WWE TLC 2016 Winners: Biggest Stars of the Night

WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs is a minor pay-per-view with potentially major consequences. That's what happens when you base a pay-per-view around a dangerous match stipulation—we end up watching the sort of rare brutality that is usually reserved for a bigger platform.

Thus, one would hope that these matches mean something from a narrative standpoint. It would be lousy if the Superstars put their bodies at risk for no reason.

Thankfully, this was one of the strongest PPVs in recent months. It wrapped up a lot of feuds that had run their course, and it foreshadowed some new storylines that we can look forward to on Tuesday. Here are the biggest stars of the night.

Mauro Ranallo

Credit: WWE.com

It's been said many times before, but that doesn't make it any less true: Mauro Ranallo is the best commentator in WWE.

Nothing gets past him. He calls every headlock and every wristlock. He knows the difference between a sitout powerbomb and a slingshot powerbomb. He has incomparable enthusiasm and makes a minor scuffle sound like World War III.

But the best part about Ranallo is his love of language. He has allusions and alliteration for days. Here's just a limited sample of his off-the-cuff brilliance from tonight:

• "Two broken bodies!"
• "Sagacious strategy!"
• After a low blow: "Two shots to the peninsula south of the equator!"

You can't script that sort of delightful commentary. Bravo, Ranallo. That's how it's to be done.

Randy Orton

On paper, it didn't seem like it would work. Randy Orton was too big of a superstar to play second fiddle to Bray Wyatt.

But lo and behold, Orton has become an excellent, organic part of The Wyatt Family, and he doesn't outshine his leader. Instead, he's saved Wyatt from certain destruction, pushing him out of the way and sacrificing himself instead.

Orton did it again Sunday night, and he also delivered the final RKO of the match to Rhyno. Thanks to Orton, Wyatt is now a WWE tag team champion. It's the first gold that he's held since debuting with WWE in 2013.

It's only a matter of time before Orton turns on Wyatt; they can't keep this going forever, and Orton is too marketable to become a permanent Wyatt Family member. But let's hope the veteran can get The Eater of Worlds insanely over before his inevitable turn.

Nikki Bella

The No Disqualification match between Carmella and Nikki Bella was sort of a silly distraction, but it was entertaining. The Kendo stick made a welcome appearance (this seems to be the weapon du jour among the women these days), and the fire extinguisher always makes for a visually engaging spot.

Bella carried this match, and now that her feud with Carmella is over, will The Princess of Staten Island continue getting pushed despite her inexperience? It seems like Bella is moving on to fight Natalya, which leaves Carmella...where, exactly? She's spent two months attacking Bella on personal grounds, and now, it's over.

It's a shame that it ended as part of a Scooby-Doo whodunit (which no one cares about) rather than standing on its own merits.

Dolph Ziggler and The Miz

The feud between The Miz and Dolph Ziggler has been the most entertaining feud in WWE since SummerSlam. The two of them have fantastic chemistry, and they're able to go back and forth in a way that looks both entertaining and realistic.

Their ladder match put The Miz over cleanly. Low blows may not be sportsmanlike, but they are legal under the match's stipulations, and The Miz didn't need Maryse's help to finish the job.

The two Superstars fought a smart match that featured a central theme of targeting limbs. By the end, both The Miz and Ziggler were hopping on one leg, and they did great jobs of selling their injuries. There were no circus spots—just good, hard-hitting action that made the ladders look like they hurt. And after the match was finished, The Miz capped his victory with a fantastic "I won" promo that drew legitimate boos from the Dallas crowd. 

Baron Corbin

The chairs match between Baron Corbin and Kalisto was brutal—as it should have been. And because Kalisto is so light and small, it allowed for all of Corbin's power moves to look even more painful and impressive than they already are.

There were two particularly impressive spots. The first was the Deep Six onto the floor outside the ring, which Corbin performed by first catching Kalisto in midair. The second was the End of Days onto a pile of steel chairs, which looked like it hurt both competitors equally.

Alexa Bliss

More than any other match, a tables match presents the opportunity for a fluke result. All it takes is for one missed spear or well-timed reversal for a table to break. Sheamus won his first WWE title from John Cena in a tables match, and it wouldn't have been believable any other way.

Alexa Bliss is the smallest women's competitor in WWE and is not as strong or as physically dominant as Becky Lynch. But that plays to her advantage as a heel; she has to use her brains and her resourcefulness to pull out victories. And a tables match was the perfect forum to tell that sort of story.

Bliss deserves this chance to run with the title. From her performance in the ring Sunday night to her Harley Quinn makeover over the last couple of months to her increasingly rude promo interviews backstage, Bliss will make a great heel champion.

Lynch, who is so beloved by the fans, won't suffer from this loss. Despite losing, she came out of the match looking strong.

AJ Styles and Dean Ambrose

Credit: WWE.com

The main event's TLC match between AJ Styles and Dean Ambrose was the match of the evening, and it was filled with impressive spots, including a 450 Splash to a table outside the ring, a Dirty Deeds on the steel steps and a fall from an in-ring ladder onto two tables outside the ring.

James Ellsworth's heel turn was shocking for the sake of being shocking. There may be a brilliant explanation for this on Tuesday, but until then, it's hard to imagine the rationale. It killed what was, up until that point, an excellent match.

But that shouldn't take away from either competitor's hearty effort. They're both going to be hurting something awful Monday morning, and they're hurting for the sake of our entertainment.