My WWE TLC 2011 Recap

Zach Ryder defeated Dolph Ziggler (c) to win the United States championship in an exciting and genuinely feel good opener to the pay-per-view. The bout itself kicked off with a faster pace but slowed down during the middle when Ziggler took control, applying some impressive maneuvers to the 'Long Island Iced Z', including an Angle slam and a set of ten elbow drops in a row. Ryder inevitably made a valiant comeback towards the end, which included a nice hurricanrana from the top rope and a lot of intense near falls for both men. But all during this you just couldn't help but believe that this was Ryder's night, his moment, his well-deserved first ever singles title. And it was. All his hard work this year, from being a regular on Superstars (which is never good security for your job in WWE) to becoming a Raw regular who gets a huge reaction every single broadcast, even when he's not there. The finish came when Ryder executed the Rough Ryder and got the one-two-three on Ziggler.

The crowd were obviously firmly behing Ryder during the match and genuinely happy for him after. I can't honestly remember the last title win that felt this good in the company, I mean a genuinely feel good title win. It was a satisfying, if predictable, victory anyhow. WWWYKI.

Backstage while Booker T was talking to Alicia Fox, Cody Rhodes once again attacked him from behind.

Air Boom (c) defeated Primo and Epico to retain their WWE Tag Team titles. The tag bout was even and picked up with the excitement towards the end when Kofi Kingston was tagged in with crisp high flying moves from him and Bourne. Kingston grabbed the win after a Trouble in Paradise to Primo. Maybe not the best match involving Air Boom but it was decent and I certainly wouldn't mind seeing both teams tangle again in the future, which I'm sure they will. 

Randy Orton defeated Wade Barrett in an enjoyable and well paced tables bout. Both men went back and fourth with some nicely executed sequences, especially one on the outside of the ropes as each man threatened to put the other through a table on the outside until Orton turned it to his advantage as he performed his signature hangman DDT into the ring. Orton won after RKOing Barrett through a table in the ring as Wade came flying down with an elbow drop for an effective finish. Although Orton won Barrett certainly looked his equal and had a lot of offence, he didn't come out of it damaged in my opinion and the 'Barrett Barrage' should continue.

Beth Phoenix (c) defeated Kelly Kelly to retain her Divas championship. The match was actually fairly decent considering it involved Kelly, and wasn't kept too long which suits their match ups more effectively. The crowd were indifferent throughout most of it, perhaps like me they were also tired of seeing these two tussle over the title once again on pay-per-view. They really need to give Phoenix some new competition that she deserves, like Natalya who's face turn is surely impending.  

As Booker made his way out to face Rhodes, he was once again attacked from behind by the Intercontinental champion. I feel this was a bit overkill having two attacks in one night. What was the point in having Rhodes attack Booker earlier if he was just going to take him out before their match then? Strange booking.

Triple H defeated Kevin Nash in the Sledgehammer on a ladder match. The actual bout was pretty intense with a predictably slow pace. For the most part it was quite average for a ladder match, with the crowd for a second match in a row quite indifferent and quiet for the majority of it. Although I'll give Nash credit, he took more bumps then I was expecting him to in the shape he's in. For the finish Triple H struck Nash with the sledgehammer (which was still hung up) at the top of the ladder, sending him crashing into a table. Trips then Pedigreed Nash and approached him with the sledgehammer slowly. Nash pleaded with 'The Game' by signalling the old Kliq sign, but he wasn't having any of it and he mercifully cracked Nash with the weapon and got the one-two-three.     

Sheamus defeated Jack Swagger in a decent enough bout. Swagger was once again booked to look competitive against one of SmackDown's top faces, just like he had been against Big Show on last weeks SmackDown. Although he gained another loss things seem to be looking a bit more positive for the 'All American American' lately. 

Big Show defeated Mark Henry (c) to win the World Heavyweight title in a Chairs match. The actual bout was average and thankfully kept quite short. Big Show got the pinfall victory after applying a WMD to Mark Henry. After the match Henry knocked Show in the leg with a chair and then DDT'd him onto a pile of steel chairs that had been left in the ring.

And as if cued by chants of "Daniel Bryan" from the crowd in attendance, the 'American Dragon' raced out and cashed in his Money In The Bank contract and pinned Big Show to win his first ever World title in WWE. It was once again another well received and feel good title win on the pay-per-view. No one has deserved to win a World title for the first time this year more then that man Daniel Bryan (I still count the ROH title as a World championship but you get what I mean.) If I were booking this, I'd use Bryan cashing in on Big Show as an excuse to turn him heel and go on to WrestleMania to face a major face for the title.

Cody Rhodes defeated Booker T in an average match up. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't bad and I did enjoy parts of it, but it didn't really live up to what I'd hoped it would. I wasn't expecting a classic by any means but with Booker's return to action and Cody's great form as of late I was expecting a solid and exciting bout between the two. Unfortunately it didn't quite get up to that standard for me, which is a shame. Although I still have belief in the feud, and they're definitely capable of putting on a better match together I believe.

CM Punk (c) defeated The Miz and Alberto Del Rio to retain his WWE Championship in a triple threat TLC match. The actual match up was a worthy and exciting main event to the pay-per-view. Each man was on form and gave a great effort, even Ricordo Rodriguez who fell from a ladder inside the ring straight through a table on the outside. At one point when Punk was handcuffed ( the handcuffs which Rodriguez had brought into the fray earlier on in the match) to the corner turnbuckle I was expecting R-Truth to possibly return and take out Miz. But fortunately they didn't go down that route as it would have tarnished the match a bit I reckon and distracted fans from the three main competitors here, and Miz's current reputation of taking out these wrestlers. My only complaint about the match is that you never really believed that Punk wasn't going to retain here. The Miz and Del Rio weren't built up well enough before the pay-per-view, you just couldn't see them toppling the current champ.     

It made perfect sense that Punk won. He's the man on fire in the company right now and as he's promised before, he wants to make the championship interesting once again. Which I believe he's succeeding in. They should keep this title run going all the way to Mania in my opinion and give him a major wrestler to take on on the big stage. A major marquee match up that he deserves, can you give me a  "hell yeah" to that?   

My Raw, November 21st Recap

CM Punk kicked things off with a typically entertaining speech from the new WWE champion. He talked about how he wanted to once again make the title interesting and fun and how unlike most champions lately (including himself) he was going to keep hold of it for a long time. Just taking the title off of Del Rio has already made the title more interesting in my eyes. He also announced how he would like the current interim General Manager John Laurinaitis to become the "former Raw General Manager" due to how fake he comes across and how out of touch he is with the fans and what they want. The tediously dull Laurinaitis made an appearance and announced that he would face Dolph Ziggler that night and how rather then face Del Rio in a rematch for the title like Punk requested, that was going to be moved to next weeks Raw instead which Punk called "stupid." Which was due to the fact that it was unoriginal and that the fans clearly wanted to see Ryder face off against Ziggler for the US championship.  
Alberto Del Rio defeated Zach Ryder in a weird decision by WWE. Why have one of the most clearly popular wrestlers in the company beaten like this the night after he received a huge ovation at Survivor Series? They should be carrying on the momentum and pushing him further, but when have they done that with younger talent in recent years? The actual match was decent enough, Ryder was given a fair amount of offence but Del Rio was the predictable victor after making Ryder tap to his armbar.
Sheamus defeated Jack Swagger in a quite forgettable match that just felt like a repeat of all their previous bouts of recent weeks. Swagger deserves better then to be in this position in my opinion, at least when he was in a tag team with Ziggler he was relevant again.
Kevin Nash spoke more on the mic about his sledgehammer assault on Triple H and how 'The Game' had let him down. He also claimed that out of the original Kliq "the real survivor of that group, stands before you now!" Can't say I'm overly excited about seeing Nash back in the ring but the storyline has been executed well I feel and I can't help but want to know what happens next. I can also see Shawn Michaels appearing soon to confront Nash.
Cody Rhodes defeated Santino Marrella in a brief match up after he applied the Cross Rhodes and gained the one-two-three. Afterwards he confronted Booker T who had been guest announcing on the show due to Jerry Lawler's voice all but being gone (which made a nice change.) and threw a cup of water in his face. Looks like the rumours of a Booker T Cody Rhodes rivalry is definitely in the works. I'm looking forward to it myself, the in-form Rhodes deserves high calibre feuds at the moment and Booker returning to the ring should definitely prove popular.  
CM Punk defeated Dolph Ziggler in a entertaining enough bout after hitting him with the GTS. The match went back and fourth and once again Ziggler was allowed to look competitive against some main event level competition and looked like he belonged there too. The future is looking good for him I reckon.
Big Show claimed that at Survivor Series he proved that he was "better then the world's strongest man" and that when he returns from the leg injury that Show inflicted, he would be waiting for another World Heavyweight title shot. I was really hoping that they were going to end this feud after last night's pay per view, but it looks like we're going to have to endure it for another month at least.
Wade Barrett defeated Kofi Kingston in an decent enough effort, but nothing outstanding. During the bout Randy Orton came out and sat at ringside to witness the continuation of the 'Barrett Barrage' as Wade's calling it. After the win Barrett grabbed a mic and rubbed in the win as Orton was about to walk away, Orton threatened an attack but merely made Barrett flinch.
The goofy John Cena spoke about the match with The Rock the night before and basically buttered up his future WrestleMania opponent and the same man who had been constantly mocking him for months now and barely given him any credit at all. Same Cena character.
Awesome Truth came out to make it interesting and honestly told everyone that they weren't going to let Cena get away without admitting how The Rock had shown him up at Survivor Series and how the fans were totally against him, even chanting "don't tag Cena" to Rock at some points. R-Truth also mentioned how The Rock is going to destroy him at WrestleMania. Cena then nonsensically buried the two of them by saying how no one cared about them and how they weren't even considered a threat, even though the two of them get more cheers then Cena has in years. So once again we have Cena completely bury an act not only inside the ring but on the mic too. The management should carefully plan out every word he says in the future when discussing the up and coming talent who have potential in the company. He also stirred things up by saying how Miz really thinks R-Truth is stupid and how R-Truth believes The Miz to be "pompous" and "attention seeking." The two began to confront each other in the ring while Cena snuck away until Miz convinced Truth that Cena was trying to mess with them and how they could take him out together. But as they were leaving down the ramp Miz suddenly applied the Skull-Crushing Finale to Truth.
For me like many story lines this year WWE have just completely rushed the split of Miz and R-Truth. The tandem still had life in them and were one of the most entertaining things on Raw for the past few months. Plus it was another credible tag team for the company who sorely need them. I have faith that Truth could probably pull off turning face and the rivalry should be entertaining enough but there was just no need to start it this rapidly.