12 WWE TLC 2018 Impulse Reactions
3. The Name On The Marquee Is (Still) Professional Wrestling
A thigh-rubber for fans of a certain age and an important reminder of what separates WWE's modern brand of Good Wrestling from Actual Great Wrestling in 2018, Daniel Bryan and AJ Styles' worthy and well-worked Championship decider was a throwback to the underappreciated gems assembled by Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels when there weren't as many superlative performers to around.
Bryan - the heel - sold Styles' cynical return fire with fear because 'The Phenomenal One' had earned the right to fire back and fight back against the total pr*ck that had taken his title with a kick in the b*lls and tried to retain it by decimating a midsection just above it.
The battles between Samoa Joe and the former WWE Champion were far better than his d*ck-obsessed duels with Shinsuke Nakamura, but the real AJ was at long last unearthed in 2018 here, and the fact it was against Bryan can't have been a coincidence.
Clocking in at nearly half an hour, the audience were deeply taken in by the simplest presentation of the artform on a night where the spectacular ordinarily reigns. Others on the roster would do well to take note. Not least the next two through the curtain...