The Year in PPV- 2015, Part IV

Let's start the conclusion to 2015 by heading to the world's most famous arena...


13. Live from Madison Square Garden

Essentially a house show from MSG that they broadcast live on the WWE Network, the selling point for this show was another match between Brock Lesnar and Big Show. I'll give you a guess at who won the match. All kidding aside, this match was what you'd expect between these two. Short, yet athletically impressive given their size. So what else was worth noting on WWE's return to MSG? Well, the MSG crowd is always a lively sort, so that's a big plus when you're doing a show that is mostly matches you would find on an episode of Monday Night RAW.

For the matches they throw at us, there's a few standouts. Randy Orton and Dolph Ziggler facing Sheamus and Rusev made for a hot tag team opener, Kevin Owens defended the Intercontinental Championship in a great matchup with Chris Jericho, The New Day had another good WWE Tag Team Championship match against the Dudley Boyz, and John Cena had a really good United States Championship defense in a Steel Cage match against Seth Rollins. Not a bad show if you're watching for the superstars and the crowd reactions, but if you're looking for some substance storytelling, this formula would work more on an episode of RAW than a broadcast house show.

Mild Recommendation


14. Hell in a Cell

Boy, talk about a show that really improved over a second viewing. This show originally put me to sleep when I watched it live, but after sitting through it all, I'm tremendously surprised by the quality that exists on the show. Sure, there's a few filler matches and rematches from Night of Champions, but we've a good number of surprises thrown our way with the bigger matches on the show. Surprise #1, Alberto Del Rio returned to challenge John Cena for the United States Championship. We were all very happy to see him return, and then he got in the ring and I was reminded why he wasn't sorely missed. I'm sorry, but the dude transcends no amount of charisma in the ring. Surprise #2, Seth Rollins was able to get a decent match out of Kane for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Is it perfect? No. In fact, it's very by the numbers and some of the spots are sloppy. But it proved why Seth Rollins was the best worker in the company and it was the most effort I've seen from Kane in a while, so that counts for something. I mean, I was expecting that match to be an absolute disaster when it was first announced, so I'm pleasantly surprised with the ending result.

But the real selling point for whether this show works or not is the quality of the Hell in a Cell matches. And this show delivered two absolute classics. The first ended the rivalry between Roman Reigns and Bray Wyatt. They really busted out the weapons and high spots for this one and it payed off really well. I was pretty "meh" on this feud, but they really knew how to bring it to a close with their Cell match. The main event promised the last encounter between Brock Lesnar and the Undertaker. I thought they'd have a tough time being the match of the night but man was I wrong. This match is absolute insanity. Near fall after near fall. Finisher after finisher. Blood. And they tore up the ring. That's about as real as it gets with storytelling. Plus, the aftermath of the match proved to be a very haunting conclusion to the event that had fans wondering what was going to happen next. And that's how you do it. Make us want to sit through a 3 hour RAW the next night to pay off the conclusion of your PPV.

Highly Recommended


15. Survivor Series

This was a fine show to watch. Certainly a good Survivor Series considering how much of a disaster show it's become in recent history, but it felt like paint by numbers. It was a good show because of a lot of the match quality, but it was so lacking in any surprise factor that it can come off as transparent. You know, beginning to end, how every match is going to go down. Heck, they announced the Survivor Series tag match without even announcing a participant and I accurately predicted 7 of the participants involved. What the heck guys? Can you honestly be THAT predictable for one of your biggest shows of the year? Shake the foundation a little.

But there was a huge gimmick heading in: celebrating 25 years of the Undertaker's career. He and Kane teamed to take on The Wyatt Family. The match is nothing to write home about, but it was a nice tribute to the most legendary WWE superstar ever. And another gimmick for the PPV was to see who would be the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion. After a tragic injury that will keep Seth Rollins sidelined for quite some time, the title was vacated and held up in a tournament for Survivor Series. Alberto Del Rio would fight Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose would fight Kevin Owens. The winners of those two matches would fight in the main event to crown the champion. Right off the bat, you know who's going in the finals, but you'd probably expect a nice surprise like at the end of the Deadly Game tournament at Survivor Series '98, but you don't get that. They're friends going into the match, and friends coming out of the match. Jeez, dropping the ball a little in my opinion. But they did set things in motion for the build to WrestleMania 32 by having the Authority do something to mess with the winner. But again, that was predictable too. Not a bad show, but way to darn predictable.

Mild Recommendation


16. TLC: Tables, Ladders, & Chairs

TLC is a gimmick show that can usually bolster some quality matches here and there, and this show is no exception. A little more filler heavy than I'm used to, but they at least gave us a tables match, a ladder match, a chairs match, and a tables, ladders, and chairs match. There was actually a really good standard wrestling match on the card for the Intercontinental Championship. Kevin Owens and Dean Ambrose had a match that did what many had thought had been impossible for years: restore main event level credibility to the IC title.

But now, onto the gimmick matches. The tables match was an eight-man elimination match that saw the entire Wyatt Family take on the team of The Dudley Boyz, Tommy Dreamer, and Rhyno. It's a good match, but I think it proves that there's a time when a match like this can be too one-sided. The chairs match for the United States Championship match between Alberto Del Rio and Jack Swagger was ok, but I think their formula worked best when they feuded a few years earlier. The ladder match for the WWE Tag Team Championship stole the whole show. The New Day, The Usos, and The Lucha Dragons proved that there was a tag team revolution in full effect and they won't be ignored. The main event TLC match wasn't half bad either. Sheamus defended the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against Roman Reigns. This felt like a proper TLC match because of how much of a rugged, smash mouth style brawl it was. Very good considering how rushed and lackluster the feud was actually booked. Plus, the post-match moment left the show on a high note and proved to be just the thing to finally get Roman Reigns to that spot WWE has wanted him at for a while now. He finally did something that made fans say "ok...maybe we can get behind you."

Recommended


Final Thoughts: The year ended on a pretty good note, in my opinion. It definitely left the door wide open for 2016 to pick up where it left off, which is something I've felt was lacking in the last couple of years. TLC actually ended on a cliffhanger that kept people watching on RAW to see Roman Reigns chase the WWE Championship. That's smart booking on their part. It was bittersweet to see Rollins' title reign come to an end, but he was losing a lot of credibility with the crowd based on how he was booked. We knew he was better than what they were giving him, and hopefully, he'll give us an anti-hero reaction when he's all healed up. Some very good stuff with 2015 and I think it properly left the ball in 2016's court to make something of the momentum.


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