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Judging by the response on social media, the last WWE PPV of the decade - TLC 2019 - was a pretty divisive event. Personally, I liked it. There was nothing there that changed the narrative of any stories (save for one moment I'll mention in a bit), but the show was loaded with great matches - and even the bad ones were pretty good. For the most part. No title changes, no debuts, no returns (well.... again... let me get to that), nothing of the sort.
Just a pretty good B+ show all around. Even the people at ringside eating KFC couldn't put a damper on things.
So, let's take a look at five things that were actually pretty darn great about tonight's show. Oh, and... you know... spoilers...
#5 The Humberto Carrillo/Andrade pre-show match
I'm still not sold on Humberto Carrillo as a "main roster" talent yet (if that phrase even means anything anymore) but, so far, he's not doing so bad. Andrade, on the other hand - as far as I'm concerned - could have a great match with a bag of cold takeout Chinese food. Well, at least a pretty good one. Depends on if the bag of Chinese food knows how to do a hurricanrana or not.
NOT THE POINT. CONTINUING.
The match itself was a joy to watch, with both Superstars putting on a performance worthy of being on the actual show itself. What was even more intriguing, however, was the contuining story of the rift between Andrade and his business manager, Zelina Vega. This feels a little different from the usual "heel splits from their manager" angle.
Neither Andrade or Vega have shown any babyface tendancies over the past few weeks, despite this story slowly being rolled out. Normally, a heel wrestler/manager tandem splits up with one or the other switching morality alignments. Of course, nothing is concrete nor finished here, but it was a moment that actually moved a story along, so it's worth mentioning.
#4 Kofi Kingston shines in the New Day vs Revival ladder match
Kofi Kingston has had, without argument, an amazing 2019. He won the WWE Championship at Wrestlemania - when have you done that? - and managed to hold on to it for months before relinquishing it. Yes, he lost it in depressing fashion, but when you consider the year he had before that and since, that's not really so bad.
Carrying the SmackDown Tag Team Championship isn't much of a consolation prize compared to the WWE Championship, but it's still impressive. On top of that, The New Day retained their belts in one banger of a ladder match against The Revival.
And it was Kofi who held the belts up high at the end of the match. Well... OK... not exactly high... those things are heavy. But, he held them.
Now, we're six weeks away from the Royal Rumble, a PPV and match that Kofi particularly shines in (in fact, winning the title at this show in 2019 as opposed to WrestleMania would have almost been more poetic). Kofi might not be within earshot of either world title anytime soon (if ever again) but his future still looks bright on the WWE roster.
#3 The Women's Tag Team Championship match
I want to start this entry out by saying that I thought that this was a great match to end the night on. While all four performers in this match are amazing, Becky Lynch should be selling out arenas by her name alone, just as Steve Austin did back in The Day aka The Attitude Era aka a long time ago aka... er... OK, you get the idea. The fact that she isn't is no fault of hers, the WWE's or even the audience's - she'll get there.
In fact, all four of these women are more than talented enough to be in the main event. So, when I put this entry at #3, it's not a knock on them. It's actually a testament to the people involved in the next two entries.
But enough about those dudes. Let's talk about how awesome these women were tonight.
CBSSports.com spoke of "high spot fatigue" in their review of the show, and they weren't wrong. But, I think that goes a long way towards how entertaining a match these four performers put on.
It's not just the "HOLY CRAP THAT WAS AMAZING" moments that made this match fun, but the "huh... that was pretty cool" moments, too. Like Becky being tied to the ladder and fighting her way out.
This match may be #3 on our list, but it's #1 in our hearts.
#2 The Miz's promo before his match with Bray Wyatt
At the time of this writing... ah man, I wish WWE had a video of this up on their YouTube channel. But, The Miz's backstage promo earlier in the night may have been - and I know this gets said about a lot of the promos The Miz has done over the years - the best of his career. It wasn't just good - it was astonishing.
I'm reminded of his Talking Smack promo a couple years ago, when Daniel Bryan (shut up, I'm getting to that) told him that he "wrestled like a coward." That was certainly based in reality, but - oddly enough - it was kind of hard to relate to it.
And while the majority of us haven't had to defend our families from a creepy TV Kid's Show host, we still know what it's like to worry about them.
The Miz didn't need this match to be a convincing babyface - he had already done that months ago - but this promo and this match (more on that in a moment) showed that he isn't a one-trick "bad guy" pony.
And we haven't even gotten into their match yet...
#1 This should have been the main event
Again, don't get me wrong - the Women's Tag Team Championship match was an awesome main event. I'm only putting this at #1 because this story is more compelling than, well... sorry, WWE haters... but this is more interesting than anything else in wrestling right now.
Oh, man, there go all my Twitter followers.
Did anybody think we'd actually see "Firefly Fun House" Bray Wyatt in the ring? I didn't, and it's my job to think of stuff like this. Not only did the "Fun House" version of Wyatt win the match, but he showed himself as a threat - and a worthy holder of the Universal Championship - as much as The Fiend is.
"Fun House" Bray isn't just the Bruce Banner to The Fiend's Hulk - he's his own threat. And that's what makes him compelling. This means that with any match we see with either version of Wyatt... we can't expect anything.
And that doesn't even begin to discuss the return of Daniel Bryan - but not his hair - as well as the "Yes Movement".
Considering the Main Event ended with King Corbin and Roman Reigns and all their buddies fighting all across the arena, this really should have been the main event. Imagine Bryan - short hair and all - on the turnbuckles leading a "Yes!" chant as the show ended?
