WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs 2016 Review

The Smackdown Live brand had a successful night tonight with a very entertaining TLC event. The show consisted of two major title changes and a fantastic main event and IC title match. Here is my match-by-match review of the show:

Kickoff: American Alpha, The Hype Bros, and Apollo Crews defeated The Ascension, The Vaudevillains, and Curt Hawkins at 12:03: The kickoff match here was pretty much the same match we've seen a billion other times, but it was fun nonetheless. Mojo Rawley was the star of this match, showcasing his new "Hammer Time" signature maneuver while riling up the fans. There was a fun sequence when everybody in the match threw each other out of the ring one-by-one. The finish came when American Alpha hit Grand Amplitude onto Aiden English for the three count. (**3/4)

1. Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton defeated Heath Slater and Rhyno to win the SmackDown Tag Team Championship at 5:53: This was a short match, but it was very crisp with some good spots. Late in the match, Orton reversed a springboard dive from Slater with an awesome powerslam. The finish came when Wyatt distracted Rhyno with his creepy back bridge walk, allowing Orton to slide in and hit the RKO to win the tag titles. Afterwards, Orton showed respect to Luke Harper by letting him hold the belts. I don't know exactly where they are going with this, but if they're planning to break them up soon, I would scrap those plans and let this play out. This is the best stuff they've done with The Wyatts and Orton in years, and the group is really clicking extremely well. Also, congratulations to Bray Wyatt for his first championship win in the WWE. (**1/2)

2. Nikki Bella defeated Carmella in a No DQ match: Though this was the worst match of the night, I wouldn't call it a complete disaster. Basically, this consisted of Nikki and Carmella hitting a Kendo Stick at each other over and over again, until Nikki started extinguishing Carmella with a Fire Extinguisher and hit her with the TKO for the win. After the match, Carmella got on the mic and revealed that Natalya was the one who attacked Nikki at Survivor Series. I found this reveal to be sudden and out of the blue, considering everyone in WWE ignored that this angle existed for weeks. Also, I don't understand how Carmella could possibly have known Nattie was the culprit, as she has no established relationship with her and wasn't backstage for the scene. (*3/4)

3. The Miz defeated Dolph Ziggler in a Ladder match to retain the Intercontinental Championship at 25:10: Being the final match of a tremendously told story, this delivered. The match wasn't quite as good as their classic at No Mercy, but it was still pretty great nonetheless. Neither man killed themselves or put their bodies at an especially high risk, but they sold tremendously and made each big spot count. The first portion of the match consisted of Miz dominating Ziggler's leg, putting him in a Figure Four with a Ladder attached. Ziggler sold this to a large degree, failing to hit a Superkick because of the damage inflicted. Miz hit a Skull Crushing Finale onto the Ladder and began to climb until Ziggler pushed him off. Miz, landing badly on his leg, writhed in pain on the floor as Ziggler went to climb the ladder. Miz recovered in time to intercept and hit Ziggler with his Slingshot Powerbomb onto a ladder. The finish came when after both men climbed the ladder, Miz repeatedly hit Ziggler in the nuts. Miz grabbed the belt to retain his championship. Afterwards, Miz cut a promo and mocked GM Daniel Bryan. This was an awesome match with a dramatic finish, but I still wonder where Ziggler goes from here now that he's lost again. (****1/4)

4. Baron Corbin defeated Kalisto in a Chairs match at 12:51: I hope that this match will silence some of Corbin's critics, as I thought he did an especially tremendous job telling a story in this match. With this being a Chairs match, a dumb concept to begin with, the action here was quite good. I'd even call this the best Chairs match ever, though admittedly that doesn't mean much. The best part of the match was when Corbin wrapped his shirt around Kalisto's neck and swung him around ringside. In the later portions of the match, Kalisto hit Corbin with a Seated Senton onto a bunch of chairs in the seated positioning, which looked super painful. As Kalisto jumped off the top rope, Corbin intercepted by throwing a chair in his face, followed by the End of Days for the win. I see great potential in Baron Corbin, and hopefully WWE capitalizes off of his uniqueness sooner rather than later. (***1/2)

5. Alexa Bliss defeated Becky Lynch in a Tables match to win the Smackdown Women's Championship at 15:16: The women having trouble with tables seems to be a common theme in the WWE lately, as both women struggled maneuvering the tables around. Bliss and Becky worked hard, but the crowd was largely dead for this one. In fact, they weren't very loud for most of the show. Despite the women having some initial trouble with the tables, the match picked up in the last five minutes. Lynch and Becky made clever use of the tables, with many false finishes occurring due to the women avoiding crashing through.  The finish came when Bliss rolled through and Powerbombed Lynch through a table to win her first championship. WWE's flip-flopping of their mid-card titles seems to be a common theme lately, as for a while they were very disciplined regarding this. But with ratings sagging, I understand their decision to shake things up a little bit. Still, I don't agree with this individual decision. I'm a big supporter of Bliss, and I think that she's stepped up big-time, but this was questionable booking. Lynch is the most popular woman on Smackdown and her momentum being halted like this isn't for the best. (**3/4)

6. AJ Styles defeated Dean Ambrose in a TLC match to retain the WWE World Championship at 30:50: As I expected, this match stole the show. It started out hot and ended even hotter. It began with both men brawling around the arena, with Ambrose getting most of the offense. Back at ringside, Styles recovered with a mid-air dropkick onto Ambrose. About ten minutes in, Ambrose hit Styles with a modified Suplex throw onto a stack of chairs, which elicited an explicit response from the fans. This spot was also significant in that it caused AJ Styles' tights to rip right in the butt cheek. At ringside, Ambrose stacked a ladder on top of the announcer's table, laid Styles down onto an adjacent one, and dove off the ladder onto Styles, breaking the table. Styles recovered and beat Ambrose onto a ringside table, where he hit a wicked Springboard 450 Splash through the table. This was the spot of the night. As Styles was about to climb the ladder to retain the title, James Ellsworth showed up in a neck brace to distract him. This gave Ambrose time to recover, where he hit Dirty Deeds onto Styles on the ringside steps. The fans started cheering loudly as Ambrose climbed the ladder, but started cheering louder when Ellsworth tipped over the ladder, letting Ambrose fall through two tables outside the ring. Styles then grabbed the title as Ellsworth cheered him on. This was an excellent match with a fun twist at the end. I'm a fan of Ellsworth, but I admit he was starting to overstay his welcome. However, this shift in character is exactly what Ellsworth needed to help him stay fresh for a little longer. This match exceeded my very high expectations, and was a fitting blowoff to a fun feud. (****1/2)

Overall, this was a great show with some fantastic matches. Unlike what the TLC PPV has been in the past, this wasn't overkill as they saved all the big spots for the main event and mainly focused on storytelling rather than getting "This Is Awesome" chants. (8/10)