12/13 TLC PPV – McMahon’s In-Person Report from Boston

PWTorch contributor Mike McMahon attended TLC live in Boston. Read his news & notes from the event, including crowd reactions to the final two matches and the post-match angle.

WWE TLC PPV Live Report
December 13, 2015
Boston, Mass.
In-Person Report by Mike McMahon (@MikeMcMahonPW), PWTorch contributor

— Before TLC began, WWE announced that they’ll return to Boston on March 22 for a Smackdown television taping.

— Dolph Ziggler did stand-up comedy at the Kowloon Restaurant in Saugus, Mass. on Saturday night. Kowloon is a hotspot for WWE talent, who have been going there after shows for years. Attendees included The Dudleys, Braun Strowman, Alberto Del Rio, Roman Reigns, and R-Truth. Most traveled down after a live event in Maine.

— The crowd was red hot for the opening Tag Title match. This match received the best reaction, by far. It was a good example of the show pacing just not really being there, though. There’s no question that the crowd was burned out after watching it. Rusev and Ryback received little to no reaction in the following match, and the crowd was dead until the Dudleys-Wyatts eight-man tag later in the show.

— Dean Ambrose’s Intercontinental Title win got a great reaction. Kevin Owens was receiving mostly cheers, even as he tried to run down Boston during his promo. It was the same with New Day, who tried to insult the city during their ring-walk promo, but the crowd was mostly behind them anyway.

— Sasha Banks was fantastic in the pre-show match. Even though it’s her hometown, and she did receive some cheers at the start, she did an excellent job of turning the crowd during the match. She wasn’t trying to be the babyface, even in her hometown. After the match – I’m not sure this was caught on TV – there was a kid at ringside with a Sasha sign. She went over to give the kid a handshake but pulled it back and walked to the back. The crowd down near the aisle got on her good for that.

— The crowd had no idea how to react to that last two matches. In the eyes of most people, WWE closed the show with a pair of heel vs. heel matches. They wanted to cheer Ric Flair but also booed Charlotte. ROman Reigns, Sheamus, Charlotte, and Paige all received the same reaction, essentially. There was a smattering of boos and cheers but a lot of people quiet, not really sure what to do.

— The main event was a mess as far as the crowd goes. Sheamus and Reigns were really physical and were beating the snot out of each other, but the crowd just wasn’t invested and didn’t care. You can blame Sheamus and Reigns for not connecting to the crowd, but they haven’t exactly been given the best material, either. The crowd during the main event really showcased the problem with the booking. It goes hand-in-hand with ratings falling. The crowd just didn’t care who won.

Chants that I was able to track during the main event included:

“We Want Cena!” vs. “Cena Sucks!”
“Daniel Bryan!”
“We Miss Rollins!”
“We-already Saw This!” (problem with the opener)
“This is Awful!”
“NXT!”
“Tom Brady!”
“Daniel Bryan!”
“Yes! Yes! Yes!”
“Bernie Sanders!”

— As much as the main event didn’t get over, despite Reigns’s and Sheamus’s efforts, the post-match angle actually did. The crowd got being Reigns a little bit during the post-match attack on the League of Nations, but really got behind Reigns during his attack on Triple H.

The crowd cheered Reigns the loudest they did all night during the second spot on the announce table and when he ran down the aisle and give Triple H a spear. Reigns’s limitations are on the mic. Given that post-show angle really got over with a crowd that was all over him all night, perhaps making Reigns the beast that just beats people up and doesn’t talk is the way to go.

They're wheeling out HHH pic.twitter.com/5tg7V8iIwT

— Mike McMahon (@MikeMcMahonPW) December 14, 2015