12 WWE TLC 2018 Impulse Reactions

2. Sickness

Charlotte Becky Asuka
WWE.com

...because Dean Ambrose Vs Seth Rollins - like the storyline that fed into it - was an unmitigated disaster.

A triumph for the destructive micromanagement the company sometimes deploys, WWE missed countless open goals in the build-up and hamstrung the wrestlers with a card too bloated to cope with another lengthy battle so late on.

That's not to take blame away from the wrestlers either. This match was a systemic failure - the company had scripted Ambrose to be a pantomime villain and Rollins his gormless foil. These were not the Shield "brothers" the fans adored nor the motivations they wanted to invest in.

Few through-lines could be drawn between the contest and the wretched angle, which also didn't help. The blood feud playing out like a wrestling match wasn't ideal, but 'The Lunatic Fringe's completely convoluted characterisations didn't jive with a crowd for the bulk of the time he held control. Seth is lauded for his ability to extract excitement from the churn - but he failed profoundly to grasp it here. He lost too, but if rumours of a WrestleMania meeting with Brock Lesnar are to be believed it could be the greatest upward fail of his career.

This entire angle started with a real life cancer diagnosis. It descended almost immediately into terminal patter.

In this post: 
WWE TLC 2018
 
Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett