5 Ups And 6 Downs From WWE TLC 2016

Downs...

6. Angle Development On PPV

One of the things that makes the NXT TakeOver specials so great is that they are almost all action. There is a minimum of backstage segments and angle advancement during the quarterly events. Instead, the PPVs are there to settle scores in the ring.

WWE PPVs, however, are more of a mix of the two. We get the action in the ring, but then we also get numerous interviews, and sometimes some angles get fleshed out as well. Sometimes, that works well, but Sunday’s “revelation” from Carmella about who attacked Nikki Bella at Survivor Series wasn’t one of them.

After getting beaten, Carmella took the mic and told Nikki that it wasn’t her who attacked Bella, it was Natalya (who was the first woman to find Nikki and then took her place in the Survivor Series match). Later, Nattie was interviewed and didn’t really do a great job acquitting herself.

But why couldn’t that entire exchange wait until Tuesday? Why did it have to happen in the middle of the PPV? Is SmackDown that pressed for time that we had to set up the angle now?