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Tim FiorvantiESPN.com
Tim Fiorvanti recaps every match on Sunday's WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs pay-per-view card, which takes place from The American Airlines Center in Dallas. Senior stats analyst Sean Coyle offers ratings worth a maximum of five points. Criteria for ratings is based on storytelling, in-ring execution, match psychology, timing and innovation -- worth up to one point each.
The following is updated in real time.
Ladder match for WWE Intercontinental championship: The Miz (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler
No disqualification match: Nikki Bella def. Carmella by pinfall (8:00)
This match took far too long to happen during their feud, but once Bella and Carmella got down to it, this no-DQ match was as advertised -- a violent sendoff to a long-brewing conflict.
The no disqualification stipulation was a nice thought, in terms of adding a different element to this feud, but the match did not deliver. We needed to see a little more than kendo stick shots and the pointless use of a fire extinguisher. This encounter did nothing to elevate either superstar.
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Storytelling: 0.25
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In-ring execution: 0.25
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Match psychology: 0.25
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Timing: 0.25
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Innovation: 0.50
-- Sean Coyle
Carmella wore the wounds of the beating she suffered Tuesday on SmackDown after running down Bella on the microphone, and in the early stages she got her measure of revenge by channeling her inner Sasha Banks with some vicious kendo stick shots.
Bella took control by kicking Carmella in the back and then throwing her into the video board on the ring apron. She then climbed onto the ring barricade and hit a well-executed spinning kick to Carmella's chin, but the finale came when Bella used a fire extinguisher to great effect and then hit the Rack Attack 2.0 to get the pinfall victory.
Both of these women are now clear to move on and put this rivalry behind them, as evidenced by Carmella pointing to Natalya as Bella's secret attacker at Survivor Series. While this match wasn't a technical classic, it accomplished what it set out to do by getting Bella a sorely needed victory.
WWE SmackDown tag team championship: The Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt & Randy Orton) def. Heath Slater & Rhyno (c) by pinfall (5:55)
In the three-and-a-half years since the debut of The Wyatt Family in WWE, all three members -- and especially Bray Wyatt -- have been involved with one high-profile rivalry after another, but until Sunday night, none of them had ever held a title at this level.
There was nothing wrong with this slow and methodical opener from an execution standpoint, but it didn't get enough time to build into anything substantial. It's a nice next chapter in the Wyatt Family saga, but the match itself left a little to be desired and was a bit of an odd choice to start the show.
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Storytelling: 0.50
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In-ring execution: 0.50
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Match psychology: 0.50
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Timing: 0.25
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Innovation: 0.25
-- Sean Coyle
That changed in a hurry at TLC, as Wyatt and Orton predictably decimated Slater and Rhyno to become the second team to hold the SmackDown tag team championships.
Slater and Rhyno received some great reactions from fans in the lead-up to their tag title win but Sunday's match provided them a quick dose of reality about where they stand in the pecking order during their entrance. Despite being the "bad guys" in this rivalry, Orton and Wyatt got a hero's welcome, while Slater and Rhyno came in to relative silence.
As WWE announcer Mauro Ranallo pointed out, Rhyno began the match for the tag team champions for the very first time since they began tagging with each other, and once Slater was tagged in ring it was clear why that was --- he appeared overmatched in almost every way against Wyatt and Orton. Slater took a beating for a good chunk of the match, but Rhyno seemed to do what he had done best for their entire reign as he cleaned house upon re-entering.
The most interesting wrinkle of all happened in the closing moments of the match, when Luke Harper emulated Orton's sacrifice from Survivor Series and ate a gore from Rhyno to save Orton outside of the ring. Orton then grabbed the blind tag, hit an RKO on Rhyno and sealed the victory to tremendous applause.
There might be dissension among the ranks of The Wyatts down the line, but for now -- as was clear as both Wyatt and Orton draped their new titles over Harper's shoulders -- it appears they are as well-aligned as they've been since Orton joined.