – especially if he’s out there as The Demon. Styles is great and all, but this is a Raw pay per view, and The Demon is (in kayfabe) the most powerful entity in WWE. Plus, once SmackDown kicks off on Tuesday, commentary can always blame the lengthy commute Styles had from Argentina on the loss.

Either way, it was a hell of a match.

Photo Source: WWE.com via Twitter

Elias vs. Jason Jordan

Result: Jason Jordan defeated Elias via pinfall

Rating: 2.0 out of 5 stars

Two concerts ruined by a trip to the Whole Foods produce section led to this match. Well, that, and the whole “Elias interrupted a moment between father and son on the Kickoff Show.” Why couldn’t this match have been announced at some point before tonight, as opposed to being “impromptu” on the pay per view?

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Now, this wasn’t bad, per se. But coming off an instant classic like Styles-Balor, it was going to suffer by comparison. I think Savage-Steamboat may have suffered by comparison to
Styles-Balor, so these two young guns didn’t have much of a shot. But it’s pretty clear this was a cool-down match, and WWE didn’t want to put Kalisto-Enzo in this spot (though it certainly could have gone there).

The finish to this one was mind-numbingly stupid, too. Jordan caught a knee to the face and was all wobbly. Elias slammed him into the ropes, “hyperextending” his knee. As Jordan got to his feet on the apron, Elias tried to suplex him back in. Jordan reversed into a cradle, and got the pin – despite Elias having his shoulder up for half the count, and kicking out before the three count.

Ugh. Let’s just move one from this one.

Main Event TLC Match. Photo Source: WWE.com

Tables, Ladders, and Chairs 5-on-3 Handicap Match

The Miz, Cesaro, Sheamus, Braun Strowman, & Kane vs. Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, & Kurt Angle

Result: Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, & Kurt Angle defeated The Miz, Cesaro, Sheamus, Braun Strowman, & Kane via pinfall

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Look, I get the whole “Shield reunion” thing that couldn’t happen, but how on earth do you have Kurt Angle make his big return to the ring and not give him his traditional ring entrance? He’s not really in The Shield – he’s a sub. Let him wear the flak jacket, but give the crowd the chance to tell Kurt how much he sucks. Who knows when this will happen again?

Seriously, that’s probably the stupidest decision of the entire night. But leaving that aside, once the actual match got started it was the best kind of bonkers it could be. The almost-Shield was like three balls of kinetic energy (well, two balls and one kind of slower blob that did its best to keep up even though it hadn’t had to in several years). Chairs and ladders were all over the place, and the team of three looked to be well in control of the team of five.

Tables came into play before too long, as Rollins and Ambrose put Kane and Strowman through the announce tables with splashes off of ladders. Unfortunatley, Rollins looked like he tweaked his knee coming down. Also bad, this left Angle alone in the ring with The Bar. Cesaro and Sheamus beat the Raw GM down with chairs, leaving him in bad shape.

The Miz came in to try and execute a triple powerbomb on a weakened Angle, but he was saved by his teammates. As the ring cleared, Angle took down Miz with three German suplexes. Sheamus and Cesaro each got one as well, before Kane sat up and reentered the ring. As Angle got him in the Ankle Lock, Strowman came in to save his partner, and Angle ended up taking a running powerslam through a table on the arena floor. He would be helped backstage, leaving the match 5-on-2.

A thorough decimation of Rollins and Ambrose followed, even through temporary dissension between Strowman and Kane. Cesaro and Sheamus went ot put Ambrose through a table, but it didn’t break. Ambrose was corpsing on the mat, but I don’t see that as breaking character – Dean is legit crazy, so that’s something that lunatic would do.

The Miz brought out a garbage truck, but it was ineffective – Rollins and Ambrose used it as a jump point to take out all of their opponents besides The Miz. They were stopped by Strowman, but Kane turned on him and chokeslammed him through the stage before burying him in chairs.

The Big Red Machine then chokeslammed Rollins and Ambrose simultaneously through tables on the stage. Strowman climbed out of the wreckage of chairs, and the rest of his team turned on him as well. Strowman ended up in the garbage truck, which drove him away.

https://twitter.com/WWE/status/922296079051137025

As Rollins and Ambrose suffered a 4-on-2 beatdown, Kurt Angle’s music played as he made his return to the match. Sheamus and Cesaro each took an Olympic Slam – Cesaro through a table. Rollins and Ambrose took Kane through the barricade, leaving Miz and Angle in the ring alone. Miz hit the Skull Crushing Finale, but Angle kicked out and applied the Ankle Lock.

Rollins and Ambrose came back in, hitting Miz with a ripcord knee, Dirty Deeds, and an Olympic slam in succession. The almost-Shield finished things up with a triple powerbomb, and Kurt Angle scored the pinfall for his team. KURT ANGLE HAS PINNED THE INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPION, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN.

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It was an absolutely insane match, sometimes way too contrived and convoluted but ultimately a hell of a lot of fun. It was nice to see Angle back in action, even if limited. And there’s a ton of questions that need to be answered – is Strowman a face now? Why did everyone turn on him? How often will we see Angle lace them up in the future?