WWE TLC 2015 live results: Roman Reigns vs. Sheamus
At Survivor Series, WWE decided to shuffle up the deck and pull a swerve by having Sheamus cash in his Money In The Bank briefcase, snatching the WWE title away from five minute champion Roman Reigns in a move that disappointed many.
We’re doing our post-match poll on both this show and the UFC show last night, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to dave@wrestlingobserver.com
BECKY LYNCH VS. SASHA BANKS IN THE PRE SHOW MATCH
Nice match, particularly the last 30 seconds or so as Lynch kept going from armbar to Fujiwara armbar. Tamina Snuka distracted the ref and Naomi kicked Lynch and then Banks did the back stabber into the bank statement. The crowd popped pretty good for the Banks win since she’s local. Crowd wasn’t super into it but they reacted decently enough.
They are teasing that Zeb Colter may be back with Jack Swagger, which may also mean that the Del Rio/Swagger thing from Raw also could be a swerve.
It appears smart money is in because the odds are long now. So here are the favorites:
Sheamus 45-to-1 favorite
Dean Ambrose 12-to-1 favorite
New Day 20-to-1 favorite
Charlotte 5-to-1 favorite
Wyatt Family 6-to-1 favorite
Alberto Del Rio 45-to-1 favorite
Rusev 45-to-1 favorite
NEW DAY VS. USOS VS. LUCHA DRAGONS IN A LADDER MATCH FOR TAG TITLES
The New day retained when Kalisto was climbing and Xavier Woods, who was on commentary, threw the trombone at Kalisto and Kingston threw him off the ladder. Kingston slowly climbed and pulled down the belts. Absolutely awesome spot fest like a modern version of the Edge & Christian vs. Hardys vs. Dudleys match but with all new spots. Kalisto did the Salida del on Jimmy off the top of a ladder crashinG through another ladder. There were dives, like the Dragons doing a double moonsault off the middle rope to the floor on E & Kingston. Kalisto did a dragon rana off a ladder which flipped Kingston back into the ladder face first. There was about 18 minutes of this. Like a crazy Lucha match in many ways. It’s going to hard for anyone to come close to this. Creative and well executed.
RYBACK VS. RUSEV
Good match. Rusev threw Ryback into Lana and she started selling which distracted Ryback. Rusev superkicked him and went for the pin but Ryback kicked out. Ryback got out of the accoalde but Rusev got out of shell shock and Rusev used a high kick and won with the accolade with Ryback passing out. Rusev and Lana had teased a walk out and Ryback pulled him back which was the spot where Rusev shoved Ryback into Lana. Lana never actually got hit and was pretending again.
Dean Ambrose promo. Roman Reigns is with him. Ambrose said he was feeling good. They were doing the best friends stuff. You always wonder if something will happen.
ALBERTO DEL RIO VS. JACK SWAGGER FOR U.S. TITLE IN CHAIRS MATCH
No Zeb at all. Chair matches are hard because you do a million chair matches and they don’t really mean anything. They did a good job building up to Swagger finally hitting the Swagger bomb and getting the Patriot lock, but Del Rio, whose leg was wrapped up in a chair, made the ropes. Del Rio had the armbar in the ropes. Del Rio did four hard chair shots to the back and then a double foot stomp off the top rope onto chairs.
Kevin Iole reported that Mauro Ranallo will be the new voice of Smackdown, but he’ll be keeping his boxing, MMA and kickboxing duties on weekends. Story is true.
Dudleys did a promo.
DUDLEYS & RHINO & TOMMY DREAMER VS. WYATT FAMILY IN AN ELIMINATION TABLES MATCH
The Wyatts won 4-1. There were two tables broken that didn’t count, including Braun Strowman kicking through a table. A table also broke when it wasn’t supposed to when Devon rolled off. First Rowan took a 3-D through a table from the Dudleys. Harper kicked Rhyno through a table for the second elimination. Wyatt put Devon through a table with a uranage. Harper did a tope knocking Dreamer through a table leaving Bubba by himself. Bubba poured lighter fluid on a table and the place went nuts, but before he coudl light it, Harper superkicked him and Strowman choke slammed Bubba through a table. There were two funny spots where Strowman was off but crowd really liked this a lot with ECW and ECW style chants.
Kevin Owens heel promo. Said you as individuals have nothing to do with it when your team wins like Dean Ambrose. Ambrose acts like he’s accomplished something. Owens said, in reference to Ambrose throwing soda and popcorn on him that “I eat popcorn and drink soda every day of my life.”
KEVIN OWENS VS. DEAN AMBROSE FOR IC TITLE
Ambrose won the title by reversing the pop up power bomb into a huracanrana. Match was shorter than you’d think but very good. They did a good tease count out early on Ambrose. Ambrose escaped the pop up power bomb and hit Dirty Deeds but Owens got two fingers on the ropes for the break. People were really into the title change, I don’t think they were expecting it. The title change felt like a real big deal here. They pushed that Ambrose held up his part of it and now Reigns has to.
CHARLOTTE VS. PAIGE FOR THE DIVAS TITLE
Charlotte was a total heel working the match like Ric Flair with the begging off kneedrops, working the leg. Charlotte did seem more confident. The crowd really got into it when Paige used the figure four on Charlotte like every babyface would do to Flair. Paige used the Rampage but Ric put Charlotte’s leg on the ropes. Right after, Charlotte took off the padding of a turnbuckkle and pulled Paige’s head into the exposed metal for the pin. I’d rather she was something different from Ric but she had more presence in this role than she’s had up to this point in WWE, but not more than in NXT.
Ric and Charlotte were celebrating. Becky Lynch confronted her. Lynch said she didn’t like the way she won. Charlotte said would you rather your best friend won or Paige won. Lynch looked confused and unhappy about Charlotte’s tactics.
WWE CHAMPION SHEAMUS VS. ROMAN REIGNS IN A TLC MATCH
Sheamus retained due to inteference from Rusev and Alberto Del Rio, but no King Barrett. Also, there was no Ambrose or anyone to make the save for Reigns.
This was a really good match. At first, the crowd wasn’t that hot or were doing non-match related chants for Cena and ECW. Both guys worked really hard and physical with lots of teases of wins, chair shots, and more.
Sheamus backdropped Reigns through a table on the floor. Sheamus suplexed Reigns through a table. Sheamus used White Noise off the steps through a table. Reigns got out of an armbar and reversed into a one arm powerbomb onto a ladder. Reigns with a Samoan drop through a ladder that broke in half. At this point, the crowd was booing when they thought Reigns would win.
Reigns’ Superman punch knocked Sheamus off a ladder. Reigns had the title won when Rusev & Del Rio came in. They beat him down, but Reigns came back and gave them both Superman punches. Sheamus was on top. Reigns pulled him off and Sheamus hit a Brogue kick, knocking Reigns out of the ring. Sheamus climbing again. This time they were booing thinking Reigns would lose. Sheamus pulled down the belt to win before Reigns could recover.
The highlight was post-match as Reigns totally snapped. He speared all three at the same time. He destroyed everyone with chair shots. HHH & Steph came out out. Reign nailed Sheamus with a chair after HHH and Stephanie told him to put it down. HHH was on the apron and told Reigns to calm down. After a long tease, Reigns hit a Superman punch on HHH. He grabbed a chair and hit HHH over and over with chair shots. It was funny as at one point, HHH told him to do it again (which you could hear) so then he did another chair shot.
Stephanie was screaming as Reigns gave him a real beating. Reigns gave him a power bomb onto a table that didn’t break. Fans were chanting “One more time!” Reigns elbowdropped him through the table, so they are doing an injury angle with HHH. This finish was great, complete with a “Thank you Roman” chant.
They are pushing like Reigns is going to be fired. HHH finally got up, and Reigns turned around, sprinted down the aisle and speared him again. This was the best thing they’ve done with Reigns. HHH selling it huge. The crowd didn’t like Reigns at all at first and were cheering heavily for him by the time this was done.