REVIEW: TLC 2019: When There Were People

Tables Ladders And Chairs 2019
Date: December 15, 2019
Location: Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Commentators: Jerry Lawler, Vic Joseph, Samoa Joe, Michael Cole, Corey Graves

We’ll wrap up the decade with this one as the show doesn’t exactly feel all that important. Unless one is added later, there are no singles titles on the line tonight. I’m not sure how long it has been since that was the case but it isn’t likely to be any recent time. This isn’t the best time for WWE as they are going to be going slowly until the Rumble build starts around the beginning of the year, so hope for the best here. Let’s get to it.

Kickoff Show: Andrade vs. Humberto Carrillo

Rematch from Monday where Humberto won, sending Andrade and Zelina Vega into an argument. Andrade avoids a charge to start and goes into the trash talk, followed by a backdrop to put Humberto down. Humberto gets sent outside and we take a break. Back with Humberto still in trouble, this time in the form of an armbar.

A missed enziguri keeps Humberto in trouble as Andrade is starting to get cocky. Humberto snaps off a hurricanrana before sending Andrade outside, where he seems to be favoring his knee as we take a second break. IN A KICKOFF SHOW MATCH. Back with Humberto missing his double moonsault but managing to send Andrade into the corner for a hard dropkick.

That busts Andrade open and he falls to the floor for a big flip dive. Back in and Andrade catches him on top, setting up the top rope double stomp to the apron. Andrade nails a clothesline to turn Humberto inside out but he can’t follow up. Humberto gets sent hard into the corner again and there are the double knees for two more. Vega’s distraction on the apron doesn’t work but doesn’t quite backfire either, leaving Andrade to get caught on top for a super reverse hurricanrana. A moonsault gives Humberto the pin at 12:37.

Rating: B. This started a little slowly but turned into a heck of a match by the end with everyone working hard and getting to show off a bit. Carrillo can get it done in the ring but the lack of charisma is going to be a major hurdle to clear. Andrade and Vega continuing to have issues could go somewhere, and it’s better than just having him stand around doing nothing all day.

Post match, Andrade walks away from a shouting Vega.

The opening video is a special TLC edition of Firefly Fun House with Bray Wyatt decorating a ladder instead of a tree. We switch into a regular opening video, looking at the main weapons involved tonight.

Smackdown Tag Team Titles: New Day vs. Revival

New Day is defending in a ladder match. They slug it out to start with New Day taking over, including Kofi hitting a running kick to Wilder’s chest. The fight heads outside with Revival being sent into various metal objects as New Day continues to dominate. Wilder gets in a shot to Kofi’s knee though and Big E. goes hard into the steps. Kofi is sent into the LED apron board and a ladder is laid on its side on the apron.

The whip into it is broken up but Kofi tries a baseball slide, only to have Revival pick the ladder up and drop it onto his back. Kofi dives over the ladder again and then dives onto it to knock Revival down in a huge crash. Big E. tries to pull the ladder inside and overpowers both Dawson and Wilder at the same time just to show off a bit. The apron splash onto Wilder onto the ladder only hits ladder though and Kofi goes face first into the ladder to make it even worse.

Big E. makes the save but his knee gets wrapped around a ladder, followed by a ladder between the legs to keep him down. The ladder is tied in the ropes but Kofi slips out of a whip into it and catapults it into Revival’s faces. Big E. gets back up and works on Dawson’s banged up knee with a Stretch Muffler, allowing Kingston to hit the knee with a ladder. Kofi goes up but the ladder gets turned over, so he lands on the top and springboards back into most of a tornado DDT on Dawson.

Trouble in Paradise puts Wilder down but Revival gets back up for a Shatter Machine off the ladder. It’s Big E. back up this time with a spear through the ropes to put Wilder on the floor. Dawson is down as well and Big E. sets up another ladder, plus bridges another one horizontally into the rungs. Big E. takes WAY too long setting anything up though and gets superplexed onto the bridged ladder.

That doesn’t break it though so Wilder hits a splash to drive Big E. through the ladder for the big knockdown. Kofi comes back in and climbs, only to get sent face first into the ladder to knock him silly but not down. Big E. hits a Big Ending off the ladder, leaving Dawson to climb as Kofi pulls himself up. Kofi sends the belts into Dawson’s head to knock him into the remnants of the broken ladder. That’s enough to pull the titles down and retain at 19:05.

Rating: A-. Ignoring some of the questionable time spent building spots, this was a crazy spot fest with that springboard tornado DDT being some eye popping stuff. Kofi seems to be back in stride and New Day retaining here makes the most sense. Just wait for Roode to get back though so he and Dolph Ziggler, who WWE sees as some brilliant team, can take them away.

King Corbin isn’t worried about Roman Reigns and will humble him using tables, ladders and chairs.

We recap the Kickoff Show match. We need a recap from a match that took place an hour ago?

Aleister Black vs. Buddy Murphy

Murphy sits in the middle of the ring ala Black during Black’s entrance. I really don’t see that going well for him. Black sits right in front of him and some of Murphy’s confidence seems to go away. The threat of some very early Black Mass sends Murphy to the floor so he slides back in, only to get sent outside again. Murphy slides back in….and Black is sitting there waiting on him for a great visual.

Black ducks a kick to the face and grabs an armbar but Murphy gets out and knees him in the face. That one shakes Black a bit so he kicks Murphy in the chest and Black seems annoyed at being hit so hard. Black’s running knee from the apron is countered though and Murphy sends him face first into the steps. Back in and Murphy drives in elbows to Black’s bloody nose but Black gets fired up. Murphy gets kicked out of the air and a Shining Wizard rocks him again.

Black Mass is broken up so they head to the apron, with Black kicking him to the floor for the moonsault. Back in and a heck of a knee to the face gets two so Black kicks him in the head as a bonus. A superplex is countered into a set of Cheeky Nandos kicks and a running sitout powerbomb gives Murphy two. Murphy’s big knee to the face is blocked and they slug it out until Murphy gets two off a brainbuster. They pull themselves up in the corner and go to another strike off, but this time Black pulls out Black Mass for the sudden knockout and the pin at 13:41.

Rating: B+. This felt like a Takeover match with two guys getting the chance to showcase themselves on the big stage and taking every advantage of it. They hit the heck out of each other here and Murphy didn’t lose a thing by taking the pin here. Black surviving the likely broken nose and winning anyway gives him another boost and hopefully he can move up to something better in the near future. Heck of a match.

Rusev is thrilled by Bobby Lashley wanting to propose to Lana because it means the end of alimony. Lana better cancel their vacation plans though because all she is going to be able to do is pull splinters of wood out of Lashley’s back.

We recap Seth Rollins officially joining forces with the AOP and destroying Kevin Owens on Raw.

Raw Tag Team Titles: Viking Raiders vs. ???

The Raiders are defending in an open challenge and there are fans sitting ringside with a bunch of KFC. The challenge is issued again and it’s…..the OC, which was the most logical move. Hang on though as they need to bring up being the only team to beat the Raiders, which is a good way to build this up in a hurry. Anderson headlocks Erik to start but gets belly to back faceplanted for his efforts.

Ivar comes in for the slam and then slams Erik onto him for a bonus. A Gallows distraction lets Anderson knock Erik to the floor though and it’s time for the chinlock. The comeback doesn’t work though as Gallows comes in for a chinlock of his own. This allows Lawler to freak out about the fried chicken at ringside for about the tenth time in the match. Erik finally powers up and brings in Ivar to really clean house.

Ivar slugs away at various jaws and we get a Flair Flip in the corner of all things. What appeared to be a top rope splash is broken up (as the Flair traditions continue) and the belly to back neckbreaker gets two. A handspring double elbow hits Anderson and grazes Gallows, but it’s enough to set up the Viking Experience to Anderson for two (with Gallows appearing to be late on the save). That puts everyone down so they roll to the floor with Ivar hitting a big dive….for the double countout at 8:30.

Rating: C-. And there goes the hot streak to start the show as the ending wasn’t going to get over with the fans and likely sets up a rematch tomorrow on Raw. It wasn’t even all that good in the first place with the chinlocks eating up a lot of time in the middle. The OC does feel like a threat to the Raiders though and that kept the match from being too bad.

Post match Anderson stays on the champs and grabs the KFC table, only to have the Raiders powerbomb him through it.

Miz has sent his wife and daughters to an undisclosed location. Bray Wyatt has violated his home and tonight it’s the most important match of his life because he is fighting for his family.

We recap King Corbin vs. Roman Reigns, which actually isn’t headlining. Corbin has been taunting Reigns about no longer being the locker room leader and for being called the Big Dog. Therefore, Corbin handcuffed Reigns and covered him in dog food. Now, Reigns is unleashed to keep up the theme.

King Corbin vs. Roman Reigns

TLC with pin or submission to win. Corbin gets to promise to humble Reigns again before the bell. Reigns punches his way through Corbin’s security/sedan carriers. Corbin charges at Reigns with a chair but gets punched down. Another shot to the face knocks Corbin off the stage and they fight through the crowd. Reigns gets the better of it and sends him over the barricade so they can go to ringside for the first time.

A ram into the steps rocks Corbin but he’s fine enough to hit Deep Six for two. The slide under the corner clothesline gets two more and they head outside for a whip into the steps. The first ladder is brought in for a shot to Reigns’ ribs, followed by a chair to the back. Those are shrugged off and Reigns starts the clothesline comeback. Reigns ducks another under the corner clothesline (sliding underneath the chair wedged in the corner) but walks into a chokebreaker.

The Superman Punch gives Reigns two and he loads up a table, only to walk into….a can of dog food to the head. That’s enough to hit a chokeslam through the table for two more. It’s time to load up the commentators’ table but Reigns Samoan drops him through the other one for the double knockdown. Reigns is up first and runs around the ring to load up a spear but runs into a Dolph Ziggler superkick (or a Superman kick according to Cole).

With Reigns down, Corbin and Ziggler go after the timekeeper but Reigns hits the apron dropkick to break up the dog fooding. Reigns grabs a kendo stick and beats up Corbin’s security again so here are the Revival to take Reigns down again. That’s fine with Reigns, who beats them up as well and hits the big dive onto the pile. Corbin is sent back inside but Ziggler hits Reigns with a chair to cut him down again. The Shatter Machine drops Reigns again and the End of Days onto a chair is good for the pin at 22:12.

Rating: B-. And now we’ll have to get a rematch as Corbin is getting a freaking stable. I’ll spare you another long rant about Corbin and Ziggler sucking the entertainment out of every single thing that happens on Smackdown and just hope that we can move on to something other than dog jokes. You know we’re getting more and more of this, so hopefully it won’t be as bad going forward. The match was an entertaining enough garbage brawl and Reigns has a reason to want to fight again, but that means we have to listen to more of these two arguing. Merry Christmas indeed.

We recap the Miz vs. Bray Wyatt. Daniel Bryan was supposed to face the Fiend for the Universal Title again but got destroyed instead. Therefore, Bray (as in not the Fiend) wanted to face Miz instead and stalked his family for some serious mind games.

Bray Wyatt vs. The Miz

Non-title and this is the first time Bray has been in a televised match as himself in about fifteen months. Serious Miz still does his usual entrance just to show you how important this is. To show you how serious this is to the announcers, they are mocking the foreign commentary teams with some idiotic story about wearing pants at a formal dinner. Bray stands on the announcers’ table and thanks everyone for their interest. He’s REALLY excited about this.

The fans give him a YOWIE WOWIE chant so Miz takes it straight into the corner to start the beating. Some knees in the corner keep Bray down but he smiles at Miz, who kicks away even more. Miz chokes and hammers away on the ropes so Bray….laughs. The sweater is pulled over Bray’s face so Miz can punch at the ribs but Bray gets serious. Miz reverses him into the corner though and kicks away, setting up some running knees in the corner. Sister Abigail is countered into the Skull Crushing Finale but Miz glares instead of covering.

Miz slams him face first into the mat and Bray laughs some more. Bray’s arm is snapped back so he rolls to the floor….and rams himself into the barricade to fix his shoulder. Miz sends him into the barricade and the steps but Bray gets in a backdrop into the timekeeper’s area. Sister Abigail sends Miz into the barricade and more smiling ensues. That’s good for nine so Bray hits Sister Abigail again for the pin at 6:32.

Rating: C+. This was a match that may have been ridiculous on paper but it was exactly how things should have gone. The idea of Bray is that he can control the anger and evil and only channels it when he puts the mask on. That slipped a bit here and Wyatt showed off the dark side when he needed to but was passive the rest of the time. It fits everything he needed to be and the ending was how it should have gone. Very smartly laid out match, even if it wasn’t the most thrilling.

Post match Bray smiles some more but the Fiend appears on screen. Bray says “ok I’ll do it”…..and pulls out the giant mallet. The lights start to flicker and Bray shouts HE’S HERE, only to turn into the running knee from Daniel Bryan, now with short hair and a short beard. The YES Kicks in the corner set up the running corner dropkicks and Bryan stomps him in the head over and over. Bryan grabs the mallet but there go the lights, allowing Bray to disappear. With nothing else to do, Bryan hits the mat with the mallet and poses.

We recap Rusev vs. Bobby Lashley. Rusev’s wife Lana has been having an affair with Lashley and Rusev is fighting back. He agreed to sign the divorce papers so he could get this match, which is of course a tables match.

Rusev vs. Bobby Lashley

Rusev hammers away to start and goes straight for the table but Lana offers a successful distraction. Lashley can’t do much with that so Rusev suplexes him on the ramp to work on the back a bit. It’s too early to put Lashley through the table though so he turns it over in a smart move. For a change of pace, Lashley throws a table at Rusev but only hits the post to break the table in half.

A regular table, plus the two of them, go inside with Rusev sending him face first into the table in the corner. Lashley comes back with a spinebuster and there’s a running shoulder in the corner to keep Rusev down. Back up and Lashley gets sent to the apron where Rusev can’t knock him through a table. Instead, Rusev knocks him OVER the table and down onto the floor, as Rusev doesn’t have the best aim.

A shot with the steps rocks Lashley again and Rusev goes to find…..a piece of barricade. That’s laid up against the barricade but Lashley chokeslams him through it. Lashley hits him with a kendo stick over and over as Lana laughs in Rusev’s face. Back in and Lashley sets up a table in the corner but Rusev takes the stick away and unloads with it. There’s the Machka Kick but Lana jumps on Rusev’s back, allowing Lashley to suplex Rusev through the table for the win at 13:04.

Rating: D+. That was about what was expected: a fairly long brawl until Lana interfered and cost Rusev the fall. This story is going to continue for a long time to come and this match didn’t exactly give me a ton of hope for the future. The story isn’t for everyone but there is an audience for it so I get why it’s continuing. Just….find a way to have better matches.

The Street Profits offer Lashley the advice of “get a vasectomy” but are interrupted by Reigns, Corbin, New Day, Ziggler, and several other people in a huge brawl.

We recap the Kabuki Warriors vs. Becky Lynch/Charlotte. The Warriors have ganged up on them individually (often with the help of green mist) so the two non-friends have joined forces to go after the Women’s Tag Team Titles. It’s a TLC match because….well we need a main event.

Women’s Tag Team Titles: Kabuki Warriors vs. Becky Lynch/Charlotte

TLC match with traditional rules and Lynch/Charlotte challenging. It’s a brawl to start with the Warriors being sent outside, including Becky throwing Asuka through a table with a pile of chairs on top. Charlotte adds a big boot to Sane and it’s already time for a ladder. Asuka is right there to throw a chair at Charlotte’s face though and Becky gets knocked outside as well.

A dropkick into the chair into Charlotte’s face lets the champs sit down for some posing as the confidence is already high. Becky is back with a drop toehold to send Asuka face first into a chair and then into a ladder, with Charlotte taking care of Sane on the floor. Asuka has to be saved from a powerbomb through a table but Sane gets knocked down as well. Charlotte and Becky set up a ladder but Sane throws a chair….which doesn’t clear the top rope and hits Sane in the face instead.

They throw chairs at each other for a bit until the Warriors go underneath the ring. They’re dragged back out with Asuka finding a fire extinguisher for a quick blast. Asuka also has a rope to get in a few whips and Sane adds a running flip neckbreaker onto a pile of chairs. Charlotte is put in an announcers’ chair and beaten up for a bit, followed by the next ladder being pulled out. Instead of setting it up though, Sane ties the rope to the leg and then ties Becky to it for a rather unique idea.

With Becky subdued, Charlotte gets hit with a sliding knee off the apron and the Warriors toss her over the barricade. Since playing defense isn’t a thing in a TLC match, Charlotte is back in with a kendo stick to knock both Warriors off the ladder. Charlotte sends them both into chairs and tries to untie Becky, only to get chaired down from behind. Lynch has been loosened enough though and it’s time for the firery comeback. House is cleaned and Becky’s middle rope seated senton puts Asuka through a table. Sane saves herself from the same fate with a double DDT on the floor and it’s time to put both of them onto the table.

The Insane Elbow off the apron misses Charlotte and hits Becky but doesn’t break the table for a nasty sound. Charlotte muscles Sane up for a powerbomb through the table (though it looked like she had trouble getting her up, or something is WAY off with Sane) but Asuka is back up with a chair. Asuka puts a ladder on Charlotte and a table on Becky…and would rather go and help Sane up than climb. After some more stomping, they set up the big ladder (with the rope still attached) but Charlotte and Becky are back in with some pretty bad looking chair shots.

Charlotte boots a ladder into Asuka’s face and they all head outside again. Charlotte’s moonsault through Asuka through the table is broken up and instead it’s a huge powerbomb off the middle rope through the table to nearly kill Charlotte. Becky Bexplodes Asuka into some ladders and climbs but has to drop down to beat Asuka with the rope. Asuka uses said rope to pull the ladder and Becky down though and the crash is enough to retain the titles at 25:58.

Rating: B. This was a match where you had to ignore a lot of instances where they should have just climbed instead of gone to get more weapons. What we got was good though as it felt like a battle where either of them could pull off the win. I’m not sure who takes the titles from the Warriors, but it’s time to move on from Becky and Charlotte as partners (or opponents) for a good while.

Maybe three seconds after the match ends, the big group that was brawling before spills out into the arena with Corbin and Reigns fighting into the crowd above the pile. Reigns spears Corbin off the platform onto everyone else to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. It’s another case of having very low expectations and managing to get a pretty awesome show out of it. There are a few rough spots (Rusev vs. Lashley and Raw Tag Team Titles) but there are more than a few rather good matches and the show was off the air by 10:15. It helps when there was nothing as far as expectations, but they were working hard and it turned into something pretty good. Now just get some more interesting stories to go with a show like this and we’re in awesome shape.

Thomas Hall has been a wrestling fan for over thirty years and has seen over 50,000 wrestling matches. He has also been a wrestling reviewer since 2009 with over 5,000 full shows covered. You can find his work at kbwrestlingreviews.com, or check out his- Amazon author page with 30 wrestling books. Get the latest and greatest in professional wrestling news by signing up for our daily email newsletter. Just look below for “GET EXCLUSIVE UPDATES” to sign up. Thank you for reading!