8 Match Star Ratings For WWE TLC 2019
1. Becky Lynch & Charlotte Flair Vs. The Kabuki Warriors - TLC Match For The Women's Tag Team Titles
A real shame.
At some point - and, in an indictment of how loosely worked this was at times, even after it became apparent to everybody else that something was amiss, that point can't yet be accurately determined - Kairi Sane suffered a nasty head injury, most likely a concussion. Some have pointed to the spot during which Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair threw monitors around, since one seemed to connect flush with Sane's head. Others detected the brutal landing following Flair's barricade suplex. However this happened, Sane was in rough shape, leading to two awful, glaring spots, in which she couldn't bump for a spear, and took everything she had just to elevate herself to take a powerbomb through a table.
It's hard to determine how good this might have been, had it not completely fallen apart. So much of the action was set by the announce tables that everything became weirdly static in the middle phase, and clunky through the lack of space in which to manoeuvre. Some character moments soared - the old-timey rope stuff was cute, as was Sane emerging from underneath the ring with a fire extinguisher blast - but isn't "under the ring" precisely where Lynch and Flair wanted Sane to be in a ladder match?
The rushed, impromptu finish was inelegant, but understandably so - Asuka barely sold a brutal bump before engineering the climactic teeter spot - and ultimately, this was a grim lesson in concussion protocol that should be learned from.
The extra kick delivered to Liv Morgan by Brie Bella last year didn't work in that regard, sadly.
Star Rating: ★★½