‘WWE: TLC – Tables, Ladders & Chairs 2014’ Blu-ray Review
It may be Wrestlemania week, but that doesn’t stop the DVD and Blu-ray releases still churning out. It gets hard to keep up at times with which pay-per-view was when, but this week WWE: TLC – Tables, Ladders & Chairs 2014 has been released. Not long to go till the Royal Rumble will be released too, but I’ll save that rant for when it is released.
My main issue before I even started to watch Tables, Ladders & Chairs 2014 was why the hell was Seth Rollins fighting for the right to be number one contender when he has the suitcase which already gave him that right any time of his choosing? That very question reveals one of the biggest problems WWE has lately and that is the inconsistency in the story lines they run. First the waste of ridding WWE of The Authority then bringing them back, making a number one contenders match just to hide the fact they can’t have a championship match yet, let’s not even get into the fan reaction to the Royal Rumble; it just feels like a mess. Thankfully we know in hindsight that this in-part is remedied by the excellent Royal Rumble triple threat match, and this is because Brock Lesnar was actually able to turn up and defend his belt.
The match between John Cena and Seth Rollins was stuck into the middle of Tables, Ladders & Chairs 2014 and it comes as no surprise that it isn’t one of the best matches on the card. With constant interference from the so-called “J & J Security” the match struggled to find a clear pace. At least the ending was handled much better than the main match, with a nice return which led to the build up to the Royal Rumble.
One thing that WWE has to be praised for is starting the pay-per-view describing the event as their Destruction Derby and actually sticking to that plan. Surprisingly we actually have tables, ladders, chairs, and even steps used to good effect with the better matches being Dolph Ziggler vs. Luke Harper in a Ladder Match and Dean Ambrose vs Bray Wyatt in a full on TLC match. It is a shame that the TLC match featured one of the more stupid setups the WWE have pulled and ruined the ending to a good match.
With the other matches, especially the Diva match with AJ Lee vs. Nikki Bella there was just something lacking. I will admit that The Usos vs. The Miz & Damien Mizdow was saved somewhat by “Mizdow” who has good comic timing, and stole the attention from the match. Other than that matches like Ryback vs. Kane and Big Show vs. Eric Rowan gimmick matches just didn’t hit the right notes to make this an unforgettable pay-per-view.
WWE: TLC – Tables, Ladders & Chairs 2014 won’t go down as one of the better pay-per-views of the year as if anything it was used just to prepare the Royal Rumble to be the bigger event. With some miss-steps and the constant problem of having Brock Lesnar not being a part of events like this (due to his limited schedule) if anything this event has the feeling of being a little bit of a filler. Maybe a release for the people who just want to complete their set, I’m not sure WWE: TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs 2014 does enough for fans who constantly want more from WWE. They will find that this one just doesn’t deliver.
***½ 3.5/5
WWE: TLC – Tables, Ladders & Chairs 2014 is out now in the UK on DVD and Blu-ray from FremantleMedia.
