Thursday, March 28, 2024
EditorialWWE TLC 2014 Match Ratings & Review

WWE TLC 2014 Match Ratings & Review

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Before the show, there was an apparent sense of urgency from the WWE locker room that it needed to outdo its NXT counterparts after a adulation-worthy performance from NXT Takeover. So coming into the final PPV of the year, leaving a final impression on 2014, how did WWE perform? Let us find out.

Dolph Ziggler def. Luke Harper (C) – Intercontinental Championship: Ladder Match

There was a reason why I disagreed to having this match first on the card, and I’ll explain this later. Nonetheless, this was the clear match of the night. There was intense spots, painful moments, and most of all, BLOOD! I’d be remiss not to mention that Harper caught a big break because it looks like he may have broken his arm on an awkward landing from that suicide dive. Looked bad at first glance, but fortunate that he is alright. It was a good back and forth pace and while it wasn’t exactly HBK/Ramon, it was definitely a more than acceptable ladder match. However, in spite of this, I disagree with Dolph winning the title for a third time this year, even if it was in his hometown. First, Harper just won the title and since he won the title he has lost title matches via disqualification and already took a pinfall loss to Ziggler. So having him lose the title on PPV again just seemed like the sort of change that was made last minute. Coming off what was perhaps Ziggler’s best performance in his WWE career, he is back in the mid card once again with his fourth Intercontinental Championship reign. If Ziggler wants to take the proverbial leap from mid-card purgatory to main-event status, he needs to drop the belt, because that is what is holding him back. Despite my feelings, the match itself was a great spectacle to see. Total spot fest.  ***3/4

Big Show def. Erick Rowan – Steel Stairs Match

Well, I suppose I can’t complain because I was advocating for WWE to shake it up a bit and do something different. And I suppose it doesn’t get any more different than a Steel Stairs match, despite the fact that it is probably one of the most commonly used objects in any WWE match. I kept my expectations very low for this bout, because it was Rowan’s first singles match on PPV and Big Show isn’t exactly the type of guy to put over his talents, despite his size. The match itself, based on its expectations was alright. I liked the variations that were used, and I suppose maybe its not such a stupid idea after all. Okay, it’s still pretty stupid, but you get the idea. Now what I don’t get is putting Big Show over. I mean, seriously? You try to build new talent and in your first major match in your singles career you lose? Big Show had absolutely nothing to gain and Rowan had everything to lose. Not to mention a certain someone returned and he put him over instead of his actual opponent. That is just bonkers. **1/4

John Cena def. Seth Rollins – Tables Match

We all knew that this would be a 3 on 1 endeavor from the beginning. WWE almost made it too easy to predict the winner of this bout after Rollins put Cena through a couple of tables the past couple of weeks. So this is where the whole Cena defies the odds thing comes into play once again. The match itself was nothing more you’d expect from a standard Rollins/Cena match. It was fine, but nothing spectacular. It is kind of hard to make a sixteen minute tables match interesting, and for the most part, I was at least tuning in. Now, the whole 2005 Royal Rumble thing where both men went through tables at the same time and referees were declaring different winners routine was unnecessary and just wasted time when they could have just continued fighting. Big Show then came out for reasons I cannot begin to understand and we finally got the anticipated return of Roman Reigns. And what Roman Reigns return would be apropos the a couple of Superman punches, a spear and a botched post-match promo? So now we get Cena/Lesnar for the third time. Yippee. Trust me, I am excited. I am just not showing it is all. Bottom line is this. Match had no great build up, and this was all a formality. I mean they already had the graphic of Cena facing Lesnar prepared. Decent match, but definitely not must see. ***1/4

Nikki Bella (C) def. AJ Lee – Divas Title

I am really past the point of caring now. If AJ leaves tomorrow, don’t be shocked. Match was your standard RAW match. No lesbian action this time, but the same end result. Nothing unusual here. But hey, at least the match was at least 10 seconds this time. Now the question is who is next to challenge. I’d imagine it would be someone like Naomi, since she did mention it, but I don’t think the Divas division has been any more uninteresting.

Rusev (C) def. Jack Swagger – United States Championship

I don’t understand why Swagger was just thrust back into a feud, if you want to call it that, against Rusev. Apparently he forgot that Rusev is an anti-American and Swagger hates that. Despite him failing America on two separate occasions in the past year, I suppose he felt like the third time was the charm. But this match was even less interesting than his matches before. Match was really your standard Swagger/Rusev match. I liked the little bit of Swagger assaulting Rusev’s ankle, but that’s about it. Too quick for me to care. Swagger should have been replaced with Ryback in this match if you ask me. *3/4

Ryback def. Kane – Chairs Match

Like anyone cared about this match. Not only was the crowd chanting “BORING” and was silent on multiple ocassions, there seemed to be something else that grabbed their attention that caused them to look away. And you can’t blame them because not only did the match have no business being on PPV, we all knew it was going to be just a slow paced blah fest. Not to mention this match was a result of some sort of mishap at a concession stand. This is a match that could have easily been done on RAW or Smackdown, but this match had to be on PPV. Not a complete DUD, but no one will blame you for leaving this match to go make your daily excretions. *1/2

The Usos def. (DQ) The Miz (C) and Damien Miz-dow (C) – WWE Tag Team Championships

Once again, Mizdow saves the match with his cliche, but funny humor. Once again, this match was something you can’t distinguish from something that you would see on Monday Night RAW. In addition, the match ended in a disqualification, which does nothing for both parties and especially the fans who pay. Now I can understand that as long as The Usos didn’t win it, the crowd wouldn’t care, but at the same time, you need to understand that on PPV, winners in a pinfall or submission finish are expected, and doing this DQ bit may only lead to an eventual rematch on tomorrow’ RAW. Therefore this match was no pointless. Eight minutes of your basic tag team formula, and these days, being generic isn’t a good look. *3/4

Bray Wyatt def. Dean Ambrose – Tables, Ladders and Chairs Match

The crowd was chanting “THIS IS AWESOME”, but I was chanting “OVERRATED”. Now the match was far from bad. There was some cool spots and some great physicality. But there comes a point in a match where you need to start picking up the pace, and in this match, there was far too much plotting and dead space. Ambrose doing the same spot three times in a match (diving off a ladder and elbowing Wyatt through a table), may be cool for some, but that spot just started to look more and more contrived when they did it. Let’s forget about the match for a second and focus on the finish though. You mean to tell me, that a fed involving Ambrose and Wyatt which started with Wyatt interfering Ambrose’s match for reasons we still cannot understand today culminated in a TLC match that ending in a monitor exploding and distracting Ambrose? I mean, are you serious? Is that the best the monkeys behind the typewriters to go through the script can come up with? Not even a clean finish? It’s stuff like this that makes me believe that WWE is just going through the motions right now and all of this is a formality. Like this feud won’t have any long term signifigance. Can we also not underestimate how much momentum Ambrose is losing and how much his stock must have fallen. He finishes the year by winning only three times on PPV, and those were in tag team matches. This doesn’t do Wyatt any favors either, because a feud that started to go into mystical territory can’t end in a technical malfunction and expect Wyatt to look strong after that. Match wasn’t anything bad, but far from awesome as well. ***1/2

Conclusion:

WWE left 2014 on a sour note if you ask me. Tables, Ladders and Chairs….and yes, stairs, just felt like not enough thought was put into each match. You could just see visually that WWE seems to be just going through the motions and waiting until WrestleMania season to get serious with things. All of this just felt like a formality and I hate it when WWE does not decide to put enough care into a separate PPV. Storylines weren’t really advanced, wrong people went over, and the matches that were supposed to deliver didn’t. This had Vince McMahon booking written all over it, and not enough Triple H. I was very disappointed, considering what I was lead to believe before the match. So I am going with a thumbs down here. Next, the Royal Rumble. See you then.