Wrestlemania 28 thoughts and review

I don’t think there much need for an introduction, it’s Wrestlemania 28! Here are my thoughts.

Daniel Bryan vs Sheamus

Well, what the fuck can I say? According to reports, WWE wanted to break the record for the shortest match at Wrestlemania and guess what? THEY DIDN’T EVEN BREAK IT! The World Heavyweight Championship, the second biggest title in all of wrestling, is treated like absolute trash. No wonder you’re not getting new superstars over if the WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE is being devalued to that level. I understand that titles are props to enhance the talent that is wearing it, but they’re also a signifier for the prestige of your company and to disappoint and treat fans both in attendance and at home like shit by having this squash as the opening match? Disgusting. Now let me clarify before I continue, I have no problem with Sheamus being the champion and he’s probably overdue a run at the top, it is the manner with how things went down that pisses me off no end. Having being pushed off last year’s card Daniel Bryan and Sheamus had a lot to prove. However, whichever tool thought it’d be a good idea to book the match like this needs firing. If you listen to the crowd for the next two or three matches, all you’re getting are ‘Daniel Bryan’ and ‘yes’ chants. I really hope that someone in the back, preferably Vince McMahon, heard the chants and figured out that they’d made a fucking horrible mistake. Daniel Bryan is a heel that gets HEAT, he’s not a cool heel that sometimes gets face pops, he get’s BOO’D. Now, when that completely turns around and the live crowd couldn’t give a flying fuck about a Randy Orton match and instead chants for Daniel Bryan, something has gone amiss. I have seen some people try and put a positive spin on the match, claiming that this will advance Bryan’s storyline with AJ. Fuck that. Bryan was rapidly becoming the top heel in the entire WWE, nevermind just Smackdown, and to bury that momentum like this is just a terrible booking decision. Mark Henry and The Big Show couldn’t derail Daniel Bryan. Undertaker, HHH, Cena and The Rock kicked out of multiple finishers later in the night. Yet, Daniel Bryan goes down with one Brogue Kick? Bullshit. Another audible crowd chant, by the way.

0 stars

Winner and NEW World Heavyweight Champion: Sheamus

Randy Orton vs Kane

Right, well here we go with the proper opening match. Both men are rather methodical and slow in their wrestling style, which led to a rather lacklustre opening between the two. The crowd were seemingly still pissed with the opening …kick… and responded accordingly. It really took until the middle of the match for any sort of excitement to occur with a couple of nice back and forth moves before Kane hit a chokeslam from the second rope for a clean win. Honestly, it was definitely unexpected. I’d argue the only reason for Kane to win here is if WWE are looking to re-build him into the demonic, monsteriffic, big red machine he once was. If not and we get a re-match at Extreme Rules which Randy Orton wins, it will have been for naught. The fact that this match wasn’t Kane vs Zack Ryder still makes absolutely no sense in the world of kayfabe, is Ryder supposed to let Kane’s attacks on him slide?

**

Winner: Kane

Cody Rhodes vs Big Show for the Intercontinental Championship

Again, another slow and methodical match. Rhodes worked on the knee’s and Big Show delivered the giant chops, everything you’d expect. Towards the end of the match, Show delivered a botched mid-air spear which hit Rhodes square in the balls. That had to hurt. As I predicted, WWE gave The Big Show his Wrestlemania moment and allows Rhodes to move on to bigger and better things. Not really much more to say on this one, it was everything I expected.

**

Winner and NEW Intercontinental Champion: The Big Show

Kelly Kelly & Maria Menounos vs Beth Phoenix & Eve

We all knew it was going to be bad. It was. Sloppy execution of moves along with screams to make the ears bleed. At one point, Maria did the stink face on Eve and half of her make up ended up on Maria’s pants. It looked like she’d let a deuce drop, furthering the embarrassment of the divas. The one redeeming quality was Kelly Kelly’s flipping Lou Thesz press from the top rope. The pinfall came in the form of a ROLL UP, the divas finisher of doom! Another outstanding contest from all involved and a testament to womens wrestling everywhere.

*

Winners: Kelly Kelly and Maria Menounos

Triple H vs The Undertaker /w Shawn Michaels as special referee inside Hell in a Cell

There are two sides to my thoughts of this match, as it really had me split. On the one hand, both men told an excellent story. The emotion levels were running high and the drama unfolded almost without a hitch. Shawn Michaels played his role perfectly, portraying the tension and the conflict in his decision making. The near pinfalls had me on the edge of my seat and when Michaels delivered sweet chin music to Taker, I thought the streak had been vanquished. The brutality of the weapon shots were, perversely, nice to see as it’s not often you seen physicality of that nature in the current era. At the end, when all three men walked out together and embraced on the entrance ramp, it really did feel like the end of an era and could’ve been the end of all three of their careers. However, these were my feelings in the moment. When you take a step back and really think about the match… it’s a different story.

Sure, wrestling is sometimes purely emotion but we’re looking at a match that lasted above the 30-minute mark and no more than 15 minutes of that could have been action. There was just so much stalling. Repeated chair shots, ask him, wait, wait, no, chair shots, ask him, wait, wait, no, chair shots… it was so contrived and seemed to drag on at points. When there was actually action taking place it worked, but people really don’t pay their money to see them talk to each other for ten minutes. Also, there was absolutely no necessity for the Hell In A Cell, sure it was used as a selling point but was only used in the match a couple of times. The match seemed to play out more like a Last Man Standing match and would have actually made more sense when you consider the storyline. Anyway, if it wasn’t for the stalling, the talking and the uselessness of the cell, this match would have been near perfect. I understand the necessity for some of the spots of chatter, but the sluggishness and stalling dragged the match down for me. Still, the raw emotion, story told by all three men and the fact that the match had me engrossed means that we still witnessed a good match.

***1/2

Winner: The Undertaker

Team Teddy vs Team Johnny

For all the build this match received, nothing happened. Booker T took the brunt of the punishment before it broke down into a messy clusterfuck. Highlights? A sweet, tandem triple flip over the top rope spot was timed to perfection and Mark Henry flinging Hornswoggle out of the way like a rag doll. The Miz got the victory over Ryder after the distraction from Eve. No surprise that Lauranitis is now the GM of both Raw and Smackdown, a heel authority figure works better.

Winners: Team Johnny

* 1/2

Following the match, in what should come as a surprise to absolutely nobody, Eve turned on Zack Ryder by kicking him in the nards. I flat out don’t get it. Surely the WWE doesn’t think it’s fans are that retarded? Is anybody supposed to believe that a man would return to any woman who openly admits that they’re using him and just Etch-a-Sketch his memory clean? I would have thought that the storyline was going to lead to either Ryder finally catching on that Eve was playing him or that Ryder was actually stringing Eve along and she would get her comeuppance and we could all move on. No, that’s not the case. What’s going to happen next? Is she going to tell him on Raw that she was actually trying to fondle his junk and he’ll be like HUR HUR OK, DERRRRP. It’s just another example of terrible booking. Ryder was building so much momentum for himself. His merchandise was some of the top selling and he was getting more and more over each week. Until WWE crushed his momentum with both the Kane storyline and now this storyline by making him look like an absolute doofus, it’s quickly turning people off. HOW ARE YOU GOING TO MAKE NEW STARS WWE?

CM Punk vs Chris Jericho for the WWE Championship

The opening minutes of this contest had me worried. I think they focussed a little too much on Jericho trying to get Punk disqualified. It would have been better if they’d have followed the formula of Jericho vs Michaels at Wrestlemania 19. Just out and out action from the get go. The spots with Jericho cowering in the corner could have been placed intermittently throughout the match, not all at once. However, the pace quickly picked up and the psychology between the two was superb. It easily ended up the best match in terms of wrestling quality on the night. The top rope counter Codebreaker was amazing and Punk screaming ‘Tap you son of a bitch!’ was the emotional highlight. Not quite the clinic I was hoping for, but a good effort nonetheless.

****

Winner and STILL WWE Champion: CM Punk

Somebody in the back thought it would be a good idea to have Brodus Clay come out with a bunch of people dressed as old women with inflatable asses and dance. Honestly, whoever in the back thinks this is funny is so out of touch it’s unbelievable. Its things like this that make wrestling fans embarrassed to admit they watch.

John Cena vs The Rock

The atmosphere for the match was everything I had hoped for. My TV speakers were shaking from the thunderous response. Shame about Eminem getting aids and coming out and spewing something about John Cena being an underdog before the match. Are you serious? John Cena is the furthest away from being an underdog possible. Dumb shit got boo’d for that. Good.

As for the match, being The Rock’s first singles match in 8 years it was never going to be a technical classic but the two put on a decent match. Basic back and forth offence was utilised well before they began to bust out signature moves. It could be argued that the match was sloppy in parts and it legitimately looked like they were trying to take each other’s heads off at points.

Plenty of near falls and finishing manoeuvres before the application of back and forth submission holds. Cena’s STF has never been pretty but The Rock’s sharpshooter is horrible. Bret Hart offered to show him how to apply it correctly, Rocky should have took that advice. The ending sequence played out nicely, Cena got cocky and The Rock took advantage of the mistake and got the clean win. I said it in my predictions column but this was absolutely the wrong decision. 

***

Winner: The Rock

The full-time workhorse top name in the WWE just lost to a guy who had his second match in seven years. WWE flushed the past eight years down the toilet. Fuck you John Cena, the attitude era was better. The Rock HAD to put over John Cena because Cena is going to be there the next 5-7 years carrying the company, whereas Rocky will swan off back to Hollywood. If you’ll notice, we didn’t have a handshake, we didn’t have a ‘you’re better’ type deal. That sets up the potential for a re-match. The Rock is booked for Raw tonight and something is DEFINITELY going down. Cena’s character could go a variety of ways. He could get depressed, turn manically enraged and start destroying people or just accept it and continue being the happy go lucky Cena we all know.  It could of course lead to the long time coming Cena heel turn, but I’m not getting my hopes up. If we are in fact heading for the rumoured trilogy of matches between the two, it's a little nightmarish at this point and the fact that we’ll have to endure another year of playground insults between the two is just too much to fathom.

To sum up, Wrestlemania 28 was incredibly mediocre. For an event that had so much potential it was let down by some piss poor booking decisions and it’s a god damn shame. WWE need a serious reshuffle in the creative department as some of the decisions leading up to and including Wrestlemania 28 have been nothing short of retarded.

If I was to grade it, I'd give it a D+ or a C-.

Thank’s for reading

What were your thoughts on Wrestlemania?

WWE Elimination Chamber 2012 Review and Thoughts

Elimination Chamber is that little awkward spot between the Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania. For my money, the Rumble and Mania are always the two events I anticipate the most and thus the Chamber PPV goes a little un-noticed. It takes place 6 weeks before the Granddaddy of them all and is usually a place to develop or help further along existing feuds for Wrestlemania, which sometimes results in a disappointing event. Was this the case in 2012? Lets take a look!

Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship featuring – CM Punk (C), Kofi Kingston, Dolph Ziggler, R-Truth, The Miz and Chris Jericho

While I thought this match should have been the main event (the PPV is called Elimination Chamber after all) it served as the 'hot opener' and did so in unrelenting fashion. The Raw Chamber match had solid star power in comparison to the Smackdown counterpart and each unique superstar was utilised to maximise the amount of action that occurred throughout the match. Kofi Kingston and CM Punk kicked things off with some nice back and forth trading of pinfalls. The chamber structure allowed Kofi Kingston to shine and execute some nice variations to his high flying arsenal. R Truth took part for a brief moment and was the first to be eliminated after a quick flurry of offense. Dolph Ziggler bumped like a champion and had an opportunity to 'show off' by implementing the chamber into his shtick. The Miz, who has been floundering for weeks with his promo's and in ring technique, took a step on the road to redemption with a strong and convincing showing in the chamber match. Of course the big story is between CM Punk and Chris Jericho. When the two squared off, the crowd popped in anticipation of the two finally going one on one. However, WWE are saving this one till Wrestlemania as Punk eliminated Jericho in controversial fashion. A knockout kick sent Jericho tumbling to the floor, into a camera man and some sort of box, rendering him unable to compete. This was a nice way of getting Jericho out of the match and means that Punk doesn't hold a clean victory over Jericho heading into Wrestlemania. It is also a source of frustration for Jericho as he never lost the match and can be held over Punks head as a feud between the two heats up. A really good action packed chamber match.

****

Winner and STILL WWE Champion – CM Punk
 

Beth Phoenix (C) vs Tamina Snuka for the Divas Championship

Without a doubt, the playing up of Tamina as the daughter of Jimmy Snuka and the perception that she has become a legitimate threat in recent weeks helped this match. Hell, the fact that Kelly Kelly, Eve, Alicia Fox or The Bella Twins weren't involved helped this match. While not the greatest women's match ever, it was certainly better than any recent Divas ppv bout. Honestly, a decent match and the story of Beth avoiding Tamina's big blockbuster finish time after time before actually kicking out of the Superfly Splash was a nice touch. Sweet Dragon Sleeper by Phoenix too. I don't know where we go from here with the divas division because we've got to be getting Kharma vs Beth Phoenix at Wrestlemania. That's the best thing that can happen right now. Won't that render all this build for Tamina pointless though?

*3/4

Winner and STILL Divas Champion – Beth Phoenix

Elimination Chamber match for the World Heavyweight Championship featuring – The Big Show, Wade Barrett, Cody Rhodes, Santino Marella, The Great Khali and Daniel Bryan (C)

Again, a really entertaining chamber match. The star power wasn’t as strong as the Raw chamber, but everyone involved made the absolute best of the situation and delivered a thoroughly enjoyable story. The Big Show looked like the monster he is and the ongoing feud with Daniel Bryan was furthered in the chamber. The unique moment went Show broke into Bryan’s pod from the top was a nice touch. Speaking of Bryan, he took some nasty looking bumps. Going through the (what Michael Cole was all too eager to tell us) ‘bullet proof’ Lexan, the powerbomb into the chamber and the door being rammed shut on his neck were particular highlights. The real star of the match, however, was someone no one even considered to be anywhere near the Elimination Chamber PPV, never mind a chamber match in itself. I have to give credit where its due and Santino was booked to look like an absolute fighter last night. Gone was the comedy jobber and instead we saw an underdog who absolutely refused to give up, despite being beaten down time after time. Sure, it’s a classic story but its classic for a reason… it works. The crowd were molten crazy for Santino the entire time match and reached fever pitch following his pinfall eliminations of both Cody Rhodes and Wade Barrett. The final moments between Daniel Bryan and Santino are worth a re-watch. When Santino hit the Cobra on Daniel Bryan EVERYONE thought the impossible had been achieved. Moments later when Santino temporarily broke the Lebell Lock, that same thought crossed peoples minds once again. Eventually Santino tapped and Daniel Bryan heads to Wrestlemania as World Heavyweight Champion. Sit back and think a minute, though. A superstar who has become nothing more than a comedy jobber was booked to eliminate two men who are considered the future of the company. On top of that, Santino was one of the last two survivors and almost fought out of a deadly submission. That’s quite the push. Judging by crowd reaction last night, WWE would be foolish not to capitalise on Santino as he proved he could hang with upper level talent.

As for the post match, if this was indeed WWE signalling Sheamus vs Daniel Bryan is happening at Wrestlemania, I’d more than welcome it. A match between the two was bumped off last years card, this year they’d be co-headlining for the World Heavyweight Championship. Quite the story.

*** ¾

Winner and STILL World Heavyweight Champion – Daniel Bryan

Jack Swagger (C) vs Justin Gabriel for the United States Championship

A throwaway match. Honestly, what is with not advertising matches anymore? Swagger and Gabriel are currently struggling to get on Raw and Smackdown and the United States Championship has once again become worthless. A three minute match has no business being on a Pay Per View.

½ a *

Winner and STILL United States Champion – Jack Swagger

John Cena vs Kane in an Ambulance Match

Apparently, WWE feels the need to cheapen their ‘Elimination Chamber’ PPV by having anything but a Chamber match as the main event. Honestly, when the feud started I was all for it. Cena and Kane had never really had a high profile one on one feud and there was a refreshing feeling about the whole thing. The fact that Kane was once again donning his mask was a bonus. However, WWE felt the need to turn one of their fastest rising stars in Zack Ryder into a human punching bag. Ryder has been saddled with a romance storyline with Eve and been made to look like a complete idiot. Racking up approximately 500 injuries in the process. I can’t help but feel WWE is playing a sick joke on Ryder. They’re sending the message that if they didn’t make him, he isn’t going to be the star he could potentially be. Ryder's involvement initially added something to the story, but has since become more comedic than anything else. Meh. Anyway, the match. It was a rather timid affair but one can blame that on the nature of a PG environment on a hardcore style match. There was no doubt who was going to win heading into Wrestlemania but, both men went out there, hit a few impact moves, told their story and ended it. Cena was never going to take part in anything too brutal considering the risk of injury and the disastrous consequences that would have for the yearlong hyped match with The Rock.

I’m still hoping Zack Ryder gets his Wrestlemania moment in a one on one match with Kane, hopefully minus half a storm trooper outfit.

** ½

Winner – John Cena

So there we have it, two very good chamber matches, a decent Divas match and an OK ambulance match. All in all, an enjoyable pay per view that looked less than friendly on paper. It also helped set up the two potential championship matches at Wrestlemania between CM Punk and Jericho and Sheamus and Daniel Bryan. Sweet. Two live shows to look forward to this week, Raw as usual and Smackdown on Tuesday night.

Thanks a lot for reading and till next time, Lets Talk Wrestling

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Lets Talk Wrestling: WWE TLC 2011 review and thoughts.

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.

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

1/3^rd 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.