WWE TLC 2016 Review: What we learned, takeaways, future projections

What we took away, what we learned and what the future holds for the superstars of Smackdown Live following Sunday night’s WWE TLC pay-per-view in Dallas.

Alright, folks. The 2016 version of WWE’s annual Tables, Ladders & Chairs pay-per-view is in the books.

Overall, I’d have to say that I was pleased with how the night went down. Sure, not every match was an instant classic (although I would put one in that category), but this card got the job done. We saw two title changes, a surprising heel turn and the end of a few long-running programs that were ready to be wrapped up. So I’d say that TLC accomplished what it needed to accomplish and the superstars of Smackdown Live can now set their sights on the closing weeks of 2016 and look ahead to what the new year, the Royal Rumble and the beginning of WrestleMania season brings.

The pre-show match wasn’t announced until very late and the 10-man tag match featuring American Alpha, The Hype Bros & Apollo Crews vs. The Ascension, The Vaudevillains & Curt Hawkins was pretty forgettable. So let’s just go ahead and skip that and get to the action on the main card.

Smackdown Tag Team Championship Match

Randy Orton & Bray Wyatt vs. Heath Slater & Rhyno (c)

What we learned: Hey look, everyone. Bray Wyatt won a championship.

I don’t think anybody actually expected Heath Slater & Rhyno to retain the titles in this matchup, but I’m not sure most people thought that it would happen as quickly as it did. I mean, the champs got in a little bit of offense there, but this essentially turned into a squash match, didn’t it?

They’ve been teasing some tension between Randy Orton and Luke Harper recently (and doing it quite well), but they put that to bed (for the moment anyway) when Harper jumped in front of a spear attempt on the outside that was meant for Orton, much like The Viper did for Bray at Survivor Series against Roman Reigns.

Cut to the finish and you have Bray distracting Rhyno with his backwards crab walk, which allows Orton to hit an RKO (certainly not his best or most surprising by any means) for the 1-2-3 and we have new Smackdown Tag Team Champions. So the match itself…not very interesting.

However, things did get interesting for a moment afterwards as all three members of the Wyatt Family were in the ring with the titles. Honestly, for a moment there, I thought that Orton was going to turn and RKO them both, which I think a lot of people are expecting at some point. But instead, the three looked to be on the same page as Luke Harper was given both titles to hold as the three posed in the ring.

What’s next: I’m quite pleased with how they’re running this program. Heath Slater & Rhyno will likely get their rematch at some point and hopefully they’ll remain relevant on Smackdown Live as they’ve been really good together and are over with the crowd , but the big story here is obviously what’s going to happen with the Wyatt Family. They’re finally tasting some real success and have built some momentum going into 2017. And after almost 15 years in WWE, Randy Orton is still finding ways to be relevant and interesting, and I’m digging it.

So where do they go from here? I’m still extremely high on Bray getting a run at the WWE title at some point, but I suppose this is a good start. It’s likely that they run with this for a little while, perhaps with some sort of swerve at the Royal Rumble that causes a little tension. And maybe that transitions to a match at WrestleMania between Orton and Wyatt. I’m just happy that they’re not breaking it up too quickly like they did with Daniel Bryan a few years back and giving it a chance to work. We’ll see if anything comes from it on Tuesday, but I could watch this new Wyatt Family storyline develop for a while and be okay with it.

No Disqualification Match

Nikki Bella vs. Carmella

What we learned: I know one thing we learned is that the Smackdown Live announce team has a strong pun game as Nikki Bella “extinguished” Carmella in this No Disqualification Match.

After a long feud between the veteran and the rookie, it looks as if things have finally come to an end between these two women and it’s for the best. Both got solid victories in the program and neither woman suffered during this feud. As for this match, it certainly wasn’t anything to write home about. There were a few decent spots, including a kick off the apron that I’m not sure Carmella knew was coming (go back and watch her reaction and you’ll see what I’m talking about), and some good shots with the kendo stick, but I was hoping that the final match of this series would be a little better.

What’s next: I think the end of this match will start two new feuds. Following the match, Carmella got on the microphone and told Nikki that it was Natalya was the person who attacked her prior to the women’s Survivor Series match, something that I think a lot of people, including myself, may have been thinking when it originally happened. But now I’m not so sure.

In a promo later in the night, Natalya called Carmella a liar and I think something could be brewing between these two, and putting the Princess of Staten Island into a program with another savvy veteran will do nothing but help her. So if Natalya isn’t the one who attacked Nikki, then who is it? I think this would be the perfect opportunity to bring back Eva Marie. Just something to think about.

Ladder Match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship

Dolph Ziggler vs. The Miz (c)

What we learned: The biggest thing to come out of this Ladder Match for the Intercontinental Championship is that this rivalry between The Miz and Dolph Ziggler is over.

And again, it’s for the best as this feud has gone on for months and this ladder match was a good way to end things. As far as ladder matches go, I’ve certainly seen better but I’ve definitely seen worse. The pace wasn’t nearly as frantic as I thought it would be at the start of this match but things seemed to pick up as the match went along. There weren’t a lot of big spots here, which I found a little strange in a Dolph Ziggler ladder match, but I still think it told a good story.

The Miz is never going to be the athlete that Ziggler is and the match was kept at a pace where he could keep up and look good and that was accomplished here. Attacking Ziggler’s legs was a nice touch and Miz himself took a couple of nice bumps to boot. And in the end, it was the Intercontinental Champion retaining with no help from Maryse this time, getting the clean win and ending the feud the right way.

What’s next: I really wish I knew where they were going with this thing between The Miz and Daniel Bryan. Is there anybody out there thinking that they’re just saving Bryan for one more match at WrestleMania? But that can’t be the case with Bryan’s health, right? But that’s exactly how they’re building things here, as evidenced by The Miz’s promo after the match. And if you stuck around to watch Talking Smack afterwards, you know that there was even more heat between the two. Or is this just a case of a wrestler getting in the face of an authority figure? Because we’ve obviously seen that before. The thing with that is we usually get some sort of payoff. Whether it was Austin vs. McMahon or Flair vs. Bischoff or Cena vs. Big Johnny, there’s always been some type of physical confrontation. But without Bryan able to get physically involved, it will be interesting to see who the Smackdown Live GM throws at The Miz next. Perhaps the winner of our next match?

As for Dolph Ziggler, he’s just back to square one, isn’t he? I really thought that when he “saved” his career, he’d hang onto the Intercontinental Championship for a little while but now he can’t even challenge The Miz for it anymore. So my guess is he’ll just get thrown in a match here and there and perhaps get a decent showing at the Royal Rumble. Unless they’re going to throw him in the WWE Championship picture against AJ Styles (highly unlikely), this is about all they can do for him right now.

Chairs Match

Kalisto vs. Baron Corbin

What we learned: Coming into the night, I didn’t think there was any way possible that I’d be sitting here talking about how much more I enjoyed Kalisto vs. Baron Corbin than The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler…but here we are.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect with these two in a Chairs Match, but I was pleasantly surprised how this match turned out and I think that we learned that both men can take a little punishment. The pace was much quicker than the match before it and both were able to land some nice spots throughout this contest. Corbin got out quickly, using his size to gain the advantage, but Kalisto turned the tide after tripping the big man into a chair positioned in the turnbuckles, following it up a short time later with a seated senton onto eight chairs that I thought might actually give him the win. But Corbin was able to regain the upper hand and nailed a number of solid moves on Kalisto, including a chair clothesline and his End of Days finisher on a big pile of chairs to get to the 1-2-3. Really solid match here.

What’s next: Poor Kalisto is just stuck right now being on Smackdown Live. I think it’s safe to say that I’m not the only one who thinks that some sort of trade is in order to get him over to Monday Night RAW and the cruiserweight division as soon as possible. This feud with Corbin is over and there’s really nobody for him to feud with over there unless he gets himself a partner and goes back into the tag team division. I just don’t want them to force any partnership on him where his singles wrestling career goes into the tank. He’s a very talented wrestler whose talents deserve a nice spotlight in the 205-and-under crew.

As for Baron Corbin, it might finally be time to bump him up a notch. His in-ring work is getting better each and every week and his promo skills are improving as well. His mic work with Daniel Bryan and Renee Young on Talking Smack following TLC was pretty solid and while he says that he needs to be on the same level as AJ Styles and Dean Ambrose, I don’t think we’re quite there yet. But perhaps an Intercontinental Championship opportunity lies ahead. The great thing about his gimmick is that you don’t have to book him only against the babyfaces. Baron Corbin is only out for Baron Corbin and it shouldn’t matter who he’s up against. The glitz and glamour of The Miz up against the tough guy in Corbin would actually be quite entertaining.

Tables Match for the Smackdown Women’s Championship

Alexa Bliss vs. Becky Lynch (c)

What we learned: I think we learned that WWE has a lot of faith in Alexa Bliss.

I honestly didn’t see this title change coming. Even as much as I’ve loved how Alexa Bliss has grown into this character, I certainly didn’t see WWE putting the title on her this soon. The match itself was a little stale to start but things gradually picked up as the match went on with Bliss hitting a nice DDT on a table that had been flipped over. Becky using the table with the Dis-Arm-Her finisher was a nice spot as well. I really dug the finish as it kind of come out nowhere as Bliss powerbombed Becky through a table on the outside to pick up her first of what we can only assume will be many championships.

What’s next: Although this program has lasted a little while, somewhat in part due to Becky being out of action for a time, I expect this feud to continue. I really enjoyed Becky’s promo immediately following the match and I think it only added to making her the elite female on the blue brand. There’s always fun in the chase and I think Becky chasing the title will not only help her but Alexa Bliss as well. Despite her breaking character for a few minutes on Talking Smack (which actually turned out to be a great segment), watching her character now be the arrogant champion will be extremely fun to watch. And at some point we know that these two will have to battle again what with rematch clause and all. And I’m okay with that. I don’t know if they’ll drag it all the way out to the Royal Rumble, which is the next time the Smackdown Live superstars will be on pay-per-view, but I’m looking forward to seeing more from this rivalry.

But if I can step away from this specific feud for a moment, and since I brought up the Royal Rumble, isn’t it about time that WWE implemented a women’s Rumble? The talent is there and it could easily be fit into the show in late January, don’t you think? The ladies are main-eventing the TV programs and pay-per-views now. They’re getting specialty matches that don’t involve them taking off their clothes. Why not keep the momentum going? I think it would do very well and needs to happen.

TLC Match for the WWE World Championship

Dean Ambrose vs. AJ Styles (c)

What we learned: I think we learned that this James Ellsworth thing isn’t going anywhere. But more importantly, if we didn’t know it already, we learned that there’s no better wrestler anywhere in the world than AJ Styles.

We’ll get to the WCW-type finish in a minute but let’s get through how great this main event was before we get to that. With full pun intended, AJ Styles is absolutely phenomenal. While many people will talk about how great he is on the offensive side of things, it’s his selling that’s been standing out to me lately. Go back and watch how effectively he takes the onslaught from Dean Ambrose without overselling. He takes amazing bumps constantly and he makes every single one of his matches a must-watch event. And I certainly don’t want to shortchange Dean Ambrose here. It takes more than one person to make a match look as good as this instant classic did and he certainly did his job in that regard.

If I were to sit here and describe all of the great spots in this match, we’d be here all day so if by chance you haven’t watched the match yet, do yourself a favor and get on that right away because everybody is going to be talking about this match for a while. It had everything you could want in a main event and while they certainly didn’t need Ellsworth getting involved at the end, it wasn’t a complete debacle. This was a five-star match and should be put in any Match of the Year conversation.

What’s next: Well, we know that James Ellsworth has somewhat turned on Dean Ambrose, which will certainly cause the Lunatic Fringe to be a bit upset with his little buddy. But as Ellsworth explained on Talking Smack, it really wasn’t a full turn on Ambrose as opposed to bettering his odds in his WWE Championship match with Styles, whom he has a 3-0 record against, a match we now know will take place on Tuesday night. So while it seems that Dean Ambrose has run out of title chances against Styles (and it is time that this feud wrapped up anyway), it looks as if this storyline will continue at least for another week.

There’s no way that WWE puts the title on Ellsworth just so Ambrose can get his revenge that way, right? No, seriously. Someone just indulge me in the comments section that WWE will not make that mistake just to get people talking. Look, I’ve been a fan of this Ellsworth thing but it’s pretty much run its course and everybody needs to move on. AJ Styles needs a new number one contender to get him through until Cena returns, which is likely where we’re headed into WrestleMania. So where does that leave Ambrose? Well, he’ll somehow have to resolve this deal with Ellsworth and from there, he’ll likely set his sights on the Royal Rumble in order to get himself another title shot. But at this point, I think it’s a longshot for him to win that so I think that WWE should just continue to make him even crazier. If he’s not going to be the champion, they need to find him another solid program to get him through at least the next six weeks. Let’s just hope that person isn’t solely James Ellsworth.

This certainly wasn’t the best pay-per-view that WWE has put on in 2016 but it wasn’t the worst by any means. Again, not every match was a complete winner but they accomplished what needed to be accomplished on Sunday night and when the show was good, it was really good.

WWE has one more pay-per-view left on the 2016 calendar as WWE Roadblock: End of the Line comes your way on the WWE Network on Sunday, December 18 from the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, PA. Be sure to check in with FanSided for all of your WWE needs.