Final WWE PPV of the year

We’re going into the Tables Ladders Chairs event tonight and I’m pretty stoked for the show. December and January are traditionally slow months for wrestling but this year seems different. There are three highlights for me:

1. Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch have been feuding separately with the Kabuki warriors. Both women took them on individually and lost. Now they are teaming up. This is important because it means they are putting aside their own differences and possibly rebuilding their friendship.

2. The Fiend has kidnapped Daniel Bryan. We haven’t seen him on the show in weeks. Miz has been hunting for him even though the two men are not friends. Bray Wyatt threatened Miz’s family and even showed up at his home on his daughters baby monitor! If Miz can beat Wyatt maybe Fiend (Wyatt’s alternate personality) will release Bryan. Wyatt always talks about Fiend as a different person and is sometimes scared of him.

3. Roman Reigns and King Corbin are going head to head for leadership of the locker room. Both men think the other is unfit to lead. Even if Roman wins this fight (and he will) Corbin has the crown until September and will likely keep pushing Roman. Corbin is a white hot heel right now and the two men make this rivalry one that won’t easily go away.

And my wife is just as excited as I am. It’s an unexpectedly good wrap for the year. Latecomers can catch up on the past few weeks with WWE Main Event (the recap show) and watch Raw and Smackdown for the fallout if you don’t want the PPV.

PPV shows tend to be about spectacular matches and titles. This one is all about building the characters and stories. It’s a Christmas treat!

Okay, I'll bite. Why is it called "Tables Ladders Chairs"? Are those the weapons they will use? Please say yes.

Paeter wrote:Okay, I'll bite. Why is it called "Tables Ladders Chairs"? Are those the weapons they will use? Please say yes.

Yes.

In the 90's, they started featuring a ladder match where the only way to win was to bring a ladder into the ring, climb it, and retrieve the championship title belt (or whatever) hanging above the ring. The ladder was also regularly used as a weapon.

In the early 00's, they introduced the TLC match as a play on the phrase "Tender Loving Care." Now it meant "Tables, Ladders, and Chairs." It's usually a multi-person match, with several wrestlers or pairs of wrestlers hitting each other with chairs, jumping off of ladders, and throwing each other through tables in an effort to incapacitate their opponent(s) long enough so they themselves can climb up and get the McGuffin that wins the match.

Nice. Thanks for that.

Also, the Table match was introduced in the 00s, made popular by the Dudley Boyz tag team. The goal of a Table match is to be the first to put your opponent through a table. It doesn't have to be one of the folding tables available for the match. Putting an opponent through the announcer's table also counts as a win.

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So.... that PPV didn't go at all how I thought it would. The heels basically swept the night with the exception of The New Day retaining their championship. It means that all of the fueds and storylines set up before the event will continue. And in the current WWE environment that usually means until the next PPV which in this case is the Royal Rumble six weeks from now. We are on the Road to Wrestlemania, people!

Bray Wyatt defeated Miz cleanly and then The Fiend appeared on the jumbotron and Wyatt had a disturbing, one-sided conversation with the image. He brought out the Fiend's mallet to use on Miz but was foiled by the return of newly clean-shaven and uncharacteristically silent Daniel Bryan.

Becky and Charlotte lost to the Kabukis, though Kairi Sane suffered a legitimate concussion during the match. And Charlotte took a brutal chair shot that made her forget this is a PG program.....

King Corbin's royal momentum continues as his entire entourage ganged up to defeat Roman Reigns. We haven't seen a King of the Ring heel this hot since Jerry Lawler, and Roman needs the opponent's heat if he's going to go over as the top baby face. He's really only popular with the women and children.

Stories continue and I'm riveted.

I was going to ask what you thought of the show. I read one review that said the while thing took a nosedive after the first three matches. But I'm glad you got what you wanted out of it, more or less.

TLC has never been an A-list PPV, and this one was a solid B+ for me. But yes, I did get what I wanted, more or less. Now we're on the road to the Rumble. Miz and Daniel Bryan are establishing themselves as frenemies, and I'm hopeful this leads to Miz getting some spotlight as a babyface. With his reality show pulling in consistently good ratings, I'd really like to see him put over that way. I think he's got a good look and probably a decent portion of the star-quality his character thinks he has. LOL