WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs 2016 PPV Review

Introduction: I was looking forward to this PPV going in despite the very short time they had to build it, maybe I expected just a little bit more but it was still a pretty good show. The show did feel a bit underwhelming and flat at times, a pretty poor crowd didn't help that but the quality of wrestling you can't really criticise. Dolph and Miz had a really good ladder match, Styles and Ambrose had a war of a main event and we got cool title changes and pretty good stuff all round on the undercard. It's probably on par with the previous two SmackDown exclusive PPVs, it's not a PPV that's going to live that long in memory but the quality was solid and not a bad show by any means.

Styles Retains Thanks To Ellsworth As SmackDown Produces Good Again

Kickoff: 10-Man Tag Team Match: American Alpha, The Hype Bros & Apollo Crews vs. The Ascension, The Vaudevillains & Curt Hawkins: On the kickoff show we got a random

thrown together ten-man tag. This was the kind of thing you'd see on SmackDown, it was a standard kickoff match and just something thrown together to kill time on the kickoff show. As I said this match wouldn't look out of place on TV so nothing really to ride home about here. American Alpha did pick up the win for their side, hopefully they're headed for bigger and better things though than being in random multi-man tags on a kickoff show.Match Rating: **1/4

WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match: Heath Slater & Rhyno (c) vs. The Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt & Randy Orton): To kick off the PPV we got Slater and Rhyno defending the SmackDown Tag Titles against Bray and Orton. This was a bang average tag match, didn't last very long and although it wasn't bad the match itself was not one to remember. But I don't think anyone expected a classic or anything from this match, what we all expected and what I personally wanted

we got with Bray and Orton winning the titles. The finish to the match was really cool with Bray's spider walk stopping Rhyno dead in his tracks allowing Orton to hit the RKO for the win. So far they've done this story between Bray and Orton perfectly, I'm really enjoying this alliance and giving them the titles here was another step in the right direction. Bray and Orton handing Harper their championship belts after the match was cool as they rewarded Harper for sacrificing himself for Orton during the match and putting over that Harper is still an important member of this group. Orton and Bray are really over right now, like babyfaces and it's hard to try get people to boo them when it's this cool seeing them together. So as I said a forgettable match but Orton and Bray winning was the way to go.Match Rating: **1/4

No Disqualification Match: Nikki Bella vs. Carmella: Up next Nikki Bella faced Carmella in a No DQ match. I was a little underwhelmed by this match if I'm honest, it wasn't bad but I felt the

finish was a little flat and could've been done better. They looked to use the No DQ stipulation with Carmella bringing in a kendo stick and Nikki was bringing out some strong style attacks so the match was going fine but the finish was off for me. Nikki introduced a fire extinguisher and sprayed Carmella with it for what seemed like an absolute age

before hitting the new version of the rack attack for the win. Not only did I feel like Carmella should've won since Nikki already beat her at No Mercy but I felt Carmella lost in pretty bad style too and this match won't help her moving forward. She cut a promo after the match accusing Natalya of attacking Nikki at Survivor Series so now they'll probably drag out a storyline where Natalya denies it before eventually turning on Nikki. What would've been better I think is if Natalya just revealed herself as the attacker here and with the No DQ stipulation attack Nikki allowing Carmella to win. So all in all not quite the match I hoped for and a finish that didn't sit all that well with me.Prediction: **1/4

Ladder Match for the Intercontinental Championship: The Miz (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler: Up next was the Intercontinental Title Ladder Match with Miz defending against Ziggler. This match was really good, these days it's a guarantee every Miz and Ziggler match will be very good. Maybe I expected a little more from it, I thought this would be the best of the bunch in the series of great matches they've been having for the past few months but I wouldn't say it was. I'd say the match at No Mercy was better than this but not discounting this match, it was still damn good. They used the ladders on each other in pretty brutal fashion

even if they didn't quite reach the level I thought they would. Miz won it without assistance and cut a promo after the match dedicating the win to Daniel Bryan. That storyline certainly seems to be heading towards something big, hopefully something really awesome comes of it but this has been a fantastic feud between Miz and Dolph and despite this match not quite hitting the heights I had in mind it was still a really good match to end the feud on.Match Rating: ***1/2

Chairs Match: Baron Corbin vs. Kalisto: Up next Corbin and Kalisto went one on one with a chairs match. This match was fine for what it was, they did some pretty cool stuff with the

chair and it was actually maybe even a little bit better than I expected. As I said they done some cool, painful looking spots with the chair and credit to them because they really tried and I think successfully made the stipulation work for them. They tried hard to get Kalisto over despite Corbin eventually winning, there were a few occasions where I thought he might have the match won. But in the end Corbin went over and that's what needed to happen, swatting Kalisto out the air with the chair leading to the end of days was also a pretty cool finish. So the right guy went over here in a good match for what it was, can't complain.Match Rating: **3/4

Tables Match for the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship: Becky Lynch (c) vs. Alexa Bliss: Up next Becky defended the SmackDown Women's Title in a Tables Match against Alexa. This match was fine, it wasn't anything spectacular and maybe again like the Miz and Ziggler match I perhaps expected just a little bit more. But again I couldn't complain as it was fine for what it was but it did have its lulls and I'm not sure if the tables stipulation helped them here, perhaps they would've had a better match if it was just a regular singles. The finish though came out of nowhere when Alexa powerbombed Becky through a table on the outside to become champion. I was happy with that, I think Alexa has been a really good heel since coming up to the main roster and really stood out in the SmackDown Women's division. Even though I predicted Becky I wasn't surprised to see Alexa win, it's not a bad way for the babyface to lose and drop the title not having to submit or take a pin. I'm looking forward to see where they go with Alexa as champion, I'd like to see her have a lengthy reign including rematches with Becky as well as defences against the likes of Nikki, maybe Naomi. So not a bad match, slightly underwhelming but was pleased with the result.Match Rating: **3/4

Tables, Ladders & Chairs Match for the WWE World Championship: AJ Styles (c) vs. Dean Ambrose: Finally in the main event Styles defended the WWE World Title in a TLC Match against

Ambrose. This was a very good main event as I expected it to be. It was Dean's style of match, the kind that allowed him to get crazy and creative. And as far as AJ goes he just never lets us down, every big marquee PPV match he's been in since coming to WWE have all been at least great and it is just further proof to me that's he's the best in the business today. There were some cool stand out spots, AJ's springboard spinning splash to the outside through a table was probably the highlight. Both guys really slugged it out and it was a damn good fight however the ending did leave a bad taste in the mouth. As expected James Ellsworth came out and ended up turning on Ambrose pushing him off the ladder allowing AJ to retain. It's just dumb to me, here are AJ Styles and Dean Ambrose main eventing a PPV for the world title in a TLC Match and yet the big story is about this James Ellsworth guy who should've gone away a long time ago. I don't get the point of an Ellsworth heel turn either, if you're going to insist on using him do what he's good at, being a sympathetic comedy character. I can only hope bigger things are on the horizon for AJ as champion, maybe a dream match with Undertaker at the Rumble, as for Ambrose he's now left to feud with Ellsworth, poor guy.

So a damn good main event but the finish ended this show on a bit of a downer.Match Rating: ***3/4

Overall Thoughts: This show was far from perfect, some questionable booking and slightly lacklustre at times but all in all you have to say it was another solid show from the blue brand.

Overall Rating: 7/10