"THANK YOU ROMAN!"
If there's one thing about
Let me be clear: TLC was decent but the buildup for some of the matches like Rusev vs Ryback, Del Rio vs Swagger, and even Team ECW vs The Wyatt Family, were poor or rushed. Even though they had a few good matches and standout moments, the PPV was just that, decent.
Here are the match results:
- Sasha Banks (w/ Naomi and Tamina) defeated Becky Lynch
- The New Day defeated The Lucha Dragons and The Usos
- Rusev w/ Lana defeated Ryback
- Alberto Del Rio defeated Jack Swagger
- The Wyatt Family defeated Team ECW
- Dean Ambrose defeated Kevin Owens
- Charlotte w/ Ric Flair defeated Paige
- Sheamus defeated Roman Reigns
First off, let me just say that I'm scarily becoming like Vince in making mostly accurate predictions. We were able to call out what the next matches would be without looking at live reports. Vince predicted that they would start the PPV strong with the Tag Team Triple Threat match. And that was a smart decision.
I was fearful of this match, mostly because there's a lot of high flyers getting mixed up with ladders and I was afraid that someone was going to get injured. Still, it was a solid match with great spots and with Xavier Woods at commentary, who did an awesome job putting all the other teams over and calling out moves like a pro commentator. Vince predicted that the Usos would win and I said New Day would retain, and thankfully, the latter happened.
Going off from their win, I also predicted that all the heel champs (yes, even current Divas champ Charlotte) would retain their titles. And it looked like that was the trend for the non-title matches, which saw The Wyatt Family defeating Team ECW and Rusev defeating Ryback. So when Ambrose and Owens' match was coming up, I was fine with seeing another heel champ retaining their title until... until...
THIS FUCKING HAPPENED
Dean Ambrose defeated Owens via Hurricanrana to become the new IC Champ! This was truly the biggest surprise of the night. It was a long-awaited payoff for Ambrose when he first set his sights on taking the IC title away from Bad New Barrett back in January. Even though their buildup to this feud was briefly sidelined, with Owens getting sick and Ambrose siding with Reigns and The Usos, not to mention having Ambrose toss popcorn and soda at Owens' face instead of cutting a promo, this was still the only match I cared about. Overall, the match was entertaining and it even had a great moment where Owens barely made a rope break using only one finger! Ambrose was the only babyface to win a match and it was also the only title change in the PPV. This was great for both parties; Ambrose is a new champ and Owens is free to possibly go after another title and having bigger feuds.
The main event TLC match between Sheamus and Reigns was met with apathy and smark from the Boston crowd. They even chanted, "WE WANT CENA! CENA SUCKS!" and "NXT!" because they all know how the match was going to end. The match itself was quite intense, slow, and methodical, but no one was really invested in it. Sheamus was able to retain the title, thanks to Del Rio helping Sheamus up the ladder and Rusev putting Reigns in the Accolade. We were getting a repeat of Reigns looking defeated and walking away as Sheamus celebrated in the middle of the ring on the shoulders of Del Rio and Rusev. And then something miraculous happened; Reigns showed character progression.
For over 10 minutes, Reigns wrecked havoc in the ring. He wasn't just mad that he lost. He was absolutely pissed. He took a chair and started beating up on Del Rio, Rusev, and Sheamus. Several referees, Stephanie, and HHH came out to stop Reigns. HHH tried to calm Reigns down and stupidly turned his back on him, giving Reigns and opportunity to beat the hell out of him with a chair. The crowd, who was chanting for Cena earlier in the match, was now cheering for Reigns. He was finally being the silent bad-ass monster that the fans have been waiting for. And it worked. The crowd chanted, "THANK YOU ROMAN," as he walked back up the ramp, not looking the least bit sorry in taking down LON and HHH.
Now I'm eager to watch RAW tonight. The Authority (mostly Stephanie) will probably make Reigns' life a living hell to get back at him. Which is fine but they have to do a few things here with Reigns' character. Don't make Reigns talk. Don't make him cut another recap promo with a smile on his face. Make Reigns go into berserk mode and live up to his new shirt motto, "Spare no one. Spear everyone." He's not working as another John Cena or Daniel Bryan, so make him be himself. Maybe having the Lunatic Fringe as a buddy might've rubbed off on him after all.
CONGRATS, DEAN AMBROSE!
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