WWE TLC 2015 Results: Biggest Winners and Losers from Marquee Event
The 2015 TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs pay-per-view has come and gone, and in its wake, World Wrestling Entertainment is a different place than it was entering the show.
Roman Reigns finally won over the audience with an explosive performance both during and after the main event of the evening against Sheamus, capping off a career year with a brutal and superb beatdown of The Authority's Triple H.
He was the night's biggest winner, while his rival and WWE world heavyweight champion Sheamus was the biggest loser. Despite leaving with the title, he was overshadowed and exposed as the weak link of the headline feud, thus creating even louder questions about his status as champion.
Dean Ambrose captured the Intercontinental Championship from Kevin Owens, rounding out a year-long journey to win gold and enjoy the happy ending that has eluded him for oh so long.
Owens, conversely, was beaten again, driving him and his character further into mediocrity.
Sasha Banks returned to her hometown and scored a win over Becky Lynch while New Day continued to their improbable run by retaining the WWE Tag Team Championships.
These men and women were the biggest winners and losers of the night, but why?
Find out with this look back at the most newsworthy WWE Superstars and Divas from TLC 2015.
Winner: Roman Reigns
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The former WWE world heavyweight champion arrived in Boston in desperate need of a signature night that not only cooled the negativity and criticism surrounding his main event push but also proved the company was right for choosing him as their face of the future.
Though Reigns and Sheamus found it difficult to win the spoiled and entitled crowd over despite a phenomenal main event match, the post-match action proved to be everything the second-generation star needed to finally earn the respect of the audience.
Frustrated and angry following yet another defeat, a screwjob in a long line of them this year, Reigns pummeled The League of Nations with a steel chair. Then, as Triple H stepped through the ropes and shouted out orders, Reigns launched himself across the ring and took out the COO with a Superman Punch.
The epic beatdown that ensued earned Reigns chants of "thank you, Roman," proving the problem was never Reigns as much as it was his booking.
With fans finally accepting him as the unhinged badass he should have been since the very beginning, it is imperative WWE Creative follows up with hot angles and storytelling on Raw, thus capitalizing on everything they did right on Sunday night.
If played correctly, Reigns could finally be on the major roll he needs entering 2016 and what should be a banner year for the juggernaut of WWE.
Loser: Sheamus
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Sheamus' status as a loser has nothing to do with his performance in the main event of Sunday's show.
The Celtic Warrior took a brutal beating and dished out one of his own to Roman Reigns en route to retaining the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
The titleholder ranks as a loser because he was so quickly and unforgivably overshadowed at the close of the show that it will be difficult for anyone to take him seriously as a marquee heel going forward.
He won the main event crookedly—not a problem—but was brutally beaten down by Reigns thereafter. Making matters worse for the champion was the fact he was tossed aside as focus shifted from Reigns vs. Sheamus to Reigns vs. Triple H.
Forced to lie around ringside while Reigns delivered an epic beatdown of the COO, it became abundantly clear the rivalry between the WWE world heavyweight champion and the top babyface in the company did not work because the audience could not care less about The Celtic Warrior.
How WWE rectifies that issue going forward is of the utmost importance. One stumble and the company could be facing a repeat of Sunday night, and that is the last thing it or the champion can afford.
Winner: Sasha Banks
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Sasha Banks was the first performer through the curtain on Sunday night and the former NXT women's champion was greeted with a tremendous ovation by the fans in her hometown of Boston.
Receiving a hero's welcome, she and her fellow Team B.A.D. teammates cut a horrific promo, but that was erased quickly by another quality performance by the best female wrestler in the world.
Banks picked up a win over Becky Lynch in the night's opener and continued to build her impressive win-loss record.
While it would be nice to see her doing things of note, winning higher-profile matches, she has still managed to be protected in booking somehow. She wins more than she loses and has been spared the poor booking that has plagued Charlotte, Paige and others to this point.
For now, that is a positive.
Loser: Kevin Owens
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Kevin Owens entered the 2015 TLC event as WWE intercontinental champion, desperately in need of a some strong booking following what could be considered damaging booking on both Monday and Thursday night.
The recipient of humiliating treatment by Dean Ambrose, via popcorn and soda, then the cowardly villain who bailed from the squared circle rather than face the wrath of the Lunatic Fringe on SmackDown, he needed a win to help restore credibility.
Not only did he not get a win, he was beaten cleanly in the center of the ring, then peacefully walked away as Ambrose celebrated his championship victory.
The Kevin Owens fans got acquainted with in NXT never would have allowed that. He would have beaten the hell out of Ambrose, leaving him lying and instantly regretting the win.
Not this Owens. The Owens fans see today has been neutered by WWE booking, damaged by months of 50-50 booking and the stripping away of the edginess and attitude that once defined him.
Now a former intercontinental champion who literally did not benefit one iota from his most recent feud, it remains to be seen what path the Canadian star will take in 2016.
Winners: The New Day
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How nice it was to see Kofi Kingston standing tall, a WWE championship of some sort in his hands, celebrating a victory in a ladder match. A veteran of the bout, he has rarely experienced success in the match type. Instead, he earned a reputation for delivering jaw-dropping spots but never winning.
On Sunday night, he put an end to that, pulling Kalisto to the mat and ascending the ladder and securing the gold, earning The New Day yet another pay-per-view victory.
Xavier Woods was essential in the outcome of the bout, tossing his trombone at the back of the aforementioned Lucha Dragon and providing just enough of a distraction that Kingston could capitalize for the win.
Prior to that, Woods was busy stealing the show on commentary, repeatedly correcting Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler when they mixed up Kalisto and Sin Cara.
Then there was Big E, the base for his opponents and executor of powerful feats throughout the bout.
New Day has been the best element of WWE television for months now, and it was fitting that in the final PPV of the year they kicked things off with a fantastic match and monumental win.
Winner: Dean Ambrose
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Dean Ambrose has spent the last year of his career receiving some of the loudest pops of any Superstar, yet always falling just short of winning the proverbial "big one."
That ended Sunday night at TLC when he defeated Kevin Owens for the WWE Intercontinental Championship.
It was the culmination of a year-long journey to that particular title, which he first discussed coveting the night after the 2015 Royal Rumble match during the special "snowed-in" edition of Raw.
The celebration that followed his victory fit him in that he engaged the audience, leaping into the first couple of rows at ringside as he gleefully held his newly acquired title firmly in his grasp.
It was a happy ending for a character who has been booked as bumbling, fumbling idiot who loses because of sparking televisions or falls just one second shy of winning the big one.
On a night when everything else did not go the way of the babyfaces, Ambrose gave the casual audience something to cheer for in the form of a much-anticipated championship win for the Lunatic Fringe.
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