WWE TLC (Spoilers, obviously)

So, WWE TLC, the last PPV of the year, and one which has been up and down in recent years.

This was actually a very good show I thought. No match was really awful, and there were some definite high spots and nice surprises. I may get the order wrong here – I got up at 3am to watch this after 4 hours sleep, so bear with me!

Show opened with Dolph Ziggler .v. Zack Ryder for the US Championship. Once again Ziggler showed why he’s been one of the MVPs of the company this year, and sustained his record of having great PPV opening matches. He and Ryder put on an excellent match which really showed what both of them could do. Ryder was booked as an equal to Ziggler during the match, and that worked really well in telling the story of this guy who had worked and fought and clawed to get his shot. I thought this was really good, and having Ryder go over Ziggler clean to become the new US Champion was entirely the right decision. Firstly, it gave the crowd what they wanted to see, and secondly it allows Ziggler to go onto the WWE Title picture, which is where he now belongs.

Second match saw the tag team champions, Air Boom, defend against the team of Primo and Epico. Nice that the WWE have alt least put together another proper tag team, and this was a perfectly fine tag team match between the four. I never felt especially interested in it, perhaps because I haven’t seen their matches on Superstars which lead to the title match, but it was fine and didn’t out-stay its welcome. I actually expected to see Primo and Epico win the titles, given Bourne’s recent indiscretions, but in the end Kofi pinned one of them to retain.

There was a women’s match. Beth won.

Randy Orton .v. Wade Barrett was a decent match. Wade got a bad whack with the table early on in the match, and it split him open above the right eyebrow. The referee was checking the blood, but it stopped fairly quickly as a nice egg shaped bump rose up. I was actually expecting a bit more in the way of violence and bumps for this, but it was fine while it lasted and a decent brawl. Match ended with Wade going for an attack off the middle rope, and Randy turning it in mid-air into an RKO through the table. Disappointed that the WWE didn’t give Wade the win here and continue his run. I think they need to elevate a few more guys, and allowing Barrett to win wouldn’t have killed Orton’s position.

I’m never a fan of having matches added to the PPV card at the last minute through stuff being booked backstage. I think by the time you get to a PPV day, it ought to be used to blow off feuds. You shouldn’t have 15 minutes spare on the card. What supposedly would have happened if Sheamus hadn’t have had a row with Swagger backstage? Anyway, the match was nothing really special and pretty much a rehash of the matches they have had before. Sheamus won. Wasn’t terrible, but nothing that special either.

Next up was Mark Henry .v. Big Show for the World Heavyweight Championship. Apparently, earlier in the week Henry had injured himself in a match, and was working with a major groin strain. That explains why the match wasn’t as long as I think people were expecting. But while it was there I thought it was perfectly good and told the story well in continuing their feud. I liked the end sort of coming out of nowhere with a Big Show knockout on Henry, and the new WHC.

Of course, the talking point here was the aftermath. Mark Henry attacks Show and DDTs him onto a bunch of chairs. Then Daniel Bryan cashing in Money in the Bank, pinning Show, and becoming the new World Heavyweight Champion. Really nice surprise for the crowd and all the indy fanboys go into rapture that their darling has finally won the big one.

Next up was the sledgehammer ladder match between Kevin Nash and Triple H. We had every right in the world to expect this to suck like hyperactive Dyson, but actually it was very very good. They stuck basically to the premise of using the ladder as a weapon, rather than trying to climb it, and to the idea that they just wanted to beat the hell out of each other. It was one of Nash’s best performances in years, and OK, the guy is never going to fly around like Evan Bourne or wrestle like Danielson, but for as limited as he is, it told an excellent tale and was never enjoyable. Eventually, Nash grabs a table and sets it up, but can’t get HHH through it. They carry on fighting, and both guys climb the ladder. HHH smashes Nash in the head and he takes a bump off the ladder through a table – has to be the best bump Nash has taken in years!! HHH grabs the sledge and clobbers Nash. Big Kev begs off with the Kliq symbol. Trips does the DX crotch chop and lays him out. Very good match.

Penultimate match was Booker T .v. Cody for the IC belt. Earlier in the night, on two occasions, Cody had attacked Booker, putting the match in question. What followed here wasn’t long, but it worked well and Booker looked fairly convincing. In the end, he makes a mistake taking too long over the Spinaroonie, and Cody hits two beautiful disasters for the pin to retain. Cody looks more of a heel for attacking Booker before, Booker loses nothing because he lost after being attacked. Its all good.

Main event saw Punk defend the title against Del Rio and the Miz. An excellent old school TLC match with all the usual ladder spots, table bumps, chair shots, etc etc. Early on, they handcuff Punk to a ladder which Del Rio is then climbing. Punk kicks away the supports to free himself and thus break the ladder, and Alberto takes a nice bump. Further nice bumps follow throughout. Punk goes through a table, Miz and Alberto take pretty vicious ladder bumps, its all good. Del Rio’s ring announcer takes a backward bump off the ladder over the ropes and through two tables. Good entertaining stuff. Eventually, Miz handcuffs Punk to the turnbuckle, and it seems over for him. But Punk unscrews the turnbuckle, manages to down both of them, and retains the WWE title. Great match.

Indy Fanboys now have a complete meltdown that the WWE finishes its year with Danielson and CM Punk holding the two biggest belts in the company.

I just got round to watching this PPV, and really enjoyed it. The main event was the best match of the night, and Rodriguez crashing through the table was a great bump.

HHH against Nash was the surprise match of the night for me. I wasn't expecting anything good from it, but it was a very good match.

I'm really impressed by all the great young wrestlers in WWE right now. There's at least ten I can think of off the top of my head, who deserve to be fighting for the top titles. I've watched about 14 hours of WWE over the past three days, and I've enjoyed it immensely.