Ranking 2017's WWE PPV Endings: From Worst To Best

9. TLC: Tropes, Ladders, & Clichés

The Undertaker WrestleMania 33 Bye Bye
WWE.com

TLC 2017's five-on-three main event was a gloriously overbooked trainwreck that featured every contrived WWE trope in the book. Distilling it down to workrate and star ratings suggests it was objectively terrible, but this defeats the point. Featuring everything from the woefully contrived stretchered out/heroic comeback to Braun Strowman's murder via garbage truck, it was a beautiful, beautiful mess: the kind of match you just need to keep at arms length, then sit back and bask in its absurdity.

The finish was a perfect microcosm of all this. The Shield successfully isolated The Miz, and put him away with an almighty triple powerbomb, with Kurt 'Yer Da' Angle playing a Roman Reigns surrogate. 'The Olympic Hero' even copied 'The Big Dog's' signature pre-move roar. Bless his cotton socks.

As with the rest of the match, the conclusion's stupidity is both its greatest strength and biggest weakness. It was fun, but extremely questionable, as an old, broken down authority figure shouldn't be the deciding factor in a match featuring some of the best athletes in the business. This prevents it from placing higher, but TLC's ending was far from terrible.

Channel Manager
Channel Manager

Andy has been with WhatCulture for eight years and is currently WhatCulture's Wrestling Channel Manager. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.