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While TLC may not go down as the best pay-per-view of the year, the event undoubtedly had at least a little something for everyone. With a whopping ten matches, the WWE pay-per-view was heavy on gimmick bouts and while that concept has the tendency to quickly get stale, TLC will ultimately be remembered as the host of one of the greatest matches in women's wrestling history.
Asuka, Charlotte Flair, and Becky Lynch came together for the first ever Women's Triple Threat TLC Match, which far exceeded expectations and left wrestling fans in complete and utter awe.
There were some of wrestling's biggest Superstars: Ronda Rousey was successful in her RAW Women's Championship defence and the new environmentally friendly WWE Champion Daniel Bryan, put on a fantastic bout against AJ Styles.
There were surprising championship changes (Asuka and Dean Ambrose) and rekindled feuds (Becky Lynch vs Charlotte vs Ronda Rousey). Even worlds collided as SmackDown vs RAW feuds were rekindled. Perhaps most interestingly, the path forward toward WWE's biggest pay-per-views, Royal Rumble and WrestleMania, began to materialize.
So, sit back, relax, and strap it down as we take you through the best, worst, and downright ugliest WWE TLC moments with a special edition of The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly.
The Good - Natalya Gets Redemption
The wrestling world was saddened and shocked by the passing of one of the most beloved performers in tag team wrestling history when Jim 'The Anvil' Neidhart passed away this past August. As much as we all mourned The Anvil's passing, our tears failed in comparison to Natalya Neidhart's, who displayed the love she had for her father and her grief on the Total Divas Season Eight Finale. Natalya clearly adored her father and as that became visibly evident, our collective hearts broke along with her's.
While Stephanie McMahon and Natalya's WWE family would come to mourn Jim Neidhart's passing at Natalya's side, the company usually doesn't let a lucrative opportunity slip their grasp. With the wound of Neidhart's passing still very much fresh, the WWE chose to capitalize on his untimely death with a questionable angle between Natalya and the Riott Squad.
Ruby Riott, the trio's evil leader, disrespected the Neidhart Family. She mocked Natalya and tore up the glasses Jim Neidhart famously wore as one half of the legendary Hart Foundation tag team. Of course, this drew Natalya's ire and the feud between her and the unscrupulous Riott Squad only intensified from there leading up to a Tables Match at TLC.
The match was particularly difficult to predict. Natalya, ever the professional, has made a career at putting talent over, but would the WWE really allow the Riott Squad to get away with disrespecting one of its own and in such brash unapologetic fashion?
Natalya would enter the Tables Match wearing her late father's famous jacket in tribute, and she wouldn't look back. It was clear: from beginning to end, this one was for Jim Neidhart. The Calgary native would proceed to put each member of The Riott Squad through a table one by one by one.
In particularly satisfying fashion, Ruby Riott was put through a table after she taunted Natalya with the following, "He's [Jim Neidhart] ashamed of you Natty." Natalya eventually responded with choice words of her own, "You want to mess with my family, b*tch?" She then viciously put Riott where she belonged to taste victory and sweet sweet redemption.
As she pointed to the sky in tribute, it was difficult not to shed a tear and maybe even say a prayer for big Jim and the Neidhart family.
Long-time friend Beth Phoenix summed it up best with the following tweet:
The Good - Women's Triple Threat TLC Match
If ever there was such a thing as an impeccable match, wrestling fans may have seen one to close the show at TLC. Charlotte Flair, Asuka, and SmackDown Women's Champion Becky Lynch once again set out to make history by competing in the first ever Women's Triple Threat TLC Match and once again the woman did not disappoint. Despite carrying history's heavy burden, the match surpassed even the loftiest expectations.
The bout was outstanding. To sum it up with mere words, if violence can be made into art, Asuka, Flair, and Lynch succeeded in bringing the highest of arts to the WWE Universe. The brutality was endless and wonderful.
As Becky Lynch was hit in the face with a table, fans bristled, hoping the most beloved female Superstar in the WWE would survive such brutality. She would and despite the sickening thud her head made when hitting the arena floor, Lynch continued the bout unhindered.
The exquisitely painful artform continued like a symphony playing its way to a crescendo. Lynch was the unfortunate recipient of a brutal Asuka powerbomb onto the cold steel of an unforgiving ladder, but it was just the beginning, just a taste of what these women would come to endure.
Then it was Charlotte who was next christened by violence, as she was put through a wooden table.
Becky Lynch did not forget the brutality she suffered at Asuka's hands this past week on SmackDown Live and gave her receipt after receipt, as she beat The Empress of Tomorrow endlessly with a steel chair.
Then for good measure, Lynch would put best friend turned arch nemesis, Charlotte Flair, through a table, with a terrifying top rope splash. As Lynch's body hit Charlotte's midsection with the power of an NFL style collision, Charlotte winced and screamed in agony, "Oh God, Oh God."
The violence would not cease. Asuka would remember her expertise in the kendo stick and utilize the weapon against both Lynch and Flair, as their bodies bent from the repeated stiff and painful blows.
Charlotte would gain her revenge; however, as she spared Asuka through a ringside barricade. The crowd, unable to contain itself, collectively gasped aloud. Charlotte, now having the clear upper hand, turned her attention to her former bestie Becky Lynch, "The Man always bows to The Queen."
Charlotte then placed her ex-best friend across the table with the precision of a master surgeon and then violently slammed her own body through Lynch and through the table.
If such a show could be stolen, only Ronda Rousey could do it. As Charlotte and Lynch fought to climb the ladder to victory, the crowd roared as Rousey made her way to the ring. The self-proclaimed Baddest Woman On The Planet would not forget the Survivor Series beating she suffered at the hands of Charlotte Flair, nor would she forget Becky Lynch attacking her backstage at the RAW before wrestling's fall classic.
With a simple tip of the ladder, Rousey would gain her revenge and change the entire WWE landscape in the process. With Lynch and Flair now incapacitated, Asuka climbed the ladder and for the first time on the main roster became a world champion.
The Good - The New Daniel Bryan
Before tonight's TLC pay-per-view, WWE Champion Daniel Bryan appeared on WWE Now. He's clearly lost whatever grip on sanity he once had and it's a wonderful Bob Backlund-esque escapade to behold.
Bryan, now somewhere between environmentalist and progressive cult leader, professed a great deal of respect for his WWE Championship predecessor AJ Styles, but then things took a turn for the bizarre. While Bryan has respect for Styles as a wrestler, he doesn't respect him as a human being. Bryan then went on a several minute rant about inorganic cotton, corporate shilling, and tee shirt sales.
Bryan stated, "Make no mistake, I need this championship to build my platform that consumerism needs to die." He then vowed to alter the WWE Championship belt from leather to something more sustainable and environmentally friendly.
While the new Daniel Bryan character is exceptionally entertaining, witty, and delightfully evil, the best news for wrestling fans is that he is still a superb in-ring performer. He and Styles put on a wonderful back and forth technical marvel that held the audience's attention exceptionally well.
Ultimately, Bryan won the bout with a small package leaving fans wondering what that new WWE Championship will look like now that it is destined to become environmentally friendly.
The Bad - Dean Ambrose vs Seth Rollins
Who would have ever guessed that WWE Creative could squander what should have been a feud of the year candidate? Forged in the brotherhood of The Shield, Ambrose and Rollins were attached by a familial-like bond, but despite Rollins' change in character, Ambrose could never quite accept that The Architect had turned a new leaf.
Instead, Ambrose was focused at the betrayal he suffered at Rollins' hands all those years ago. The seed was planted and Ambrose would come to harvest.
On a tragic evening where Roman Reigns announced his battle with leukemia, the duo would win RAW tag team gold, but the feel-good moment would be short-lived. In shocking fashion, Dean Ambrose turned heel on Seth Rollins, attacking him on what already was one of the most upsetting nights of his life.
Brothers would go to war, as two of WWE's most popular wrestlers were set to clash, yet somehow someway WWE would squander the opportunity for wrestling gold.
After a while things just became silly. Instead of being a violent lunatic hellbent on destroying Seth Rollins, Ambrose became a germaphobe and inexplicable fashion nothing more than a cheap imitation of Batman's nemesis Bane. Things only went downhill from there.
As Ambrose stood toe to toe with Rollins tonight, gone was the Bane mask. In his seemingly endless quest to find himself, Ambrose ditched Bane for Backstreet. As he disrobed, Ambrose looked eerily like a member of a 1990s boy band, complete with silver neck chain.
The match made even less sense. Despite these two having such disdain for one another, the bout began slowly and when it intensified it featured high spots and feats of stunning athleticism, as opposed to the brawl fans expected and desired. The San Jose crowd began to turn on the two once highly popular wrestlers as a "This is boring chant" permeated throughout the arena.
Rollins suffered a kayfabe knee injury and at times appeared to favor his knee, but as he has done in the past also wrestled as if there was no injury whatsoever. The match was so terrible that when Rollins went outside the ring to stop Dean Ambrose from being counted out, the crowd booed. Yes, the dreaded count out finish was preferred to this epic failure.
Ultimately Dean Ambrose scored the pinfall and the Intercontinental Championship in the process, which hearkens back memories of Ambrose's uneventful Shield run with the United States Championship. No one cared about the championship then and if tonight's TLC bout is any indication, no one will care now either.
The Ugly - The Baron Corbin Angle
I'm ecstatic that Baron Corbin is no longer the RAW GM and you should be too. Despite a promising start, RAW was stagnant, stale, and subpar with Corbin at the helm. Ratings were abysmal and he quickly became the face of the brand's steep decline.
I do take issue; however, with the way Corbin was stripped of his GM privileges. First, the returning Braun Strowman made his way to the ring. Strowman, who recently underwent elbow surgery, had his arm in a sling and held it close to his side. While Corbin had been optimistic that Strowman wouldn't show up at all, Strowman reminded the Constable that a TLC Match didn't really have rules and that he, in turn, could utilize any form of assistance he desired.
Strowman, who is supposed to be the babyface, then called on a multitude of RAW Superstars including Finn Balor, Bobby Roode, Chad Gable, and Apollo Crews to aid him in his quest to destroy Corbin. Even Heath Slater, Corbin's personally appointed referee, turned on the RAW GM.
The Superstars surrounded the ring armed with chairs to boot, but wisely Corbin was able to make his escape, only to be confronted by former GM Kurt Angle. Angle attacked Corbin and ushered him back into the chaos where the good guys proceeded to pummel him.
The Superstars took turns assaulting Corbin until he was incapacitated enough for Strowman to cover him for the pinfall. Just like that, the Baron Corbin era was over.
The way the Corbin era ended leaves a bad taste in the mouth. The angle looked a bit too much like extreme bullying for my taste and I wasn't comfortable with the babyfaces teaming in such a fashion, especially in light of WWE's sound anti-bullying advocacy. The image of Corbin attempting to escape his adversaries, who utilized weapons to even the proverbial score, was a bit much, especially in the era of school violence.
Yes, Corbin has been a bully and some may argue that he received his just consequence, however, the entire scene sends the wrong message: that it's OK for the good guys, for heroes, to rally with weapons to conquer someone they don't necessarily like.
Strowman was coming off an injury; but, the whole endeavor makes him look weak, not like the intimidating monster he is supposed to be. It would have been better for Strowman to throw one punch or one boot and pin Corbin cleanly, but instead, the gang violence leaves me feeling a bit uneasy and if at all possible, generates some amount of sympathy toward Corbin. This was undoubtedly unintended, we hope.
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