WWE TLC - December 16, 2012
1. Rey Mysterio & Sin Cara vs. Team Rhodes Scholars in a #1 Contender Tables Tag Team Match - This was a good opener for the ppv and, in all honesty, was a much better match than I expected. There were definitely some spills & thrills to start the show as the match had a lot of action going. Both teams got in a lot of offense and it looked pretty even throughout. For TRS, Cody winds up going through a table in a nice spot before Sandow puts Mysterio through one a bit later to even things up. The end comes with Sin Cara going for a springboard move only for Rhodes to pop up suddenly and push him off. It's a crazy looking spot in which Sin Cara flies off goes through a double stack of tables. It was a hot looking spot and pretty dangerous. Team Rhodes Scholars scores the win at the 10 minute mark to become #1 contenders for the WWE Tag Team Championship.
**3/4
2. Antonio Cesaro vs. R-Truth for the WWE United States Championship - Pretty decent match from these two. Nothing tremendous or anything, but a decent mid-card title match. The live crowd wasn't really into it much but I personally dig Cesaro's sort of "throwback" style. It doesn't bother me to see wrestlers actually using wrestling holds for a decent amount of time. Truth got in some decent offense, including a nice near fall after hitting an Ax Kick to Cesaro. The end comes when Cesaro counters a suplex attempt from Truth and shoves him into a corner and almost collides with a ref. In the confusion, Cesaro delivers the Very European Uppercut to Truth and puts him in the Neutralizer for the win at the 7 minute mark. Cesaro retains, so hopefully this means he's heading onto other things.
**1/4
Dolph Ziggler Promo - There's a brief backstage promo conducted by Josh Matthews with Ziggler. Ziggler continues to get better and better on the mic each time in my opinion. Ziggler states that it makes no sense that he should have to defend his MITB contract but then states that he's glad that he has this match as it's an opportunity to prove something. He ends the promo with "Mark my words. Tonight, everything changes." Good stuff from Ziggler and I'm glad that he didn't cut a whining heel promo in which he goes on about how unfair this is. He showed good intensity here and made me want to see the match all the more.
Thumbs Up
Miz TV - Pretty unusual segment all in all. I'm just not digging 3MB and they continue to look like a bunch of goofs. Slater threatening the Spanish announce team and saying that they'd better not be bad mouthing them in their "foreign, Mexican voices" truly made him sound like some ignorant redneck. Ricardo Rodriguez ran out for some reason, I guess to help the Spanish commentators. They back him up when Alberto Del Rio suddenly comes out and attacks 3MB. I'm guessing this means that Del Rio has turned babyface. As 3MB gains the upper hand, Miz jumps in and helps. The heels challenge Del Rio & Miz to a match later and they accept. Del Rio's spontaneous face turn was a surprise, though I can't say I'm looking forward to an impromptu six man tag match.
Thumbs Down
3. Kofi Kingston vs. Wade Barrett for the WWE Intercontinental Championship - A good match from Kofi & Barrett with a lot of back & forth action and near falls. I think these two compliment each other very well and are two more guys in WWE that are able to mesh their contrasting styles incredibly well. My only real complaint about this match had to do with the commentators going on about the Slammy Awards they'd won rather than focusing on this match. The end comes with Barrett setting Kofi up for the Bull Hammer elbow. He spins Kofi out but Kofi counters, using the momentum to spring into Trouble in Paradise. Kofi scores the clean win at the 8.5 minute mark to retain the IC title.
**3/4
4. Ryback & Team Hell No vs. The Shield in a Six Man TLC Match - This match was friggin' awesome, there's just no other way to put it. As chiche` as it might sound, this was just a killer brawl all the way through. For anybody that's especially into dangerous looking high spots in matches, this match had several of those. Daniel Bryan was the real workhorse here for the babyface team. He looked great throughout and definitely demonstrated that "pitbull mentality" that his character has been labeled with. There was a super huge ladder spot involving Ryback & Seth Rollins in which Rollins was knocked from near the top through the table. This was late in the match and effectively took him out. The end comes pretty much as I predicted it would with two members of Shield able to isolate Daniel Bryan. Ryback was recovering after putting Rollins through a table and Kane was buried under a pile of chairs. Ambrose & Reigns set Bryan on the top turnbuckle and deliver a double powerbomb through a table in the ring for the win at the 23 minute mark. There was a lot going on in this match and all six men worked hard, especially Bryan & Rollins. A super hot debut for The Shield and a match that delivered in both action and outcome.
****1/4
5. Eve vs. Naomi for the WWE Divas Championship - This match was meant as a buffer primarily in order to give fans a little time to catch their breath following the TLC match. There was some decent back & forth stuff that ended ultimately with Eve hitting her Neckbreaker finisher. She then posed for pictures with her personal cameraman. Eve really is smokin' hot.
*1/4
6. The Big Show vs. Sheamus in a Chairs Match for the World Heavyweight Championship - Another good showing from these two. To me, it wasn't as good as their two previous matches, but it was still a strong match all the same. They made excellent use of the chair stipulation in the match. It wasn't something that was just used a few times in what would've otherwise been a standard match. The chair was used in a LOT of offense here. The match told a good story as well with Sheamus & Show both being two guys that simply didn't want to quit, though Show did sometimes show a little trace of cowardice. There was a killer spot late in the match where Show has Sheamus by the throat and is talking trash and tries to chokeslam him through a couple of chairs. Sheamus counters and delivered White Noise through the chairs instead for a great near fall. Shortly after, Sheamus goes to tease for the Brogue Kick and Show counters and hits the KO Punch for another great near fall. Show goes out of the ring and pulls out a giant steel chair and proceeds to whack Sheamus across the back with it before making the cover. Big Show scores the win at the 14.5 minute mark. The ending with the giant steel chair felt a little anti-climatic but Show scores another clean win over Sheamus in a street fight type of setting and it was a good brawl throughout.
***1/4
7. Alberto Del Rio, The Miz & The Brooklyn Brawler vs. 3MB - A buffer match and nothing more. The booking of this entire set up was a mess. I didn't watch this match as I went and got a Pepsi. I do know that the faces won in about 4 minutes.
NA
8. John Cena vs. Dolph Ziggler in a Ladder Match for Ziggler's MITB briefcase - A great main event to close the show with and another match that delivered big time in my opinion. There weren't any super duper crazy spots as we've seen in some of the matches, but Cena & Ziggler told a really good story and both worked hard here, especially Dolph Ziggler. There was even a cut over John Cena's eye. Hot damn, we got blood!!!
There was a great spot in which Cena is climbing the ladder with Ziggler on his back trying to stop him. A table had been set up in the ring earlier and Ziggler had Cena in the sleeper. Cena starts to lose his strength and falls off the ladder, putting them both through the table. Ziggler would go through another table later after Cena tried to execute a sloppy looking head scissor type of move. Ziggler covered by launching himself into a table that'd been set up in the corner. As with the TLC match, there was a lot that was going on here. The end was teased late in the match when Cena dodges a chair shot from Ziggler and delivers AA. After this, Vickie Guerrero runs down with a chair in hand and threatens Cena with it. AJ comes up from behind and proceeds to beat Vickie down. After AJ finishes with Vickie, Cena starts to climb the ladder and gets about half way up when AJ tips the ladder over. Cena bounces off the ropes and Ziggler comes up out of nowhere and delivers a superkick. AJ went into her full blown crazy chick mode and stares at Ziggler before smiling & skipping out of the ring. Ziggler then climbs the ladder and gets the briefcase. Ziggler scores the win at the 23.5 minute mark.
***3/4
Final Thoughts - All in all, TLC was a very hot show to close the year's ppv offerings with. The matches that were ultimately expected to deliver did so, especially the six man TLC match. The #1 contender tag match to start the show off was very fun, much better than I was expecting to be honest, and the right team won. The US Championship match between Cesaro & Truth was decent, though I'm hoping this is the last we see of their feud. Kofi & Barrett delivered a strong IC title match that makes me hope that they'll continue their feud. The highlight of the show was the six man tag TLC match. It was a wild brawl that had a ton of spots. The match more than lived up to the hype in my eyes and was the match of the night. It was an added bonus in that CM Punk, while watching the match from the Skybox, didn't interfere in any way. The Shield won the match and rightly so. TNA needs to take this match as an example of how not to make their Aces & Eights faction look like scrubs who can only get ahead via jumping someone with hammers & wrenches while not being able to win wrestling matches. Sheamus & Big Show also delivered another strong brawl and I was pleasantly surprised to see Show retain. The giant chair that was used was a bit anti-climatic but it didn't kill the match in any way. Cena vs. Ziggler also delivered with a great ladder match that, generally speaking, turned into a TLC match in and of itself. AJ Lee is back to her "crazy chick" mode and prevented Cena from scoring the win. Her interference was relatively minor in that, for the most part, it bought Ziggler a little time to recover. The Miz TV segment & the impromptu six man tag match featuring the Brooklyn Brawler were really the only bad elements of the show. Del Rio's face turn was a surprise but I dunno why the hell they did it tonight in the way they did. However, there was VASTLY more good stuff on the show to counter the few misses.
Grade: A-
). Ryback is someone who came out of nowhere(well, he was there as part of Nexus but was repackaged in his current gimmick), squashed various jobbers and tag teams(looks weak for tag teams to be squashed by one man but what the hell) and immidietly put up in Championship match just because there wasn't someone else at the moment(Cena had that surgery and had to rest so he wasn't ready for HiAC match). 
