Review for WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs 2013

There are times when I truly hate WWE. I understand that they are a business and they need to make money. For them, it is easier to market someone like Randy Orton or John Cena to a wider audience. I understand that. But whenever I see either of those with the world championship belts I sit thinking 'You can hear the fans screaming for Daniel Bryan right?' I mean it's not just me hearing those echoing 'Yes!' chants right?

This event featured a unification of the WWE and World Heavyweight Championship belts. An epic battle which would have lived through the ages. But I can guarantee that it won't. When Chris Jericho unified the WWE and WCW belts in 2001, defeating Stone Cold and The Rock in the same night, that was epic. That was a moment and more importantly, that was someone who the fans wanted to see win. This? To be honest it didn't matter to me whether Randy Orton or John Cena won. It simply did not matter.

Featuring eight matches you could be forgiven for thinking that this isn't a bad PPV. It isn't.

HOWEVER

Let's just take away the CM Punk and Daniel Bryan matches for a moment and discuss the rest of this PPV.

First up we have an Intercontinental Match between Big E Langston and Damien Sandow. Why are they fighting? What is the feud? Is it about the belt? Did anyone even know Langston had the belt? It is just your typical match, not bad, but nothing special. No Disqualification Match between Kofi KIngston and The Miz. Again why is this match taking place? Do they have a feud? Is there a reason why it's No DQ? Have we missed something? Waste of a good stipulation on a pointless match. R-Truth vs. Brodus Clay. This match exists. Moving on.

Next we have AJ vs Natalya for the Divas belt and though I love AJ and think she can do no wrong WWE need to bring in someone that she can work with. This is not a knock against Natalya at all. What I mean is that AJ is just too small to be getting a victory on her and WWE needs to bring in someone AJ's size to at least make her look credible. It is a good match, but the ending just made me facepalm and the AJ heel victory is starting to get old.

WWE Tag match in a Fatal 4-Way Elimination rules. Now we are talking. This pitted Goldust/Cody Rhodes vs. Big Show/Rey Mysterio vs. Ryback/Curtis Axel and The Real Americans. Probably one of the best tag matches I have seen in a while. I really do hope that WWE do not drop the ball with the tag division as I haven't seen it this good in years. All four teams were great and the elimination stipulation worked perfectly.

Do I have to talk about the main event? OK. The match is good. I have to admit as a ladder match it had some great moments.

HOWEVER

Instead of giving us a legitimate champion and making me go 'OK. Orton deserved it'. Nope, much like AJ, he went for heel tactics and the ending came off as utterly pointless. Like I say instead of 'Orton First Unified Champion' being something for the ages, guarantee no one will remember that this even happened.

So apart from the tag match, those were five matches that I would probably never remember or want to watch again.

Now, let's talk about to two real main events on this PPV. Daniel Bryan vs. The Wyatt Family and CM Punk vs. The Shield. Two matches that I could watch on a daily basis. If either had been a champion (as they should be) they could have easily been main events. (Who am I kidding? Even if they were champions, the main event would still be Cena in a pie eating competition against Jerry Lawler!)

Of the two, it would be hard to say which is the best as both really do work the handicap gimmick well. In both you never feel that Punk or Bryan are doomed and you also don't feel that they are invincible either. I would say probably Punk's match is the best, but maybe it's just because The Wyatts creep me out (in a good way though).

WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs 2013 is a strange PPV. Of the eight matches, three are utterly rewatchable, but the rest just exist. It is sad when something as historic as a 'title unification match' can be described as 'average'. However, despite all this, those three matches are some of the best wrestling I have seen and if you want to see a great Punk, Bryan and Tag match, then this is a great PPV to pick up.