It always feels like The End in December, doesn’t it?
0. Humberto Carrillo vs. Andrade w/ Zelina Vega
A fun match, but I liked the RAW match better. Humberto’s eternal wait for Andrade to drop a double foot stomp on him was dumb, and the finish sure came together but that was like 30 seconds of stuff. Andrade wiping the blood off his face was probably the most interesting part. **3/4
1. Ladder Match – SmackDown Tag Team Title: The New Day [c] vs. The Revival
Good! This was good! The Ladder Match needs a reboot though. Kofi did some creative stuff like the front flip over the ladder on the apron only to be crushed by it seconds later, and the Big Ending off the ladder and superplex onto the ladder sure looked like they hurt, but in a match full of big bumps and ladder spots I was honestly most taken by Big E’s tight stretch muffler on Scott Dawson. You could just feel Dawson’s thigh muscle swarming into Big E’s thick neck like Gorilla Glue bonding to a piece of wood. I wish the belt shot on Dawson didn’t whiff, as it would’ve made the finish a lot cooler. ***1/4
2. Aleister Black vs. Buddy Murphy
Aleister Black looks cool as fuck, does sweet moonsaults, and a lot of fun spots where he sits down Indian-style. And Buddy Murphy plays along well with that, though he also did his superkick into the corner spot four times in a row where he slapped his leg every time and that really hurt me. I am actually pro-leg slap on one kick, but any more than that and we’re just being silly. They closed it up nice with some cool strikes, but I’m not sure it was the star-maker anyone was hoping for. ***1/4
What’s with the “Roman Unchained” stuff? I feel like Lacey Evans: LAWD.
3. RAW Tag Team Title: The Viking Raiders [c] vs. The O.C.
Like, having The O.C. answer an Open Challenge both doesn’t properly position Gallows & Anderson and it also gives the crowd a very lukewarm reveal of who answered the challenge. Then it ended on a double countout. Plus there were people eating KFC at ringside. DUD
4. TLC Match: Roman Reigns vs. King Corbin
I feel like a Corbin vs. Reigns main event program has been rumored on and off for four years and now that it’s finally here and as unexciting as it always seemed. This was like every modern TLC Match ever but a little less, a lot of pain and bumps that didn’t come together in any kind of compelling wrestling package. There’s something to be said about the monarchy having a bunch of black shirt security guards on the payroll who end up getting their asses kicked by secret millionaire Roman Reigns, while the King continues to succeed unabated.
Corbin is a fine performer but not a main event gimmick guy, and as much as I love Roman he can easily fall into all the usual boring gimmick match tropes. Lots of crowd brawling and running into barricades that only served to get through a show and didn’t actually make for any actual Good Wrestling. Dolph Ziggler and The Revival helping Corbin win, then standing in the ring as the count was made was a dumb move too. Where is the victory?! Who has actually won here!? **
5. Bray Wyatt vs. The Miz
As much as Michael Cole tried, it’s hard to sell the danger of Bray Wyatt when people were just eating Kentucky Fried Chicken at ringside a half hour ago. It’s also hard to buy Miz as an ass-kicker, so as much as this match had a fine dynamic and as intriguing as it was to see the Bray Wyatt character in the ring for the first time, it just didn’t hit for the 6 and a half minutes it lasted.
The clean-shaven Daniel Bryan return post-match was cool as heck though – the big goofy hammer thing maybe not so much. Bray Wyatt/The Fiend seems like a classic character where they have a really cool idea they actually want to go all the way with but it’s nearly impossible to give said character many interesting wrestling feuds up-and-down the card and much like Brock Lesnar it ends up hurting the roster as The Champ seems like this untouchable thing that nobody can go after. *1/2
6. Tables Match: Rusev vs. Bobby Lashley w/ Lana
The payoff already happened! Rusev already kicked Lashley’s ass!! *
7. TLC Match – WWE Women’s Tag Team Title: The Kabuki Warriors [c] vs. Becky Lynch & Charlotte Flair
It really sucks that this match will be remembered for Kairi Sane getting knocked loopy and then… getting powerbombed through a table, because for a while here she was something special: the .250 batting average on throwing the chairs into the ring, the escape under the ring and return with a fire extinguisher, the neckbreaker where her legs slammed onto the ladder… she was doing some Sabu-level performance art shit for a good while. I also thought the Kabuki Warriors (still a bad name) tying up Charlotte and Becky with ROPE leading to a big fired up comeback was a pretty awesome idea. Alas, the match got weird and didn’t really recover. I guess, if anything, we now know Becky Lynch is a gosh dang pro. ***1/4
Weak TV leads to weak PPV. The Daniel Bryan return was awesome and there were a few good matches, but the kind of good matches that needed something better around them for the whole show not to feel like crap. Really took a nosedive after Match #2, which is not where you want your show to take a nosedive! 3/10
