WWE TLC 2013 Retro Review: One World Champion

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Fred Richani’s live recap of WWE TLC on Dec. 15, 2013, in Houston, where Randy Orton faced John Cena in a TLC match to unify the WWE and World Heavyweight championships, re-released as a retro review ahead of TLC 2015.

TLC Review

Adapted from the episode and edited for clarity and brevity. Listen above for the full review.

Randy Orton beat John Cena clean, or as clean as you can in a TLC match, to unify the titles as the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. The match was very good, maybe borderline great, but the three-week buildup hurt it, and unifying the titles on a pay-per-view few people bought felt kind of sad. Cena fell off a ladder through a table propped in the corner, Orton took forever to unhook the title, and Vince McMahon, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon came out to celebrate with him.

Afterward, I felt a sense of emptiness. WWE has had The Rock for three years and made no new stars with him, outside of maybe The Shield. We’ve seen Orton as the corporate heel champion, and I’m not excited about more rematches with Daniel Bryan or Cena. At least the finish was clean, but just because wrestling has been bad lately doesn’t mean I should lower my standards.

The Rhodes brothers retained the tag titles in a four-way elimination match over Ryback and Curtis Axel, The Real Americans and Rey Mysterio and Big Show, with Cody Rhodes hitting Cross Rhodes on Mysterio for the final pin. Both teams embraced afterward. It was the best match of the night and capped the tag division’s best run in a long time.

CM Punk beat The Shield in a three-on-one handicap match after Roman Reigns accidentally speared Dean Ambrose. I think Punk should have lost so WWE could build dissension in The Shield more slowly. The Wyatt Family beat Bryan in a three-on-one handicap match, and Bryan made Bray Wyatt look like a million bucks, which gives me hope for a Wyatt vs. Bryan singles match at the Royal Rumble.

AJ Lee retained the Divas Championship over Natalya by reversing the Sharpshooter into a small package while holding her hair. Big E Langston beat Damien Sandow, R-Truth beat Brodus Clay, Kofi Kingston beat The Miz in a no-DQ match and Fandango beat Dolph Ziggler.

Callers were split. One didn’t like the clean finish, another said the show paled next to SummerSlam and Payback and a longtime Randy Orton fan was ecstatic. I expect Orton vs. CM Punk or Chris Jericho at the Royal Rumble, but I’d like to see Bryan back in the title picture.

Editor’s note: Bryan won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 30 in April 2014.