Its not often I get to do two blogs in two days. I’m on a roll baby! I think I'm going to continue this streak by beginning my end of year lists tomorrow. Check back for the feuds of 2011 list!.
TLC looked like a solid pay per view on paper and that’s exactly what we got. Lets break it down.
TLC looked like a solid pay per view on paper and that’s exactly what we got. Lets break it down.
Zack Ryder vs Dolph Ziggler for the United States Championship
The crowd was HOT for this one. To all the naysayers who doubted Zack Ryder’s ability to be involved with a top quality match, this should have put some of those doubts to ease. The WWE have something special in Zack Ryder. Ryder has become a bit of an ‘underdog’ character that more and more people seem to enjoy getting behind. Ryder easily got the second loudest pop of the night and as for consistent reaction throughout the match? I’d go as far as saying that it was on a par with CM Punk’s. You know what excites me even more about Zack Ryder? It’s the fact that he has made the United States title relevant, in a big way. Ziggler and Ryder’s feud has brought attention to the midcard title that was once again floundering in the wake of the WWE title. Kudos to both men for that. As for the match, I said yesterday that I would be a little disappointed if Ryder was booked as the ‘face in peril’ for the majority of the match. Someone in WWE must have read my blog as there was no such disappointment. Ziggler and Ryder had a nice back forth bout that was given just the perfect amount of time. Some near pinfalls towards the conclusion of the match kept the viewer second guessing themselves as both men seemed just milliseconds away from winning. In the end, it was the right call to allow the Ryder revolution to truly begin. One can only sit back and see how things unfold for Ryder on his ‘Road to Wrestlemania.’ Will he just be a flash in the pan or will he go on to reach new heights? As a broski, I can only hope for the latter. As for Ziggler, perhaps a Royal Rumble win is on his horizon?
Winner and NEW United States Champion - Zack Ryder
***
Air Boom (Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne) vs Epico & Primo /w Rosa Mendes for the WWE Tag Team Championship
In all honesty, a really solid tag team match. WWE have far from rejuvenated their tag team division as Triple H was rumoured to be interested in doing. What they have done is taken a step in the right direction in making the tag titles relevant again. Epico and Primo could become a solid pairing if they are given long enough to develop as a tag team while having Rosa as a manager adds a little something to their personality and marketed appearance. There was some nice, basic tag team wrestling that we don’t often see in modern day WWE from both teams. Sometimes its ‘going back to what brung ya’ that works the best. Also, SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!! For a large portion of the match Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler ACTUALLY called the match instead of talking about whatever other random bullshit pops into their heads. It was refreshing.
Winners and STILL Tag Team Champions – Air Boom
** ¼
Randy Orton vs Wade Barrett in a Tables Match.
Our first gimmick match of the night pitted the ‘Barrett Barrage’ against ‘The Viper.’ The two had a decent tables match with some nice spots. I could see the RKO off the top rope and then through the table coming a mile away but still, it looked gnarly. Barrett looked strong in victory and I highly doubt this will be the last PPV match between the pair. Both own a singles victory over one another, there just HAS to be a rubber match.
Winner – Randy Orton
** ½
Beth Phoenix vs Kelly Kelly for the Divas Championship
Either this was announced or I chose subconsciously to ignore its existence in my prediction blog yesterday. Either way, the less said about this match the better. Kelly Kelly continues her streak of not having a shred of worth. All she does is yell, she can’t even run the ropes and Beth Phoenix had to call the match so loudly it was clearly audible. Honestly, the only reason I want WWE to go back to TV-14 is so that Kelly Kelly can become an ‘exhibitionist’ again and not have to speak or wrestle. Just awful.
Winner and STILL Divas Champion
1/3rd of a star.
Triple H vs Kevin Nash in piñata on a pole…. Sorry ‘Sledgehammer Ladder Match’…
Ok, I was ready to absolutely trash this match and predicted yesterday that it wouldn’t be pretty. Well, it certainly wasn’t an all time classic but it was fine for what it was. The two behemoths slugged it out in a physical match up that saw the ladder gimmick utilised to full effect. In what I thought was a smart move, Triple H worked over Kevin Nash’s which enabled Nash to sell the injury and compensate for his lack of pace at this stage in his career. However, this led to the match being TOO slow and lacklustre at times, bringing the overall quality down. The ending sequence was nicely put together. Nash held up ‘The Kliq’ sign before Triple H did a DX crotch chop and smashed Nash across the face with the sledgehammer, just as I predicted yesterday. A lot better than I imagined, but nothing you’re going to tell your grand kids about.
Winner – Triple H
**
Sheamus vs Jack Swagger
Not much to say about this, I guess they needed to fill some time. Swagger and Sheamus had an altercation earlier backstage that led to this match. Nothing really to invest in and ended up nothing more than a glorified squash match.
Winner – Sheamus
*
Mark Henry vs The Big Show in a Chairs Match for the World Heavyweight Championship
Of course, it’s not this match itself that everyone is talking about its what happened after… we’ll get to that. Mark Henry and the Big Show’s actual match up ended rather abruptly. Each man took a few brutal chair shots and then … BOOM… Big Show hits the WMD and we have ourselves a new champion… or do we?
Winner and NEW World Heavyweight Champion – The Big Show
*
As Show is celebrating, Mark Henry attacks him from behind with a chair. The ‘Daniel Bryan’ chants begin and his music hits followed by him bursting to the ring with a referee. Bryan cashes in his money in the bank briefcase, covers the Big Show and in the space of 2 minutes we have…
NEW World Heavyweight Champion – Daniel Bryan.
As someone who has watched Bryan Danielson in Ring of Honor work his ass off to produce some classic matches, seeing him reach the top of the ladder in WWE is a proud moment. Hell, his WWE career was once thrown into jeopardy when he was fired (or was he) for ‘going too far’ in the initial Nexus invasion. So for him to survive that and come back to eventually win the title is a great sight to see. If online reports are to be believed, Vince McMahon was the one who wanted the title put on Bryan due to legit leg and ankle injuries to Mark Henry. Other creative members were pushing to keep the title on Mark Henry but McMahon himself wanted Bryan to be the champion. Think about that, Daniel Bryan is backed by Vince McMahon… perhaps he isn’t to blame for the flip-flop booking he’s received in recent months. Regardless of how you feel about Bryan being champ, you can’t deny that it raises a ton of questions about the future of the World Heavyweight title. Will Bryan turn heel and start a feud with Big Show? Will Big Show turn heel? Or will Bryan’s reign be a short uneventful one? One can only hope WWE pushes Bryan as a strong champion and builds itself a new star in the process.
Booker T vs Cody Rhodes for the Intercontinental Championship
Despite being questionable due to multiple attacks backstage by Cody and an assault from behind as Booker was making his entrance, this match went ahead as planned. I knew Booker would ‘still have it’ in spite of not wrestling a REAL singles match since 2010. The difference between Kevin Nash and Booker T (since they both returned at the Royal Rumble) is that while Nash’s big reaction was reserved for that one event, Booker continues to get nice reactions in whatever he does. The crowd was solidly behind Booker who didn’t show any signs of ring rust. The win came for Cody when Booker was selling head injuries sustained from the earlier attacks. The ‘unfair’ win allows for the feud to continue, and I would have noooooo problem with that.
Winner and STILL Intercontinental Champion – Cody Rhodes
** ¼
CM Punk vs The Miz vs Alberto Del Rio in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match for the WWE Championship
In what I was expecting to be the match of the night, I certainly wasn’t let down. The match contained some memorable spots including; CM Punk being handcuffed to a ladder and turnbuckle and getting out of both by breaking the ladder and unscrewing the turnbuckle, Del Rio hitting the enzuigiri on Punk causing him to go through a table on the outside and The Miz and Punk pushing Ricardo Rodriguez off a ladder through a table on the outside. In regards to the use of handcuffs on Punk, it made him look like an intelligent champion by using his quick wits to get out of the predicament he was put in. The Punk character is a bit of a smart mouth, so it was a unique way of getting that aspect of his character over in the match. All in all, a great way to end the PPV year.
Winner and STILL WWE Champion – CM Punk
*** ¾
It is worth noting that John Cena didn’t show up, which was unexpected. Honestly though, the card didn’t seem to miss him all that. Sure, the buyrate might reflect otherwise but I personally feel that WWE should realise having Cena in the main event of EVERY PPV is not a necessity.
On another note, if you know me personally you should know that I’m in seventh heaven right now. CM Punk, Daniel Bryan and Zack Ryder are all champions. That’s three of my so-cal ‘fav five’ right there. Cody Rhodes is one of my current favourites as well and Air Boom are certainly entertaining to watch in the ring. WWE is finally pushing a SET of champions that I can get behind. Its not often that happens.
For all those people who ever doubted CM Punk and Daniel Bryan… this ones for you.
@CMPunk Two Indy schmucks didn't do so bad, Eh?
Thank you for reading and let me know your thoughts on TLC as well as the World Title situation on:
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Until next time, Lets Talk Wrestling.
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