On Sunday night, WWE offered up its live Tables, Ladders, Chairs (and Stairs, ugh) event on the WWE Network. At TLC(s), the Ladder Match between Dolph Ziggler and Luke Harper was the clear Match of the Night, at least from where I sit. After all, Dolph Ziggler won back the Intercontinental Championship but Luke Harper also looked great in defeat. The same can be said for the final match of the night, when Bray Wyatt beat Dean Ambrose in a TLC match that also did a very good job of making both wrestlers seem like real attractions worth rooting for or against.
With all of that said, Dolph Ziggler vs. Luke Harper and Bray Wyatt vs. Dean Ambrose couldn’t hold a candle to the five star main event match that occurred not at TLC but at NXT Takeover R Evolution, when Sami Zayn defeated Adrian Neville to become the new NXT Champion. Sami Zayn’s quest for redemption was realized when he was finally able to topple Neville, the sometimes nefarious but always gravity-defying road block that kept Sami’s hands away from clutching that title for what seemed like an eternity.
This match between Sami Zayn and Adrian Neville simply had everything: The backstory, the ring psychology, the work rate, the investment of every single person in the crowd, and just as important if not more: The ultimate payoff of a storyline that simply made sense and let this feud come to an organic end.
Throw in the fact that Sami Zayn was then given a huge celebration worthy of such an achievement that the crowd ate up before his “best friend” Kevin Owens (Kevin Steen) epically turned on the new NXT Champ at the very end of the show after said celebration, and what you had was not only the perfect ending to a storyline, but the equally perfect beginning of a new chapter for Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens.
If you haven’t seen Sami Zayn wrestle in NXT, I highly recommend checking out all of his matches.
In the meantime, sit back, relax, and enjoy the man who truly stole the show in WWE this week, with a little help from his friends:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95qrRYVM90M
That’s all from me — CB.
