10 Thoughts on WWE TLC 2012

PPVs, Reviews, Top Story

Final PPV of 2012.  

 

1. Classy opening, the 26 bell salute. Understated and not mawkish. Well done and bravo, WWE.

 

2. Rey Mysterio & Sin Cara v The Rhodes Scholars (Damian Sandow & Cody Rhodes). Fun opener and Cody Rhodes rocking the Dynamite Kid moustache is a sight to behold, and it gave the crowd something to chant. Good match and I think the right team won with an inventive way of sending Sin Cara through a table.

 

3. Antonio Cesaro v R-Truth – US Title. This match was there. Not bad, but nothing special. (But check out R-Truth’s injury photos on his Twitter feed – the gash on his knee is nasty!)

 

4. Ah, I remember Piper’s Pit, and nothing since then of that vein has done much for me. And that includes MizTV… But Del Rio turning face along with the Miz? How banged up are the WWE’s faces at the moment for them to feel the need to do that?

 

5. Wade Barrett v Kofi Kingston – Intercontinental Title. This match was there. Not bad, but nothing special. (Hang on… that seems familiar somehow…)

 

6. Kane, Daniel Bryan & Ryback v Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose. From the monster pop Bryan received (and the Goldberg chants for Ryback were so damn loud), the Shield’s entrance through the crowd, the match-opening brawl, the fact Ryback was barely involved, to the destruction of Kane, the way the Shield were made to actually look strong in their PPV debut, and the right team winning (was that a cheer I heard?), this was MOTN and one of the better WWE matches this year. Just great. (I think the Team Hell No stuff, for what it’s worth, has been some of Kane’s best work in the WWE… IMO)

 

7. Eve Torres v Naomi – Women’s Title. It’s bad enough to have to follow the 6-man match, but these girls were thrown out there to die, and die they did in another bad women’s match from WWE.

 

8. Sheamus v Big Show – World Heavyweight Championship. Look, I like Big Show (guilty pleasure), but Sheamus bores me. Still, this match was there. Not bad, but nothing special. (Where have I seen that before?) I did like the huge chair at the end, though.

 

9. Drew McIntyre, Jindar Mahal & Heath Slater v Alberto Del Rio, The Miz & The Brooklyn Brawler. Okay, I admit, I marked out when I saw Brawler come out. And then JBL rattled off some of his other gimmicks… and Cole completely misunderstood what was going on and mentioned random gimmicks… Sigh! The match? This match was there. Not bad, but nothing special. (…hang on…) And Slater’s matches against legends continues. Apparently.

 

10. Dolph Ziggler v John Cena – Money In The Bank match. Despite the soap opera tedium that has gone along with this angle, I have to say this was a damn fine match. Ziggler got the win (which was the right decision), AJ’s gone crazy again (which is something she is good at), and the match itself was fun to watch, as well as being really good. Now, I do not like Cena as a WWE wrestler, but when it’s time to turn it on, he can really do it. He pleasantly surprised me at Wrestlemania, and he surprised me here. And I think that this PPV has really made sure Ziggler is seen as a legitimate main event wrestler in the current WWE.

 

(2 really good matches, 1 good match, 4 “Not bad, but nothing special”, 1 crap. Definitely not a bad strike rate for WWE this year.)

 

Australian. Father. Perpetual student. Started watching wrestling before Wrestlemania 1. Has delusions of grandeur and was known to regularly get the snot beaten out of him in a wrestling ring. Also writes occasionally in other Pulse sections.Thinks Iron Mike Sharpe is underrated. http://stevengepp.wordpress.com