WWE TLC 2013 Results: 5 Happenings You Ought To Know From Sunday's PPV

3. The Tag Team Division Continues Its Roll

Tlc Tag Team In case you were unaware, the WWE decided to book a Fatal Fourway Elimination Tag Team Championship match for the PPV sometime during the week. Thank you, WWE. Beginning with the Rhodes Brothers winning the titles from The Shield in one of the most underrated matches of 2013, the tag team division has seen somewhat of a resurgence in both importance and quality. The champions are over. There are numerous challengers who are over, too, and have well-defined characters. This is not the tag team division that was hoisted on the back of main-eventers without anything better to do a few years ago. No, Rhodes and Goldust are leading the way for a division featuring a mixture of a wide variety of talents. From motivated veterans like Big Show and Rey Mysterio to hungry young stars like The Real Americans to wandering mid-carders who need purpose like Ryback and Curtis Axel, the division is in pretty good shape. Matches like the 21-minute elimination bout help add to the growing reputation of the division, overall. Eight men worked their tails off to create an addition to the card that not many were expecting. The mid-card was thought to surely drag this PPV down a notch, but a borderline four-star effort from the tag teams brought TLC 2013 to an unexpected level of quality. The eliminations, coming at the seven and fourteen minute marks, respectively, before the final elimination at 21:02, were very well spaced out, giving each team an opportunity to shine. Goldust shined brightest, dazzling the Houston crowd with a series of moves that someone of his size and age should not be capable of pulling off so gracefully. During the final sequence of false finishes featuring Cody and Mysterio, the crowd began a chant of "This is Awesome." Audiences may overuse that chant, generally, but tonight they were spot on. Do not look now but the Tag Team Championships will be the second most coveted title in all of WWE after tonight. What a great addition to the card!
Contributor
Contributor

"The Doc" Chad Matthews has written wrestling columns for over a decade. A physician by trade, Matthews began writing about wrestling as a hobby, but it became a passion. After 30 years as a wrestling fan, "The Doc" gives an unmatched analytical perspective on pro wrestling in the modern era. He is a long-time columnist for Lordsofpain.net and hosts a weekly podcast on the LOP Radio Network called "The Doc Says." His first book - The WrestleMania Era: The Book of Sports Entertainment - ranks the Top 90 wrestlers from 1983 to present day, was originally published in December 2013, and is now in its third edition. Matthews lives in North Carolina with his wife, two kids, and two dogs.