WWE TLC 2018: 9 winners and losers

It was one of the better showings from WWE in recent times, as they were able to put together a pretty decent TLC PPV (as compared to the recent Raw and SmackDown Live editions).

The matches were high quality, with the icing on the cake being the TLC match for the SmackDown women's title between Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, and Asuka.

There were some shocks as well, with Drew McIntyre picking up his 2nd loss in three weeks amongst other things, and the segment involving Braun Strowman and Baron Corbin which involved multiple stars coming to the ring in aid of Braun was also a great segment.

Either way, there are some wrestlers who left the PPV with their heads high, while there are others who would be slightly iffy about what the future holds.

With that in mind, lets run through the winners and losers from the year's last PPV.

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Winners

#1 Dean Ambrose

Dean Ambrose is now the new WWE Intercontinental Champion

Dean Ambrose would be pretty satisfied with how the PPV has gone, as it justifies his switch from being a babyface to the heel character he embodies right now. Dean and Seth Rollins put together a great match, and you could see that both had left it all on the table when the match was over.

Going forward, The Lunatic would most likely have a rematch against The Architect, after which in all probability Seth would make a move towards the main event, as there's a high probability that Seth would end up facing Brock Lesnar for the WWE Universal title at WrestleMania 35.

On Dean's part, it would be interesting to see how his character evolves from this, as he has certainly gotten a boost by turning heel.

#2 Finn Balor

Finn Balor beat Drew McIntyre with a little help from Dolph Ziggler

Many expected Finn Balor to just be fodder for drew McIntyre before he moves on to bigger and better things. Many also expected Finn to just get dominated by Drew, as it was suspected to be nothing more than an exercise to put Drew over. What no one did expect was Finn Balor beating Drew McIntyre at TLC.

After a long time, Finn has been able to put together something of note, it would be interesting to see what's next in store for Balor, and whether this match would have further implications or not.

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#3 The Bar

The Bar are now the undisputed tag team champions of SmackDown

This is probably the most significant victory for The Bar because it cements them firmly at the top of the ladder, above all the other tag teams on SmackDown.

They didn't have much momentum heading into the match, but when it counts, Sheamus and Cesaro were able to pull through and get the win which makes them the undisputed champions of SmackDown.

#4 Braun Strowman and the Raw locker room

Braun Strowman brought out "some help" to beat Baron

It was almost inevitable that Braun Strowman was going to get one over Baron Corbin. What was not sure was how he would do that. The execution was superb from WWE, as many stars came out to the ring and helped Braun win the match.

It was perfect storytelling, where WWE portrayed how everyone in the roster was sick and tired of Baron and wanted him gone.

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#5 Asuka

Asuka was finally able to redeem herself with the SmackDown women's title

Something that should have happened at WrestleMania finally did happen as Asuka was able to win the SmackDown women's championship by beating both Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair (with a little help from Ronda Rousey).

Whatever may have been the circumstances, this was overdue, and not many would fault Asuka getting a shot at being the SmackDown women's champion.

Losers

#1 Drew McIntyre

Drew McIntyre's main event run might have to wait a bit longer

This one is going to hurt a little because Drew McIntyre has been touted (and rightly so) by many to be the next face of the company, but it seems as if in the last one month WWE has given clear signals that maybe there is still some time left before they pull the trigger on The Scottish Psychopath.

The feud that was supposed to be a practice to put Drew over has seen him get pinned twice in three weeks.

Drew might have to wait a bit longer to get that main event run.

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#2 Baron Corbin

Baron Corbin will finally have to relinquish his duties as the GM-Elect

This was long overdue, Baron Corbin has gotten on the nerves of almost everyone, and it was about time he relinquished his powers as the GM-Elect, and gets back to the roster.

Baron was beaten up by many stars from the roster, as they helped Braun take the win. Not a good night for the general manager (ex?).

#3 Nia Jax

Despite generating all that heat, it would be a tad disappointing for Nia to lose out on the title so easy

It was a disappointing outing for Nia Jax. She was beaten clean by Ronda Rousey in their match, and it just seemed that despite all the heat generated by her in the preceding weeks to the PPV, she was not really over with the fans.

To add to the misery, she was confronted and beaten up by Becky Lynch as well. Not a good night for Nia.

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#4 Bobby Lashley

Ending up on the pre-show was disappointing

Booked on the pre-show, and then getting beaten clean by Elias. Whatever aspirations Bobby Lashley had of becoming the Universal Champion one day are going up in smoke, one by one.

He's been underwhelming at best as a heel, and really needs to seriously think about how he wants to approach his character next.