WWE TLC Reaction

The Barclays Center is Sold Out for the final pay-per-view of 2012 and the last stop before The Road to WrestleMania begins. The card itself looked very impressive. Let's see how the show stacked up.

WWE TLC Preshow

Santa's Little Helper #1 Contender Divas Battle Royal:
Alicia Fox vs Rosa Mendes vs Layla vs Kaitlyn vs Tamina vs Aksana vs Natalya vs Cameron vs Naomi

Nothing much to say here. Just your standard Divas Battle Royal. Best looking goes to Layla, but the winner of the match was Naomi. Yes, one of Brodus Clay's dancers, Naomi. But don't get it twisted, Naomi can actually wrestle. She last eliminates Kaitlyn and has earned herself a shot at the Divas Championship later on in the show.

#1 Contenders Tables Match
Rey Mysterio & Sin Cara vs Damien Sandow & Cody Rhodes

These two teams facing off again, to determine the #1 contenders for the tag titles AGAIN. I'm pretty sure there are other teams that need some air time, but I digress.

This match was pretty solid. Lots of fast pace action, Rhodes & Sandow dominated for a good portion of the match, but at times all four of them looked lost like they were missing spots or something, and Sin Cara looked legitimately injured. But they made up for it with a great spot to finish the match. Sin Cara springs off the ropes and only to be pushed off by Cody Rhodes and go flying through the table on the outside. Great spot to make up for the sloppy match.

Nice way to set the tone for the night with this match.

WWE United States Championship Match
Antonio Cesaro (c) vs R-Truth

Another short match, and a little better than their match at Survivor Series. Cesaro wins the Neutralizer. They are finally looking to push Cesaro to the next level now and I say good. He gets better with every match and brought some much needed prestige to the US Title. Prestige that it hasn't had in a LONG time. This guy is the real deal. Looking forward to seeing how he gets handled heading into WrestleMania.



Miz TV:

Miz hosts Miz TV and his guests are 3MB. Good God...

They ramble on for a while until 3MB decide to make fun and bully the Spanish announce team. Then, out comes Ricardo Rodriguez to help them and from here I think people knew what was going to happen next...

Alberto Del Rio comes to the aid of Ricardo and attack the 3MB. Then, The Miz gets involved and helps Del Rio clear the ring of the 3MB. 3MB then makes the challenge to Miz, ADR, and a partner of their choosing.

For a minute there, I was worried that this segment was going to absolutely suck, but this was actually pretty good. Miz wasn't too over the top as a face here and ADR got a good reaction when he came out to help Ricardo. I didn't mind this segment and it sets up another match for tonight at TLC. I guess that explained the two short matches to start off the show. Still think this sort of thing should've been saved for an episode of RAW, but meh.

WWE Intercontinental Championship Match
Kofi Kingston (c) vs Wade Barrett

The action continues with Kofi putting his IC Title on the line against Wade Barrett. Another great, solid match and surprisingly good. Not too many slow moments and was pretty fast paced for the most part. Kofi hits the Trouble in Paradise and retains the title.

I gotta tell you, there were moments in that match where I thought that Wade Barrett was gonna win the IC Title, but Kofi lives to defend his title another day.

On another note, the crowd was pretty hot for this match. This crowd is pretty damn good so far. There hasn't been a quiet moment for them. They aren't rowdy, but their making some noise.




CM Punk Segment:

CM Punk is up in his skybox sporting a shirt that says "Knees 2 Faces." Hmm.....sounds VERY familiar to The Rock's "Boots 2 Asses". Oh, the irony...

He talks trash about Ryback and says nobody can take the WWE Title from him. Usual stuff. He has a Bird's eye view of the next match: Ryback and Team Hell No vs The Shield.

6 Man Tag Team TLC Match
Ryback & Team Hell No vs The Shield (Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, & Roman Reigns)

Already? Ok. Here we go!

The Shield entered the ring like Edge & Christian circa 99-00 and this match was just superb. It had the chaos and carnage and the TLC stipulation made it even better. I can't even begin to say how great The Shield looked in their debut. Reigns was dominating, Ambrose is so skilled in the ring and sells like a champ, and the same with Rollins. Best spot of the night is a tie between Rollins and Ambrose delivering a double superplex to Bryan or Ryback sending Rollins crashing through four tables! A spot you had to see!

All 6 of these guys put their all into this match and the crowd was loving every minute of it. Nonstop action and even some great wrestling in between. There were so many spots throughout this match that had the crowd on their feet. It was like we were re-living the glory days of the Attitude Era through this match. Ending of the match saw Reigns and Ambrose drive Bryan through the table to get the win.

I LOVED this match. This is what I missed about the WWE. Simply put, this was a WAR. Great action, great spots, and great wrestling and The Shield gets that much needed win! This could be a late Match of the Year candidate. That match was just way too good, and way too perfect. I can't find a bad thing to say about it. One of the best matches and brawls WWE has put on in a LOOONNGGG Time. It was anything and everything you could ever want in a match and more. Good luck following this act.

THIS is Match of the Night and it's not even close. Ziggler and Cena won't touch this.

Divas Championship Match
Eve (c) vs Naomi

What is there to say? Naomi started the match off strong, but once Eve took control, it was a done deal. I thought they were actually showcase what Naomi could do in the ring, but silly me, this is the Divas we're talking about. WWE gives Zero fucks about the Divas anymore.

For those who care, Eve won.

The Divas Division CAN be saved. It takes effort, the right storyline and the right Divas to make it work.

Chairs Match for the World Heavyweight Championship

Big Show (c) vs Sheamus

The Third Act of Big Show vs Sheamus and I can't say a lot about this match. For starters, the crowd is still out of breath after being so loud during the 6 Man Tag Team Match.

I loved the last two matches these two had, but this was easily the poorest of the their three matches. For starters, it was short, both men hardly displayed as much as they did and the ending was rather anticlimactic.

I guess I forgot that the first person to hit their opponent with a Chair wins. Show went under the ring and pulled out a HUGE chair. I mean a Chair that was almost the size of Big Show himself. He hits Sheamus with it and that's it. I think they need to change that little rule of theirs. I was disappointed and quite underwhelmed.

That's pretty much it. No drama and no Ziggler surprise cash-in. This should be the end of the Big Show/Sheamus feud......hopefully. Losing three times in a row usually means you're done getting title shots for a while.

6 Man Tag Team Match
The Miz, Alberto Del Rio, & The Brooklyn Brawler vs 3MB (Heath Slater, Jinder Mahal, and Drew McIntyre)

The Miz and Del Rio's mystery partner is the Brooklyn Brawler. Yes, the Brooklyn Brawler. Yes, he is still alive. Yes, he's from Brooklyn and Yes he's even sporting a Brooklyn Nets Jersey.

You can already guess who won this match. Yup. And guess who got the pinfall? Yup.

3MB gets all that air time earlier and lose to the team of the newly face turned Alberto Del Rio, The Miz, and The Brooklyn Brawler. As far as the match goes, it wasn't anything technically sound. It was pretty made to be an entertaining little filler match. Not too horrible, but not that good either.

Ladder Match for Ziggler's Money in the Bank Briefcase
Dolph Ziggler vs John Cena

John Cena and Dolph Ziggler for the Money in the Bank Contract. Here we go!

Ziggler comes out and the crowd LOVES him. Same thing can't be said for Cena though. This is nowhere near as good as the 6 Man TLC Match, but still great. A lot of wrestling for a Ladder match and a couple of good spots, but I liked it. Throughout the whole match, the crowd loved Ziggler and he put on a show. He made Cena look better than he actually is with his great selling. One thing that I love about Ziggler besides the fact that he's a hell of a wrestler is that he can sell moves like nobody else and make people look like GOLD.

A lot of fast pace action and a few times with Ladder use, but here comes the ending. Ziggler is sent spilling to the outside and it looks like Cena is going to win. Vickie comes out with a chair to stop him, but AJ comes out and takes care of Vickie. Cena sets up the Ladder as AJ skips around and you can feel that it's coming. Once Cena is halfway up, AJ topples the Ladder and sends Cena down. Ziggler caps it off with a superkick knocking Cena out. AJ smiles at Ziggler and leaves the ring. Ziggler climbs, gets the briefcase and the crowd went absolutely CRAZY for it!


Although, if they really wanted AJ to turn heel, when she and Dolph had that staredown, they would've made out. That would've been the ICING ON THE CAKE. It would've been awesome if Dolph and AJ planned this from the beginning making both Cena and Vickie look like complete fools. Dolph and AJ have the potential to be the next Edge & Lita of the WWE and that's saying something. A heel turn of that magnitude would've been MASSIVE.

But I guess they're going to have AJ going back to being crazy like she was before.


But more importantly, Ladies and Gentlemen, Dolph Ziggler has officially arrived in the WWE. In the Main Event of a pay-per-view with the crowd behind him taking on the top face in the WWE with his Money in the Bank contract on the line and he not only puts on a great match, but he defeats John Cena. Tonight was perhaps the biggest win in Ziggler's WWE career. After tonight, this man DESERVES the World Heavyweight Championship. I will riot if he is not Champion by WrestleMania. This was Ziggler's night. Job well done Dolph.



All that being said, this pay-per-view was a BLAST. The crowd was amazing and HOT the whole night, great action and overall great show. I'm giving this show an 8/10. I WILL be re-watching that 6 Man TLC Match tomorrow.

I could've done without the 3MB vs Miz/Del Rio/Brawler match, the Divas match and the tables match was meh, and the World Heavyweight Championship Match disappointed me. Everything else was great.

Cesaro & Kofi retain, Miz TV wasn't too bad, The Shield stole the show, AJ's turn was well done and Dolph Ziggler has finally arrived in the WWE. Well done WWE. Well done.

But now, The Road to WrestleMania starts and things are going to get very serious, very fast.


Feel free to Comment.

By: Gerald "Showstopper" Prophete

WWE Money in the Bank Reaction

I been gone for a while but now I'M BACK!

And it's time to dish out a review for WWE Money in the Bank. Another WWE pay-per-view is in the books and I think successfully rebounded from No Way Out which was carried by Punk/AJ/Bryan/Kane.

But anyway, Money in the Bank is always a great show, so let's get down to business.

Kofi & Truth get another win!

We're gonna start things off with the pre-show match. Kofi and Truth taking on Hunico and Camacho in a Non-Title match.

This match exceeded my expectations. I thought this was going to be some 2 minute squash throwaway match, but this was a lot more. This match showcased how underrated Hunico and Camacho actually are. These two are pretty good in-ring talents, but need something a little more before people can take them seriously.

Nonetheless, it was a solid match. Back and forth action that showcased that teamwork and speed of Kofi and Truth and the Brawler/Power combination of Hunico and Camacho. Kofi and Truth get the win after Truth connects with the Lie Detector for the win.

It would've been cool to actually see the tag titles on the line. Haven't seen that happen in quite some time now. But that's beside the point.


Let's get to the PPV!

World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank Ladder Match

Christian vs Cody Rhodes vs Santino vs Dolph Ziggler vs Tensai vs Tyson Kidd vs Damien Sandow vs Sin Cara

You talk about setting the tone, this match did that to perfection. Every guy in this match filled their roles. It started out slow like most matches do and they weren't a lot OMG Ladder spots, but that quickly changed midway through the match.

Tensai was entertaining and dominant with spots like powerbombing Sin Cara onto the Ladder and sending Dolph Ziggler flying into the announce table which looked absolutely great. Some cool spots were Tyson Kidd jumping from Ladder to Ladder and hitting a sunset flip in the process, Christian spearing Rhodes off one Ladder and Ziggler hitting the Zig Zag taking Rhodes off the Ladder. In short, when this match really picked up and got going, it got really good. Everybody started being more aggressive and made this match exciting until the end.

When all the action settled, there was one man left in the ring and that was Dolph Ziggler. The crowd was HOT for the whole match and popped when Ziggler grabbed the briefcase. I honestly thought they were going to give this one to Cody Rhodes because I didn't think Ziggler needed the briefcase to get a World Championship match, but it's always good to try out something new. Let's see where this goes.

Great way to kick off the show.

The Miz Returns!

The Miz returns after being gone for two months filming The Marine 3 sporting some facial hair and informs everybody that the WWE Championship Money in the Bank Ladder Match will now feature five former Champions: John Cena, Big Show, Kane, Chris Jericho, and now The Miz.

World Heavyweight Championship Match
Sheamus (c) vs Alberto Del Rio

World Title on the Line already and it was a pretty solid match. It was very slow, methodical, with a lot of submission style wrestling. I didn't mind it, and it had some storytelling with Del Rio constantly going to work on the injured arm of Sheamus. Other than that, it was pretty slow and uninteresting until the closing moments with several nearfalls. This is no knock on the abilities of both men, they're both great competitors, and gave a little bit of chemistry in the ring, but nothing really stood out for me in this match. Not story, no hatred, no intensity. Good match nonetheless. But after a botched Enziguiri in the corner, Sheamus closes the deal with White Noise and Brogue Kick.

But after the match, Del Rio and Ricardo beat down Sheamus for a while and Dolph Ziggler's music hits and he marches down with the briefcase. He gets in the ring and wants to cash it in, but argues with Del Rio. Ziggler lays him out with the briefcase which gives Sheamus enough time to get up and drop Ziggler with a Brogue Kick. As Michael Cole put, since the bell never rang, it wasn't an official match, therefore Ziggler still has his briefcase.

That would've been a great spot had Ziggler cashed it in on Sheamus right there, but there's always another day for that.

Primetime Players (w/ A.W.) vs Primo & Epico (w/ Rosa)

Not much to say about this match. It was a pretty standard tag team match with teams that the crowd could barely care about. Ok, let me not be that blunt about it, it was a good match but the Primetime Players became the #1 Contenders at last month's pay-per-view and have still not gotten their title shot. Not only that, but they lost this match to Primo and Epico.

After the match, they confront the tag team champs who are conveniently sitting at ringside and get embarrassed as Truth throws water in the face of A.W. for getting too close to the announce table.

A.W. is a good manager, but his talking during the match on his own microphone was annoying at times. I really hope this is temporary because this can't be an every week thing. The man is funny, but he talks a little too much.

I guess a win from Primo and Epico ensures us that these two aren't out of the tag team title hunt which is good because the tag team division could use some boosting up. Obviously they're building towards a feud with the Champs and Primetime Players, but it doesn't say a whole lot when they lose. Food for thought.

WWE Championship Match - AJ as special guest referee
CM Punk (c) vs Daniel Bryan

Ok, here we go. CM Punk vs Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship and for AJ.

Well, as much as I like seeing these guys wrestle each other, I feel like this match dragged on way too long towards the end. As much as I loved this storyline, I feel like AJ brought the match down. When AJ got knocked out 5-10 minutes into the match and had to go to the back, these guys really got down to business. It was reminiscent of their great match from Over the Limit but with more leeway to the rules because it was made No DQ. A lot of great wrestling and aggressiveness from Daniel Bryan with the weapons. The crowd was also pretty hot for this match as well. Punk and Bryan continue to show us that they have great chemistry in the ring and can go for a while.

But then AJ came back and the match quickly dropped in quality IMO. Everything seemed so annoyingly awkward. Both men's minds weren't on the title, they were on AJ. I understand that was the point of the storyline, but it got too out of hand. The match dragged on for far too long because of long pauses, dramatic facial expressions, and AJ's mannerisms that would eat up more and more time. It was getting to a point where I felt like the match should've ended 10-15 minutes earlier than when it actually ended.

Not to take away from the match itself, because it was great. Anytime Punk and Bryan face off, it's a five star match, but the AJ factor sucked a little bit of life out of the match and made it go on for too long and that's really a no-no.

The ending came when Punk delivered a back suplex on Bryan through a table and covered him for the win. AJ hands Punk the title and he celebrates and that's really about it.

This should be the last we see of this this love triangle, but I feel as if there is still no payoff. Punk needs to move on after this, but something tells me this story isn't over yet, because once again, I feel like there was no proper ending. Is there going to be some new guy introduced that falls for AJ and feuds with Bryan, or will this love triangle stretch all the way out to Summerslam? I hope not.

I personally think this should've been resolved at No Way Out, and tonight there's still no clear ending to this story. Guess we have to wait and see what happens next.



Ryback vs Tyler Reks & Curt Hawkins


Not your typical Ryback squash as he looked like he struggled just a little bit against these two guys. In the end, once he got the situation under control, Ryback destroyed both of them. I think this was probably the first win that he actually started to sweat through a little bit.



Divas Match


Layla, Kaitlyn, and Tamina defeat Beth Phoenix, Eve, and Natalya in a meaningless, two minute match of nothing. The faces win, the divas title continues to not be defended, and the divas themselves continue to be irrelevant.

This annoys to me to end. Divas like Trish, Lita, Candice, Mickie James, Molly Holly, Melina, Victoria, and so on paved the way for new divas and this is what we get. What happened to the Divas Division? You know what, I won't get into it right. That's a different topic on its own.

WWE Championship Money in the Bank Ladder Match

John Cena vs Chris Jericho vs Kane vs Big Show vs The Miz

It's rare that we have a Money in the Bank Ladder Match actually headline the Money in the Bank pay-per-view itself but if John Cena is in the match, then for some odd reason, it will be the main event.

But this match had a good flow to it. The addition of Miz helped in a good way providing room for more spots. Unlike the SmackDown Money in the Bank which started slow, this one started out HOT. When I mean HOT, I mean John Cena delivering an AA to Big Show through the announce table 5 minutes into the match HOT. Not to mention being buried underneath some Ladders.

But getting back to the match, there weren't a lot of noteworthy spots because these superstars really aren't spot monkeys, so they couldn't really do a lot, but from the little that they did, it worked very well. Suplexes onto ladders, using it as a projectile, and other little things made everything work. One good spot, sort of, was Big Show pulling out a Giant Gold Ladder that I've never seen before. It was pretty cool.

Now, anybody wanna guess who won this match? You can tell by looking at the picture above.

John Cena won, but it was pretty funny how he did it. He and Big Show were atop the Ladder and he drove the briefcase into Show's head and the clasp that held the briefcase broke and John Cena was declared the winner. It was a funny botch, or at least I think it was a botch. Who knows? John Cena wins Money in the Bank and my guess is he's going to challenge CM Punk to a match at Summerslam like a good little boy.

My problem that all seems a little too easy. WWE cannot be THAT predictable....can they? I wouldn't be surprised in the least bit if that's what happened. Let's hope WWE can pull a swerve or something so we don't have to sit through five weeks of

"I have a lot of respect for you, but I want you to know that I will be the next WWE Champion."

"Let's go out there and have the best match we can have and may the best man win."

"We may be friends, but I want that title."

I don't want to hear it. If they are going to do Punk vs Cena at Summerslam, then at least make a story of it. I do not want to hear the aforementioned quotes I just typed. A good face vs face feud needs to have a story where these guys develop a backbone and realize they're fighting for the WWE Championship. I know there's a better way to phrase what I'm trying to say, but I can't think of it right now.

There is another route that WWE might go which might make things a little interesting. Why not insert John Cena in this Punk/Bryan/AJ Love Triangle? If Cena can steal Eve away from Zack Ryder, he can steal AJ away from Punk and Bryan as well. AJ can fall for Cena just as easy as she fell for Punk and Kane.

Then again, that's also something I don't want to see. God help us is if that's what they do. I wouldn't be surprised in the least if that is what they go through with.


Overall, I enjoyed Money in the Bank. I always end up enjoying the SmackDown Money in the Bank Ladder Matches because there's that unpredictability where you don't know who's going to win whereas with the RAW match, there's always a clear idea of who's winning. And there's a lot more spots.

I enjoyed this more than No Way Out. The only bright spot about No Way Out to me was the Triple Threat WWE Championship Match. Money in the Bank is always an enjoyable pay-per-view. The big matches delivered and the filler matches provided some bathroom breaks. Now, the next big pay-per-view is Summerslam. Let's see what WWE has up their sleeve for this one. But let's see what they do for RAW tomorrow first.

Until next time!



Feel free to Comment.


By: Gerald "Showstopper" Prophete