What we learned from WWE TLC 2015

WWE has been floundering of late. Fans have been furious and ratings have been down. In light of all of this, Sunday night’s TLC pay-per-view in Boston was exactly what the doctor ordered.

Lots of mayhem, lots of no-nonsense pro wrestling and a supremely intriguing twist at the end added up to a thoroughly enjoyable card that far exceeded all expectations.

Will this drum up renewed interest in RAW on Monday night? That remains to be seen, but the road to WrestleMania unofficially starts now.

Read on to find the full results from TLC and everything we learned as a result of Sunday night’s madness.

In a last-minute addition to the card, Becky and Sasha got the Kickoff Show match to start the night on the right track. After a great match that the crowd was into throughout, Sasha locked on the Banks Statement for the submission victory.

What we learned: The WWE Divas division is now capable of delivering great singles matches without an abundance of storyline nonsense or the title needing to be at stake.

The Boston crowd seemed to be very into the match and the big pop for Sasha’s win proves WWE is onto something good with her. Her slow burn of an ascent will be well worth the payoff when she finally earns that Divas Championship.

In what looked like the best match of the night on paper, these three teams wasted no time stealing the show. A brilliant, glorious train wreck of a match was highlighted by one of the craziest moves ever.

In the end, the numbers game proved to be the deciding factor, as Xavier Woods (sitting in on commentary during the match) reminded the announce team that this was a no-disqualification match. He tossed a trombone at Kalisto, who was near victory, allowing Kofi Kingston to climb the ladder and grab the tag titles to retain.

What we learned: This was a spotlight match for Lucha Dragons, who took the ball and ran with it ... and then some. Both Kalisto and Sin Cara put their bodies on the line and looked like a million bucks coming out of it. The added bonus? They were screwed out of the titles, which would seem to set up a well-deserved rematch. The Lucha Dragons likely gained a whole bunch of fans tonight. For very, very good reason.

Rusev was able to take the upper hand when Lana once again feigned an injury at the hands of Ryback. Ultimately, Rusev knocked out Ryback with a head kick and locked in the Accolade for the win.

What we learned: It’s important to have a cool-off match after something as incredible and intense as that ladder match. That’s where Rusev vs. Ryback comes in! This is a big win for the recently-reunited tandem of Lana and Rusev, who are back in top form as massive, opportunistic jerks.

Jack Swagger tried his best, but he came up short in a very physical Chairs Match. Del Rio got the pinfall victory after hitting his top rope stomp onto Swagger, who landed on a pile of chairs.

What we learned: Although Zeb Colter (perhaps surprisingly) didn’t factor into this match, Swagger looked determined to make the most of a rare PPV appearance. Del Rio looked similarly motivated. The end result exceeded most people’s expectations.

There could be a rematch in store, but likely both men will move onto other things. Del Rio will firmly put the misstep of the Colter/MexAmerica angle behind him. Swagger hopefully reminded WWE of his value with Sunday night’s performance. There’s certainly room for more Jack Swagger on the injury-depleted RAW television roster at the moment.

This was just an old-fashioned garbage match, with all eight men brawling everywhere and lots of plunder getting involved.

Erick Rowan was the first to be eliminated, getting put through a table with a Dudley Death Drop. Luke Harper then eliminated Rhyno with a big boot that sent him through a table in the corner. Bray Wyatt sent D-Von through a table with a uranage to give the Wyatts a 3-on-2 advantage. Dreamer and Bubba Ray buried Strowman under a pile of tables, but Dreamer was then eliminated by a suicide dive from Harper through a table on the outside.

Bubba Ray attempted to set a table on fire, but was interrupted by Harper and sent through a final table by Strowman to give the Wyatts the win.

What we learned: The match (which started off shaky but got better as it went along) was certainly helped by a very, very hot crowd. It was a throwback to ECW matches, but not in an overly-nostalgic way. The Wyatt Family dispatching the ECW legends in a match that would seem to favor them will hopefully rehab some of the menace that Bray’s creepy cultists have lost over the past year.

Strengthening up the Wyatt Family is a good idea, because it’s always good to have a stable of unstoppable monsters that can actually threaten to do some damage. I wouldn’t be surprised if they milk one more PPV match out of this feud, but this was about as convincing as a win can get.

These two beat the heck out of each other in an entertaining match, but in the end, Ambrose managed to reverse a pop-up powerbomb attempt into a roll-up to get the win ... and the title.

What we learned: Other than confirming that both of these men are great at their jobs, we didn’t learn a whole lot.

This feud will likely continue, but we’ll have to wait until RAW to find out. Ambrose seemed to have his legs under Owens’ shoulders during the pin, but there’s no telling whether they’ll play that up.

The way Ambrose reacted to the title win (his second, after a nearly year-long United States Championship reign from 2013 to 2014) helped add to the prestige rehabilitation WWE is attempting to apply to its secondary belts. Good stuff all around.

Charlotte (with her father, Ric Flair, in her corner) successfully defended her title by being the new dirtiest player in the game.

Paige looked to have the match won, but Flair put Charlotte’s foot on the ropes to break up the pin. While Paige was pleading her case to the referee, Charlotte pulled the pad off a turnbuckle and slammed Paige’s head into it, leading to a victory by pinfall.

What we learned: Charlotte is a heel now, full stop. She worked mean, emulated her father during the entire match and cheated to win. Twice. Her alignment finally makes sense. Becky Lynch confronted Charlotte about her tactics after the match and is sure to take further exception to this.

Meanwhile, Team BAD were shown watching the match backstage, dressed as the former Team PCB. So there’s your next feud, Charlotte. The fans should (rightfully) eat up a feud between Charlotte and Sasha Banks for the title.

This match was the perfect antidote to the horribly-received feud these two men have been having on television. They left all the “tater tots” jokes behind and just beat each other up and put each other through tables and ladders for 20 minutes.

In the end, Reigns got screwed over yet again when the League of Nations ran down to help Sheamus climb the ladder and retain the title. It was one screwjob too far for Reigns, as he snapped after the match.

Reigns grabbed a chair and beat down the League of Nations, then used it to wear out Sheamus. When The Authority of Triple H and Stephanie McMahon came down to check on Sheamus, Reigns hit Triple H with a Superman Punch, beat him down with the chair, put him through an announce table and speared him to the floor when trainers tried to help him to the back.

What we learned: Reigns has had all he can stand and he can’t stand no more. After putting Triple H through the announce table, he yelled that he’s probably fired, but it doesn’t matter anymore. After spearing Triple H, he cast one last, disgusted look back at him and said this doesn’t change anything ... meaning he still doesn’t have the world title.

This could all mean one of two possibilities: Either Reigns will get one last all-or-nothing world title shot against Sheamus at the Royal Rumble next month, or WWE is building towards Triple H vs. Roman Reigns at WrestleMania. Heck, it could mean BOTH things, if Reigns manages to capture the title at the Rumble.

If nothing else, the post-match beatdown of all his enemies showed a vicious streak that we’ve never seen from Reigns before. It makes him a true badass, instead of a paper one. The match and the rage that followed it was impressive and fans should be looking forward to finding out where this is all going.

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