Tag: WWE

WWE TLC Tables, Ladders & Chairs 2018: Every Match Ranked

The final WWE Pay-Per-View for 2018 is finally in the bag, and we’ve had this crazy year topped off with a show that was really…..ok.

While there wasn’t a match on this show that I can say I hated, but I didn’t feel the show was as good as I thought it would be when I read the card. The amount of matches really made the show drag a little, especially towards the end. However the focus of the show seemed to be in the right place, so it made for a decent night.

Now let’s talk about the matches themselves, as I rank them from worst to best.

12 – Carmella & R-Truth def. Jinder Mahal &      Alicia Fox
(Mixed Match Challenge Season 2 Final)

Not a whole lot to say about this one really…

I haven’t watched any of the Mixed Match Challenge this year, so I don’t really have any investment in what happened here. I prefer Truth and Carmella to Jinder and Alicia, but that’s mostly just by default. More to the point, there wasn’t anything noteworthy about the match either.

There were a couple of minor slip ups, but aside from that it was a pretty standard match that wouldn’t feel out of place on Raw or Smackdown. I know most people are digging the “Dance Break” thing, but I hate it with all my being, and of course the Singh Brothers were around so they had to go ahead and make it even stupider.

I’m glad Mella & Truth won, but I’m not looking forward to Truth being #30 in the Royal Rumble, or the “comedy” sketch on Tuesday about their trip to WWE’s head offices.

11 – Elias def. Bobby Lashley
(Ladder Match)

Gimmick matches on the pre-show now? A bit weird, but alright.

I’m not sure that the guitar thing was really necessary for this match, it could’ve quite easily have just ended in a pinfall and I don’t think it would’ve made much difference. I know it was unlikely Elias was ever going to pin Bobby, but if you were just going to have Bobby lay Elias out immediately after the match anyway then what’s the point in even having Elias win?

It’s not like either of these men are about to compete for a title, and they’re certainly not in the running for Royal Rumble winner, so this whole thing was ultimately pointless. The match was at least somewhat entertaining, with some nice versions of spots we’ve seen in every other ladder match since the dawn of time.

These two men don’t really have the greatest about of chemistry together, so I really hope this feud doesn’t continue any longer.

10 – Natalya def. Ruby Riott
(Tables Match)

Who knew “tables with pictures on them” would be one of the major stories on this show.

I feel bad putting this match this low, because there was actually some stuff to like about it, but the overall story didn’t really draw me in at all. I liked all the stuff with the Riott Squad taking the bullet for Ruby in a couple of spots to make sure she didn’t lose, it was a nice way to make their present felt without having them directly hinder Natalya.

The main problem I had here was how slowly these two would set up every single spot. It wasn’t just the table spots either, even Natalya locking in the Sharpshooter felt like it took forever. It was a little bit annoying that the tables were so obviously pre-cut, but I guess you didn’t want a situation like Hell in a Cell 2016, where the women are too light to break the table when they fall on it.

It was a perfectly serviceable match, with nothing amazing to draw me in, and buckle up, because I’m going to be saying words to that effect a lot in this review.

9 – Rey Mysterio def. Randy Orton
(Chairs Match)

Please, no more chair matches.

I think that this was the only match on the show that was actively hindered by the stipulation, chairs matches just don’t really seem to work as a concept. For one, all it really is, is a no DQ match where the ring is surrounded by chairs, but more importantly it means that every single major spot has to involve chairs in some way.

There’s only so much you can do with a steel chair and while they’re good in small doses, basing a whole match around them gets old fast. While there were a couple of fun spots, including a rather nasty looking one where Rey went arse first into a chair, but nothing particularly outstanding, and although I didn’t hate this match, I can’t help but feel it would’ve been better without this stipulation.

8 – Dean Ambrose def. Seth Rollins(c)
(Intercontinetal Championship)

Oh….well ok then.

I really don’t understand what it was about this match, but it just didn’t click. The placement on the show probably didn’t help, being the second to last match on a show this long pretty much guarantees a worn out crowd, and they were almost dead silent the whole time.

The match also didn’t really feel like it was a fight between two men with the history that these two have. Dean needed to be a lot more vicious, and Seth needed to have a lot more energy and fire underneath him for it to really click like it should’ve. At the end of the day, you could replace Dean and Seth with pretty much any other heel and face on the roster and the match wouldn’t have felt any different, which really isn’t a good thing.

While they did touch on the story in the closing minutes, given how badly the story’s been built over the past month and how underwhelming the match had been up until that point, it didn’t really feel earned. Part of me wants to see them try this again, but another part of me really just want them both to move on.

It sucks that, in a year where Seth Rollins put on the match of the night on almost every show, he’s down this low on the final show of the year. Let’s just hope he moves on to blow the roof of Wrestlemania against Lesnar next year and we can all forget this ever happened.

7 – Braun Strowman def. Baron Corbin
(TLC Match)

How heroic of these good guys to all team up and beat the ever-loving piss out of their boss.

When I think about how all of this went down, I feel like I should hate it, but I just can’t for some reason. Sure, Strowman probably could’ve still beaten Baron with a broken arm, but this solution make Braun seem quite smart too. It was also a pretty clever way to get them out of this spot they ended up in, where Baron needed to be out of power, but Braun was injured.

Given how crap Raw has been these past few weeks, it was kind of cathartic to see one of the main culprits put to rest, although I’m not all in on WWE using him as a scapegoat for the whole mess. Corbin’s probably going to end up fading into the background a bit more now, and Braun can move on to lose to Brock Lesnar again at the Royal Rumble, but let’s just enjoy this while it lasts.

6 – Finn Balor def. Drew Mcintyre

I never thought WWE could make me feel simultaneously disappointed and pleasantly surprised, but here we are.

I really don’t understand the rationale behind Balor winning here. As much as I’m glad to see that WWE aren’t continuing to hand him loss after loss, I really felt like this was a match Drew needed to win, especially as it seemed like they were trying to build him up. You could argue it was a protected loss since Dolph Ziggler got involved, but this is the same Drew Mcintyre who damn near killed Kurt Angle, two small dudes attacking him shouldn’t really be a problem.

The match itself did feel more like an above average Raw match than a decent PPV match, but everything in it was solid, and Dolph’s interference does at least make sense from the character’s perspective. I really feel like Drew needs to be a much more vicious heel however, he shouldn’t be using rest holds and shouting at his opponent, he needs to be trying throwing them around the ring like they’re nothing.

I really hope this isn’t the start of a decline for Drew, because it seemed like things were going so well for him up until now.

5 – Buddy Murphy(c) def. Cedric Alexander
(Cruiserweight Championship)

Well that was fun while it lasted.

It’s a real shame that the cruiserweights got bumped to the pre-show once again, after putting on two fantastic main card performances in a row, but there was a lot of matches on this show, and I can’t really say that anything else could’ve been bumped to make room for this one.

Regardless, these guys don’t care what part of the show they’re on, they’ll still put on a great match if they can. While it did feel like they toned things down a bit due to being on the pre-show, it was still an entertaining match, with lots of fun action.

One thing the cruiserweights seem to be really good at, is winning over a crowd that usually doesn’t seem to care. The crowd started out dead silent at the start of this match, and by the end they were loving it. It goes to show that even if a good portion of that crowd probably have no idea who these guys are, they’ll still invest in a match if they like what they see. If only they’d go home and watch 205 Live afterwards.

4 – Ronda Rousey(c) def. NIa Jax
(Raw Women’s Championship)

I know I’ve said this pretty much every time she’s wrestled this year, but Ronda Rousey is really good at wrestling.

Clearly Natalya trained her well or something like that, because she just seems to get it, case in point: this match right here. There really aren’t very many people on the roster who could have a match that good with Nia Jax, maybe Becky & Charlotte, but there isn’t anyone else that good.

This match really was all Ronda, pretty much the whole time, Nia seemed somehow more immobile than usual, but Ronda was still able to make it work. She sold her ass of on basically every move to make sure it felt like it had impact, and was flying all about the place when she was on offence to really get the best out of Nia.

This is probably the last time Nia will have a major role on Raw for a very long time, considering Ronda didn’t seem to struggle too much in putting her away, and then Becky laid her the fuck out after the match.

3 – The Bar(c) def. The New Day & The Usos
(Smackdown Tag Team Championships)

Please, never move these teams to Raw, never.

While this was a very good match, it did feel a bit like it was one of the victims of the over stuffed show, but, these teams could pull a great match out even if they only had 30 seconds to work it. Everyone got plenty of time to shine in this match. I’m not sure I like the whole “only two teams in the ring at once” stipulation to Triple Threat tag matches, but they generally still seem to work and I’m ok with that.

My only real worry is where on Earth do these tag titles go next? This is the problem with only focusing on these three (admittedly brilliant) tag teams, is now you need The Bar to fight someone else and there really isn’t anyone build up enough. The Club have lost so many tag title opportunities, they’re basically a joke, and Sanity kept losing their matches and have been absent for months, with the exception of one underwhelming appearance at Survivor Series. Maybe we’ll get a NXT call up, but it’s not like Heavy Machinery ever stand a chance of taking out The Bar.

I have a lot more faith in the Smackdown writers than I do the Raw writers though, so maybe we’ll get something great in time for the Rumble. Maybe.

2 – Daniel Bryan(c) def. AJ Styles
(WWE Championship)

Who knew this one would be good?…..What? Everyone?! Oh alright.

I had to rewatch this one before I wrote about it, because I didn’t really enjoy it that much watching it live. Maybe it was down to how tired it was, but I just didn’t really get it the first time around, however everyone on Twitter really liked it, so I watched it a second time the next day, and it turns out that past me was very wrong about not liking this one, because this match was great.

Sure, it wasn’t anywhere close to the Styles/Bryan match I had in my head, but this was the match we needed, not the one we wanted. For one, Bryan showing up as The American Dragon was unexpected, and I didn’t even realise it at first, but this dude really is something else. After his return I was starting to doubt if he really was as good as we all remembered him being, but this match reminded me exactly why Daniel Bryan is the best wrestler in the world.

He’s able to blend his fast paced crowd popping babyface style so well with his slow and methodic heel pace that he can wrestle just about any style he wants and it still feels true to his character. More importantly he’s clearly done his homework on AJ Styles, with an answer to pretty much everything he’s got, and when he does get caught, it’s not long before he gets back on top.

The perfect example of this is the finish, winning with a small package after a match like that is brilliant, it feels heelish and cheap, but really he just straight up out thought AJ Styles and won because he was the better wrestler. We’ve got so used to heel champions cheating to win, that it’s really refreshing to see a heel win, because he’s just the better wrestler and that’s all there is to it.

I’d love to see just one more match between these two to really kick things into that final gear and get that truly awesome match we all know they can put on.

1 – Asuka def. Becky Lynch(c) & Charlotte Flair
(Smackdown Women’s Championship)
(TLC Match)

Hey! Smackdown finally main-evented a cross-brand PPV! Only took 8 sodding months.

What a match this was, everything about it was just great. It started just how it needed to, they didn’t rush to get to all of the weapons spots, they started out just wrestling each other like normal and built to all of the crazy weapon spots, it allows the crowd to get a feel for the match, instead of getting worn out with all the high spots early on.

Every single spot felt like it built on the last, and they were able to set them up without slowing the pace of the match down, in many instances they made the setting up of a spot a key part of the match, so it all flowed perfectly. It’s hard to talk about the rest of this match without just listing all of the awesome stuff that happened during it, so here goes:

  • Asuka flipping Becky back first onto a ladder looked so damn brutal and rebuilt Asuka to her former glory in about 5 seconds.
  • Becky’s ladder dive was great, even if she did almost crush Charlotte’s ribcage.
  • There was a really nice catharsis in watching the women wail on each other with chairs and it made the whole thing feel so much more intense.
  • Charlotte spearing Asuka into the time keeper’s area looked amazing, and the fact that the barrier didn’t break properly actually made it seem even more brutal.
  • Then there’s the finish…

First of all, these women did a really good job of making it look like they were about to win when they weren’t. Usually in a ladder match it’s pretty obvious when someone’s not about to win, but there were a couple of moments in the last 5 minutes where I thought Charlotte had it in the bag.

However, the main article here is Ronda Rousey, who came out, pushed both Charlotte and Becky off the ladder, leaving Asuka to climb the ladder and win. Before I talk about the interference, I just want to mention how awesome a moment it was when the crowd realised Asuka was about to win, they exploded in cheers and it was beautiful to see Asuka finally get what many thought she should’ve got in April.

Does Ronda’s interference cheapen Asuka’s win? Well yes, it’s hard to argue that it doesn’t. Does this make me mad? Not really. I know a lot of people are quite upset about the finish to this match, and I feel like I should be too, but I’m just not. The match itself was so good that I don’t really mind and Ronda’s actions make perfect sense in the context of what’s been happening over the past month or so.

I’m not quite sure where all this is leading, personally I still hope it’s Becky vs Ronda and Charlotte vs Asuka II, either way it’s going to be an interesting time in the women’s division moving forward.

So there you have it! That was TLC 2018, overall it was a fairly average show, full of ok wrestling and a fantastic main event, not the greatest thing to end the year on, but certainly not the worst either.

Make sure to share this post around on social media, and follow me on Twitter @10ryawoo for more opinions on wrestling and the like. Stick around for the next few weeks as I will be starting to cover my end of year awards for both wrestling and gaming!

WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs 2018 Predictions

Well, we made it, another year of WWE programming. We may have all become slightly more sarcastic and jaded, but we’re all still here. This means it’s time to sit back, relax and enjoy a weapons based show (ugh), with *checks notes* TWELVE Matches?!

Survivor Series last month only had 8 matches (including pre-show), and that show got an extra hour than this one. This will probably mean a lot of matches won’t get even nearly the time that they need, or this will be the most packed pre-show in history (they haven’t announced which ones are on the pre-show at time of writing).

So settle it, as I break down all twelve (sigh) matches on the TLC 2018 card.

Rey Mysterio vs Randy Orton
(Chairs Match)

I remember when Randy Orton would fight people from the current generation.

I know Orton’s whole thing was “The Legend Killer” but that really only worked back in ’02-’05 when he was a young upstart in the WWE, not so much when he is a legend himself. I get that he’s trying to tear down all the people the fans love, but I think it would be a much more interesting story if his goal was to prove he was the greatest legend from his generation by beating them all up.

While chairs matches don’t have a history of being the greatest, *cough*Kane vs Ryback*cough*, I think it’s certainly the least limiting of the gimmicks, chair spots tend to be very quick to set up, and can usually be implemented in a match without breaking the flow too much. Although generally the “flow” in a Randy Orton match is pretty darn slow.

I’m finding it a little difficult to pick a winner, since Randy’s been on a bit of a roll recently, even if I don’t really see much reason for him to win. Given that Rey did get a win over Orton at Crown Jewel, I’m going to say Randy Orton manages to walk away with this one.

R-Truth & Carmella vs Jinder Mahal vs Alicia Fox
(Mixed Match Challenge Finals)

Ok, I haven’t been watching the Mixed Match Challenge this year, what the hell happened?

What happened to AJ Styles, Charlotte, Braun Strowman, Ember Moon, Finn Balor, or any of the other awesome performers in it this year? They all got replaced due to injury/sickness? Oh…well ok then.

That said, I can’t rag on this too much, the MMC may have been an even bigger afterthought than 205 Live this year, but from the small amount of stuff I’ve seen it’s looked alright. R-Truth and Carmella seemed to have formed a pretty entertaining rapport with each other and while the “Dance Break” thing is unbelievably stupid and I hate it, I think it’s more down to me being grumpy than anything else.

I also like that they’ve actually put something tangible on the line this year, getting a guaranteed, number 30 spot in the Royal Rumble is something that really should be on the line every year, since it’s technically the best position to be in, even if it is going to go to someone who has an absolute zero chance of winning the thing.

I’m pretty confident in picking R-Truth & Carmella to win here, since they’ve actually built up pretty fun characters and seem to work really well together, as opposed to Jinder & Alicia, who can be pretty accurately described as “two people”.

Buddy Murphy(c) vs Cedric Alexander
(Cruiserweight Championship)

I’m starting to think that there may only be three people on 205 Live.

It’s really hard to tell where the Cruiserweight title goes once all this is over, because it really doesn’t feel like there’s anyone up to it on 205 Live. I imagine they’ll probably just have a 4-Way Number 1 Contender’s match, like they seem to do pretty much every month, but I’m not entirely sure it’ll work this time.

Regardless, that’s something we don’t have to worry about until Wednesday in the mean time, let’s take a look at this match. Well, it’s pretty much the same match we’ve been seeing for a good few months now with the Cruiserweight Championship. Not that the match will be mad, both of these men are very talented, but seeing a match too many times really does take the shine off of it. For example, all I do is mention the possibility of another Rollins vs Ziggler match and everyone groans collectively, despite all their matches being good-to-great.

It certainly wouldn’t surprise me if they stuck the belt back on Cedric, but I think I’m going to go with Buddy Murphy this time, since I’d like to see his run continue, just so he can fight some new people for once.

Elias vs Bobby Lashley
(Ladder Match)

Really? This one got the ladder match stipulation? Alright.

While I love Elias, I don’t really get what this face turn has done for him. Before his heel turn, he just lost to Bobby Lashley a lot, and since he’s turned face he’s….lost to Bobby Lashley a lot. It’s really hard to tell what management think of Elias, they treat him like a star all the time, but I can’t even remember the last time he actually won a match.

I don’t really know what this match is going be like, ladder spots tend to be pretty contrived and slow, and I also don’t know what either of these guys are like in weapons matches. I’m going to hold out some hope for a fun match, but I won’t be surprised if I end up crapping all over it in my review.

As for a winner, I don’t really think it matters, and while my head says to pick Lashley, I’m gonna pray to the Nine Divines that Elias actually picks up a win for once.

Finn Balor vs Drew Mcintyre

Ireland vs Scotland, as an Englishman I’m looking forward to watching them implode.

I’m quietly optimistic for this one, I love both these guys and they’ve  put on a whole host of brilliant matches in their time in WWE/NXT, I really think they’ll have the chemistry they need to put on something great…if they get more than 5 minutes that is.

I don’t really have a whole lot else to say here, and it’s pretty obvious to me that Drew Mcintyre is going to win here, since they’re really trying to build him up as a big monster to take out Strowman (and maybe even Lesnar).

Natalya vs Ruby Riott
(Tables Match)

Hm, not really sure what to think of this one.

On the one hand, it’s never a good thing when WWE uses real life tragedy in order to further a storyline, especially something as contrived as this one seems to have been. While, on the other hand, WWE haven’t actually handled this one that badly, and it’s nice to see a story in the women’s division that isn’t about the title get some pretty high-profile PPV time.

Out of the three weapons on this show, tables matches tend to be the worst when it comes to breaking the flow of a match and contrived set ups. Also they normally quite suddenly and unsatisfying.

Given the subject matter it’d look a bit dodgy for the heel to go over here, so I’m going to pick Natalya to win the day in honour of her father.

The Bar(c) vs The New Day vs The Usos
(Smackdown Tag Team Championships)

I’d complain about there not being a Raw Tag Title match on this show, but this match is pretty much all the explanation you need.

I generally don’t get aboard the bandwagon of saying which show was better all the time, because I can’t be bothered with it all really, but there’s just no case to be made for the Raw Tag division when you look at this match. All of these teams are great performers and have so much chemistry together that this match is pretty much a sure-fire win for this show.

While it could quite easily become a victim of the lack of time on this show, even a cut down version on this should still be one of the better matches on the card and it’s also quite hard to pick a winner.

As I keep saying, New Day seem to be the default setting for the Smackdown Tag Titles, and could realistically win them at any time. The Bar have had a pretty decent title run so far, and it certainly wouldn’t be a bad thing to see them keep going a little longer. However The Usos seem to me like they’re where the titles are headed eventually, and that might just happen on Sunday.

The logical part of me says to pick The Bar to retain, but I’m going to go with my gut here and say The Usos are picking up the titles.

Becky Lynch(c) vs Charlotte Flair vs Asuka
(Smackdown Women’s Championship)
(TLC Match)

Decisions, decisions, all of them interesting.

First of all, this match is going to be absolutely incredible. I know I normally dunk on weapons stipulations, but in a Triple Threat match, the pace can keep going how it should while the big spots get set up, they tend to feel less contrived and these are arguably the three most talented women in all of WWE right now.

More importantly, I really don’t mind who wins. If Becky wins, then she continues her fantastic run as champion; if Charlotte wins, then Becky’s free to win the Rumble and Charlotte can rematch Asuka; and if Asuka wins, then it means she finally gets her time in the sun and the title she should’ve won at Wrestlemania this year.

However because of this, it makes it quite hard to actually make a prediction. I know Becky vs Ronda is the current rumour, but those can change very easily, especially before the Royal Rumble. Charlotte is one of those wrestlers that could quite easily win the title at any point and it’d make sense, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she won.

I’m not very confident in saying this, but I think Asuka is going to be the one to pull the title down from atop the ladder, and finally claim her prize.

Ronda Rousey(c) vs Nia Jax
(Raw Women’s Championship)

Another one I’m pretty in the middle on.

I feel pretty confident in saying that when Nia won this opportunity at Evoltuion, no-one thought it was going to be quite the saga that it has been so far. Firstly, Nia turned heel again, which I guess was to be expected but she’s turned so many times this year it doesn’t really feel like it matters. Then, with one swift punch she broke Becky’s face and robbed us of the Ronda vs Becky match we were all so desperate to see and became the single most hated wrestler on the face of the Earth.

So naturally, WWE did what WWE did best and fanned the flames, and made her the sole survivor of Team Raw, just to make sure that everyone hated her. I’d love to say that this was classic WWE, misreading their audience, but it really wasn’t. Genuinely hated heels are a rarity in the modern wrestling landscape, so I can’t really blame them for jumping on this chance when it presented itself.

Hopefully this match will be a fun one to watch, their encounter at Money in the Bank was really good so let’s hope that chemistry has stuck around all these months. Regardless of the story, this is Ronda Rousey, and she’s not losing that title until at least Wrestlemania, and probably will still hold onto it past then.

Braun Strowman vs Baron Corbin
(TLC Match)

There’s always one…

On pretty much every WWE PPV, there’s one match, where fans go crazy with speculation about all the twists and turns that could happen, and that’s no different on this show. People have been going crazy coming up with theories as to how this match might resolve itself.

No matter what happens, this match is going to be a short one; like, under a minute kind of short. People have been suggesting run-ins like Kurt Angle, Bray Wyatt, or Heath Slater, and while those would all be fun, I don’t think any of them are going to happen.

Corbin has already stated he’s going to win the match via forfeit and become permanent GM of Raw, so that is at least going to be teased, whether Strowman shows or not. Corbin will come out and tell the referee to start counting to ten to win the match, then one of two things will happen.

Either: at the very last second, just as the referee is about to count the ten, Strowman’s music hits, he hit Corbin with a single powerslam and that’s the end of that; OR, the referee counts to ten, Strowman doesn’t show up, Corbin becomes permanent Raw GM, and we’re all sad forever, take your pick.

As of writing this, I have no idea whether Strowman is cleared or not, so I’m going to lean-to the boring end of the spectrum and say Baron Corbin takes the boring win here, since, even if Strowman does show, there’s a chance Corbin could use heel bullshit to get his win.

Seth Rollins(c) vs Dean Ambrose
(Intercontiental Championship)

Oh please God, just let this be good.

While this hasn’t quite been the epic storyline that we’d all envisioned, it’s certainly been simmering quite nicely. They spun their wheels for a few weeks while we got Survivor Series out-of-the-way (and a little bit after that) then we were given a vague explaination about Seth Rollins’ ego being the reason Dean hates him.

It just seems like such a basic reason, there was so much more you could’ve done with it, you could’ve weaved a careful story about Dean having to emotionally deal with Roman’s illness. Or maybe suggest the idea that Dean only tolerated Seth because Roman liked him, so now with Roman gone, he can’t hold himself back. Even if you wanted to run with the whole “ego” thing, at least give some link back to when Seth originally betrayed The Shield so that this feels justified, and not like the writers didn’t know what to do with Roman gone. Despite all of that, there is a kernel of a good story in here, and if given a bit more time to grow, this could be something really good.

As long as this match is given enough time then I’m hopeful it’ll be one of the better matches of the night, these two have wrestled each other so many times over the past 4 years that we’re pretty much guaranteed a good match at the bare minimum.

When a story is just starting like this one, it can be hard to predict who gets the first victory, but given where this story feel it’s going, and the rumours of Seth vs Brock being the planned Wrestlemania match this year, I’m going to pick Dean Ambrose to capitalize on his new-found momentum and pick up the Intercontinetal Title.

Daniel Bryan(c) vs AJ Styles
(WWE Championship)

Just typing that feels good.

It’s weird how, even though we’ve already seen this match twice in the past two months, I’m still very excited to finally see it on a PPV. This whole “new Daniel Bryan” thing they’ve been running with is one of those things that would fall flat on its face with anyone else, but Daniel Bryan’s performance just makes it so entertaining to see.

If you’d ask me two months ago if a Daniel Bryan heel turn was a good idea, I never would’ve agreed with you in a million years, but goddamned if the Smackdown writing team haven’t proved me wrong. It goes without saying that this should be one of the best matches of the night (again, provided it’s given the time it needs), but I’m pretty doubtful we’ll see a clean finish.

One of the key points of Daniel Bryan’s heel turn has been the fans not deserving to see great matches, so it’s entirely possible that he’ll be deliberately trying to crap all over the match just to piss the fans off which, while effective, would be a shame.

Irrespective of any of that, Daniel Bryan is definitely going to walk out of this one with the win, no matter what he has to do. I’m not entirely sure what the endgame of this whole thing is, but my hope (and I can’t believe I’m saying this) is Bryan vs Cena at Wrestlemania, and a crooked win for Bryan would be a great way to build towards it.

And there you have it! Thank you very much for reading, if you want more opinions about wrestling and other nonsense, make sure to folow me on Twitter @10ryawoo; and make sure to come back next week for my review of the show!