As is now traditional, the WWE pay-per-view year ended with Tables, Ladders and Chairs. Misgivings about “it’s December so it’s TLC matches” booking aside, would the year’s swansong prove to be an effective one? We can look back thanks to WWE Home Video UK with their latest DVD/Blu-Ray release.
If anything the show is most remembered for what happened AFTER the evening’s Main Event, as Roman Reigns went postal on the Authority’s Triple H with a brutal post-match beat-down that belatedly gave WWE fans the Reigns character that they could get behind. That the preceding match between World Champion Sheamus and Reigns has been somewhat forgotten is a bit of a shame. Whilst expectations for it might not have been sky high, the two delivered on the night with a hard-hitting TLC match that was exciting all the way. If a show lives or dies on what it delivers in the main event, there can be no complaints about this one.
The undercard was a mixed bag, but on the whole an entertaining one. The opening three-way Ladder Match between New Day, The Uso’s and Lucha Dragons was the kind of high octane, fast paced, stunt filled match that fans have grown to love. The highlights are too far to mention, and in the light of Daniel Bryan’s recent concussion retirement could be judged to be a little bit too scary at times, but you simply have to applaud the effort put in by all concerned. That there were no serious injuries was both amazing and a blessing.
There was no way that Rusev and Ryback could follow that, although their big man battle wasn’t too bad. It didn’t help that Ryback was booked as the typically dumb WWE Babyface (falling for Lana’s injury ruses AGAIN) and was probably intended to be the “come down” for fans after the opener. Alberto Del Rio then clashed with Jack Swagger in a Chairs match for the United States Championship in a decent affair that had a surprising amount of heat considering who was involved. Again there was no faulting the effort from both men.
There were higher expectations for the Tag Team Tables Gauntlet pitting the Wyatt’s against the ECW Originals, although I didn’t think it amounted to all that much as a match. Although Tommy Dreamer is a lovely fella, his re-appearance as a “draw” on WWE TV in 2015 is perhaps more symptomatic of the WWE’s inability to push the new breed of stars properly than it is an indication of a comeback that was eagerly awaited. By this time the novelty of The Dudley’s return was wearing a bit thin too. Rhino’s involvement was a nice surprise, if only because he’s not been someone who has made periodic returns to the main roster over the past decade, but the match itself was average at best. As a late 90’s weapons fest on an ECW PPV it would have had more merit. At least the Wyatt’s won.
Expectations were even higher for the Intercontinental Title match pitting Kevin Owens against Dean Ambrose. The two had had a decent match at Survivor Series and this was, a little disappointingly more of the same. It was good, even very good, but just lacked that little spark that might have pushed it to being great. Still Ambrose’s win was a nice moment. Less successful was the Diva’s Title match between Charlotte and Paige. It was decent enough but suffered from the same problems that the division as a whole had at this time. No one was sure who was the real heel and who was the real face. Despite the “personal” nature of the feud (with that unnecessary crack earlier in the year about Reid Flair by Paige, in a cheap heat attempt that fell flat) Charlotte opened the match by trying to shake hands with her opponent and if this was supposed to be some kind of Ric Flair style mind-games, that didn’t work either. As ever with the Diva’s division, the effort was there but they were ham-strung by the booking.
Although the show had it’s “problems” (many of which constantly resurface on most WWE PPV’s) it was still a very good and entertaining show overall. It was bookended by two great matches, and the effort of the guys and girls on the undercard was such that even when there were faults to pick apart from the booking, you could never suggest you were being short-changed by the workers. Throw in a shocking post-main event ending and you end 2015 for the WWE on PPV on a high note indeed.
The DVD extra is the Kickoff match between Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch (which thankfully cuts out the excruciatingly, erm, bad Team B.A.D pre-match promo). It’s decent but not a patch on what the two could deliver if allowed to. The Blu-Ray adds some TV promos and matches from the build up to the show.
Photos courtesy: Fetch, Fremantle Media
Format reviewed: Blu-Ray
Thank you to our partners, WWEDVD.co.uk and Fetch for providing our review copy of WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs 2015, which is available on DVD & Blu-Ray in the UK on Monday 22nd February 2016. You can buy your copy from WWEDVD.co.uk now by clicking here.
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