WWE TLC 2019

WWE TLC 2019

Minneapolis, MN - December 2019

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into this show, the Universal Champion was "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt and  the WWE Champion was Brock Lesnar. The RAW Tag Team Championships were held by the Viking Raiders, while the SmackDown Tag Team Championships were held by The New Day. The RAW Women's Champion was Becky Lynch, while Bayley held the SmackDown Women's Championship. Finally, the 24/7 Champion was R-Truth, the United States Title was held by Rey Mysterio, and the Intercontinental Champion was Shinsuke Nakamura (though none of those titles were defended, nor were any of the NXT Championships).

TLC 2019 kicked off with The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Big E) defending the Smackdown Tag Team Titles against The Revival in a Ladders Match. I was not super impressed with the last time these two teams fought on PPV, mostly because I've been so underwhelmed with their main roster run compared to the resume they built on NXT. On the other side of things, The New Day is a really tired act to me. "Kofimania" feels like a distant memory, a blip in his career between extended stints as the "happy go lucky" guy whose not a true main event player. Despite all that baggage, this was still a very good match - though, compared to their battles against Harper & Rowan years ago or the feud with The Usos, which at least felt like stepping stones to bigger and better things for all involved, this match felt a little bit like it was happening on a hamster wheel. There were some tremendous moments, no doubt, but it might just be that there is truly no tag team, not The Revival or even The AOP, that can bring back The New Day's magic in 2019. This match was definitely above average and good for what it was, but inessential viewing. (3/5)

Aleister Black took on Buddy Murphy in the next contest. I like how they're trying to keep Black's mystique strong as, against the right opponents (like Velveteen Dream back in NXT), he is very, very good and a great foil for some of the bigger personalities (for example, The Miz at his most obnoxious or Nakamura when he felt like the Next Big Thing). Buddy Murphy may not have been the perfect opponent, but this felt like his first serious showcase against an established heavyweight and he hit the ball out of the park, proving his toughness and showing off his dynamic offense. I think some critics would find fault in how even this match was - and that would be a valid criticism - but 2019 Pro-Wrestling is very different from the old days when "giving too much" was perceived as a major obstacle to a wrestler's success. It would also be a misread of Aleister Black's persona as, despite the Black Metal-inspired look, he is not The Next Undertaker or a kickboxing Road Warrior. It would also be a problem if the give-and-take and chemistry between these two wasn't there, but it absolutely was and because Black ended up with a busted nose, Murphy's offense came off as even more credible and damaging. This was a stiff, brutal match with some excellent sequences and while the crowd wasn't with them for every single moment - when Buddy Murphy tossed Black's jacket out of the ring and it landed on Jerry Lawler, the crowd erupted in a distracting "Jerry" chant - by the end, they were fully engaged. This was a sleeper Top 10 WWE Match of the Year to me, the best match Black has had since joining the main roster and the first Buddy Murphy match that has lived up to the hype surrounding his 205 Live run (which I completely missed). (3.5/5)

After a video package showing Seth Rollins' recent heel turn and alignment with The Authors of Pain, The Viking Raiders showed up to issue an Open Challenge for the RAW Tag Team Championships. Now, because of the pre-match video, one would think that the challengers would be the aforementioned AOP, but instead, Gallows and Anderson arrived - maybe the least interesting team possible (though, to be fair, its not like the WWE is loaded with legit tag teams at the moment). After the Black/Murphy match and the opening ladder match, these teams were going to have to bust out the best they had to keep the crowd happy and this match just wasn't it. On one hand, you might say that this was probably by design - but on the other hand, have Gallows and Anderson had a single great match since joining the WWE? I can't speak for the NJPW years, but in the WWE, they've been average at best. Gallows, in particular, was out of position for Ivar's backspring elbows and late to break up a pinfall soon after, which at least drew heat. I want to see Erik (Raymond Rowe) succeed because he's a native Clevelander, but I have the feeling that the only reason the Raiders got the win here was to set up their inevitable loss to the Authors of Pain sometime in the very near future. (2/5)

Roman Reigns took on Baron Corbin in a TLC Match next. I was expected this match to be later on in the show - possibly even in the main event slot - as it is SmackDown's top match. From what I've read online, the anti-Roman sentiment has decreased in recent times, probably because (a) he hasn't been overpushed (or really pushed at all) since coming back from cancer and (b) Baron Corbin is wholly unlikable and has been overpushed in contrast. Plus, with Corbin and his lackeys, Dolph Ziggler and Bobby Roode, covering Reigns in dog food at one point, the crowd definitely wants to see Corbin get his ass kicked. Of course, for whatever reason, that is not quite what happened. Instead, we got a relatively back-and-forth brawl that underwhelmed with a bunch of spots that didn't register. At one point, the crowd was chanting "We Want Tables" despite the fact that, by this point, there had been at least 3-4 table spots. None of it mattered. There were mini-pops for this and mini-pops for that, but the match was formless and the one thing that the fans probably wanted to see - Corbin getting destroyed and maybe getting some dog food stuffed in his mouth - is the exact opposite of what happened. Instead, Ziggler showed up to superkick Reigns and then The Revival came out to beat Roman down even more. This went on for 4-5 minutes while not a single babyface came out to help him. What happened to his brief partnership with Daniel Bryan? Wasn't this match built around Reigns defending his status as a "locker room leader"? This match proved Baron Corbin right. Roman Reigns is friendless. Roman Reigns doesn't have the respect of the lockerroom. If he did, you would've seen guys like Chad Gable - whoops - Shorty G come out and try to even the score. And if that had happened, it would've been a great build-up for the Survivor Series...only that show happened last month. The match itself was average at best compared to other TLC matches, but the booking was woeful and inexcusable. There were rumors that Roman Reigns may be winning the Rumble this year, but this was not the way to build his momentum. Meanwhile, Corbin came out of this looking like the smartest man on Earth when I was under the impression that we're supposed to think he's a cheating, ugly doofus. An easy contender for Worst Match of the Year. (1/5)

The Universal Champion, Bray Wyatt, took on The Miz in the next match. Unlike some of Wyatt's recent feuds, which have been centered on The Fiend side of his persona, this storyline has been based more on the creepy Firefly Funhouse Bray, who has been playing all sorts of mental games with The Miz. If I'm not mistaken, this was Bray's first match as the "Friendly Bray" character and, even more than the debut of The Fiend, his entrance felt completely different than anything we've seen from him previously. And then, when the action began, the no-selling "Fiend Wyatt" was nowhere to be found as The Miz completely dominated him as Bray laughed. At one point, The Miz had Bray in what looked like a terribly painful wristlock and Wyatt laughed his way through it, eventually going to the arena floor and popping his shoulder back into place by ramming himself into the barricade. The Miz followed it up by tossing him around ringside, the crowd completely hushed. The Miz tried to run Wyatt through the timekeeper area, but Bray sidestepped him and hit him with a Sister Abigail on the floor, his first major offensive move. The Miz barely beat a countout and then got hit with a second Sister Abigail to end the match. Uh...what? Bray apologized after the match, but then on the screen, we saw an image of The Fiend. Bray looked up to it, said, "Okay, I'll do it," and then retrieved a giant mallet as the crowd began chanting "Let Him In." Before striking him with the mallet, though, the lights lowered and Bray began exclaiming, "He's here!" with elation. At this point, though, Daniel Bryan appeared out of nowhere and leveled Bray with his running knee to a huge ovation! Bryan connected with a series of Yes Kicks, receiving maybe the biggest crowd response he's had in years. Bryan's beatdown went a little long for me as he delivered some stomps to the face and then, right before he was able to strike Wyatt with the mallet, the lights went out and Bray was gone. It was an anticlimactic ending to a segment, the crowd's interest having petered out by the time it was all said and done. The best thing that could probably be said about this match and post-match angle was that it was interesting and different, though not necessarily great or "must see." (3/5)

Rusev sought revenge against Bobby Lashley in a Tables match next. The storyline behind this has been one of the more controversial angles the WWE has run in quite some time as it was revealed that Lana has been cheating on Rusev with "The Almighty" Bobby Lashley and, following their divorce, will be marrying the former ECW Champion. Its hard to say whether or not this storyline has been successful as critics seem to be pretty split, some loving the trashiness and others wondering why the WWE always seems to want to emasculate Rusev. The ratings have not been good, but that's nothing new, while, based on YouTube viewership, this is arguably the hottest storyline going. Regardless, I was very hopeful for this match as I'm a relatively big fan of both guys. Lashley has had some great bouts against Strowman and Balor this year, while Rusev has been, rather quietly, one of the top 10 in-ring performers in the company since his debut. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, this match was nothing special, a forgettable match that lacked the escalation of violence that Lashley and Strowman's Last Man Standing match and, because Rusev is actually the opposite of heartbroken over losing Lana, the feud doesn't even really make all that much sense. If he truly doesn't care about her, what are they even fighting over? People have been throwing the word "cuckold" around when describing this feud, but Rusev isn't fighting to "reclaim" Lana as much as he's just fighting to show he's tougher than Lashley - which makes it like 99.99% of every feud ever. Maybe this match would've had more drama if there were actually stakes, but at this point, with Rusev not even playing the brokenhearted, jealous ex-husband, there's really not all that much they can do to generate heat even with Lana's involvement. Also, its unclear why Lashley was given the W here when the crowd is rallying behind Rusev and this feud has run its course - which is actually a good thing because the sooner it wraps up, the sooner you can push both guys as potential Rumble winners or, barring that, challenging for Lesnar's title at the Rumble show itself. An underwheling match. (2/5)

Main event time - The Kabuki Warriors defending the Diva Tag Team Championships against Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair in a TLC Match. This one reminded me of the Cactus Jack & Kevin Sullivan/Maxx Payne/Nasty Boys wars of 94', matches that are almost painful to watch because of the level of violence and, even more than that, the shocking number of moments when it seems like the competitors are taking no precaution at all for their opponents' well-being. At various times in this match, its obvious that the adrenaline pumping through all four women is high and they want to pop this crowd with the craziest, nastiest TLC match possible. It was an incredibly valiant effort, but, even before Kairi Sane suffered a concussion (which could've happened at any of ten different moments, but I tend to believe occurred when she seemed to have gotten tripped up by the apron attempting to splash both Lynch and Flair through a table), it seemed like the match was just a non-stop stream of risky moves performed with just a touch too much zeal. In my reviews, I tend to criticize the lack of urgency displayed in many modern matches. This match had urgency, but it was arguably misguided. Even the commentators noted how few attempts there were to actually win the match - everyone was too busy just leveling each other with any weapon they could find. And while Charlotte Flair certainly deserves a ton of criticism for manhandling (and viciously slapping) a clearly out-of-it Kairi Sane towards the end of the match, its important to note that almost immediately after she powerbombed the concussed Sane through a table, Asuka german-suplexed her on the arena floor. Sure, the floor has padding, but that's still a nasty, nasty bump (not to mention getting powerbombed through a table from the ring apron later on). Later, Becky Lynch would get in on the action by hitting a pair of Becksploders on Asuka into a stack of ladders, a move that didn't look all that good, but because Lynch didn't get much elevation and was probably somewhat exhausted after 20 minutes of brutality, could've easily resulted in Asuka getting sliced by the edge of a ladder or worse. By the time the end came, the audience was clearly unsure how to react. Its notable too that, despite the violence, there was no "This is Awesome" chant at any point - which may have been because so much of the match took place on the floor in front of the announce tables and not in the ring, where the live crowd could actually appreciate what the competitors were doing. When considering what to rate a match like this, though, I must admit that there is a part of me that does enjoy the queasy feeling that a match like this will give you. Is there something sickening about those squash matches the Steiners used to have where they took insane liberties and nearly paralyzed guys? What about the aforementioned Cactus Jack/Nasty Boys matches from 94'? There are moments in those matches where guys are being struck in the back of the head with chairs and shovels without any warning at all. What about the stiffness of Vader and Stan Hansen and others? If one is going to criticize the women for working "unsafely," it's equally wrong to speak highly of the men who did the same (or worse) in the 80s and 90s in other promotions. This match was Flair, Lynch, and the Kabuki Warriors showing how unhinged and violent they could get - and I, for one, was impressed and sickened and bought in to the tension and suspense. At times, it genuinely felt like these women were shooting on each other - and when's the last time you saw that on a WWE PPV? I always say that the difference between a very good match and a truly great match is whether or not you could consider a "must see." This match was a "must see," for better or worse. (4/5)


With a Kwang Score of 2.64-out-of-5, TLC 2019 was a hit-and-miss show, with some serious highs (the main event was a "must see" to fans of old school extreme wrestling and Black/Murphy was a very, very good) but also some incredible lows (the Reigns/Corbin match was one of the worst matches of the year and Gallows and Anderson might be the most insufferable tag team the WWE has on its current roster). As this show is impossible to recommend as a whole and the main event will likely turn off any viewers who want their wrestling clean and sanitized, I'm gonna give this a rating of...

FINAL RATING - High Risk Maneuver