{"id":2850,"date":"2014-12-14T15:58:35","date_gmt":"2014-12-14T15:58:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=2850"},"modified":"2014-12-14T15:58:35","modified_gmt":"2014-12-14T15:58:35","slug":"wwe-tlc-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=2850","title":{"rendered":"WWE TLC"},"content":{"rendered":"

If the WWE Network does indeed launch in the UK\u00a0at the start of January as suggested – and reportedly\u00a0that’s the date that was already agreed with Sky when the contract was renewed a few months back – then in theory this\u00a0should\u00a0mark\u00a0the end of PPV in the UK. \u00a0\u00a0 Well,\u00a0as long as you have decent broadband and aren’t\u00a0deterred by the whole idea of internet streaming – which admittedly still leaves a significant chunk of the audience. \u00a0And oddly,\u00a0TLC<\/em> isn’t a PPV in the UK – it’s airing on Sky Sports. \u00a0So really, UK PPV as we know it ended in November. \u00a0Still, you get the point.<\/p>\n

This seems to make\u00a0TLC<\/em> a suitable place to draw a line under these\u00a0columns, since, point one,\u00a0we’re now talking about network specials rather than PPVs, and point two, the current quality of WWE television is so mind-numbing that the build to these shows is more of a chore to sit through than a pleasure to write about. \u00a0I’m thinking\u00a0I\u00a0might do some\u00a0Chikara coverage\u00a0in 2015 instead – much less viewed, but vastly\u00a0more interesting to write about.<\/p>\n

First, though,\u00a0TLC<\/em>. A hangover from the days when Tables, Ladders & Chairs matches were recklessly chaotic hardcore brawls,\u00a0TLC<\/em>\u00a0has survived into a more\u00a0restrained and PG era, where it at least stands out as one of the more excessive gimmick shows of the year. \u00a0As against that, the company is\u00a0still<\/em> into a multi-month era of turning a blind eye to the fact that WWE champion Brock Lesnar isn’t on TV and isn’t defending his title (because he has a limited dates contract, and they’re saving his defences for the run-up to\u00a0Wrestlemania<\/em>). \u00a0Inevitably, the\u00a0result is to give the main event stories a sense of wheel-spinning, because that’s exactly what’s happening..<\/p>\n

1. \u00a0TLC Match: Dean Ambrose v Bray Wyatt.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Once again, they’re going with the formula of one\u00a0TLC match, and another three matches with each of the individual elements. \u00a0And, for some strange reason, this year also features a Stairs Match. \u00a0I can’t imagine who they think is on tenterhooks waiting for a Stairs\u00a0Match, but if any such person is out there,\u00a0it’s their lucky day.<\/p>\n

This is a rematch from last month’s show. \u00a0That time round, the match degenerated into a bunch of TLC spots anyway, in a fairly obviously contrived trailer, before ending in a DQ. \u00a0Wyatt’s cult-leader character started out the feud by seemingly trying to\u00a0recruit\u00a0Ambrose as a new follower, but Ambrose doesn’t really\u00a0respond to mind games in the same way that other\u00a0wrestlers do. \u00a0Being a raving maniac, he responds with\u00a0significant violence and by destroying Wyatt’s favourite rocking chair. \u00a0And so This Is\u00a0Personal.<\/p>\n

It’s actually a good match on paper. \u00a0Both guys could really use the win here – neither has been booked brilliantly of late, and both could be valuable to the company if they were used effectively – but I’d say Ambrose would benefit\u00a0more, and Wyatt can move on from\u00a0a loss\u00a0to start building up his flock again, after his previous henchmen were split off\u00a0to go in their own direction. His character needs flunkies.<\/p>\n

2. \u00a0Tables Match: John Cena v Seth Rollins.<\/strong> \u00a0Cena is technically the No 1 Contender for the WWE World Heavyweight Title, and has been for two months now. \u00a0At some point presumably\u00a0Brock Lesnar will show up to actually defend the thing – something that no character seems particularly bothered about, because apparently the company has decided it’s best\u00a0not\u00a0to mention Lesnar’s\u00a0absence, rather than make the best of the situation and use it to put even more heel heat on him. \u00a0Seems an obviously wrong decision to me, but what do I know?<\/p>\n

With the Authority out of power after losing last month’s Survivor Series main event, we are apparently back to the days of having random bozos in charge of\u00a0each show. \u00a0This is unbelievably stupid too, because it results in the focus for each show being on a guest star of no long-term importance. \u00a0Why they don’t just appoint a generic management figure and get the focus back on to the wrestlers, I have no idea. \u00a0At any rate, for pretty much random reasons, the stipulation for this match is that if Cena loses, he ceases to be No 1 Contender. \u00a0Rollins doesn’t stand to win anything, but then he’s already got the Money in the Bank title shot, so he can challenge for the title whenever he wants anyway.<\/p>\n

Well, he could\u00a0if the champion ever showed up in the building. \u00a0On the bright side, with the Authority themselves out of the way, the wrestlers who followed them seem to have remained together as an unnamed heel faction with Rollins as their leader, and that’s a welcome shift of emphasis.<\/p>\n

I pretty much take it as read that Cena will win, because he almost always does, and besides, Lesnar supposedly\u00a0is<\/em> due to be on the January show. \u00a0The match should be fine.<\/p>\n

3. \u00a0Chairs Match: Ryback v Kane.<\/strong>\u00a0 The Ladder Match is an old standard. \u00a0The Tables Match is silly but it’s a real thing that existed before TLC<\/em> came along\u00a0(you win by putting your opponent through an inexpensive table). \u00a0 But the Chairs Match? \u00a0It had to be invented for\u00a0TLC<\/em>, to round out the gimmick. \u00a0It is never any good, and\u00a0I certainly don’t expect\u00a0Ryback\/Kane to be the match that changes that. \u00a0Ryback\u00a0presumably wins, because he’s just turned babyface and he’s the rising star, while Kane is a bulletproof veteran who’s surely on his way to retirement in the not too distant future. \u00a0There’s not much story here beyond the fact that they were on opposite sides at\u00a0Survivor Series<\/em>.<\/p>\n

4. \u00a0WWE Tag Team Titles: The Miz & Damien Mizdow\u00a0\u00a9 v Jey Uso & Jimmy Uso.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Miz and his doppelg\u00e4nger flunky Damien Mizdow make their second (televised) defence of the tag titles against the Usos. \u00a0There’s actually a degree of story here, with Miz winding up Jimmy Uso by offering to use his Hollywood connections to help Jimmy’s wife, but that’s about as far as it goes. \u00a0Oh, and they’re already starting the build to Miz becoming jealous that everyone\u00a0likes Mizdow more, though\u00a0hopefully they’ll keep that as a slow\u00a0one.<\/p>\n

The tag division is not overburdened with obvious challengers for the Mizzes, so I imagine they’ll want to get a\u00a0couple of months out of this one at least. \u00a0That means the champions retaining in circumstances\u00a0that justify\u00a0a rematch – either the heels cheat to win or they get DQ’ed. \u00a0The Usos are pretty\u00a0good and the Mizzes’ act is\u00a0generally fun (though\u00a0the company’s been overplaying it a bit of late), so I can see this being decent.<\/p>\n

5. \u00a0Stairs Match: Erick Rowan v Big Show.<\/strong>\u00a0 Erick Rowan used to be in the Wyatt Family, but they just kind of broke up for no particular reason, because that’s how WWE writing works these days. \u00a0His new gimmick seems to be that he’s an\u00a0idiot savant<\/em>, and for no particular reason again, he’s suddenly a babyface. \u00a0We’re not even really trying any more, are we?<\/p>\n

Anyhow, this sounds awful. \u00a0The stairs in question are the ring steps, which\u00a0make a nice satisfying\u00a0noise when you hit people with them, but aren’t exactly the least cumbersome weapon in the world. \u00a0Quite how this is going to an improve an already unpromising match between\u00a0ageing giant Big Show and the\u00a0less impressive member of the Wyatt Family, I cannot begin to imagine. \u00a0Rowan presumably wins, because he’s just broken off on a solo career.<\/p>\n

6. \u00a0WWE Intercontinental Title: Ladder Match: Luke Harper\u00a0\u00a9 v Dolph Ziggler.<\/strong> \u00a0The other member of the Wyatt Family has kicked off his solo career by winning the Intercontinental Title. \u00a0In typical WWE style, he has immediately started losing all his matches. \u00a0(He’s defended the thing on TV three times, all of which he lost by disqualification.) \u00a0Given the way their minds work, though, I suspect he retains here, because\u00a0Ziggler seems to be getting one of his periodic half-hearted pushes. \u00a0And if he’s going to be on the fringes of the main event, he shouldn’t be carrying a mid card title, and therefore he should\u00a0lose<\/em> to the mid card champion. \u00a0Seriously, that’s how they think.<\/p>\n

The actual match should be very good, though. \u00a0Harper and Ziggler are both\u00a0talented,\u00a0Ziggler will probably work very hard to make this look spectacular, and Harper is a good base for things like that.<\/p>\n

7. \u00a0WWE United States Title:\u00a0Rusev\u00a0\u00a9 v Jack Swagger.<\/strong> \u00a0Didn’t we do this match in the summer? \u00a0Yes. \u00a0Yes, we did. \u00a0And now we’re doing it again,\u00a0although this time with the US Title on the line. \u00a0Will Swagger recapture the US title for the United States this time? \u00a0No, no of course he won’t, because Rusev’s long winning streak is not going to be beaten by anyone other than a main eventer. \u00a0Roman Reigns would be my bet, when he returns from injury and needs some immediate momentum. \u00a0Again, though, the actual match ought to be fine.<\/p>\n

8. \u00a0WWE Divas Title: Nikki Bella\u00a0\u00a9 v AJ Lee.<\/strong> \u00a0Automatic rematch after Nikki won the title last month. \u00a0Remember they did a match\u00a0between Nikki and her sister Brie, where if Brie lost, she had to be Nikki’s servant for a month? \u00a0Well, the pay off for that was that Brie just turned heel and joined up with her sister again anyway. \u00a0And that made no real sense, but so it goes, because it’s a mid card feud.<\/p>\n

Nikki has to be the heavy favourite here. \u00a0For one thing, she only just won the title,\u00a0and there’s no point trading it straight back. \u00a0For another, AJ is married to CM Punk, who is no longer with the company, and who has just given a couple of very incendiary interviews criticising, among other things,\u00a0the company’s approach to protecting the health of their performers. \u00a0Even the WWE (probably) isn’t stupid enough to do anything that would be\u00a0interpreted as on-air retaliation for something like that, but when AJ wasn’t sensibly in line to win in the first place, well, it’s unlikely that this changed their minds.<\/p>\n

It’ll be a five minute filler and\u00a0I don’t expect it to be anything more than average.<\/p>\n

9. \u00a0Pre-show match: The New Day (X & X) v Goldust & Stardust.<\/strong> \u00a0The New Day is a repackaged trio of Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods and Big E, who now have gospel music for their entrance, and are Very Positive. \u00a0This actually works better than you might think, because the WWE could use a few straightforwardly uncomplicated babyfaces. \u00a0Part of the gimmick is\u00a0that in tag matches, they don’t announce\u00a0who’s wrestling until the last moment. \u00a0With typical booking stupidity, they were given a lengthy build-up and almost immediately after their debut\u00a0got plonked\u00a0in\u00a0a tag team gauntlet match where they got pinned in three minutes. \u00a0Wonderful. \u00a0(Is it really so hard to figure out that they should plough through most of the teams\u00a0before<\/em> getting screwed out of the win?) \u00a0At any rate, they’re feuding with the Dust brothers, spinning out of that gauntlet, and they should have a perfectly solid match here.<\/p>\n

Worth getting? \u00a0<\/strong>It’s not a PPV so it’s academic. \u00a0There are quite a few matches here that should be decent, a few which sound deeply unpromising, but nothing\u00a0with any real storyline momentum behind it. \u00a0It’s a\u00a0gimmicky time-filler show,\u00a0but given that\u00a0most people aren’t being expected to pay for it, it’s probably going to have enough good stuff to be worth recording.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If the WWE Network does indeed launch in the UK\u00a0at the start of January as suggested – and reportedly\u00a0that’s the date that was already agreed with Sky when the contract was renewed a few months back – then in theory this\u00a0should\u00a0mark\u00a0the end of PPV in the UK. \u00a0\u00a0 Well,\u00a0as long as you have decent broadband […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wrestling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2850"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2850\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2852,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2850\/revisions\/2852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}