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Analyzing five takeaways from Sunday’s WWE TLC 2017 pay per view.
Sunday’s WWE TLC 2017 pay per view will most likely not go down as one of the years best shows. Not to say it was bad because it wasn’t, it was more of a 50/50 type event. There were some some very good moments, specifically Asuka’s debut, the Finn Balor/AJ Styles encounter, and the main event TLC match, but the rest of the show seemed to lack any real substance. But who can really be surprised when a show called “Tables, Ladders, and Chairs” only featured one match where any of those objects were involved?
However, what TLC may be remembered for is that outside of the original proposed main event, the show, on paper at least, had the potential to be a train wreck. With no world title on the line and the Balor/Bray Wyatt match being billed as “The Demon versus Sister Abigail”, expectations were very low. But when a case of the mumps began running through the WWE locker room, that entire narrative changed. And with Wyatt being replaced by Styles and Roman Reigns by Kurt Angle, TLC suddenly became a can’t miss type event.
But did it turn out to be a great show? No. But it was still an important one and showed that the red brand still has life. Ahead we look at five takeaways from TLC.
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5. Tables, Ladders, and Chairs…..Or Lack Thereof
For a show that has a title that sounds as violent as TLC does, Sunday’s show, up until the main event at least, was pretty tame. And sure, the eight men in the one TLC match of the night clearly packed enough of those objects into their 35 minutes of mayhem, but why not the rest of the show? There were five other matches on the main card, all of which had at least some animosity attached to them. Why not infuse some of the brutality that TLC is know for into those as well? Come on, the Cruiserweight tag match mixed with some tables would elevated that somewhat pedestrian match ten-fold.
This was the ninth installment of TLC and the preceding eight shows had been loaded with these gimmick matches, and all, with the exception of 2014, were solid cards. Of the eight, every one except for 2013, had a minimum of four TLC matches, or some type of variance of one. Why the lazy booking this year? TLC always gives the superstars a chance to get hardcore and the fans normally eat it up. Heck, even though the proposed Wyatt/Balor match was asinine at best, it would’ve been the culmination of a three month long feud and clearly could’ve used a vehicle to spice it up. But was that going to be a TLC match? Nope, just a good old singles match.
It really was a strangely booked card considering that every other gimmick heavy PPV this year lived up to it’s name. Extreme Rules had three out of the box type matches, Money in the Bank had two briefcase matches, and Hell In A Call hosted two of their own cage bouts. But once again the story telling let down a show that clearly could’ve used a shot of life. Let’s hope the creative team learned from this.
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4. 205 Live Is In Trouble
So let’s go ahead and get the rest of the negativity out of the way. And quite frankly, this Enzo Amore Cruiserweight champion nonsense is bordering on intolerable. But here’s the sad part? Kalisto would’ve been the worse choice of the two to walk out of Minneapolis with the belt. That’s how far the cruiserweight division has fallen. And with Neville seemingly out of the picture permanently, the 205 division needs to find some new footing or the WWE will find another silly reality show for the Tuesday night 10PM time slot on the network.
What a frustrating night if you’re a fan of the 205’ers. With two matches on the card representing them, one would think that’s a step in the right direction. However, the Cedric Alexander/Rich Swann versus Jack Gallagher/Brian Kendrick tag match failed to impress and just when one believed an Enzo Amore match couldn’t be any worse, “The Certified G” defied the odds again. To have a boring match Kalisto requires a very real lack of in-ring talent and the new 205 champ continues to remind us all of that. Sure, the guy can talk, but when the mouth isn’t backed up in the ring, the whole shtick becomes a bit of a side show act. And that’s the guy heading up the division right now.
Sunday night was a swing and a miss from the Cruiserweights. And now with Neville and Austin Aries gone from the company, there doesn’t seem to be a savior on the horizon. For an idea that had so much promise instilled after the Cruiserweight Classic last summer, 205 Live looks like it’s beginning to die a slow, painful death.
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3. Asuka and Alexa Bliss Are On A Collision Course
As poorly as the Cruiserweights were portrayed Sunday night, the women of RAW came out looking strong. New arrival, Asuka opened the show in typical “Empress of Tomorrow” fashion, dispatching a very game Emma and showing anybody in the WWE audience who had never seen her in NXT exactly why she’s one of the best call-ups in recent years. What was smart about her debut was not just how good she looked, but just how strong Emma came off as well. Many predicted that Asuka’s debut may be in squash form but it was far from that at TLC as the 28 year-old Aussie gave the red brand’s new addition just enough of a fight to make both superstars look stronger than they did before the match.
RAW champion Bliss did some clear-cutting of her own as well. Taking on veteran and former six-time champion Mickie James, “Five Feet of Fury” weathered a fierce storm of violence from her challenger. It may have been a one and done title challenge for Mickie for right now, but at 37 years-old she proved Sunday night that she’s still just as good as she’s ever been. For Bliss, this was another signature win to add to her now sparkling, young resume. It’s like she gets better every time she steps in the ring and her future looks massively bright.
So that leads to what should, and most likely will be next: a showdown between Asuka and Bliss for the RAW Women’s Championship. The duo do have a history in NXT, albeit all in the form of house shows, so they’re familiar to each other. So that should help them along in what could potentially be one of the best women’s rivalries in a very long time. Sunday’s TLC helped move the women’s division in the right direction, something it failed to do with the Cruisers. Now it’ll be up to the talent and the writing team to put together the perfect program for these two top-tier superstars.
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2. Kurt Angle Still Has It……In Short Spurts
Let’s face the truth, had Roman Reigns been been healthy, this match’s quality would’ve been better. But nostalgia ruled the day as Kurt Angle, at age 48, stepped back into a WWE ring for the first time in 11 years. When the news first came out, many were skeptical what the Olympic gold medalist would have left in terms of in-ring ability. But even if he were half of what he used to be, the match would still be good based solely on the fact that we, as fans, get to see him compete again. And the results? “The Wrestling Machine” can still get it done.
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Sure, the WWE did the right thing and protected Angle. He went hard for a solid ten minutes, German suplexing anyone he could get his hands on before being power-slammed through a table by Braun Strowman in what was one of the most harrowing scenes of the night. And after about a 20 minute rest, he returned to close out the final five minutes of the match. Booking-wise, it was brilliant. At his age and after his time away from the ring (it had been over six months since he’d wrestled in any ring), his usage Sunday night was done perfectly. Angle proved that he was still in shape and that the endless charisma that had been one of the things that made him so successful over a near 20-year career, was still fully intact.
So as well as Angle did at TLC, he still has a ways to go if he wants to step inside the ring in singles action in the near future. Hopefully he sticks to the GM role for a while and maybe just uses the “big 4” PPV’s as his time to wrestle. But if TLC is any indication of what the fans think of seeing “The American Hero” lace up the boots, there will be plenty of reasons to see it happen a few more times.
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1. Finn Balor and AJ Styles Reminded Us All Just How Good The WWE Could Be
On the September 25th episode of RAW, Bray Wyatt went to the well once again as his “He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands” played as Finn Balor stood in the center of the ring. For wrestling fans, it was like a punch to the gut. See, the feud between the two had been ongoing for over two months and many believed that the night before this happened, No Mercy where Balor beat “The Eater of Worlds” for the second straight PPV, would’ve signified the end of a feud that had so much potential yet failed so miserably. So when it was insinuated that the rivalry would continue, there was a collective groan over the WWE Universe.
Things only got worse when Wyatt unveiled his ludicrous Sister Abigail alter-ego prompting Balor to return as a pumpkin-faced demon, and the two would be squaring off at TLC. But fate decided it had enough of this charade when Wyatt was not cleared medically for action. This prompted the WWE to do something that was shocking, yet clearly best for business when they offered the match to AJ Styles. Make no mistake, a Balor/Styles showdown is a dream match and the duo went on to prove that notion Sunday night as they tore the roof off The Target Center in Minneapolis. With not a ton of time to prepare as Styles had been performing in Argentina just two nights earlier, the level of talent in the ring took over and the two produced a match of the year type bout.
In watching this however, it does show just how good the WWE could be if it got out of it’s own way and allowed the best in-ring talent to perform as opposed to saturating the material with nonsensical story lines, much like the “Demon vs Sister Abigail” silliness. With a roster that has guys like Balor and Styles to go along with names like Shinsuke Nakamura, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Bobby Roode, Cesaro, Dolph Ziggler, and Samoa Joe, it’s an absolute joke that the two world titles are currently being held by a part timer, and a guy who couldn’t work his way out of a paper bag.
The Balor/Styles match was everything that is right about the professional wrestling industry. Two generational type talents squaring off in front of a crowd who are just dying to see it happen. There were no sensationalized story lines or overblown run-ins. Just pure wrestling at its very best and from the crowds reaction at TLC proves, that is exactly what the WWE needs a lot more of.