7 Match Star Ratings For WWE TLC 2020

2. Roman Reigns Vs. Kevin Owens - Universal Title TLC Match

Awesome with an asterisk, WWE at least arrived at a psychologically coherent handicap scenario after so much in the way of bullying babyface angles on SmackDown.

This was a two-on-one handicap match in effect, and the protests swelling in some quarters - "Kevin Owens is a total d*ck, it makes sense that nobody would save him!" - don't exactly speak to the success of his babyface run. Where were Otis and Daniel Bryan?

Regardless, this was a still great, demented and very, very painful-looking stunt show, even if the Pillmaniser spot has now formally lost all meaning.

Low on melodramatic exposition and high on brutal electricity, Roman Reigns sold KO's at-the-death comebacks almost as well as his opponent, who has re-stated his claim as one of the best brawlers on the planet, on this evidence. Roman's facials were exceptional here - so exceptional that, if you're Vince McMahon, you're doing your own facial expression. You're doing that trademark gulp in gorilla because this man is destined for better things. He didn't react with clichéd WrestleMania 25 shock when Owens timed and registered those comebacks.

He looked mystified. What is this motherf*cker doing, he conveyed.

And how the f*ck is he doing it?

Arranged with a great deal of elegance - that awesome out-of-nowhere desperation spear didn't come from nowhere, they'd done a tremendous job of positioning the plunder - this was a plot hole short of a true genre classic.

Still: it ruled, and Reigns is untouchable in WWE right now. A competent company would build a babyface posthaste and book something they used to call a big match.

Star Rating: ★★★★¼