WWE TLC 2020 Results: Reviewing Top Highlights and Low Points

Whether due to the chaos caused by the coronavirus pandemic, creative burnout, the holiday season leading to a lack of effort or another reason, the card for WWE TLC 2020 wasn't going to be a surefire smash hit.

Many of the matches had already taken place in the weeks leading up to Sunday, such as Sasha Banks vs. Carmella for the SmackDown Women's Championship or the Raw tag team title match between The New Day and The Hurt Business.

But even if one of the biggest angles of the pay-per-view was built around Lana being put through a table for the past month or so, there's always a chance even the weakest card can be a sleeper hit.

With Drew McIntyre and Roman Reigns set to defend their titles in TLC matches, too, at least some of it had potential.

Now that the dust has settled, did the event finish the year strong for WWE or was it a lackluster end to 2020?

Presented in order of appearance, here is a breakdown of the biggest highlights and low points that stood out from WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs 2020.

Full Match Results

Credit: WWE.com

WWE TLC 2020 Results

• Eight-Man Tag Team match: Big E, Chad Gable, Daniel Bryan and Otis defeated Cesaro, King Corbin, Shinsuke Nakamura and Sami Zayn by pinfall.
• TLC match: Drew McIntyre defeated AJ Styles and The Miz to retain the WWE Championship.
• Sasha Banks defeated Carmella by submission to retain the SmackDown Women's Championship.
• The Hurt Business defeated The New Day by pinfall to win the Raw Tag Team Championship.
• Asuka and Charlotte Flair defeated Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler by pinfall to win the Women's Tag Team Championship.
• TLC match: Roman Reigns defeated Kevin Owens to retain the Universal Championship.
• Firefly Inferno match: Randy Orton defeated Bray Wyatt.

Low Point: Kickoff

Credit: WWE.com

In typical fashion, the pre-show was a full hour of material largely not worth watching. If you skipped it, you didn't miss anything of note.

The panel's analysis was a straightforward and standard affair, and no one had particularly insightful takes or interesting predictions.

After all the video packages and recap material, the thrown-together eight-man tag team on the kickoff show was entirely bland, despite the wealth of talent involved.

To be fair, no one should expect anything else at this point. The pre-show is free-to-air, so it should be treated as bonus footage rather than anything major.

However, it did help establish Big E as the No. 1 contender to the Intercontinental Championship, which will happen this week on SmackDown.

But when you can say 60 minutes of a show was almost entirely filler, it's a low point.

Mixed Bag: WWE Championship TLC Match

Credit: WWE.com

The WWE Championship TLC match was fine, which puts it between a highlight and a low point.

Drew McIntyre and AJ Styles put on a decent enough show, but they did nothing particularly memorable. Both have proved they are capable of much better.

In theory, having The Miz cash in his Money in the Bank contract while the match was still underway was a good idea. However, its execution had no substance, so it felt flat.

There were a few moments of tension but nothing too drastic. The best spot was arguably John Morrison breaking a chair across Omos' back, rather than anything involving the three participants in the match.

It was good to see WWE didn't take the title off McIntyre, but it was disappointing that the Money in the Bank contract turned out to be worthless yet again.

Middle of the Road: SmackDown Women's Championship Match

Credit: WWE.com

The SmackDown Women's Championship match was just a straightforward middle-of-the-road situation.

Sasha Banks and Carmella did their best and wrestled a solid enough match. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great. Sadly, the most noteworthy part was when Carmella's sommelier, Reginald, caught her so she didn't get knocked to the outside.

Other than that, the two competitors went through their signature maneuvers and passed the momentum between one another before The Boss retained, as expected.

That should be it for this feud. There's no need to continue this storyline any further.

Highlight: The Hurt Business Win the Raw Tag Team Championship Titles

Credit: WWE.com

The New Day and The Hurt Business are great. All four competitors are rock solid in the ring, and they've proved they have the proper chemistry together for great matches.

Sunday's contest may not have felt as wonderful after seeing the teams fight so often in the past month or so, but it was still a good match.

The major positive about this, though, is the title change. As great as Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods are, they had held the belts long enough that a change was welcome.

This will help boost the stock of The Hurt Business quite a bit. Now, three-quarters of the group holds gold, and they've proved once more how they can make good on their promises to succeed.

Had The New Day kept the belts, things would have been fine, but giving the titles to The Hurt Business freshens things up and boosts the group's credibility, which made this a win-win situation.

Highlight: New Women's Tag Team Champions Are Crowned

Credit: WWE.com

It could be seen coming from a mile away, but Charlotte Flair showing up as Lana's replacement to team with Asuka was the best move WWE could have made. No one else on the roster would have felt as important.

It's great to see The Queen back in action. She had a lot of energy to her performance and dominated, which gave off the feel she is happy to be back.

Asuka and Flair are top-tier talent who were entirely believable as Superstars who could dethrone Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler.

Where WWE goes from here will be interesting, too. Most likely, Flair will turn on Asuka and they'll battle for the Raw Women's Championship by the time Royal Rumble comes around in January. Until then, though, they're co-champions.

This also means Flair has checked off the only title she hadn't previously won. Outside of winning Money in the Bank and an Elimination Chamber, she's done it all.

Highlight: Universal Championship TLC Match

Credit: WWE.com

Outside of a nitpick that Roman Reigns shouldn't need Jey Uso to help him retain his title, the Universal Championship match was great and a step up from the opening contest.

Kevin Owens' refusal to give up meant he came out of Sunday's match looking even better than he did going in. Initially, he seemed like a lamb being led to the slaughter.

With a few well-placed spots, though, that changed. In particular, The Tribal Chief's spear through the barricade and the pop-up powerbomb were great moments that suggested KO might win.

Both Reigns and Owens are capable of giving us even more to enjoy in their feud, but this was among the better matches of the night and definitely a highlight.

Low Point with One Highlight: Firefly Inferno Match

Credit: WWE.com

WWE announced this as a Firefly Inferno match on social media rather than on Raw, which was a bold move to assume word would be passed around.

No rules were established to differentiate Sunday's contest Between Randy Orton and "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt from a regular inferno match. But, lo and behold, a Firefly Inferno gimmick is just a regular one but with the flames at a greater distance.

This was filled with moments where, for whatever reason, maneuvers that had nothing to do with the fire caused the flames to shoot up arbitrarily. That's meant to be intense, but it comes off as fake.

Finally, the match ended in a lackluster push toward the flames by Orton and Wyatt. Rather than a grandiose move, the big stunt that WWE will want everyone to remember came after the match was over, when The Viper set The Fiend on fire.

That was the one highlight of an otherwise silly contest that didn't need to happen. These two could have stayed far away from one another and not rekindled a storyline that has happened more than once before.

Anthony Mango is the owner of the wrestling website Smark Out Moment and the host of the podcast show Smack Talk on YouTube, iTunes and Stitcher. You can follow him on Facebook and elsewhere for more.