5 Reasons why Roman Reigns would have delivered a better TLC main-event than Kurt Angle

A great match that could have been even better

The big story going into WWE TLC was the absence of Roman Reigns from the main-event, allegedly ruled out due to mumps, and his replacement being RAW GM Kurt Angle. To Angle’s credit, he came out swinging and probably did as much as WWE would let him do on such short notice.

However, that doesn’t hide the fact that Roman’s absence visibly affected that match and also created a few oddities that had to be booked around, which we will get to later on in the article.

Now don’t get me wrong, the main-event of TLC was not bad by any stretch of imagination, in fact, I really enjoyed the car crash nature of the match. If you discount the lack of blood and headshots, it was very Attitude Era-esque in a way, especially with Kurt coming back out despite the fact that he was led away by medics (yes, this is the 3rd time WWE has done this spot in recent memory).

After taking in the main-event, one thing my mind kept harping back to was the question – how different would this match have been if Roman had been available? No disrespect to Kurt Angle but I think Roman would have helped deliver a better main-event and here are 5 reasons why.

5: 3 on 5 didn't make sense

Roman would have helped even the odds a little more

One glaring issue that was apparently immediately after WWE announced Angle as Reigns’ replacement was the fact that the 3 vs 5 odds didn’t make sense anymore. The 3 on 5 was booked in the first place because The Shield are booked as such a dominant force together and having one of the three heads out of action immediately made the odds look insurmountable.

Yes, Kurt Angle is a multiple time world champion, an Olympic gold medallist and one of the all-time greats but this was his first match in a long time and his first in WWE in 11 years. It was a hard sell that Angle could compensate for Roman, especially when you look at Roman’s dynamic in The Shield – he’s the Powerhouse. And with Kane and Strowman in the other team, Ambrose and Rollins definitely needed a Powerhouse last night.