TJRWrestling WWE Tables, Ladders & Chairs (TLC) 2020 Preview
John: Welcome to the TJRWrestling WWE Tables, Ladders & Chairs preview. It’s the last WWE PPV of 2020 and then we have over one month until the Royal Rumble at the end of January. In past years, they have filled the card with gimmick matches by having a TLC Match, Ladder Match, Tables Match, Chairs Match (there was even an awful Stairs Match one year), but this year they have changed things up a bit. Instead of multiple gimmick matches, there are just two TLC matches for the richest prizes in WWE held by Universal Champion Roman Reigns and WWE Champion Drew McIntyre.
I think it’s a two-match show in a lot of ways because Universal Champion Roman Reigns vs. Kevin Owens should be outstanding while WWE Champion Drew McIntyre facing AJ Styles for the first time ever should be amazing as well. The problem with both of those matches is that I think the outcomes are predictable, so there’s just not much buzz about this show. December is a tough month for WWE historically and ratings on Raw are at all-time low levels even though guys like McIntyre/Styles are elite performers.
The rest of the card has some potentially good matches too. As I write this on Saturday morning, I fully expect WWE to add a match or two before TLC on Sunday or maybe during the show. I know they like to keep PPVs at around three hours in this no crowd era, though, so maybe they are content with just six matches. It’s also a bit strange that four matches are from Raw while Smackdown has two matches considering Smackdown is the most-watched show in WWE and it’s clearly better than Raw. I know Raw is longer, but they shouldn’t have more matches. As is always the case in current day WWE, a lot of talented wrestlers are sitting on the sidelines for this show instead of being in meaningful matches. That’s what happens when the roster is so big. All we can preview is what we know is on the card, so let’s do that.
Joining me for the preview are Alex Podgorski and Lance Augustine. Here are some thoughts from Alex and then we’ll get to the preview.
Alex: Here we are at the end of the calendar year in what will likely go down as the single-worst year in pro wrestling history. And with the end of the calendar year comes the final WWE PPV of the year, TLC. It’s another ‘themed’ show with obvious stipulations. Except this year, only half of the six announced matches involve either tables, ladders, chairs or all three. The rest are straight singles matches. That just seems inconsistent to me, and kind of defeats the purpose of the themed name in the first place. But hey, at least it isn’t as bad as that one year they decided to include a Stairs match.
In terms of general predictions, we can go in one of two directions with this show. For the first, there’s the prediction that WWE, after recognizing that their most recent RAW television ratings were historically awful, will try and bounce back with at least a semi-interesting show to give wrestling fans an early Christmas present. Then there’s the second option, in which the company lazily throws random stuff at the wall hoping something sticks. And this time I’m going with the latter mindset. Let’s be honest, this company seems to have stopped caring about following through with any sort of half-decent storyline. I mean, look at Seth Rollins. He sacrificed himself at Survivor Series and there has been zero follow-up on this. Yes, I know, he’s now a father. But come on, NO ONE on SmackDown cared enough about this to demand an explanation? If WWE doesn’t care to follow-up on stuff like this, then why should anyone be surprised that their ratings are down?
I tried being optimistic for Survivor Series, and look what it got us: an average showing with no real surprises. Sadly, I don’t have high hopes for this show, especially since most people care more about the rapid changes happening in the world around them than whatever nonsense happens in the WWE bubble.
(Note: All graphics are from WWE.)
Women’s Tag Team Championships: Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler (c) vs. Asuka and ???
Alex: It’s pretty easy to predict that Asuka’s mystery partner will be none other than Charlotte Flair. After all, WWE isn’t likely to bring up someone from NXT (especially after several main roster talent were sent back to the Performance Centre for seasoning), and Becky Lynch sure as hell isn’t coming back this early from giving birth. That leaves Charlotte as the only logical and semi-interesting candidate. The only real question is how the match will be booked.
The sensible solution here would be for the champions to retain. After all, as good as Asuka is, her partner in this case will be someone that has been out of action since June. It doesn’t make sense for someone that has been out that long to be able to defeat strong champions like Jax and Baszler, especially since there’s no evidence that Charlotte has even done any sort of training. Then again, this is WWE, so booking for them is more likely to done to hotshot a bunch of nonsense just to swerve the audience and do something unexpected. So as much as I would prefer that the company’s decision-maker stick to common sense, given the weirdness that has plagued the company especially in these past few months, I have my doubts that common sense will prevail.
Winners and NEW Women’s Tag Team Champions: Asuka & Charlotte Flair
Lance: Lana was supposed to be in the match, but got “injured” on Raw and is now out. That leaves Asuka without a partner, and we will find that who that is on the show. The biggest indicators point that it may be Charlotte Flair, who will be a welcomed addition back to the Women’s Division. Now, that’s not set-in-stone at the time of writing, but either way, I think there is a title switch here. Jax and Baszler have done well as the dominant champions, but these titles sadly aren’t as coveted as some of the others on the show. Hopefully, with Asuka and whoever else, they will be brought to the forefront and are just seen more.
Winners: Asuka and Charlotte Flair
John: I think a title change is a lock here and I’m all for it. The team of Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler have been okay as champions although there haven’t been that many title defenses. It also seems like WWE has forgotten that the champions can appear on Smackdown and NXT since they have only been used on Raw. The story of Lana finally beating Jax was wasted in a short singles match on Raw, which then led to Lana being taken out after the match. Now Lana has a worked injury, so Asuka needs a partner.
It’s time for Charlotte Flair to return from her sabbatical to fix…um…certain enhancements and basically give her a bit of a break that every wrestler needs. The storyline was that Nia Jax injured Flair, so this is the perfect spot for Flair to return to get revenge. There might be some people that think Royal Rumble is better for Charlotte’s return, but I like it here because she’s got that mutual respect friendship with Asuka as well. This win will make Asuka a double champion, which WWE seems to love to do since they did it with Bayley/Sasha Banks this year as well. This can lead to Baszler and Jax each going after Raw’s Women’s Title in singles, which should lead to one of them being the next champion. Charlotte winning the tag team titles would mean she’s won every women’s title in WWE just like Bayley, Sasha Banks and Asuka.
Winners AND NEW Women’s Tag Team Champions: Charlotte Flair
Raw Tag Team Championships: The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods) (c) vs. The Hurt Business (Shelton Benjamin and Cedric Alexander)
Alex: Finally, a new team challenges for the titles.
It has taken months, but I’m finally starting to get behind the Hurt Business. They’ve been consistent as a faction, they’ve won a lot, and I’ve always been a fan of Shelton Benjamin. I think their unit has potential if they start amassing more than just one title. It would be nice to see a new stable really start gaining more traction by slowly taking over as many title pictures as they can. Besides, The New Day are beyond stale to me at this point and I really want to see them go in a new direction. After Kofi’s realistic rise to the top last year, them going back to their version of normal after his WWE title loss was disappointing. Yes, I get it, they sell a ton of merchandise. But so did Hulk Hogan when he was a babyface and everyone was scared shitless when he turned heel at WCW Bash at the Beach 1996. And he ended up making an even bigger fortune for doing so. Maybe a more interesting storyline between Woods and Kingston following a split would lead them to the same thing?
But who are we kidding? WWE doesn’t have the guts to do something like that. Of course they’ll book the New Day to win again, just to maintain the status quo. Because storylines in WWE can’t be competent or compelling because they’re too afraid the audience will get confused. Sigh.
Winners and STILL RAW Tag Team Champions: The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods)
Lance: What can be said about The New Day that hasn’t already been said? They will go down in history as one of the most over and longest-lasting stables ever. Even with losing Big E, it doesn’t seem like the train slowed down much at all. The Hurt Business have been involved in some slightly better storylines as a group, but I am glad to see them getting a shot at the titles here. I am a big fan of both Benjamin and Alexander and think that this match will be one of the more competitive on the show. I have a sneaking suspicion that this has a title change written on it only because the rest of the matches are predicted with the champions retaining. This should be a solid match.
Winners and NEW RAW Tag Team Champions: The Hurt Business
John: I think a title change is very possible here, so much so that I’m going to pick The Hurt Business to win. The New Day are ten time Tag Team Champions in WWE, which means they are at a point where they don’t really “need” to have the titles or compete for them. It would actually be refreshing to see Woods and Kingston as singles wrestlers that are still allies, but they are just out there doing different things. We’ve seen that from Kofi before, but not from Woods, who has a lot of potential as a singles wrestler. The problem is that WWE has such little depth in the tag team division (especially babyface teams) that the bosses likely feel that they have to keep New Day together as a tag team. All I’m saying is it’s okay to explore other possibilities.
This should be a very good match although it’s hurt by the fact that we have seen the match so many times in the last two months while also seeing these guys in singles matches. That’s a problem with Raw – it’s too repetitive week after week. Even though it doesn’t feel fresh, I have confidence in Benjamin/Alexander working well with Kingston/Woods and having a very good match. It might not be the best of the night because of the two TLC matches, but I doubt we’ll be disappointed in a match with these guys. Shoutout to Benjamin moving around the ring so well at 45 years old while looking like a much younger man. He’s so talented and now he’s going to get another title while The Hurt Business collects more titles.
Winners AND NEW Raw Tag Team Champions: The Hurt Business (Shelton Benjamin and Cedric Alexander)
Smackdown Women’s Championship: Sasha Banks (c) vs. Carmella
Alex: Believe it or not, this has been Sasha Banks’s longest reign as a singles champion on the main roster. And her title win wasn’t even two months ago. So naturally, some people are predicting that Sasha will lose because she’s cursed as a champion. And now, her first major feud is against Carmella, who has had the advantage over Banks more often than not these past few weeks. It seems that Carmella is being pushed to become a stronger player on SmackDown’s women’s scene. To that end, I predict this match will end in a non-finish. This is because WWE has a habit of booking themselves into a corner, and this habit translates into regular occurrences. They bring someone back or give that person a push, said person gains momentum for a little while, and then WWE’s bookers panic when they find themselves in a situation in which neither this newly-pushed person nor their opponent can be booked to lose. So shenanigans ensue. And this is what I predict here. At TLC, we will see the reverse of what happened on the December 11th edition of SmackDown where Banks got disqualified for kicking too much ass. Except at TLC, Carmella will do the same ‘to get revenge’, but will only look foolish in doing so as she will not have learned her lesson from that aforementioned beating from Banks. This will necessitate a rematch, at which point no one will care.
As an aside, I find Carmella’s new nickname of ‘The Untouchable’ a bit tacky, especially since there is a famous duo that called themselves The Untouchables, and they are in a completely different stratosphere from Carmella.
Winner and STILL SmackDown Women’s Champion due to Disqualification from Carmella: Sasha Banks
Lance: Carmella has made her return with a new gimmick, and I don’t hate it. I always felt like Carmella was one of the more underrated talents and feel like she can do some good things if put in the right situation. Banks is having a year that she will remember and it culminated with beating her best friend Bayley to capture The Smackdown Women’s Title. I think Banks will hold the title for a good bit before dropping to a returning Becky Lynch or Charlotte Flair, so a title switch here seems unlikely. I do think Carmella holds the belt again eventually, though.
Winner and STILL Smackdown Women’s Champion: Sasha Banks
John: The story has been the classic wrestling angle of the heel wrestler Carmella doing cheap attacks on the champion Sasha Banks. There wasn’t any history between them going in, so WWE has tried to make things personal with cheap attacks and back to back weeks of Carmella using a champagne bottle to knock down Banks. Two weeks ago, the champagne bottle attack happened after a title match where Banks was DQ’d in order to set up this rematch. There’s also the story of Banks not having a long title reign as a champion in the past, so after she retained against Bayley, she now has to get by Carmella, which is what I expect Banks to do. Another prediction is that after Banks wins, she’ll also smash a champagne bottle on Carmella’s back just like Carmella did to her.
The match should be okay, but Carmella is not as good in the ring as the top women in WWE and it shows when they put her in longer matches. As a heel character, I’m entertained by Carmella. I just don’t think her matches are that great. If there is a title change here, I’ll be surprised.
Winner: Sasha Banks
Firefly Inferno Match: “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt vs. Randy Orton
Alex: Dear God, what the hell is this? A match stipulation being won by a game of hide-and-seek? Are we sure WWE’s Wellness Policy applies to Vince and the writers?
I am not optimistic about this match and you shouldn’t be either. The history between Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton has been, to put it lightly, wretchedly awful. WWE sees Wyatt as their guinea pig to use in experiments with new match concepts, and poor Randy has to be dragged into them. Their match at WrestleMania 33 was, in my opinion, the worst WrestleMania world title match since Hogan vs. Yokozuna at WrestleMania 9; and their House of Horrors match was barely an improvement on that. And now they’re back at it in singles competition. But this time, instead of using awful video gimmicks or campy cinematic camera angles, they’ll be using a gimmick that doesn’t discriminate: fire. And while previous inferno matches have been good, this one probably won’t be. I can picture WWE really hamming up the nonsense here by having Wyatt’s Funhouse puppets making appearance and making this less of a serious threat to Orton and more a silly dark comedy bit. It’s clear who’s winning; the only question is how. I predict lots of stalling and slow teases of someone’s arm almost catching on fire. This will probably go twenty minutes with slow, back-and-forth brawling, a few surprise finishers, and The Fiend will knock Orton out with the Mandible Claw before putting his foot in the flames so that Orton is burned as little as possible. It won’t be the worst Wyatt/Orton match, but it’ll take a lot to make this anything less than a forgettable stipulation match.
Winner: ‘The Fiend’ Bray Wyatt
Lance: I recently watched the documentary covering Randy Orton feuding with The Undertaker and I have to say, Orton is the man. I almost feel like he is a tad underrated even though he has been in a top spot for almost 20 years. Wyatt is pulling out The Fiend here because it feels like a big blowoff to the feud, not unlike The Demon character was for Finn Balor. These two are no strangers to each other with Orton even burning down the Wyatt compound at one point. Add the stipulation of this now being a Firefly Inferno Match and we are off to the races.
This match is going to come down to who the plans are the biggest for. Orton is fresh off a WWE Title reign and The Fiend carried The Universal Title earlier this year before Goldberg felt like an appropriate person to kill the gimmick. The point is that both of these guys have been at the top of the mountain fairly recently. Orton recently set something else on fire involving Wyatt which ignited, no pun intended, The Fiend to make an appearance here. With all that being said, this feels like an “I’ll do the job” kind of blowoff and I think The Fiend comes out on top. Orton at this point could lose every match and would have the same momentum. Also, I’m excited to see if they have Randy Orton dressed head to toe for this if it isn’t a cinematic match.
Winner: “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt
John: Randy Orton has had a very good year. One of the best years of his 18 year run on WWE’s main roster. When I write my WWE Johnny Awards column in a few weeks, he’s a contender for numerous awards. However, this feud hasn’t been interesting to me at all and I think it’s a step back for Orton, who played hide n seek last week on Raw. I liked the early days of The Fiend character, but this year it hasn’t been that interesting to me. The feud with Braun Strowman felt like a colossal failure that hurt both guys. This rivalry isn’t doing much for me. I understand wanting to have a different kind of character on the show with Bray Wyatt having multiple personalities. I just don’t think The Fiend is interesting the way The Undertaker was or even as interesting as Kane was in his prime days.
The “Firefly Inferno Match” stipulation getting announced on social media days after Raw is weird to me as well. That’s the kind of stipulation that should have been pushed heavily on Raw for weeks rather than mentioning it in a few tweets and running commercials during Smackdown. Did they just figure out the stipulation after Raw or was this always going to be the plan? I think they just figured it out. Anyway, I’ll go with The Fiend winning because I guess this is more like his gimmick match although I’m not sure how they are going to set up a fire spot on Orton. It will probably be some pre-taped thing to make sure there are no injuries. If Orton wins that’s fine too because I can see The Fiend laughing about it. Since The Fiend is the babyface in this feud (I guess?) then he should probably win.
Winner: “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt
WWE Championship Tables, Ladders & Chairs Match: Drew McIntyre (c) vs. AJ Styles
Alex: AJ Styles’s entire purpose in this match is to make Drew McIntyre look better than he already does. He doesn’t need the title at this point while McIntyre has some work to do to re-establish himself following his surprise (and in hindsight, unnecessary) loss to Randy Orton back at Hell in A Cell and his loss to Roman Reigns at Survivor Series. If WWE wants more people to tune into RAW during its upcoming peak season, they need their main champion to be as impressive and compelling as possible. To that end, I do not see Styles winning.
From a quality standpoint, this will probably be the best match on the card. McIntyre is incredibly agile for a man his size and has proven himself capable of putting on great matches against almost any opponent. And Styles is, well, Styles. Even on his worst day he can wrestle incredibly well without putting in much effort at all.
If these two get twenty minutes or more and have a clean finish without any shenanigans, we might get one of the best WWE matches of the year here. But that’s a big ‘IF’, as someone in WWE might want to shoehorn some unnecessary stalling, cowardice, or other nonsense into Styles’ work, instead of letting him do what he does best.
Winner and STILL WWE Champion: Drew McIntyre
Lance: They have 5 tool guys in Baseball. That means they can Field, Run, Hit, Hit for Power, and have Arm Strength. The wrestling equivalent to that would be someone like AJ Styles. No matter the situation you can plug him in and he will have standout outings every single time. McIntyre has been on fire this year and it doesn’t seem like the company has lost much faith in him being a centerpiece going into their busiest time of year.
It’s hard to believe that McIntyre, sans a brief Orton run, has had the title for almost a calendar year. He has been booked well and hasn’t seemed to be out of his element too much. I look for Styles to be flying all over the ring with McIntyre going toe to toe with him. McIntyre is deceitfully agile for a big man and I think it will benefit the match as a whole. I think the top two matches on the show are the easiest to predict, but that isn’t an indictment that I think they will be bad. Quite the opposite actually. I don’t know where the road leads for both of these guys heading into WrestleMania season, but I am glad the pit stop has them squaring off against one another in a match like this. This will be fun.
Winner and STILL WWE Champion: Drew McIntyre
John: This will be an excellent match and likely the best on the show. I’m happy to see AJ Styles back in the WWE Title picture after spending most of this year doing other things. Styles can thrive in any match or feud whether he’s a heel or face. I think they have booked the story well with Styles winning multiple matches to earn the title shot and then when Styles has had physical confrontations with McIntyre, he has held his own while getting the advantage multiple times. With that said, I still think McIntyre retaining the WWE Title is a lock. It should be a very competitive match full of creative spots and plenty of nearfalls for both guys. Whether this is Drew’s best match as WWE Champion, I’m not sure because he’s had some very good matches this year with different opponents. Getting in there with Styles in a match with a lot of weapons that are legal, should lead to something memorable. I just wish TLC felt like a bigger show and there was more anticipation for a match as good as this.
I also think we might see The Miz and John Morrison show up with Miz teasing a Money in the Bank cash-in after McIntyre wins a grueling match. I expect Drew to fight them off and then there’s no official cash-in on the show.
Winner: Drew McIntyre
WWE Universal Championship Tables, Ladders & Chairs Match: Roman Reigns (c) vs. Kevin Owens
Alex: This match just screams ‘placeholder’ to me. The whole story behind it is as Reigns is mad at Jey Uso, which led to Uso getting disqualified in a tag match alongside Kevin Owens. This DQ apparently enraged Owens to the point that he destroyed Uso and that was apparently enough for him to earn a world title shot. Someone kindly bring me a giant telescope so that I can find the faraway galaxy in which this makes sense.
Like the aforementioned RAW world title match, this contests’ conclusion is all but foregone. Reigns has been on a tear as SmackDown’s top villain, and no amount of Stunners from Owens will stop that. This match is more up Reigns’ alley than it is Owens’, as it gives Reigns the freedom to be as brutal as he wants, and his personality has suggested that he has no problem being remorseless in the ring.
I don’t think this will be as balanced a match as the Styles/McIntyre match. Instead, I think Reigns will dominate for most of it. Then Uso will interfere to tease stopping Reigns, only to turn at the last minute and fully join his cousin and turn heel. Then SmackDown won’t just have a major threat in the world title, but a tag team that will have the potential to bring more glory to ‘the tribe’ if they work as a cohesive unit as opposed to as fractured individuals.
Winner and STILL WWE Universal Champion: Roman Reigns
Lance: Spoiler alert: This is the match I am looking forward to the most on this show. I feel like I can’t give enough praise to Reigns and creative on how they turned his character around, but they definitely did. Now, if only creative could do that for other people on the show. When Reigns turns back into a babyface down the road, he will be insanely over. I am a big Owens guy as well and up to this point, I think he has been booked poorly. I know he is a past Universal Champion, but it just seems like he has been wallowing in the abyss over the last little bit. Right off the top, I don’t think that there will a title change. I’ll double down and say that there will definitely not be a switch. Like the match before it though, I don’t think the bout will suffer. Owens is a hell of a worker and I think the dynamic in this match will be very good. Reigns has a side story going on with the Usos, and that might rear its head here, or it might not. They are pushing the “Head of the Table” gimmick hard so they could add to the story using this match as a vessel.
I am looking for some nice back and forth here but Reigns using his power to dominate throughout. It’s alright to have Reigns dominate matches as the champion. I also think there will be a lot of “crash and burn” moments with both guys falling through tables and getting worn out with chairs. The only issue I have with this match is that it is filler to get them to the Royal Rumble and start the build to WrestleMania. In no way do I think that Owens will be the challenger to Reigns at WrestleMania, so having him in the match here won’t matter much in the grand scheme of things. It does bum me out though because Owens deserves another run with one of the top titles.
Winner and STILL WWE Universal Champion: Roman Reigns
John: I think WWE could have set this match up better by having Kevin Owens win some number one contender’s style match to get this title match. Whether it was Beat the Clock or some fatal four-way match, at least do something to make him earn it in a way that involves more than just doing promos about how you don’t like Roman Reigns. It’s not a shot at the performer because KO is one of my favorites in WWE and if you read my Smackdown reviews then you know how much I like heel Reigns right now. I just want title contenders to EARN the title shot like they had Jey Uso earn his first title shot. It’s not that hard to book. It just takes a bit of effort.
With all of that said, I expect this to be a very physical match with a lot of chair shots to the back and plenty of tables being broken. The obvious prediction is for Jey Uso to interfere to help Roman Reigns, but I also think we’re at a time where Jimmy Uso should be close to returning since he had ACL knee surgery after WrestleMania eight months ago, so maybe we see Jimmy show up as a surprise to help Reigns win. By doing that, it protects Owens and then they can do another Reigns/Owens match at Royal Rumble unless WWE wants to move on. I think Daniel Bryan is an obvious future challenger whether it’s at Royal Rumble or the PPVs that follow.
They should get plenty of time (over 20 minutes) with Owens taking a beating for much of it, then I think he’ll get several believable nearfalls before Reigns finds a way to put him away whether it’s by himself or if he gets some help. I really like Reigns as the champion and I don’t think there’s much of a chance for Owens to win even though Reigns beat him down three weeks in a row. I don’t think WWE goes with the “beat up on TV, win on PPV” theory as much as they used to. This should be another win for Roman.
Winner: Roman Reigns
BONUS TOPICS!
The Match I’m Looking Forward To The Most
Alex: McIntyre vs. Styles. They could steal the show as long as they don’t book Styles to be a coward. I’m getting sick and tired of every top WWE heel being underhanded in some way.
Lance: Reigns vs. Owens although I think Styles vs. McIntyre will also be very good.
John: I’m going with McIntyre vs. Styles as the best match, but I want to see how Reigns vs. Owens is booked. I’m intrigued by both.
The Match I Care About The Least
Alex: The Fiend vs. Orton. The story behind this match is just too daft for me to care.
Lance: Sasha Banks vs. Carmella.
John: I’ll go Banks vs. Carmella since we have already seen it recently. I’m not that interested in The Fiend vs. Randy Orton, but maybe they can surprise us in a good way.
Longest Match
Alex: Reigns vs. Owens. Since I predict interference from Jey Uso, this match will probably go 25-30 minutes bell to bell.
Lance: It’s a toss-up between either of the TLC matches.
John: I’m going with Reigns vs. Owens getting around 25 minutes. If they only have six matches on the main show then everything is going to get plenty of time.
Shortest Match
Alex: The RAW Tag Team Championship match. It’ll be competitive, but I doubt it will go more than twelve minutes in length.
Lance: Women’s Tag Title Match.
John: I think Women’s Tag Team Title match going around 12 minutes will be the shortest.
Excitement Level on a Scale of 1-10 (1 being low, 10 being high)
Alex: 3 – I’m honestly not that excited for this show. I really think it’s going to be filled with bland matches that won’t tell any exceptional stories. It’s no fault of the wrestlers, either. Even though I don’t work there, I get this strong, unshakeable feeling that the creative process in WWE is really at its nadir now, and nothing will change for the better until two specific people either wake up or get out.
I’m not encouraging you, dear reader, not to watch this show. By all means, please, continue supporting the company you’re so loyal to. But I really think you won’t get your money’s worth in terms of match quality.
If you really want to watch some amazing matches, go through any one (or ideally more) of my 5-Star Match Reviews. I’ve reviewed almost 100 matches and plan to review many more. Most of those matches still have working links, and the ones that don’t I might fix soon (except the NJPW ones; you need New Japan World for those, but it’s worth it). I guarantee watching any of those matches I reviewed will be much more worthwhile to you, and you’ll probably save some money and won’t have to watch on mute because the commentary will be much better than WWE’s, even if it isn’t in English.
Lance: I am around a 7 on this show purely based on strength of the main event programs, maybe not in terms of storyline, but because of match potential.
John: It’s a 6.5 for me because I think the two TLC matches will be great, so I am looking forward to them. However, it does feel like a predictable card in a lot of ways and that hurts the overall show to me. Plenty of talented people have no matches on this card, so that’s another factor as well. If the top matches deliver with quality performances then that’s what matters and my rating in the review might be higher than what I anticipate going into the show.
In Closing
John: I’ll be back with a review of WWE Tables, Ladders & Chairs on TJRWrestling.net on Sunday night. It will likely not be live, but I will try to get it posted late Sunday night.
If you want to send an email, send it to me at mrjohncanton@gmail.com as well. Thanks for reading.