WWE TLC 2018: Star Rating for Every Match in the PPV

TLC is now over and so is the pay per view cycle of 2018. The show was long with an astounding total of twelve matches and for the most part, entertaining.

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There were not as many surprises as we had expected, but some performers really shined on this last pre-road to WrestleMania pay-per-view.

There were several matches which were used to further a storyline instead of culminating them with non-standard finishes. Some of them played well, while others did not.

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Here, we rate every match based on its quality using a star rating system devised by Jim Cornette and made immensely popular by the legendary wrestling journalist, Dave Meltzer. Without further adieu, let's have a look at the star rating for all the matches from TLC.

#1 Buddy Murphy defeated Cedric Alexander for the Cruiserweight Championship

Buddy Murphy performing a powerbomb on Cedric Alexander

Cedric Alexander and Buddy Murphy once again delivered to a certain extent albeit, being on the pre-show curtailed them in some ways. This was a very fast paced, high flying and intense match, something that the cruiserweights have come to be known for.

The match had a few remarkable spots, such as the Michinoku driver, a well-executed sit out powerbomb on Alexander and the Lumber Check which Murphy was able to survive by getting his foot on the rope. Another brilliant spot had Alexander perform a death valley driver on Murphy on the ring apron.

The finish was a pretty clichéd one with the heel driving the face into a turnbuckle and hitting his finisher for the win. This probably means that it will be someone else to take the belt off Murphy with the two most likely candidates being Mustafa Ali and Drew Gulak.

Rating: 2.75*

#2 Elias Defeated Bobby Lashley(with Lio Rush) in a Ladder Match With a Guitar Hanging Above the Ring

Elias and Bobby Lashley had a very ordinary match to put it straight. There was nothing particularly memorable from this match but, nothing was too bad either.

They executed their lazily booked match decently. Elias got the win and wanted to hit Lashley with the guitar, but courtesy some help from Lio Rush, Lashley was the one who got the last laugh and therefore was protected to a certain extent.

Rating: 2*

#3 The Fabulous Truth defeated Mahalicia in the finals of the Mixed Match Challenge

The two most unlikely teams, Carmella and R Truth faced of against Jinder Mahal and Alicia Fox in the finals of the Mixed Match Challenge.

This was a short match as expected, which tried to do the best with the time it was given. Jinder looked a bit stiff, and R-Truth is still a treat to watch for his age.

The match ended with Carmella trapping Alicia into the code of silence to which she tapped out almost immediately.

The post-match interview had R-Truth reveal that they chose Stamford Connecticut, the place where WWE headquarters are located as their vacation spot, something Carmella wasn't very pleased with.

Rating: 2.25*

#4 The Bar defeated The New Day and the Usos in a Triple Threat Tag Team Match for the Smackdown Tag Team Championships

The three very talented tag teams, namely the Bar, the New Day and the Usos delivered a fun match with lots of impressive spots.

The Usos super kicking everyone, Cesaro intercepting one of the Usos with an uppercut when he was about to perform a leap over the top rope and Kofi's jump on to the outside were all very well timed and well executed.

The finish saw Sheamus Brogue kick Xavier Woods for the pinfall. The Bar is thus still the tag team champions heading into 2019.

Rating: 3.25*

#5 Braun Strowman def\eated Baron Corbin in a TLC Match to earn a Universal Title opportunity against Brock Lesnar at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view

From a pure result point of view, this match gave exactly what most people wanted. However, talking about the match itself, it was a disappointment.

Braun Strowman is injured, hence, unable to compete, thus, he assembled a group of smiling babyfaces from Raw who would beat Corbin for him.

This included Finn Balor, Gable and Roode, Apollo Crews and Kurt Angle who beat Corbin up with chairs being assisted even by referee Heath Slater.

Strowman than triumphantly pinned Corbin after a Coup the Grace from Balor. McIntyre and Lashley, Corbin's buddies were nowhere to be found.

Even the AOP didn't come to help him. This could have lead to so much of enjoyable carnage with tables, ladders, and chairs but, for some reason, they chose not to show up.

This match would have delivered varying degrees of guilty or non-guilty pleasure to many fans who so Corbin get destroyed, but, from a logical and match quality point of view, it was very poor.

Rating: 1*

#6 Natalya defeated Ruby Riott in a Tables Match

Ruby Riott and Natalya had a decent tables match which lasted for about 12 minutes. The most memorable spot from this match was Liv Morgan sacrificing herself for Ruby and taking a hard bump through a table.

Sarah was also body slammed through a table soon after, thus, evened the odds. Nattie then proceeded to bring another table with Ruby's picture on it and wore her father's jacket for the finishing sequence.

This was particularly well executed as one was not sure which way the match would go until Natalya power bombed Ruby through that table for the finish.

Rating: 3*

#7 Finn Bálor defeated Drew McIntyre

This was a well-wrestled match between two immensely talented European wrestlers. Balor and McIntyre performed well to deliver a decent contest.

The only drawback was that it was nothing above a regular Raw match these two would have had. Also, the finish saw Ziggler hit McIntyre just to get laid out by him later and Balor took advantage of this and hit the Coup the Grace for the win.

So, for some reason, it's the babyface who wins via assistance in this case. Also, a post-match interview had Ziggler beat up Finn Balor, adding further layers to the story. It will be interesting to see where this goes.

Rating: 3*

#8 Rey Mysterio defeated Randy Orton in a Chairs Match

This was another fun match with lots of enjoyable spots. Randy and Rey, being the time-tested veterans they are made full use of the stipulation they had and made several interesting uses of chairs.

Rey got the early advantage after unleashing on Orton with a chair but, Orton soon made his comeback. One particularly memorable spot was Randy throwing Rey into a chair he had placed on the announce table.

Rey hit a hurricanrana followed by a roll up to pick up the win. This was a good match with a slightly disappointing finish. But, then again this means that the feud isn't over.

Rating: 3*

#9 Raw Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey defeated Nia Jax

There was nothing special about this match except for maybe Ronda performing a cross body onto Nia outside the ring.

Nia also botched the cross body rolled through into a fireman's carry spot to a certain extent. This was unnecessary as she could have just caught Ronda and performed the Samoan drop.

Tamina had a minor role to play in causing a silly distraction and Ronda locked in the armbar for the finish. This was an average to decent match but the first match between the two was clearly better.

Rating: 2.5*

#10 WWE Champion Daniel Bryan defeated AJ Styles

Daniel Bryan and AJ Styles had a good match in the traditional way. This match looked less planned and looked very organic.

Also, owing to the incredible in-ring talent of both competitors this match was already a notch above most other matches, to begin with.

This match saw well executed Yes Lock, springboard 450 splash and phenomenal forearm outside the ring.

The finish was again a disappointing roll up finish which is indicative that the feud is far from over. In this case, however, this should most certainly be a good thing.

Rating: 3.75*

#11 Dean Ambrose defeated Seth Rollins to become the new Intercontinental Champion

Ambrose trying to emotionally sway Rollins

Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins had a storyline heavy match full of emotional drama and appropriate action. Ambrose came out as a true heel in this contest trying to take every shortcut possible to beat his opponent.

Rollins, on the other hand, was on top of his game and showcased him compelling character work along with his excellent in-ring skills.

Ambrose at a point fakes to try and reunite with Rollins, but, Rollins after a few moments of doubt doesn't believe him and goes on to attack him.

He gets a little too emotional at the end trying to beat Ambrose and falls prey to dirty deeds for the finish. Dean Ambrose is the new Intercontinental Champion and the story seems interesting again.

Rating: 3*

#12 Asuka defeated Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair to become the new SmackDown Women’s Champion in a TLC Match

The much-awaited main event featuring the Man, The Queen, and The Empress finally gave Smackdown the opportunity to main event a dual-branded pay per view.

This was a solid, hard-hitting match in general, and for many fans, this may have been the match of the night. This, however, had two very ostensible semi botched spots, one where the table didn't break properly after Charlotte was power bombed onto it and second the barricade not breaking properly after Charlotte spearing Asuka.

Also, just before being speared Asuka had been brutally assaulted by Charlotte with a kendo stick but, got up and held the kendo stick as nothing happened.

The spots such as Becky Lynch performing a leg drop onto the announce table on Charlotte and Charlotte performing a senton on a table outside on Becky were amazing.

The finish had Ronda Rousey come and topple Charlotte and Becky off a ladder for Asuka to take advantage and become Women's Champion.

This was a bit of a surprise and the main event was very entertaining for the most of it. Asuka has now the unique distinction of being the winner of both the first and last pay per view of 2018.

Rating: 3.5*

Edited by Alan John