My insane spot of the night, Rollins crashing into the tables behind. Photo credit: WWE.com
Team Rhodes Scholars (Damien Sandow & Cody Rhodes) defeated Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara in a Tables Match to become number one contenders to the Tag Team Title. Good choice to start the show with here, a solid match with a decent amount of weapon use but not too much to make it overkill and wear off the effect of it.
While it maybe wasn't as exciting as I thought it'd be, the action was consistent throughout and I can't fault the efforts of any of the four wrestlers. They managed to keep things interesting with just use of the tables too. For the finish Rhodes ran in and pushed Sin Cara from the top rope as he was about to spring off at Sandow, causing him to fall back into one of the two tables left behind at ringside.
Antonio Cesaro (c) bested R-Truth to retain the United States Championship in an enjoyable enough contest, if a bit pedestrian. In their best match to date both men worked well together, although it wasn't anything that out of this world. Afterwards Cesaro turned the tables on the fans in Brooklyn by claiming that by booing him as US Champion, they're booing their own country. He has really brought that title back to relevance.
The Miz brought out 3MB (Heath Slater, Jinder Mahal and Drew McIntyre) as his guests on 'Miz TV'. After Miz mocked the fairly amusing trio, 3MB announced that they would finally be performing their debut song live at the Slammy Awards on Monday night. They then made their way to the Spanish announce desk, taking offense at them for not speaking English.
Ricardo Rodriguez then came out to the commentators aid, but unfortunately for him began getting beaten up by the band. This cued Alberto Del Rio to race out to protect his personal ring announcer, which again led to him getting beaten on by the trio, until Miz decided to lend a hand when Slater pushed him aside. After chucking them out of the ring, 3MB challenged Del Rio and Miz to find a third man to face them in a six-man tag match that night. Miz and Del Rio accepted. The fans also chanted for Ryder to be that third man later on. The reception for the possible face turn for Del Rio was positive, and he certainly needs a big shake up with his stale persona. It's good to see 3MB getting some time on PPV too, they've been fading a bit as of late.
Kofi Kingston (c) defeated Wade Barrett to retain the Intercontinental Title in a largely stellar bout. Both men worked hard here and provided an engaging match up once it got going in the second half, with Barrett particularly impressing with an above average performance for him. The bout also contained impressive maneuvers and nice near falls.
WWE Champion CM Punk addressed all the fans from his own personal sky box in the arena, where he spoke of his disgust for Brooklyn and its inhabitants. He went on to also claim that TLC was his environment and that had he been competing he would have easily defeated Ryback.
The Shield (Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns) beat Team Hell No (Daniel Bryan and Kane) and Ryback in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match. And what an awesome match this was. From the opening bell the action came thick and fast, with every weapon utilised well and the excitement coming at you with terrific spot after terrific spot. Every man delivered here, even Reigns who I wasn't too convinced with from what I've seen of him so far. But the most insane moment went to Rollins who was thrown from the tope of a huge ladder by Ryback onto some stacked tables behind. The winning pin came after Ambrose and Reigns powerbombed Bryan through a table in the ring. Very satisfying match, great stuff.
Eve (c) bested Naomi to retain the Divas Championship in a forgettable and pretty worthless match up. Naomi showed off some of her athletic skills but there was no substance behind it and she looked quite uncomfortable and nervous when actually wrestling. So the Divas division is poorer than it's ever been and what do they do to improve it? Nothing. They just make it worse by throwing in an opponent for Eve to easily defeat for no good reason. At least if they'd had Natalya or Tamina face Eve it would've been a half decent outing.
Big Show (c) defeated Sheamus to retain the World Heavyweight Championship in a Chairs Match. And yet again these two delivered on PPV with a solid back and fourth battle. Although maybe not as exciting as their last match up it was still solid throughout, and a high note to end their feud on if it is now over.
For the finish Show brought out a huge steel chair and walloped 'The Great White' on the back with it for the one-two-three. I'm glad to also see a clean win here for the giant, just gives the champion and the title itself more worth. My only issue was the fact that this wasn't the main event. It's the only World Title match on the card, it should without a doubt be the main event of the show, and you can't argue that it didn't deserve that slot. I was also personally hoping for Ziggler to cash in here and then have to (and successfully) defend the World Championship in the main event against Cena, that would've made sense.
The Miz, Alberto Del Rio and The Brooklyn Brawler beat 3MB (Heath Slater, Jinder Mahal and Drew McIntyre) in a mostly drab six-man tag bout. Just before the match Miz announced Brooklyn Brawler as their third man, which received a fair response from the crowd, although I'm certain Ryder would've been a more popular (and smarter) choice. It was just all very average really, nothing that engaging or exceptional to take away from it.
Dolph Ziggler defeated John Cena to retain his MITB contract in a Ladder Match, and a disappointing main event. Now don't get me wrong it wasn't a bad match, I was just personally expecting a lot more from this one. I thought this was going to be the match of the night, but I just didn't find myself getting as excited or engaged by it as the great TLC match from earlier. Both men put in worthy efforts so I feel a bit guilty for slating it a bit, it was enjoyable and is worth a watch, just don't expect a classic ladder match.
For the finish Vickie Guerrero came down to the ring to halt Cena from getting up onto a ladder, this cued nemesis AJ Lee to then take out Vickie by imitating Cena's usual routine, awfully, I mean it was cringe-worthingly bad, and send her on her way. But as Cena then went to grab the briefcase AJ pushed the ladder over which allowed Dolph to superkick Cena and grab his MITB briefcase back. If I'm honest, I'm not even that interested in AJ's reason she'll come up with tomorrow night for doing this, I would've rather seen another wrestler that could gain something here screw Cena over myself.
Overall TLC was a pretty enjoyable event for the most part. With all the weapons-related match ups providing good entertainment, especially the terrific TLC match itself. The Divas contest just felt like a waste of time and did absolutely no favours for the division. The US and IC Title clashes were decent enough, with the Kofi versus Barrett encounter edging it.
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