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WWE held their final PPV of the year last night with Tables, Ladders, & Chairs. I've expressed my dislike over themed PPVs, and last night was no different. The show was a mixed bag... some good to very good matches. Some bad to very bad matches. Overall though, I give the show a slight thumbs up due to a very good main opener, main event, and a few other matches throughout the show. This show will be remembered for title changes, something that WWE shows are rarely remembered for anymore due to the hot potato mentality with the titles. However, for a show that had Daniel Bryan win the World Heavyweight Title (even if it was on a fluke MITB cash in) and Zack Ryder finally winning the United States title, it is a night most fans will remember for some time to come. The show featured 10 matches which is unheard of in today's business. Here's a quick rundown of the card.
- Zack Ryder d Dolph Ziggler to win the United States Title. A very good opener. We all know what Ziggler can do, but this was one of Ryder's best matches in WWE. The crowd was way into Ryder which made the match that much better. Ryder won CLEAN which was great, and there was legitimate emotion when he won. WWE also made a big deal of the win with multiple replays and showing him celebrating with the crowd. Hopefully this also means Ziggler is ready to move onto bigger and better things. I'm still hoping for Punk/Ziggler at Rumble.
- Air Boom d Primo & Epico to retain the WWE Tag Team Titles. It was a good match, but the crowd didn't know who Primo and Epico were so of course they didn't care about them. Based on the announcers, Rosa is the focus of the group, not the wrestlers. I was expecting a title change to further punish Bourne, but we got a clean finish which made Primo and Epico look like bigger jobbers. Still, a well worked, albeit short, match.
- Teddy and Hornswoggle talking about testicles backstage and making racist jokes. Please keep this crap off TV, especially wasting valuable time on PPV.
- Randy Orton d Wade Barrett in a Tables Match. Another well worked match. Really a great first hour to the show. They brawled around the arena and both got a few near finishes almost putting the other through the table. Cool finish with Orton being on the table and Barrett coming off the 2nd rope but getting caught with an RKO getting put through the table. I wouldn't mind if this feud continued, since Barrett can blame this as a fluke win for Orton.
- More backstage Teddy Long garbage. This time with The Bellas, Swagger, and Sheamus, setting up a meaningless Sheamus/Swagger match for later in the show. Teddy Long is one of the few bad things about Smackdown.
- Beth Phoenix d Kelly Kelly to retain the Divas Title. The second unannounced match of the card. Not good as expected anytime Kelly is involved. Her screaming drives me crazy. Luckily it was kept short and Beth won. I really wish they had a new program outside of Beth/Natalya/Kelly/Eve. Actually, I wish they just dropped the women's division.
- Alberto was yelling at Ricardo backstage. Miz came in and they insulted each other, and both said there would be no alliance tonight. Miz ended up shoving food in Ricardo's face as Alberto got pissed. I pray to God that they don't separate Alberto from Ricardo, because he is the best thing Alberto has going.
- For the second time of the night, Cody Rhodes jumped Booker T from behind, putting their match in jeopardy.
- HHH d Kevin Nash in a Sledgehammer Ladder Match. This is where the show really fell off a cliff. This match went 18 minutes. It may have worked if it went 8 minutes, but it went 10 minutes too long and was just death to the live crowd. Both men tried hard, but literally no one cared about Nash, and that's been the story of his entire run during his return. Lawler and Cole kept putting over how HHH was in the best shape of his career. Things like this take away all credibility from the announcers when you can just look at HHH and see he's now a middle aged man who is in nowhere near the shape he was in 10 years ago and moves dramatically slower in the ring. HHH climbed the ladder, got the sledgehammer. He tried to give Nash a Pedigree, but Nash fell way too soon and completely botched the spot. HHH gave him another Pedigree. Nash begged for mercy throwing up the Kliq/Wolfpac sign, but HHH told him to Suck It, hit him with the sledgehammer, and got the win. Nash was stretchered out of the ring, and this will be the last we see of him.
- Sheamus d Jack Swagger. Nothing more than a match that you see every week on Smackdown. Clean win for Sheamus, but the crowd wasn't very into it.
- The Big Show d Mark Henry in a CHAIRS!!! Match to win the World Heavyweight Title. It was a short match, and was obviously from the start that something was wrong with Henry. They stalled the first two minutes, and the match only went five minutes. Show got the win after hitting the KO Punch into a chair. The crowd wasn't all too excited. After the match, Henry attacked Show with a chair, taking him out. Then....
- Daniel Bryan d The Big Show to win the World Heavyweight Title. Bryan cashed in MITB on the unconscious Big Show. Show did one of those no sell jobs where after the 3 count, he immediately was up and about. Anyway, WWE has previously stated that the rules for cashing in MITB were that the champion must be alert and on his feet, so there is a possibility that this win for D Bry will be overturned on TV this week. Still, Bryan was legitimately excited by the win, and the crowd seemed to be into it.
- Cody Rhodes d Booker T to retain the Intercontinental Championship. Booker looked good in his return to the ring, and Cody continues to improve. Story was that Booker was injured from the attacks earlier in the show and had some type of head injury and was groggy from it. He did a Spinarooni during the match but got dizzy which allowed Rhodes to hit a kick to the head to get the win.
- CM Punk d The Miz and Alberto Del Rio in a TLC Match to retain the WWE Championship. Great main event. Not as crazy as TLC matches in the past, but still a lot of big spots and the guys all worked really hard. Match only went just over 18 minutes, but it was exciting throughout. Ricardo handcuffed Punk to the ladder, but Punk was able to break free. Punk then got handcuffed in the corner, but he was able to unscrew the turnbuckle to get free again just in time to climb the ladder as all three men fought on top. Ricardo took the biggest bump of the match as he for whatever reason climbed the ladder but was shoved off over the top rope through a table on the outside in a scary looking bump. Punk at one point also went through a table on the outside but it was a much safer fall. The finish saw Punk and Del Rio fighting on the ladder, but Punk kicked Del Rio off. Miz pulled Punk off the ladder, but Punk hit him with the GTS before climbing the ladder to grab the belt and win the match. Great finish to the show.
We are now SIX whole weeks from The Royal Rumble, so don't expect anything major to take place over the new two-three weeks. A few things to look for tonight on Raw:
- We are supposed to get a major clue about the January 2nd videos tonight. At least that was the plan as of a few weeks ago. While most of us expect the videos to result in the return of Jericho, what role does the girl play in the videos? I've actually read some people speculate that the videos are actually for the return of Shane and Steph, but I don't see that happening.
- Kane made his return at the end of Raw last week, laying out John Cena. This will probably be the hold over feud for Cena until they go full out promotion for Cena and Rock after Royal Rumble.
- I wouldn't be surprised to see a Air Boom vs Primo/Epico rematch tonight.
- Zack Ryder will probably have some type of celebration.
- Multiple things will be trending worldwide!
TLC PPV Prediction Contest and the overall final 2012 results will be posted tonight.
I will be opening up 2012 predictions this week. Please do not post any predictions until I officially ask for them.
