10 Big Mistakes WWE Can't Afford To Make At TLC 2016
3. A Watered Down Main Event
Generally speaking, WWE’s signature gimmick matches aren’t particularly exciting anymore. The company’s PG rating has rendered Hell In A Cell completely irrelevant, and while TLC’s slump hasn’t been quite as spectacular, there’s still been a notable drop-off in quality. It has been four years since WWE pulled-off a truly great TLC match (The Shield vs. Team Hell No & Ryback, TLC 2012), and last year’s Sheamus vs. Roman Reigns match was solid, but nowhere close to the stipulation’s old heights.
AJ Styles and Dean Ambrose will meet in a TLC match this weekend, and the signs aren’t particularly encouraging. October’s HIAC matches were fine, but lacking in the peril and danger that made the gimmick so exciting in the first place, and there’s a strong chance that this weekend’s PPV will go the same way. This is one of the most exciting match stipulations in WWE history, but it’ll likely be watered down.
That wouldn’t just be a huge waste of the stipulation, but also of the participants’ talents. Ambrose and Styles are two of WWE’s most exciting wrestlers, and if the stabilisers were taken-off, they’d thrive in an environment like this. Nobody’s saying they should go out and try to kill themselves like Jeff Hardy at WrestleMania X-Seven, but this match demands a little extra freedom.