WWE TLC 2013 Review

The WWE was billing the main event between John Cena and Randy Orton for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship as the biggest match in the history of the industry. However, fan-favorite Daniel Bryan was all the Houston crowd could care for. Was the 2013 edition of TLC still able to deliver?

Match 1: CM Punk vs. The Shield
The last PPV review I did was Hell in a Cell 2012, a PPV that infamously featured a match pitting CM Punk against Ryback in a match Punk later ranted about on a podcast. Another match he talked about was this one, a handicap match against The Shield where he was instructed by so many people to make Roman Reigns look good. Let's just cut to chase... why exactly did Punk go over here? They had a fun little match here that saw Reigns miss a Spear and damage his eye on the outside as he landed on JBL's chair. Punk took advantage of the injury and dissected The Shield before Reigns accidentally Speared Dean Ambrose for Punk to pick up the win. I guess if you're going to have Punk go over the WWE's hottest commodity, then this is the way to do it. This really did no help for anyone.
Winner: CM Punk
Rating: **3/4

Match 2: WWE Divas Championship - AJ Lee (c) vs. Natalya
Natalya looks to finally recapture the Divas Championship from AJ Lee is in on a tear. Just a pretty short Divas match here with AJ Lee using Natalya's hair as leverage to score the win. Nothing special here, very quick and to the point like most Divas matches. Fans and commentators virtually had no interest in this.
Winner: AJ Lee
Rating: *

Match 3: WWE Intercontinental Championship - Big E Langston (c) vs. Damien Sandow
After losing his World Heavyweight Championship match against John Cena, Damien Sandow looks to rebuild from where he started against Big E Langston. Much like the previous match and much like you will see later on, this was another filler of a match. Decent action from the two before Langston hits his Big Ending finisher to score the W. Both of these guys would later go on to switch up their characters the following year or so and go on to do much better things. After watching this, you could just tell that they needed a character change.
Winner: Big E Langston
Rating: **

Match 4: WWE Tag Team Championships - Elimination - Cody Rhodes & Goldust (c) vs. The Real Americans vs. Rey Mysterio & The Big Show vs. RybAxel
Almost a shame to look back at this and see how bad Cody Rhodes was booked, no reason why this dude never got a real push as a singles competitor. However, he did make a pretty nice pairing with his brother in Goldust. Agree with me or not, but I dig the teams they assembled here and their styles meshed well against each other for a fast and fun match. Rhodes was able to hit a Cross Rhodes on Mysterio to finish the match and retain the titles for his team. Really strong match here after the first three matches left a sour taste in my mouth. Lots of cool spots and the addition of The Big Show made things that much more exciting. The two teams then share an awkward exchange of sportsmanship afterwards.
Winners: Cody Rhodes & Goldust
Rating: ***3/4

Match 5: Brodus Clay vs. R-Truth
Can you imagine paying about 50 bucks for this? This might be a high for a WWE PPV of fillers on a card. Brodus Clay dominated this match pretty thoroughly until he and Sweet T (Albert) started arguing at ringside because Clay was being a little too stiff with Truth and not taking the match seriously. Finally, Sweet T leaves Clay before The Funkadactyles left right after. R-Truth is able to quickly roll Clay up for the win. Again, can you believe this was on PPV?
Winner: R-Truth
Rating: 3/4*

Match 6: No Disqualification - Kofi Kingston vs. The Miz
The two got into a little bit of a scuffle prior to the start of the PPV and a match was made for tonight with no disqualification rules. How many times I've seen this match before? No idea, but it certainly feels like it's up there. The match was as basic as you could imagine with these two and the crowd began getting restless at the end as they started to chant "boring." The Miz removes the padding from a corner of a turnbuckle before it backfires on him as Kofi Kingston launches Miz into it before getting knocked out with a Trouble in Paradise. As basic as you could imagine, passable match but nothing acceptable for a PPV.
Winner: Kofi Kingston
Rating: **1/4

Match 7: Daniel Bryan vs. The Wyatt Family
The crowd was calling for Daniel Bryan the whole night and they finally got him... in a handicap against The Wyatt Family. Almost a shame that Bryan was booked into a corner here, crowd was so hot for him but it just wouldn't make any sense for him to win against the hot team in The Wyatt Family. Then again, CM Punk did beat The Shield in the first match of the night. Regardless, the match was fairly enjoyable for what it was but watching The Wyatt Family beat down Bryan for a good portion of the match got pretty old fast. Bryan, however, almost had the match won until Bray Wyatt came into play to hit a Sister Abigail on Bryan to seal the win for his team. Decent match that would set up a few more matches with Bryan against The Wyatt Family in the next couple months, serves its purpose but still not the best way to go about it.
Winners: The Wyatt Family
Rating: **3/4

Match 8: WWE World Heavyweight Championship - TLC - Randy Orton (c) vs. John Cena (c)
This is Randy Orton vs. John Cena going against each other on PPV for about the 105th time. Of course, this is a unification match for Randy Orton's WWE Championship and John Cena's World Heavyweight Championship. I have reviewed nearly all their matches against each other so trying to differentiate each one becomes increasingly harder. I had trouble getting into the match, the action for a TLC match was just too slow for me to sink my teeth into. The table spots seemed forced and the severity of the match didn't seem as big as they made this match out to be, especially when JBL said that we will remember this match in 100 years from now. Plus, I didn't believe any of the spots that saw the two trying to grab the belts. And I know it's a ladder match and everyone always tends to climb the ladder slowly... but this was ridiculous! The ending saw Orton handcuff Cena to the bottom rope as Cena ridiculously tried to break free. Finally, he unscrewed the bottom turnbuckle before climbing up the ladder to meet Orton. Orton then tugged on the rope that was still tied to Cena and yanked him off the ladder as he crashed onto a table set up in the corner. Or at least tried to, Cena barely hit the table and sold the spot as if he just hit his face on it. Anyway, Orton then climbs the ladder and retrieves the belts to win. Afterwards, Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon & Triple H of The Authority come out to congratulate Orton and raise his hand. Interesting way to close the year with the two established stars of the company continuing to be the focal points of the company. Let's see how that worked out come WrestleMania...
Winner: Randy Orton
Rating: ***

Overall Show Thoughts and Rating:
Another very poor PPV offering from the WWE which really puts into perspective how the WWE Network has certainly become a blessing. Aside from maybe the tag match and the main event, every match on the card was either bad or just bland. While I love having TLC as a concept for a PPV, it doesn't mean anything if it can't deliver on its promises.
Rating: 4.75/10