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KYGHT'S PPV EVALUATION - WWE TLC 2013: Best/Worst Match, Biggest Surprise/Letdown, Final 2013 PPV Rankings

Dec 25, 2013 - 2:39:26 PM
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WWE PPV Evaluation - TLC 2013
By Nathan Kyght, PWTorch PPV specialist


BEST MATCH – TAG TITLE FOUR-WAY

The resurrection of Goldust continues. In my opinion, no one on the roster has outperformed him on a consistent basis in months. This match was fine, but after the elimination of Rybaxel and The Real Americans, the final stretch was the best thing on the the show. Rey Mysterio and The BIg Show are a fresh duo in what seems to be a refocused tag division, and The Rhodes Brothers continue to work great together. I enjoyed the ending that showed both teams shake hands and "pay respect," but I hope they introduce a bit more of an edge to these matches moving forward.

WORST MATCH – BRODUS CLAY VS. R-TRUTH

The crowd was library quiet during this, and rightfully so. An unadvertised match is fine, but no one wanted to sit through this. WWE needs to decide what they are doing with Clay, and do it quickly.

BIGGEST SURPRISE – CLEAN FINISH! CLEAN FINISH!

Despite weeks of Triple H "guaranteeing" a new unified champion, I still thought there was a chance that John Cena and Randy Orton would just switch titles. Not only did this not happen, but Orton actually won clean. I'm still a little suspicious of the unification, especially when Orton was at Raw the next night holding both titles that WWE vowed we would "never see together again." And, I think WWE will probably end up splitting them again at some point. But, after four lousy PPV endings in a row (including Battleground, where there was, in fact, NO FINISH), a decisive end was long past due, and I'm glad WWE delivered as advertised.

BIGGEST LETDOWN – TWO HANDICAP MATCHES

C.M. Punk's match vs. The Shield was decent and pointed to an eventual breakup of The Shield, and Daniel Bryan rightfully lost to the Wyatts, but did we really need two of these matches on pay-per-view? Either one of the matches could have been bumped to the next night's Raw. WWE has to make pay-per-view events seem like... well, "events," and throwing out unadvertised matches no one is interested in, or booking in such a lazy fashion as this isn't helping matters.

BEST MOVE – JOHN CENA ROPE SPOT

The main event was by far the safest TLC match I've ever seen in the WWE (and that's certainly not a criticism). And, to distract from the lack of brutality, the idea I suppose to was to book some unique spots in the match. I liked Orton handcuffing Cena to the ropes, which seemingly ended the match, and I thought that Cena unscrewing the turnbuckle only to be pulled through a table by the rope still attached to him was a creative and cool-looking finish.

BEST MATCH FINISH – TLC

WWE only doing one match involving the TLC gimmicks this year helped matters on PPV (but not with the live crowd), and I think a lot of fans breathed a sigh of relief when a winner was actually crowned without outside interference in the main event. Plus, 10 points for not reversing the decision or negating the match the next night on Raw. Minus 100 points for teaching fans over the last few months that the ending of a pay-per-view may just be erased 24 hours later.

OTHER THOUGHTS

- Fandango beat Dolph Ziggler on the pre-show. Remember when Dolph Ziggler was the World champion? Remember when he cashed in Money In The Bank to win and the crowd went INSANE?

- The show opened with a video that claimed Buddy Rogers and Lou Thesz both claimed victory in a title match and that was how the titles broke apart. This is not even within city limits of the truth.

- For those that may not know, a fun quiz: Triple H became the first World champion when (a) He won a tournament, (b) He won a grueling match with another number one contender, or (c) Eric Bischoff gave him the belt as a gift. If you said, "There's no possible way it could be 'C,' that's the stupidest idea ever," then don't look up the answer and go back to your blissful view of WWE booking.

- A.J. Lee and Natalya had a very good Divas match, one of the better ones that has been on PPV this year. Very nice work.

- I don't ever, ever, ever want to see The Miz wrestle Kofi Kingston again. Ever.

- So, Ryback and Curtis Axel's team name is 'Rybaxel?!' Whaaa?

WHAT IT'LL BE REMEMBERED FOR

The main event, depending on whether or not the titles do remain unified, is historically significant in that it officially ends the brand split era. Other than that? It was better than the last four WWE PPVs, but it still feels like Summerslam was from a different era.

Looking back at 2013? Well, WWE basically went eight-for-eight to start the year, then things fell off a cliff. Confusing storylines, too many gray ares in terms of who to root for, and some really bad endings to shows that cost money marred the year, but TLC was at least a bit of a return to form. As for TNA? I felt that their Slammiversary show was the best of a small bunch of offerings, and with news coming out that TNA Genesis will also be a free show, I wonder if they have decided to go with only three paid shows next year. Or fewer. Time will tell.

Summerslam was my show of the year, featuring two match of the year contenders with C.M. Punk vs. Brock Lesnar and John Cena vs. Daniel Bryan, and an undercard that featured nearly all good matches (and the inferno match. Ahem.). As always, let's look at the new year with optimism.

And there we go! My third year here at the Torch comes to a close, and I'd like to thank anyone that takes the time to check out this column or comment, good or bad. Have a great holiday season, and I'll be right here for the Royal Rumble. Best wishes to all.

FINAL 2013 PPV EVALUATION RANKINGS

1 - WWE SUMMERSLAM (2013-08-18)
2 - WWE PAYBACK (2013-06-16)
3 - WWE WRESTLEMANIA XXIX (2013-04-07)
4 – TNA SLAMMIVERSARY (2013-06-02)
5 - WWE MONEY IN THE BANK (2013-07-14)
6 - WWE ROYAL RUMBLE (2013-01-27)
7 - TNA LOCKDOWN (2013-03-10)
8 - WWE EXTREME RULES (2013-05-19)
9 - WWE ELIMINATION CHAMBER (2013-02-17)
10 - TLC (2013-12-15)
11 – TNA BOUND FOR GLORY (2013-10-20)
12 – WWE HELL IN A CELL 2013 (2013-10-27)
13 - WWE SURVIVOR SERIES (2013-11-24)
14 - WWE NIGHT OF CHAMPIONS (2013-09-15)
15 – TNA GENESIS (2013-01-13)
16 - WWE BATTLEGROUND (2013-10-06)


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