Tuesday 6 April 2021

A Break from the Blog

 Hi everyone

Hope you are well. You might have realised that I have been a few months behind on the PPV reviews. That's because I work in a hospital and with the pandemic, I have been working there a lot more than usual. Plus I got a temporary promotion last autumn so that led to the current situation with the blog.

When I started this blog almost 10 years ago, I was working 2-3 nights a week in Glasgow so I had a lot of free time to do it. Now, with work building up and my slight disillusion with the main WWE product, has led to my decision to take a break from it. I do enjoy watching wrestling, especially Dynamite and NXT; but I sometimes struggle to review the PPVs.

I won't be entirely going away. The podcast that I started several years ago is going well and I'm currently doing a series on the Austin/McMahon rivalry with Adam Wilson from Wrestling Without Context so I'm going to focus on that and catch up on the wrestling.

For those who have been reading my blog, thank you so much for your support. I hope you continue to support me on the podcast and if you have any ideas on what to do in the future. Until then, it's not goodbye; it's a "see you soon"

Monday 5 April 2021

WWE TLC 2020 Review

The final WWE Pay-Per-View of 2020, TLC, took place on Sunday 20th December at the Thunderdome. The card looks pretty decent so, let's take a look.

The match on the Kick Off Show was a eight man tag team match with the team of Daniel Bryan, Otis, Chad Gable and Big E taking on the team of King Corbin, Cesaro, Shinsuke Nakamura and Sami Zayn. Big E hits the Big Ending on Sami Zayn to get his team the win. The match was quite good.
Winners: Daniel Bryan, Otis, Chad Gable and Big E (N/A)

The first match is a TLC Match for the WWE Championship with AJ Styles challenging Drew McIntyre. Highlights of the match include: Styles being sent into a chair set up in the corner; and Styles using a ladder and then a chair to help him apply the calf killer. After McIntyre sends Styles through a table on the outside, The Miz and John Morrison run in to take out McIntyre and cash in Miz's Money in the Bank briefcase, making it a triple threat. When Miz climbs up, Styles' henchman Omos, grabs him and sends him through another table on the outside. Omos then runs off Morrison. The end comes when all 3 of them are on ladders. McIntyre gets taken off the ladder but he recovers to push Styles and Miz off the ladder then kills Miz with a Claymore Kick. McIntyre then climbs up the ladder to grab the belt and get the win.

I thought this was a really good match and I really liked the twist of Miz cashing in to make it a triple threat. I was surprised Miz wasn't successful but it turns out that, due to Morrison handing in the briefcase, it technically didn't count; so I guess that's ok.
Winner; Drew McIntyre (1 for 1)

The next match is for the Smackdown Women's Championship as Carmella challenges Sasha Banks. After a few pinning attempts, both women try to get the other to submit. Sasha applies the Banks Statement but Carmella's sommelier Reginald pulled her out of the ring. In the end, Sasha goes on to again apply the Banks Statement, getting Carmella to submit and get the win. I thought this was a good match to watch.
Winner: Sasha Banks (1 for 2)

We now get the RAW Tag Team Championship match as The Hurt Business challenges The New Day. The New Day almost win it in the first couple of minutes, but Shelton Benjamin and Cedric Alexander recover and focus their attacks on Xavier Woods. Woods manages to tag in Kofi Kingston; however, Alexander hits Kingston with the Lumber Check to get the win. This was another good match and, even though I predicted the opposite, I'm happy that Benjamin and Alexander got the win.
Winners: The Hurt Business (1 for 3)

The next match is for the Women's Tag Team Championship as Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler face the challenge of Asuka and...Charlotte Flair. Jax and Baszler focus their attack on Asuka's right arm. Asuka recovers to get the hot tag to Flair, who goes on hit Natural Selection on Baszler to get the win. This was a good match but I feel like they ccould have gone a bit longer.
Winners: Asuka and Charlotte Flair (1 for 4)

The penultimate match is a TLC Match for the Universal Champion as Kevin Owens challenges Roman Reigns. Owens surprises Reigns by attacking him while the belt was being hung up. Jey Uso comes in to help but that turned out to be a bad idea as Owens destroys him. Eventually, Reigns recovers and hits Owens with a drive-by to get the advantage. They go on to destroy each other with everything they can get their hands on. Owens comes close but Uso slows him down and, after making Owens pass out from a Guillotine Choke, Reigns manages to climb up and grab the belt to get the win. I thought this was a good match and I liked it being a handicap match for some of it. 
Winner: Roman Reigns (2 for 5)

The main event is a Firefly Inferno Match between "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton. Wyatt hits Orton with Sister Abigail then proceeds to set The Thunderdome on fire. Later on, Wyatt tries to use the Mandible Claw to push Orton into the fire but Orton pushes him into the fire instead. They go into the ring and Orton hits Wyatt with the RKO. Orton, despite winning the match a few minutes earlier, decides to confirm it by setting Wyatt on fire in the middle of the ring. So, Orton wins by murder...?

I wasn't a fan of this match. Having the fire effects surrounding the ring looked pretty good but that was it. I just wasn't invested in it.
Winner: Randy Orton 

I have mixed feelings about this event. I thought the vast majority of the matches were good, especially the 2 TLC matches. However, I thought the main event ruined it for me. I thought that would the end of the rivalry between the two. However, I know this feud will continue til Wrestlemania so...yay?