NXT
Date: December 18, 2013
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton, Tensai

Tonight is the 200^th episode celebration and believe it or not, that’s actually an accurate count for a change, assuming you consider this the same show as the original competition show. The main stories tonight are an appearance by HHH and an NXT Title defense with Bo Dallas defending against Adrian Neville in a lumberjack match. NXT has a good history of making their big shows work so this has good potential tonight. Let’s get to it.

Here’s HHH to open the show instead of Welcome Home. The boss says he loves hearing those NXT chants. We’re here to celebrate the 200^th episode of NXT which has seen people like Damien Sandow, Shield and the Wyatt come through here. The fans chant FIVE and HHH adds Big E. Langston to the list. With the new Performance Center, the next two hundred episodes are going to be even better. HHH tells the fans to give themselves a standing ovation because this is their house. The question now: are we ready?

Welcome Home.

Sami Zayn/Tyson Kidd vs. Leo Kruger/Antonio Cesaro

Leo’s Real American trials continue. The bell rings twice for some reason before Kruger knees Kidd in the ribs to start. Tyson comes right back with an armdrag into an armbar Sami gets the tag and Kruger runs straight to the corner for the tag to Cesaro. The fans immediately chant MATCH OF THE YEAR until Cesaro grabs a top wristlock. Sami shoves him into the corner but the referee pulls him down because he loves AMERICA.

Kidd comes in with a quick rollup for two but Cesaro catches his cross body in mid air and puts Tyson down with a backbreaker. We take a break and come back with Kidd fighting out of the heel corner and getting two off a rollup on Kruger. Leo stops the hot tag with a spinebuster for two of his own though and it’s back to Cesaro. The gutwrench suplex gets two and we hit a quickly broken chinlock. Cesaro kicks Sami off the apron to give Leo a two count and a chinlock of his own.

Back up and Tyson low bridges Kruger to the floor and avoids a charging Cesaro in the corner. Sami finally comes in off the hot tag to clean house and gets two on Leo off a high cross body. The Slice is countered into a sitout powerbomb for two but Cesaro makes the save. Kidd dives on Cesaro and Sami hits a running boot in the corner to pin Kruger at 8:17 shown of 11:47.

Rating: B-. Did you really expect anything other than a good match here? Sami getting a pin on Kruger is a good thing as he’s been losing way too often lately. Kidd and Cesaro could have some awesome matches if given the time, which keeps my head shaking at how Cesaro is used on the main shows.

Emma does her dance in the back and nearly pokes Natalya in the eye. Natalya gets annoyed and Emma accuses her of going Hollywood and forgetting the little people down here in NXT. Natalya says Emma got her title shot through a dance off so she has no room to talk. Emma says wrestling brought her to the dance so Natalya offers to let Emma tango into the Sharpshooter. A #1 contenders match is made and both girls walk off.

We get a clip from the first episode of NXT. Daniel Bryan used to be even smaller than he is today. That match with Jericho he had on the first show was great stuff.

There was a special meet and greet for the first 200 people at the taping. That’s a cool idea.

Sasha Banks vs. Paige

Non-title. Sasha slaps Paige into the corner to start before slamming her face first into the mat. Paige gets stomped in the corner and Banks throws in a mockery of Paige’s scream. Off to a chinlock with a bodyscissors on Paige until the champion fights up and wristdrags Sasha off the top. Summer tries to get involved but Banks accidentally kicks her in the chest, setting up the Paige Turner for the pin on Sasha at 3:38.

Rating: D+. Paige was on defense for most of this match and it didn’t work very well. She’s still miles ahead of most of the girls on Raw or Smackdown though, meaning she isn’t going to see a main show for a long time. After all, she’s not even dating one of the top guys in the company so why would the fans want to see her?

Enzo Amore (YES!) and Colin Cassady are talking lawsuits against a parking lot without handicap accessibility (Enzo is in a wheelchair due to a leg injury) when Aiden English interrupts. Enzo says Colin can out sing Aiden and an argument over the meaning of the word moi. A singing competition is set between English and Big Cass. English: “Mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mi.” Cass: “Sa-sa-sa-sa-sa-SAWFT!”

Ascension vs. ???

This is the open challenge for a non-title match. The opponents are the American Pitbulls: Derrick Billington (originally John Cahill) and John Cahill (originally Eric Philbin), more famously known as Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards respectively. Thankfully their new names aren’t horrible. The fans are entirely behind the Pitbulls and actually don’t call them the Wolves. Billington grabs a wristlock on Viktor to start before it’s off to Cahill for more arm cranking. Ascension drags him into the corner and brings in Konnor but the Pitbulls take him down with a double Japanese armdrag.

Viktor is sent to the floor but Konnor takes Cahill’s head off. We get a mild Davey Richards chant as Ascension takes turns destroying Billington. Derrick backflips out of a suplex and kicks Viktor in the chest to make the tag to Cahill. A running knee to Victor’s chest gets two as everything breaks down. The champions are sent to the floor for stereo dives by the Pitbulls for a near fall. Billington goes up and howls before hitting a flying headbutt for two. Viktor will have none of that though and blasts Cahill in the head, setting up Fall of Man for the pin at 4:22.

Rating: C+. This could have been a lot worse. First and foremost, this was not a squash. The Pitbulls got in a good amount of offense and got a near fall towards the end. I’m not a fan of Richards at all and Edwards is only tolerable (I’m not big on indy wrestling at all for the most part) but they deserve jobs after this match, or at least more appearances.

Hunico and Camacho come out to talk trash so Ascension beats up Cahill a little more.

Kofi Kingston is rocking a suit and is happy to be here. Lana comes up to speak some Bulgarian before challenging Kofi to a match with Alexander Rusev for next week. One minor note here that makes NXT that much better: Kofi was shown as part of the meet and greet earlier so he has an actual reason for being here tonight instead of just showing up because the script called for him to.

Next week is a year in review special plus Regal vs. Cesaro.

NXT Title: Bo Dallas vs. Adrian Neville

This is a lumberjack match with Dallas defending. As a special treat, THE FINK does the announcing. The fans think Breeze is gorgeous before shifting to a Let’s Go Neville chant. Dallas has some awesomely evil pure white gear this week. Bo is quickly sent to the floor but runs back inside to avoid the lumberjacks. A rollup gets two for Neville but Dallas sends him outside. Breeze gets in Adrian’s face and earns a slap, sending the crowd into a quick freazy.

We take a break (including another NXT moment with Rollins becoming the first NXT Champion) and come back with Neville taking Dallas down for some kicks to the chest. Dallas gets in a shot to the ribs and drops some knees for two. Tyler Breeze is seated next to the barricade and looks livid. A cravate keeps Neville on the mat and a kick to the head gets two. The fans chant DROP THE TITLE as Bo drives elbows into Neville’s head. A hard clothesline flips Neville inside out for two and Dallas is frustrated.

Adrian escapes the bulldog out of the corner and scores with a running forearm. Some kicks get two on Bo and an enziguri sets up a standing shooting star for two. The fans threaten to riot if Bo wins but the champion bails to the floor before the Red Arrow launches. All of the lumberjacks stop him so Adrian dives on EVERYBODY in a great visual. Back in and Adrian loads up the Red Arrow but Breeze pulls Dallas out of the way, giving Bo the pin at 9:50 shown of 11:50.

Rating: C+. I like the story here as it keeps the belt on Dallas and sets up Breeze vs. Adrian down the line. Again, it’s the difference between booking and writing with the former almost always being better. The pop when Dallas finally loses is going to be nothing short of unholy.

Overall Rating: B. Another great show here with everything fitting perfectly and putting together an entertaining hour. As usual, NXT knows how to build to a big show and then actually deliver on the payoff, which is more than you get from any major wrestling show at the moment. Good stuff.

Results

Sami Zayn/Tyson Kidd b. Leo Kruger/Antonio Cesaro – Running big boot to Kruger

Paige b. Sasha Banks – Paige Turner

Ascension b. American Pitbulls – Ascension

Bo Dallas b. Adrian Neville – Pin after a missed Red Arrow

 

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I’m not going to waste your time here.Paul Heyman wins and he wins by a lot.  There really isn’t much to explain here, but there are two others I want to spotlight for a bit.

Zeb Colter has been responsible for making Jack Swagger something resembling interesting again.  That’s nothing short of a divine act.

Then there’s someone who goes higher and higher every time I watch a show: Renee Young.  This girl has everything you could want from someone in her job.  First and foremost, she’s incredibly cute.  Usually the first thought about a Diva is that she’s gorgeous or sexy etc, but Young is more reserved, wearing blouses or full outfits which is a very nice change of pace.  She has a very cute look to her face as well and it works very well for her.

Second, and this is something you get if you watch NXT, she’s very intelligent and witty on commentary.  Above all else though, she comes off as natural.  She sounds like someone watching a match and giving some intelligent thoughts on what she’s seeing instead of reading from a script or reciting lines fed into her earpiece.  It’s very different and works really well.  I could easily see her being a big media personality on a major network or an NFL reporter etc.

BUt yeah, Heyman wins.

 

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Tables Ladders and Chairs 2010
Date: December 19, 2010
Location: Toyota Center, Houston, Texas
Commentators: Michael Cole, Matt Striker, Jerry Lawler

It’s the all gimmicks all the time show which was fun last year so we have that to hope for at least. The card looks decent and I’d expect a seventh match to pop up on here. The show is kind of predictable in theory though, but it’s nothing I’m worried about. Well I’m out of filler lines and the show is starting so let’s get to it.

Opening video/montage is about Cena vs. Nexus. Never mind as apparently it’s about champions, which makes more sense. The video is getting me hyped up at least so that should be a good sign.

Intercontinental Title: Kofi Kingston vs. Jack Swagger vs. Dolph Ziggler

That’s what I figured would be the opener. Nothing like a hot opener to be, you know, the opener. King says that Vickie isn’t as cute as Bill Dundee in another line that most people won’t get at all. Weird kind of three way brawl to start and we get a LOUD Kofi chant. Ziggler to the floor and Cole and Lawler start chatting about ladder matches which should be interesting.

First ladder brought in by the champion but both challengers shove him off as the champion touches the belt. Sweet dropkick by Kofi takes down Swags. In a smart spot Kofi shoves the ladder down onto Swaggers’ hands/arms as he’s using the ropes to get up. Another ladder in now, also by Ziggles. Swagger has to get his arm looked at as Kofi lands back first on a ladder.

Slingshot from the mat into the ladder draped over the middle rope. It may help if I say Swagger launched Ziggler into it. This is going WAY too fast to call play by play and such. Ziggler hits a Fameasser onto Kofi onto a ladder onto Swagger. Everyone is out so Vickie comes in. Lawler: who does she think she is, Michael Cole? She tries to go up for no adequately explored reason so Kofi starts to tip over the ladder until the heels make the save.

Everyone on the floor now as the fans are WAY behind Kofi still. He goes up the ladder but Swagger grabs the ankle lock. Ziggler climbs up their backs and nearly pulls it off. Ziggler vs. Kofi on top as Jack is down on the floor. Big BOMBS being thrown here. Dolph manages to get the freaking Sleeper on top of the ladder! He fights out and gets a big shot to put Dolph down a bit.

TEST OF STRENGTH on top of the ladder but Kofi shoves Dolph off. Swagger goes up now as this is awesome stuff with incredible balance. Both guys pull down the title….and Ziggler grabs it off the mat to retain. The fans boo the heck out of it but Striker points out you have to have possession of it which while a stretch does actually make logical sense. If nothing else we got to hear Lawler say “he’s clutching it to his bosom.”

Rating: B. This was more of an intellectual ladder match which is something you don’t see. They brought out some leverage and thinking spots which work far better than the usual high spots which we’ll get later on with Morrison. This was much better than I was expecting and sets a very good pace for the show.

Barrett addresses Nexus and we have a tag title match tonight apparently. Cena is a cancer, Nexus is united tonight, you know the drill I’m sure.

Beth Phoenix/Natalya vs. Laycool

Quick recap video which is of the table on Friday which didn’t work. No tagging here thank goodness. The pink table with the painting from Friday is brought in as Laycool is down early. Crowd is QUIET here. Lawler says he’s never seen a Diva go through a table. That’s just amusing. Double fireman’s carry by Beth is very impressive. Striker makes an important point: any method of going through the table counts. Also it’s only one Diva required for a win.

Laycool in control now as the fans do not care at all. Beth is on the floor now as Laycool takes over. SICK landing by Beth as her foot gets hooked on a rope and she lands straight on her back/head. That was painful as all goodness, it had to be. Michelle sets for a Faithbreaker (Styles Clash) through a table on Nattie but Beth comes back for the save.

Not table for Michelle (“JUST WAIT UNTIL MARK HEARS ABOUT THIS!!!”) as Layla rakes Beth’s eyes. Layla beats on Beth for awhile but can’t suplex her through it. Double gorilla press by the blondes to Layla until Michelle kicks both in the ribs. Beth may have fallen out for a bit. HOLY CRAP!!! Natalya puts Layla on top of Michelle and puts them BOTH in a Sharpshooter at the same time. TAKE THAT BRET!!!

The nice chicks set up the tables but Michelle sends Beth to the floor to make it 2-1 again. They set for a double superplex but Beth saves again. A lot of near finishes in this one indeed. Down goes Beth so they set for it again but they’re shoved off. The table DID NOT BREAK so Natalya is like screw it and splashes them through it to end this.

Rating: C+. This wasn’t as bad as you would have thought as Laycool fought them off far better than people would have predicted. It was a good match even but did anyone ever think Laycool had a realistic shot out there? Not a bad match or anything but at the same time it didn’t really get me into the match and it kind of dragged. Still fun though and that Sharpshooter was GREAT.

Ad for WWE Week which is cool indeed.

Kane talks about his childhood sucking but this year he gets toys: tables, ladders and chairs. He beats the tar out of a bunch of Christmas decorations while shouting MERRY CHRISTMAS. Oddly good actually.

Tag Titles: Santino Marella/Vladimir Kozlov vs. Heath Slater/Justin Gabriel

Santino does his usual funny stuff about how awesome he and Kozlov are. McGillicutty and Harris are with the guys in yellow. Santino vs. the homeless South African guy to start as this is a standard match. Surprisingly this is a pretty solid technical showdown to start. Off to the Wendy’s chick/man now with a hot crowd doing a Santino chant. The Cobra is the TLC tonight: Totally Lethal Cobra.

Now the fans like Kozlov. Harris clips him and the evildoers have won the day! Ok so they’re just in control but it sounds more triumphant the other way. Big Wendy’s chant now as we’re still being funny and not getting into TNA territory. Vlad gets beaten down for awhile until he uses his head to get Santino in. Santino raises the roof and cleans a few rooms. Cobra is set up but McGillicutty runs in for the LAME DQ.

Rating: D+. Nothing here at all and Santino is the guy getting hot tags now? Just a quick match but apparently they’re setting up the post match thing which is coming here. Nothing that couldn’t have been done on Raw here, but at least Nexus got their rematch out of the way now.

Nexus beats the champions down with Barrett coming down and killing Santino and Kozlov with a chair which makes sense.

Don’t try this at home. Try it in a place that I haven’t made a joke about a dozen times already.

Sheamus vs. John Morrison

Oh yes. These two have that weird chemistry that guys like Warrior and Rude did: you can’t explain it but it’s definitely there. Lawler will not shut up about Cole costing him the title still. They actually hit the mat almost immediately which is odd indeed. We hit the floor and Sheamus sets up a ladder early. Winner is #1 contender if I forgot to mention that.

Morrison slides under the ladder that is set up between the announce table and the apron. He teases Sheamus to get him to also but the big white dude can’t do it and gets kicked in the head. A fan calls Sheamus Casper which cracks me up. Morrison jumps over part of the crowd to hit a forearm, which is a former AJ move. Into the ring and they fight over a ladder which results in Morrison diving over a ladder to take down Sheamus.

Morrison goes up but isn’t in the right position and down he comes. He gets hung upside down with his leg getting caught and he’s stuck hanging upside down. Sheamus’ solution: shove him forward which could hurt his knee and head as well. Sheamus works the knee as a smart Irishman. The fans seem to be divided here but not equally. I think they’re for Morrison but I’m not sure.

Cole tries to make this tank vs. fighter jet which is a cool analogy. Morrison is somehow able to stand after a beating like that one. That’s quite impressive. After a slam onto a ladder where Morrison’s knee gets caught, Sheamus heads up. He naturally takes too long and here comes Johnny Boy. Sheamus charges at him with a ladder but Morrison gets a drop toehold to send the King’s face into the ladder.

BIG kick puts Sheamus down and we’re getting good now. Irish Curse takes down Morrison again though and he hits the floor. Both guys have ladders so they slug it out with the ladders and Sheamus gets his hand hurt. Morrison’s next step? CHUCK THE LADDER AT SHEAMUS’ HEAD!!! Why mess with the basics I guess. Atomic drop onto the ladder makes Jerry squeak in a loud voice.

Instead of climbing immediately John throws a ladder over the top to crush Sheamus all over again. Hand on the contract but a Brogue Kick to the knee/ladder brings Morrison down to the floor. Sheamus goes up but the contract is flying all over the place. Here comes Morrison but the both go down again. Headscissors sends Sheamus to the floor and here goes Morrison again. ALMOST but Sheamus shoves the ladder down for the save. Sweet stuff so far.

Sheamus backdrops Morrison over the top where he crashes to the floor but luckily he didn’t land on the ladder which is still bridged from the beginning of the match. They fight on the same ladder with their backs to the bridged one. Both guys fall backwards, Morrison to the floor and Sheamus THROUGH THE LADDER. That spot never gets old, period. Morrison is all alone in the ring, other than a ladder that is, but here comes Sheamus somehow! Cole asks if he’s the Terminator and I might believe it. Morrison KICKS HIM IN THE FACE and is the #1 contender, more or less sealing Miz retaining later on.

Rating: A. That’s probably a bit overrated but DANG this was good stuff. The se two have MAD chemistry together and every single one of their matches have been awesome. The announcers say this is Morrison’s best match ever, and I can’t really argue against it. Morrison vs. Miz is going to be sweet stuff at the Rumble indeed. Great match.

Miz says that he’s the new face of the company. Everyone has said he can’t do it and he’s proven everyone wrong. Indeed he has.

Barrett won’t talk to Grisham as it’s powwow time. Nexus is LAID OUT with chairs everywhere and only Harris, who was with Barrett, left standing. I smell a setup.

Raw World Title: The Miz vs. Randy Orton

Orton is power walking down to the ring. This is a tables match remember. We get a quick recap video of Miz cashing in which while semi-predictable was still great stuff. Big match intros are always sweet. Orton pounds him down early and we’re off. Miz is in gold trunks, just like Sheamus was. Orton misses a charge and eats buckle as Miz takes over. We get into the Superstar of the Year argument again which goes nowhere.

Orton hits the floor and grabs a table from under the ring as I guess the seven or eight in the aisle aren’t good enough for them. Riley moves the table to save his boss/friend/teacher/dom to his sub. Orton gets his sweet dropkick. Miz gets in a cheap shot and here comes Miz, setting up a table. Orton is sent into the steps and it’s table time all over again.

Miz’s table breaks/falls apart though. Clearly not an awesome table. Miz goes up but Orton rolls off the table which was stupid because he could have won if he hadn’t moved early. Table #3 pulled out by Miz. Even the Artists Formerly Known as the Dudleys say REALLY to that many being brought out by one guy. Running clothesline in the corner has Orton in trouble.

Angle Slam by Orton and he puts Miz on the top. Superplex off the top but Riley again moved the table. There’s the snap powerslam and the elevated DDT. Riley moves the table again so Orton puts him down for fun. Table set up in the middle of the ring and we have an RKO chant. Backbreaker keeps Miz down. Orton sets for the RKO but Riley comes in AGAIN.

Skull Crushing Finale is blocked and we lose a referee. Powerbomb to Riley through the table but there’s the Skull Crushing Finale to Orton. I think I know what’s coming. Yep, Miz moves Riley off the broken table and puts Randy on it. The referee wakes up and Miz retains the title! AWESOME!

Ok wait maybe not as the referee sees the video and we’re on again! Orton hammers away and boy is he ticked off. And never mind as Riley shoves Orton off the apron and through the table to tapdance on the pieces of the broken hearts of the fans while the magic fairies of instant replay were repairing them. AWESOME AGAIN!

Rating: B-. I loved the ending here as it played into the whole Miz defies the odds thing. They also covered that this is fair. It’s probably a bit too highly rated but I had a lot of fun in this one. Also the right guy won as Orton goes back a bit now so we don’t have to deal with him for awhile. I liked it a lot as this whole show has been awesome.

Royal Rumble ad which is about how one person is going on while 29 aren’t. Other than the other guy getting a title match that is.

Off to Alberto and some hot chick in the back near his car. Edge is standing in it and bouncing up and down. He offers an alliance between the three of them to take out Kane. Alberto thinks about it but Edge says no not really as that never works.

Smackdown World Title: Edge vs. Kane vs. Alberto Del Rio vs. Rey Mysterio

You win by gaining custody of the title. Dang it Rey has the advantage now since he had a custody ladder match before! Rey is dressed….like Gene Simmons of KISS? Really? Entrances take a very long time here. Kane goes straight for Edge as the expected pairings go off together. Striker goes through everyone’s experience in four ways or TLC matches to waste some time.

Alberto shoves Rey off a ladder as Rey jumps onto Kane and Edge, taking them both out with ease. Rey hits a Seated Senton onto the ladder onto Alberto which was cool. The problem with these matches becomes apparent very early as we know the match isn’t ending this early. Chokeslam is countered into an Edgecution by Edge to put the champion down.

Baseball slide to the ladder puts Kane down again, ticking off Cole since it knocked down his Slammies. Alberto and Mysterio kind of disappeared and we have the original title match now. Ah there’s Alberto with all four guys on the floor. Kane rips the legs of a table off which is rather impressive strength. Edge is in the crowd now and not by his own choice.

For some reason he jumps off the barricade to break up a double chokeslam on both Spanish speakers. Everyone but Del Rio combines to put Kane through a table, leaving only Rey to climb the ladder. Running enziguri in the corner has Rey down so Alberto speaks some Spanish. For no apparent reason Del Rio pauses to go get a chair which doesn’t work. Spears for both Del Rio and Rey and Edge climbs up.

Kane is back though and Edge’s balls get a bit too acquainted with the top rope as a result. Out to the floor (again) with Kane killing everyone (Katie Vick anyone?) with a chair. Everyone but Rey is on the stage where Edge spears the champion down. Rey climbs up onto the tables that hang from the ceiling to take down Kane with another seated senton. Everyone else is down so Rey is like screw it and hits the ring but is too small to get the big ladder up, allowing Del Rio to stop him again.

619 for both Edge and Del Rio but Edge stops his with a chair shot. Two ladders go up, one of which Edge couldn’t reach the title from the very top of. Edge and Rey go up the huge ladder but crash down in a painful looking drop. Ricardo tries to get Del Rio up before going up the ladder himself. And never mind as Kane is back. Chokeslam to “Eddie Munster (I love Striker)” and one to Alberto as well.

Edge through a table now as Rey gets rid of the ladders and beats on Kane for a bit. Del Rio somehow stops him from getting up the HUGE ladder and there’s the Cross Armbreaker which Rey taps to, not that it means anything. Striker thinks you can’t climb a ladder with a bad arm. Morrison did it earlier with a bad leg but you can’t do it with a bad arm? And people wonder why teachers get so little respect.

Alberto goes up and gets his hands on the belt but Rey saves by shoving the big ladder over, sending Alberto CRASHING through two tables on the floor. Big old sick spot there. Kane saves again and a Tombstone flattens Rey one more time. The top of Kane’s head is cut a bit. Kane goes up but Edge pops him a few times with a chair. I think our announcers are out. Edge spears Kane off the apron and there he goes and there’s World Title #10. Riveting.

Rating: B. Fun match but it was a step behind what I thought it would have been. This is LIGHT YEARS ahead of what Edge vs. Kane would have been though so that’s a perk. There wasn’t a good pick to win this one really as everyone would be pretty boring. Somehow this is the weakest big match so far, which is saying a lot as it was still good stuff. Good match, but nothing legendary.

And here’s Cody Rhodes. Uh why? Rhodes is straight up ROCKING the suit he’s in. He talks about the jowel (not a typo) which is where the jaw meets the chin or something. He runs down Houston for some cheap heat which is perfectly fine. Houston is the fattest city in America apparently. And here comes Santa with the Bellas. It’s Santa Show this time. Jerry: it looks like Santa got bigger this year. Striker: if I was around the Bellas I’d get bigger too.

Show and the Bellas throw out DVDs which apparently are all of Knucklehead. Not a bad thing for free I guess. Cody makes fun of Show in his underwear on the DVD cover. Show shills the DVD and makes fun of Cody. Cody says Show looks like a vanilla Shrek. Show threatens Cody with being in Knucklehead II. Spinebuster to Cody and the suit gets ripped off. Cody has Sunday written on his underwear.

Cena takes out Harris and says see you out there to Barrett, who was next to Harris when he got cracked by a chair. Cena is a ninja!

And here’s CM Punk, apparently taking over for Striker for the main event.

John Cena vs. Wade Barrett

This is PPV main event number……five for Barrett in his seven months on the main roster. Not that WWE made a new star or anything. BIG reaction for Cena as this is a chairs match. DUELING CHANTS!!!! Barrett hits the floor and Cena cuts him off as the fight is on. There must be twenty chairs at ringside. Barrett gets the first one so instead of picking up another, Cena slowly backs up and tries to keep fighting.

Both guys in the ring with chairs which last a few seconds as we’re back to the slugout. The idea here is that neither guy can get to the chair which they’re treating as something special here, which I like. They hit the floor with Barrett in control. Barrett gets a chair shot to the back of Cena but it’s in the aisle. Barrett sets up the steps which would be illegal wouldn’t they?

Cena slams him on the stage and goes to the back. He comes back with a rolling chair in a rather funny moment. He puts Barrett in it and wakes him up with some water. Cena gets a running start and throws Barrett down the ramp in the chair into the steps. Awesome spot and kind of funny at the same time. Barrett gets control way too quickly and we’re back in the ring and the English dude has a chair.

He chokes away with it as someone as the announce table can’t stop coughing. In an amazing strength move, Cena has Barrett sitting on the chair on top of him. Cena says screw it and bench presses his way out of it. HOW STRONG IS THIS GUY? Barrett gets a chair up to stop a shoulder block and Cena hits the floor. Cena gets tied up in the ropes and Barrett has a freaking field day on him with the chair.

Cena fights out and hits the Protoplex and the Shuffle but can’t get the FU. Bossman Slam gets two. Chair is wedged in between the top and middle rope. STF is countered with Cena being launched into the wedged chair. Barrett goes up with the chair and dives off (think Foley diving off the apron with one) but gets canvas instead. Top rope Fameasser with the chair but Cena won’t cover.

He sets up about six chairs in a two rows of three facing each other. I think I see an FU coming. Hey what do you know I’m right. In the FREAKING OW MAN spot of the night, the chairs DON”T MOVE and Barrett just stops cold. The pin is academic and for once and for all, the feud is OVER.

Maybe it isn’t as Barrett crawls away and Cena picks up another chair. Let the beatdown begin. They’re up by the stage and Cena gets some kind of a metal pallet thing. Cena looks up at all the chairs hanging from the ceiling and THEY ALL FALL ON BARRETT. Nice job as Barrett is BURIED to end the show and the year. The visual on the replay of a bunch of them just falling straight down is great.

Rating: B. Not a great match or anything, but it certainly worked. I don’t usually do this, but I’m going to include the post match stuff in the rating for this one. That part is the real aspect here, as Cena didn’t beat Wade Barrett. He defeated him. That’s a key difference here. Cena did exactly what he said he’d do: he defeated Nexus. It’s not a great match, but it’s a great ending. That’s what the important thing is here, and it worked like a charm.

Overall Rating: A. This show was fun. That’s the best possible description that I can give it. You have at least one great match with Morrison vs. Sheamus and depending on your tastes another in the TLC match. There wasn’t a single bad match here with the worst certainly being the tag titles, but that was under seven minutes and really not that bad. Also it’s early enough in the show that it doesn’t hurt anything, plus it was a bonus match so it’s not like anyone has anything to be disappointed in either.

The key thing to me though is that for once we got the END of an angle here. That’s the important part of this show to me. Instead of having a show just be the next chapter in a story, it was the final chapter in it and the whole thing is done. It’s a perfect way to close out the year and it worked very well. Excellent show and exactly what it was supposed to be: incredibly violent and fun. No complaints at all.

 

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Final Battle 2010
Date: December 18, 2010
Location: Manhattan Center, New York City, New York
Commentators: Kevin Kelly, Dave Prazak

 

This is the final show from 2010 in Ring of Honor. Someone requested this months ago and I got really behind so it’s been sitting on my computer since February. There’s a double main event here with Davey Richards vs. Roderick Strong for the ROH World Title and the real main event of mask vs. ROH career in the final battle of Kevin Steen vs. El Generico which was called feud of the year by Meltzer, showing that once again he has little idea what he’s talking about (Cena vs. Nexus anybody?). Let’s get to it.

 

Davey says Final Battle is the beginning for him.

 

The Briscoes say Man Up.

 

Steen says if he loses he’s gone.

 

All Night Express vs. Kyle O’Reilly/Adam Cole

 

O’Reilly and Cole are young guys I’ve heard a lot about but have never actually seen. The Express recently turned face (in March that is. Still heels here) and have grown up on camera from comedy jobbers to a serious tag team. They’re Rhett Titus and Kenny King (Kenny from the second season of Tough Enough). Titus vs. O’Reilly to start us off. Kyle is a submission guy apparently.

 

O’Reilly hammers away and moves very quickly to take over and it’s off to Cole. Ok Cole has longer hair. Got it. Back elbow off the middle rope gets two for Cole. Reilly takes over so King pulls Titus to the floor. Kyle dives to the floor to try to take the Express out but they manage to catch him, only for Cole to dive on all three of them and take them down.

 

Back to the ring and it’s O’Reilly vs. Titus but King is in before I finish that sentence. The Express tags in and out very quickly. Double teaming sets up a spinwheel kick by King to take down Kyle for two. We hit the chinlock and it’s back off to Titus quickly. We get one of those relatively annoying contrived spots as O’Reilly hands King’s foot to Titus and leg drags Titus, making Titus leg drag King.

 

Hot tag to Cole who gets a DDT to King onto the apron. That always looks awesome. O’Reilly gets rolling butterfly suplexes to Titus although I’d question the amount of pain in them. Missile dropkick by O’Reilly from the apron takes down King on the floor as Cole hits a top rope cross body for two on Titus. King back in and some nice double teaming gets two on Cole. It was a hot shot by Titus to set up a double knee to the back by King so Titus could roll up Cole for two if you were curious.

 

Terrible kick by Cole but he gets caught in a suplex anyway so it didn’t get him anywhere. The superkicks start flying and everyone is down. Titus gets caught in the tree of woe and it’s a double baseball slide to his face. Cole and O’Reilly are a lot like the Guns but not as crisp. Titus pulls the rope down to send O’Reilly to the floor and a blockbuster/powerbomb combination ends Cole.

 

Rating: B. Nice fast paced tag match to open things up here but the total forgetting about tagging hurt it at the end. It turned into can you top this which is fine for an opener but I have a feeling that’s what it’s going to be in almost every match tonight. Fun match and a good way to open the show, but nothing we haven’t seen in a lot of other matches before.

 

TJ Perkins vs. Colt Cabana

 

Cabana has since won the NWA World Title. This is a scientific match or something like that. Perkins is a good technician apparently. He was more famous as Puma in TNA. TJ does some nice escapes to hit a dropkick and it’s a standoff. Colt tries to send Perkins through the ropes but can’t quite get him through. There’s another standoff so Colt grabs the arm.

 

Headscissor takeover by Perkins so Cabana does some exercises and a headstand. Cabana gets something similar to a cousin of a surfboard which he shifts into a body scissors. The dueling chants begin. This has been a scientific match which is a nice change of pace but at the same time it’s a bit boring. This is almost a recital than a match. Cabana manages to move into a Billy Goat’s Curse (reverse Boston Crab) but a rope is grabbed. They slug it out and Colt takes him down with a big elbow to the head. Out of nowhere Cabana grabs a sunset flip and grabs Perkins’ wrists for the pin.

 

Rating: C+. Like I said in the match itself this was fun but at the same time it got a bit too rehearsed for me. Definitely something different but they needed to have some more aggression in there to make it good. That’s why people watch wrestling: to see the fake feuds and stories rather than legit stuff like this.

 

Daizee Haze and Sara Del Ray talk about being taken seriously as wrestlers. They’re both bringing in tag partners tonight.

 

Sara Del Ray/Serena Deeb vs. Daizee Haze/Amazing Kong

 

Deeb is of course Serena from the Straightedge Society. The fans are way into Kong. Haze is dressed like Kong but she’s a bit slimmer. Sara vs. Haze to start us off. They go back and forth a bit until Haze gets a sloppy rana off the top. Deeb comes in and she prevents a tag to Kong. The fans chant for the ROH boy CM Punk as Haze hammers away.

 

Deeb gets a gutbuster for two and it’s back off to Del Ray. Abdominal stretch by Serena as Kong hasn’t been able to get in yet. It’s so weird hearing Kevin Kelly on commentary for the first time in about 13 years for me. In a nice counter, Haze gets out of the Tree of Woe by lifting up and hooking a cutter to bring in Kong to a ROAR.

 

Powerbomb is blocked as is a clothesline. Implant Buster puts Del Ray down but instead of a cover we get Haze in again. A backsplash gets two and Deeb gets destroyed by Kong and Haze. Everything breaks down again and Haze climbs up Del Ray to get a sunset flip for two. Del Ray gets her finisher, the Royal Butterfly (butterfly suplex into a powerslam) for two. Deep spears Kong out of nowhere and a Piledriver kills Haze dead for Del Ray to get the pin.

 

Rating: C. Not great here and appropriately enough after that big speech aboutbeing taken seriously, Haze is carried out after having the shortest match of the night. Not bad but really just kind of there at the end of the day. It’s certainly better than what the Divas and Knockouts have done recently, but nothing special at all.

 

Sonjay Dutt vs. Eddie Edwards

 

The place erupts for Edwards who is now the world champion but here is just the former TV Champion. I haven’t seen Dutt in a long time. Place is totally behind Edwards here to say the least. Technical stuff to start us off as Dutt grabs a bow and arrow hold which gets him nowhere. They dance around a bit with no one being able to get an advantage.

 

Dutt slaps Edwards in the face and then hits the floor, crawling under the ring. He sneaks up on Eddie, only to get chopped down hard. Dutt gets a Lionsault to the back of Eddie to take over. Sonjay likes to clap a lot. We hit the floor and talk about Haas and Benjamin for some reason. Eddie is in trouble but something tells me he’ll be just fine like nothing ever happened in a few seconds.

 

Back in and we hit the chinlock. Hey what do you know I was right about Eddie who hits a sitout F5. Into the corner and Sonjay is crotched on the top. Springboard rana gets two as the fans chant for Eddie again. Lots of counters and escapes follow, resulting in a half crab (called an Achilles hold here) by Eddie which is reversed into a small package. Top rope splash by Sonjay gets two.

 

Spinning DDT by Dutt and a standing shooting star gets two. Superkick to the ribs by Eddie followed by a Codebreaker from the middle rope. This is firmly into the ROH style and my boredom is building rapidly. They trade superkicks and a clothesline gets two for Eddie. Double stomp to the back gets no cover for Eddie as instead it’s a powerbomb into the 2K1 Bomb which is a leg hook brainbuster.

 

Rating: C-. They’re getting into the ROH style early here which I think spells bad news for the rest of the show for me. I’ve never been a fan at all of the whole kick out of everything and strikes all around and popping up after every move. It gets repetitive and makes the offense look weak in the process. Not bad, but did nothing for me at all.

 

We get an ad for the Glory By Honor with the Kings of Wrestling vs. Haas/Benjamin. The WWE guys say ROH is awesome and that was fun.

 

Jim Cornette talks to Haas and Benjamin who talk about their careers. This interview was taped at the Davis Arena, the home of OVW and where ROH had their TV tapings for a long time. This must be intermission as you can hear the fans chanting something. They make the announcement that they’re officially in Ring of Honor on a permanent basis.

 

A guy named Mike Bennett comes out in a suit and a guy who looks like a coach named Bob Sanders. Sanders has a chair, as in one you would have at a dinner table. The fans chant who are you.

 

Christopher Daniels vs. Homicide

 

Daniels is TV Champion but this is non-title. That annoying pest Julius Smokes is with Homicide here. Egads I don’t know who is more overrated and annoying here. The fans are kind of split here so they’re no help. The dueling chants begin and they’re rather loud. They trade headlocks and call some spots. Arm drags get no one anywhere either.

 

Daniels gets two off a snapmare of all things and we hit the chinlock in about 90 seconds. Now we’re talking about Waffle House for some reason. Apparently Bennett is the Prodigy and wants a title. They hit the floor and Daniels takes over with a moonsault. Back in that gets two. Backslide gets two for Daniels. I can barely hear the commentators. Three Amigos by Homicide gets an Eddie chant. They also get two.

 

Homicide sends him to the floor and it’s a tope con hilo from Homicide. Back in and a t-bone suplex with a bridge gets two for Homicide. Top rope splash eats knees though and Daniels looks at his hand. Spinarooni maybe? Homicide gets a suplex and a jumping knee to the back of the head from the middle rope for two. Homicide gets a submission on the neck but Daniels counters into a Crossface for a few seconds.

 

Cop Killer is reversed into a release Rock Bottom (screw that Uranage nonsense) but the Best Moonsault Ever misses. Homicide can’t get a tornado DDT so Daniels hits an enziguri and calls for Angels’ Wings. The ref is bumped though and Homicide throws his shirt at Daniels and a Diamond Cutter ends it. I don’t see the point of the ref bump at all but at least the finish was clean.

 

Rating: C. Just a match really but not as bad as I expected it to be. Daniels keeping the striking to a minimum is always a good thing and it certainly was here. Homicide is someone I’ve never gotten the appeal of either so this really was a bad match for me. Could have been worse though.

 

We recap the Briscoes vs. the Kings of Wrestling. In short, the Briscoes are brothers and they got beaten down for attacking the Kings’ associate Sarah Del Ray. The Kings’ manager Shane Hagadorn kicked one of them in the balls so the Briscoes’ dad (called Papa Briscoe) jumped the rail and beat up Hagadorn, setting up this.

 

Kings of Wrestling/Shane Hagadorn vs. Briscoes

 

The Briscoes are Papa, Jay and Mark and the Kings are Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli. Papa says something to Hagadorn and is loudly booed. I can never remember which Briscoe is which. Ok Jay is starting here against Hero. Jay is completely bald and Mark has really short hair. That helps a lot. Jay controls early and lets Papa get in a chop of his own. Double teaming gets two for Mark.

 

Hagadorn tries to help and accidentally chops Hero. He’s like the third person to chop him so Hero is a bit annoyed to say the least. Mark grabs a rollup for two as we’re very early in the match still. Running boot by Mark for two. Off to Claudio now who accidentally chops Hagadorn to send him to the floor. The Briscoes (the younger ones that is) chop away at him for two.

 

Claudio is like screw this and suplexes Jay with ease. The Kings get a double back drop/suplex for two on Jay and it’s off to Hagadorn. It’s the modern day Bobby Heenan as he hammers away and can’t get anywhere. It’s time for Papa vs. Shane as the tags are going way too fast here. Some terrible stomps by Papa and it’s off to Claudio again. Papa actually gets a rana for two!!! WOW!

 

Sara had to make the save so Papa dips her back and kisses her which I think she likes. Del Ray is GONE according to the referee, drawing a big old pop. Now the fans are behind the Kings which is kind of odd as they’re the faces here. Mark gets double teamed in the corner and the Kings take full control. Off to Hagadorn who gets the roaring elbow ala Hero to Mark. And then he runs. Well you can’t say he’s not intelligent.

 

Hagadorn comes in again, hits a European uppercut and is gone. I told you he’s like Bobby Heenan. Papa runs in to break up a hold by Hero and it’s off to Claudio again. Good night is he strong. Powerslam gets two after a chinlock. Mark manages to escape some double teaming and it’s lukewarm tag to Jay. Downward Spiral into the middle rope and a middle rope boot get two.

 

Claudio vs. Jay now with Jay being tossed into the air and Claudio trying a European Uppercut, which is one of his big moves. It misses by about 9 inches but it’s sold anyway, getting two. Riccola Bomb (arm trap powerbomb) is reversed into a Death Valley Driver by Jay for no cover as instead he brings in Mark. Not a horrible idea. Mark and Claudio slug it out and it’s a double clothesline to send them both down.

 

Papa vs. Hagadorn again and Shane takes the straps down because Hero is behind Papa. They set for a low blow but everything goes insane and it’s kicks either to the balls or head/chest all around. Papa spears Shane down so his boys can hit stereo tope con hilos to the Kings. Papa teases a dive but Hagadorn trips him up. Rolling Elbow kills Papa and the fans cheer for Hero. Nice people there. Jay breaks up the Kings’ finisher on Papa and Papa gets a Stunner on Claudio! Doomsday Device with PAPA (his name is Mike apparently) playing Hawk gets the pin on Hagadorn. Good looking clothesline too.

 

Rating: B-. All things considered, this was good. Hagadorn has training but is a manager. Papa isn’t a wrestler but did ok here considering he knew all of two moves (observation, not criticism). There was no way the Briscoes would lose here and everyone knew it, but the manager got pinned so the Kings don’t lose any credibility. This was fine and even good at times.

 

Davey Richards talks about being reborn here. Isn’t he supposed to be retired now? It’s the same “I’m still here” promo he seems to always do.

 

We get clips of Truth Martini brainwashing Roderick Strong with various babbling. Roderick said something about Davey’s grandfather and it got under Davey’s skin apparently.

 

ROH World Title: Davey Richards vs. Roderick Strong

 

Strong is the heel champion here. The fans chant Best in the World for Richards. I’ve always been a fan of Strong so this isn’t a total loss for me. Richards is likely going to be doing the ROH style, meaning I’ll be bored quickly. There’s the bell and the fans are immediately chanting for Richards. They grab each other and go into the corner as we’re in a total feeling out process here which is fine.

 

Some mat work gets no one anywhere. To the mat for some counters and Richards has a very slight advantage. He grabs a modified bow and arrow hold which is reversed into the same hold by Strong. Indian Deathlock goes on for Richards and Strong’s leg gets stretched a bit. We get the Benoit hold where the Indian Deathlock is still on and it’s a bridging reverse crossface.

 

Ankle lock by Richards as this is submission central at the moment. Cross armbreaker gets Davey nowhere. We unleash come kicks and another cool hold before more kicks get two. Richards likes to kick. Northern lights suplex gets two. We hit the floor and it’s all Davey here. Running big boot to the face of Strong and the champion is in big trouble. They go into the ring for maybe 2 seconds and we’re back to the floor again.

 

Strong takes over again and fires in elbows to the head. Leg lariat gets two. They slug it out again and down goes Richards again. More striking commences and Strong counters a handspring enziguri with a baseball slide in a cool spot. Dropkick puts Strong on the floor again but only for a second. Now he’s out there again, making it twice in 5 seconds. Big dive by Richards and they’re down in the crowd.

 

They slug it out for about the fourth time with Davey getting a suplex for two and an armbar which gets him nowhere. More strikes follow and a swan dive gets two for the challenger. Cross armbreaker to Strong gets Richards nowhere again. Strong wakes up and hits a Falcon Arrow for two. Roderick gets the Stronghold (Boston Crab, finisher) and Richards is in trouble. The fans tell him not to tap in rhythmic succession of course.

 

We strike it out for about the thousandth time and Richards kicks Strong a lot. German suplex gets two. Belly to back off the top gets no cover because Richards isn’t that smart. Lariat gets two. Big kick gets two so Richards throws on an ankle lock which makes no sense but whatever. Strong taps but Truth Martini has the referee. Shooting Star Press gets two for Richards.

 

They go up to the top rope again and Roderick gets a half nelson backbreaker onto the ropes. Why not a suplex off the top is beyond me but whatever. They slug it out on the apron and Davey is dropped through a table and takes a Gibson Driver (release tiger bomb) on the floor.

 

Richards is thrown into the crowd and Strong heads back in. Richards is back in at 19 (20 counts in ROH remember) and a Gibson Driver sets up the Stronghold again. That gets rolled through into another ankle lock but Strong reverses into one of his own. Richards counters into a Texas Cloverleaf as my head hurts again. Crossface by Strong is reversed into a rollup for two.

 

Gibson Driver by Richards gets two and it’s back to the ankle lock. Davey lets go of the hold and has something wrong with him. Backbreaker and a big boot (Sick Kick apparently) gets two and it’s another backbreaker. More kicks get two. Liontamer goes on and Richards passes out to end it.

 

Rating: B-. Yeah go ahead and jump down my throat for it. I’ve never been a fan of these types of matches at all. Every main event guy in ROH seems to have about 19 finishers or signature moves and the last ten minutes of every match is nothing but kicking out of/reversing them. Also, we get it: you can kick each other and throw forearms. I’ll never get the obsession with strikes in this company. Long match that needed to have about 8-10 minutes chopped out, which you can say about every main event match in ROH.

 

Davey takes awhile to get out. Not sure if it’s legit or a great selling job. If it’s legit, no issues with them taking a few minutes to get him out.

 

We recap Kevin Steen vs. El Generico. This was a year long feud with them starting as tag partners. Steen turned heel with a huge chair shot and recently ripped the mask off of Generico. Steve Corino and Colt Cabana got involved for awhile also. This is mask vs. career in ROH and is the final battle for them.

 

Kevin Steen vs. El Generico

 

The fans chant feud of the year which Meltzer agreed with apparently. Steen offers a handshake but gets spit on. Steen spits back as we’re told this isn’t sanctioned and is more or less anything goes. Steen is sent to the floor immediately and the fans seem to be behind Generico. The fat guy (Steen) is sent into the railing and then back into the ring.

 

Generico finds a chain from somewhere and blasts Steen in the face a few times with it. Mafia kick with the chain around the face of Steen has Generico in control. Steen goes under the ring for a bit to blade. Table time as it bounces off the head of Kevin. Steen tends to sit there and breathe a lot. Somebody get that boy a Twinkie before he passed out!

 

A ladder is pulled out and it also goes into the head of Steen. Steen is of course fine and grabs a powerbomb to the apron. He takes the time to write out DIE in his own blood and licks it off. Ok then. Steen takes the ROH signs off the barricade and piles them onto Generico for a splash off the apron. A full barricade is picked up and launched at Generico, missing for the sake of avoiding death.

 

Generico gets a backdrop on the floor to take over. Back in and the ladder is broken when Generico bounces off of it. Steen paints his blood on Generico’s back and goes for the mask which gets him nowhere. They slug it out and Steen counters a rana into a powerbomb for no cover. I can live with that as this is more about fighting than winning. A chair is brought in which is the big symbol of the whole feud.

 

The mask is ripped at even more and he gets a good chunk off over Generico’s right eye. They fight over the chair and it’s a Codebreaker into the chair by Steen. Generico’s eye is busted and Steen has the mask he pulled off at the last show. Steen licks Generico’s blood. Nice guy. Chain to the head of Generico and Steen yells at him a lot. El manages to figth back with a slam onto the ladder and it’s time for an OLE chant. It’s making me want salsa.

 

T-Bone exploder suplex into the ladder by Generico and the ladder is all deformed. Half nelson suplex onto the ladder gets two. To the floor and Generico gets a running start, only to have a sign slammed into his head. A metal sign that is. Kevin sets a ladder like a platform between the ring and the barricade. A table is put on top of the ladder. Since this takes FOREVER, Generico gets up and gets a tornado DDT to the floor while diving between the gap between the ladder and table which looked good.

 

Superkick by fat boy and a chair is set up. Since Steen set it up he winds up crushing it. That and a brainbuster gets two. Generico winds up on the table on top of the ladder but when Steen goes for a splash through it, he channels his inner Flair and is slammed straight through it. Package Piledriver gets two on Steen. Brainbuster on the apron gets two as Corino comes in for the save.

 

Old School Expulsion puts Generico down and the referee gets in Corino’s face. So much for him as Steve puts him down. Corino grabs the chair that started all of this (how do they know it’s that one?) but Colt Cabana comes down for the save. A Cabana chair shot to Steen gets two and those two leave. Steen keeps spitting at Generico so Generico accidentally dropkicks the referee through a table.

 

Package Piledriver to Generico gets two via the new referee. Package Piledriver to the second referee and it’s back to the chair. The same move on the chair gets two via a third referee. Steen takes him to the top but gets reversed and Generico gets the Brainbuster on the corner which is his finishing move for two. That’s the first time he managed to get it on Steen. Generico picks up the chair that started it all and Steen holds up the original mask. Generico drops the mask and caves his head in with the chair to put Steen out of ROH.

 

Rating: B. Well if they wanted to blow off a feud this was a pretty good method of doing so. The chair is a nice touch and it was a good wild brawl. It shouldn’t have gone 30 minutes as there is a lot of time where it just drags badly. It’s definitely good, but thirty minutes is WAY too long. Make this 20 minutes and it’s far better. Ending was solid though.

 

The fans chant match of the year. Give me a break. They then chant for the deranged psychopath, out of respect apparently.

 

A weird mini-argument with Truth Martini and Strong ends this. Incredibly odd placement there.

 

Overall Rating: C. This is the weakest ROH show I’ve reviewed I think. It’s not terrible but I have very little desire to see where any of this goes or any more from these people. It’s not great and I still don’t like their style, but it’s clear that they’re trying very hard. This company doesn’t try to pretend it’s a huge deal like TNA and it makes it a much more enjoyable show. That being said, this wasn’t incredibly good and it didn’t have any great matches on it. Not bad, but I like their stuff from a year ago more.

 

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of on the History of In Your House at Amazon for just $4 at:

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for just $4 at:

Like everyone else, I’ve got a sale going for the rest of the year on my ebooks. This is going to run from now through the end of the year. There are three options to pick from:

 

Any two for $7 (Usually $8)

Any three for $10 (Usually $12)

ALL SIX for $15 (Usually $24)

 

The books to pick from are:

Complete 1998 Monday Night Raw

Complete 2001 Monday Night Raw

History of the WWE Championship

History of Starrcade

Complete Monday Nitro Volume 1 (1995-1996)

History of In Your House (new)

 

This will be done a bit differently than usual. Since it would be nearly impossible to do this through Amazon, I’m going to handle this myself. If you’re interested in one of these, send me an e-mail at kbwrestlingreviews@hotmail.com and we’ll set it up through Paypal.

 

If you could, drop me a comment on here so I’ll make sure to see your e-mail.

 

Hope you enjoy these,

 

KB

It’s something people have asked for for a long time now and it’ll be up on the holiday.  Before the speculation begins, it’s not a Christmas show but you better enjoy it anyway.

 

KB

This one took some time.There are a lot of options to go with here so let’s look at some of the possibilities.

 

Dolph Ziggler cashes in MITB.  The pop for this is absolutely amazing with the New York fans going insane for the smark hero of the day winning a world title.  The problem with this is it doesn’t really mean anything long term as Ziggler was having a musical instrument match with Sandow seven months later.  Still though, awesome moment.

Rhodes Brothers get their jobs back.  This is one of the rare stories that connected with people on an emotional level.  You have Cody who gets fired because he dared to stand up to the boss and had to fight for his job while Goldust needed a job as well.  This was about standing up to the man and the fans bought into it.  The match was awesome as well and the celebration with Dusty was a great moment.

Orton cashes in.  This is one of those ideas where people knew it was coming but it was still awesome.  That slight delay after Bryan wins the title before Orton’s music hit made me wonder what was going to happen.  That’s what makes a moment work to perfection and the shock was great.  HHH turning heel makes it even better and sets up the next four months worth of stories.  It was much more about the surprise than anything else and that’s a good thing.

Undertaker’s tribute to Paul Bearer.  I don’t think this really needs an explanation.

That brings us to the winner.

 

John Cena selects Daniel Bryan.  This promo was the culmination of Daniel Bryan having the year of his life and being rewarded for it.  Cena comes off looking like the people’s champion, the fans feel like their influence meant something and we got a classic match to close out the best show of the year as a result.  When a moment is awesome as well as sets up months worth of stories and an awesome match, what more can you ask for?

 

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of on the History of In Your House at Amazon for just $4 at:

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for just $4 at:

In Your House #5: Seasons Beatings
Date: December 17, 1995
Location: Hersheypark Arena, Hershey, Pennsylvania
Attendance: 7,289
Commentators: Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler

 

In addition to the main event, this is the first In Your House to feature the Undertaker on the pay per view (he had wrestled in several post PPV dark matches already). It’s rather interesting that one of the biggest and certainly most unique stars in the company hadn’t appeared in the first four editions of a PPV series and I’m not sure why he hadn’t. Anyway tonight he faces King Mabel in his signature match: the casket match. Let’s get to it.

 

The opening video starts with various symbols of Christmas before transitioning to shots of the Hart Family splitting apart as well as the Bulldog pinning Bret Hart at Summerslam 1992 in a masterpiece.

 

Santa Claus is here handing out presents.

 

Jerry Lawler promises us a big surprise.

 

Razor Ramon/Marty Jannetty vs. Sycho Sid/1-2-3 Kid

 

The Kid is full heel now and a part of the Million Dollar Team. Goldust rubs his chest while watching Razor come to the ring. Marty and the Kid start things off with Jannetty scoring with an enziguri for two. Some shoulder blocks and a clothesline get the same on the Kid and Marty goes over for the tag, freaking the Kid out. An atomic drop has Kid in trouble and now it’s off to Razor for the showdown. The Kid bails to the floor for a second but gets a toothpick in his face back inside.

 

Razor is having a good time but a blind tag brings in Sid to take over for the Million Dollar Team. Back to the Kid for a kick to the face but Razor glares at him after some chops. Sid comes back in to pound Ramon down and get cheered by the crowd in a surprising reaction. Razor comes back with some right hands and a double clothesline puts both guys down. A double tag brings in Marty to run over the Kid again and a powerslam is good for two.

 

A front flip facebuster out of the corner gets two on the Kid and it’s off to a camel clutch of all things. We go to Todd Petingill in the crowd with Goldust who quotes movie lines and expresses his lust for Ramon. This goes on for several minutes but at least we’re on split screen. Goldust asks Todd to give Razor a letter. Back to the match and Marty punches his way out of the corner but his cross body is caught in a powerslam for two.

 

Back to the Kid for a bad looking slam and a better looking guillotine legdrop for two before it’s back to Sid. Ramon gets suckered into the ring but gets in a right hand to the Kid. Marty is turned inside out by a clothesline and it’s off to a chinlock. Kid comes back in to drop a leg and then bring Sid back inside for some shots to the back.

 

It’s the Kid in again but he misses a charge in the corner, allowing for the tag off to Razor as things speed up. The fallaway slam puts Kid on the floor but Sid breaks up the Razor’s Edge. Not that it matters as Razor hits a quick middle rope bulldog (his finisher before he was in the WWF) for the pin.

 

Rating: D+. Not a terrible match but it went on too long for what they were going for. Jannetty was an odd choice as Razor’s partner against DiBiase’s boys as he was basically fighting everyone himself, but it was all about the him vs. the Kid anyway. Nothing much to see here and not the best choice for an opening match.

 

Here’s Jerry Lawler in the ring with a present for the returning Jeff Jarrett. After sucking up to Jeff for awhile, the present is opened to reveal a gold record of Ain’t I Great, Jeff’s single from six months earlier. Jarrett brags about how great he is and it doesn’t make anything more interesting. The only thing of note is he enters himself in the Royal Rumble.

 

Dean Douglas vs. Ahmed Johnson

 

Douglas says he has a back injury and can’t wrestle, so here’s his prized student Buddy Landell.

 

Buddy Landell vs. Ahmed Johnson

 

This is actually a joke, as Buddy Landell is a Ric Flair ripoff and comes to the ring to Flair’s WWF music in a Flair style robe. Douglas hates Flair in real life (never mentioned here of course), so it’s supposed to be funny that Douglas is Flair’s teacher or something like that. Not that it matters as Ahmed, a muscular monster with one of the most intimidating looks ever, destroys Landell and beats him with a Pearl River Plunge (double underhook powerbomb) in 32 seconds.

 

Post match Johnson paddles Douglas with the Board of Education. This would be Douglas’ last appearance. Lawler interviews Johnson and calls him stupid, allowing Jarrett to break the gold record over Johnson’s head. Jeff also gets in a few chair shots and rams Ahmed into the steps a couple of times, but Ahmed no sells them and chases Jarrett off.

 

Todd gives Razor the letter from Goldust and Ramon is disgusted, because it’s 1995 and anyone gay has to be a heel right?

 

Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Henry Godwinn

 

This is a hogpen match, meaning there’s an actual hog pen with pigs and mud near the entrance and the winner is the first man to send his opponent into said pin. Why is this match happening you ask? Simply put it’s because Godwinn is a hog farmer so he associates with hogs. One note characters like him had a lot to do with the downfall of the WWF at this point, as there’s no interest to such characters, meaning there’s no reason to stick around and watch them. The guest referee is 1980s crowd favorite Hillbilly Jim.

 

Godwinn slops the ring announcer before the match starts for no apparent reason. Helmsley jumps Godwinn but is quickly sent to the floor for his efforts. Back in and Henry ties him in the ropes so he can rub more slop in Helmsley’s face. After nearly retching, Helmsley takes it back to the floor, only to be bulldogged face first into the steps.

 

They head up the pen with Henry being whipped into the gate but still managing to block a Pedigree attempt with a backdrop. Helmsley lands on the edge of the pen and kicks Henry down before dropping an elbow to the chest. Lawler makes Jeff Foxworthy style jokes about being from Arkansas as they head back inside where Godwinn hits a big wheelbarrow slam. Helmsley is whipped to two corners and out to the floor for another handful of slop. Henry hits the Slop Drop up by the pen but can’t follow up. Instead he charges at Helmsley and gets backdropped into the slop to end things.

 

Rating: C-. This actually wasn’t that bad as it was a regular match until the ending. Again though, why am I supposed to care? It’s the lowest level of comedy and storytelling possible, which doesn’t mean it’s necessarily bad, but we have no reason to care about either of these guys so why should I be interested in the match?

 

Post match Henry slams Helmsley into the pen for fun. That’s a nice idea as at least the fans get the (limited) payoff.

 

We recap Diesel’s change of attitude since he lost the world title at Survivor Series, which has seen him act much more aggressive. This was what he should have been doing as champion.

 

Diesel vs. Owen Hart

 

This is a revenge match for Diesel as Owen kicked Shawn Michaels in the head and put him on the shelf as a result. Diesel launches Owen into the corner to start and hits a big side slam for no cover. The arena is full of smoke from Diesel’s entrance. Owen comes back with some right hands but Diesel easily throws him to the outside for a meeting with Cornette.

 

Back in and Owen scores with a missile dropkick before going after Diesel’s knee to take him down. A spinwheel kick gets two on Diesel but he easily kicks Hart away to break up a spinning toe hold. Diesel comes back with a big boot and the Jackknife (“This is for you Shawn!”) but he takes his foot off Owen’s chest at two. The referee begs him to let it end so Diesel shoves him down for the DQ.

 

Rating: D+. The match was going along pretty well until the stupid ending. I understand that they’re trying to push Diesel as being more aggressive, but having him lose isn’t the way to go about doing that. This is Diesel’s third straight PPV loss which doesn’t make me think he’s a monster but rather a guy who can’t finish his opponents.

 

Here are Savio Vega and Santa Claus to hand out presents to the fans, but Ted DiBiase interrupts them. He says everyone has a price and calls them both into the ring. DiBiase doesn’t believe Santa can make it around the world in one night but he knows someone who can. Savio says he doesn’t have a price and says he believes in Santa.

 

However, this isn’t the real Santa. It’s really…..XANTA CLAUS, Santa’s evil brother from the south pole who steals presents from children. I wish I was making this up but I promise you it’s real. Xanta lays out Savio and leaves with DiBiase but Savio chases after them, only to get beaten up again. Vince: “SAY IT’S NOT SO!!!” Xanta is played by future ECW mainstay Balls Mahoney.

 

Mabel says he isn’t scared of the Undertaker, who has returned after having his face crushed by Mabel and Yokozuna. Tonight it’s a casket match, meaning you have to put your opponent in a casket and close the lid to win.

 

King Mabel vs. Undertaker

 

Mable now has a very stupid looking mohawk to go with his stupid looking gold and purple pajamas. He jumps Undertaker to start but Undertaker comes back with rights and lefts in the corner. Mabel takes him down with a Boss Man Slam but Undertaker pops right back up. A clothesline gets the same result but a slam keeps Undertaker down for a bit. Mabel goes up for a middle rope splash but Taker moves to avoid probably death. Instead a belly to belly and legdrop keep Undertaker down and there’s a splash for good measure.

 

Mabel and Sir Mo roll Taker into the casket but don’t shut the lid because they’re not that bright. Undertaker blocks the eventual lid closure as Mabel is dancing in the ring with his crown. Back in and Taker pounds away before kicking Mabel into the casket. Mo’s save is easily thwarted with a chokeslam and he gets thrown in as well. Undertaker takes back the necklace made from the Urn (don’t ask) and slams the lid shut for the win.

 

Rating: D+. This was about as perfect as you could get to end the Undertaker vs. Mabel feud but it doesn’t help that we had to sit through it for so many months. Thankfully Mabel was gone soon after this with his last notable appearance coming in January. Undertaker is a good force to have back in the company as he was probably the third most popular guy in the company at this point.

 

Post match Undertaker motions that he wants the WWF Title.

 

Jim Cornette walks us through Bret’s history with the Bulldog, who is married to Bret’s sister. Unlike in 1992 where the sister Diana was split on who to cheer for, she’s firmly in her husband’s corner tonight.

 

Bret says he’s making up for 1992 tonight.

 

WWF World Title: Bret Hart vs. British Bulldog

 

The much stronger Bulldog shoves the champion into the corner to start but Bret grabs an armbar to take over. Davey flips around a lot but ultimately takes Bret down by the hair like a true villain should. Back to the armbar by Bret as we take a look at Cornette’s tennis racket cover which looks like Santa Claus’ face. Bret gets two off a cross body and goes right back to the arm. Smith comes back with another hair pull before tying Bret up in the Tree of Woe (hanging him upside down in the corner) to stomp away.

 

Off to the chinlock as the fans are solidly behind Bret. They soon get bored of cheering for him though and start chanting for the then upstart promotion ECW. Vince informs us that the Undertaker has challenged the winner of this match for the Royal Rumble. After a Cornette tennis racket shot we’re in the third chinlock less than ten minutes into the match before the required chest first bump into the buckle gets two on Hart.

 

A backdrop puts Bret down for two more and we hit the chinlock again. At least this time he makes it a headlock as the fans chant USA, in theory for the Canadian champion. Bret comes back with a monkey flip and a bulldog to the Bulldog for two. A piledriver lays Smith out for two more but Bulldog crotches Bret on the ropes to break up a superplex. Bret falls to the floor and the fans want a table. Instead they get the champion being sent into the steps as Bulldog is in control.

 

Smith sends him hard into the barricade and Bret is busted wide open. Back in and Bulldog piledrives Bret down for a near fall before pounding at the cut on the forehead. The delayed vertical suplex gets the same and there’s a gorilla press slam for good measure. Bulldog channels his former partner the Dynamite Kid with a headbutt to the back for two. Smith seems to have hurt his knee though so Bret tries a quick Sharpshooter, only to have Smith break it up just as easily.

 

A hard shoulder puts Bret onto the floor so Smith can try to get some feeling back into his knee. Bret counters a suplex back inside into a rollup for yet another near fall before a double clothesline puts both guys down. They’re quickly back up and a backdrop puts Smith on the floor. Bret is ticked off now and dives over the top to pound away on Smith even more. Davey will have none of that though and powerslams Bret down on the floor to suck the life out of the crowd.

 

The protective mats are peeled back but Bret blocks a suplex by crotching Davey on the barricade in a nice callback to earlier in the match. Bret clotheslines him off the barricade and heads back inside where a backbreaker gets two. Now the superplex connects for two and an O’Connor Roll gets the same. In a really sudden finish, Bulldog charges into a boot in the corner and Bret cradles him for the pin. The look on Diana’s face makes the ending even better as it almost says “HOW DARE YOU KEEP THE TITLE!”

 

Rating: B-. This got WAY better in the end but the first ten minutes or so of this were pretty dreadful. Also the ending didn’t do it any favors as I was expecting a callback to the Summerslam 1992 match but we didn’t get anything close to it. Still though, good match and by far the best thing we’ve had on one of these shows in the last two shows.

 

Paul Bearer (Undertaker’s odd manager) and Undertaker are pleased that they get a title shot at the Royal Rumble. Diesel comes in and says it’s his shot. The giants stare each other down to end the show.

 

Overall Rating: D+. While this isn’t a good show, it’s WAY better than the previous two entries in the series. Bret is just better as champion as he can work with almost any style and get a better match out of most people. The rest of the card was pretty horrible, but things would be changing quickly around here which is the best thing that could have happened for the WWF.

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Tables Ladders and Chairs 2012
Date: December 16, 2012
Location: Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler, John Bradshaw Layfield

This is the final stop before we get to the Rumble where Rock can finally get his title shot, meaning we can stop having everything lead up to that instead of having stuff that matters. The main event is a six man tag because Punk is injured. Other than that we’ve got Cena vs. Ziggler for the MITB case and Sheamus vs. Show in a chairs match for the Smackdown Title. Let’s get to it.

Pre-Show: Divas Battle Royal

Layla, Kaitlyn, Alicia Fox, Natalya, Tamina Snuka, Aksana, Rosa Mendes, Cameron, Naomi

The winner gets the title shot presumably later tonight. They’re all in Santa outfits here and Eve is on commentary. Rosa is put out quickly and the Funkadactyls do some splits on I think Alicia. I think Cameron is put out and Aksana lays on the ropes like an idiot. She deserves the elimination she gets. Striker says that there might be a dancing basketball rivalry because Layla and Eve danced for different NBA teams.

Tamina eliminates Layla and Kaitlyn dropkicks Nattie out. We’ve got Kaitlyn, Naomi and Tamina left as Alicia was put out off camera earlier I guess. Naomi actually puts out Tamina and we get a rematch of NXT Season 3. Kaitlyn spears her down but misses a dropkick. Naomi puts her on the apron and Layla adds a slap, allowing Naomi to dropkick Kaitlyn out for the win at 5:26.

Rating: D. Yes, one of the Funkadactyls, the dancers of Brodus Clay who hasn’t been on TV in weeks, is the #1 contender to the Divas Title. Has she ever spoken a word on television or been seen on her own? Wait why am I even trying to figure this out? It’s the freaking Divas division so what difference does it make?

The regular show opens with a twenty six bell salute to those who died in the shooting in Connecticut.

There are ladders EVERYWHERE, including hanging from the rafters over the stage.

Rhodes Scholars vs. Rey Mysterio/Sin Cara

Tables match where only one member has to go through for a win. The winners get a title shot at some point in the future. Sandow wants to know if there’s anyone lower in life than the Brooklyn hipster. They’re literally the unwashed masses. Cody makes fun of facial hair and we’re ready to go. Thankfully we don’t have tags and Rey sends Cody to the floor very quickly. Sandow is sent out as well and there are stereo dives by the masked men.

Rey and Cara pull out a table and ram both Scholars with it. Rhodes has to save Sandow from being slammed through the table and Rey is sent out to the floor. Mysterio saves Cara from going through the table, allowing Sin to hit the armdrag out of the corner on Rhodes. There’s the Disaster Kick to Cara though and everyone in a mask is down. The Scholars slam Cara into the steps and Rey goes into the barricade. The Mustache gets another chant as the Scholars set up a pair of tables.

After walking around forever, Rey trips up Sandow and hits the seated senton. Cody’s powerbomb is countered into a rana to send him to the floor. Cara takes out Sandow with a springboard cross body and a rana that slips a bit. A corkscrew plancha to the floor takes Damien out again and Rey hits the 619 on Cody. Sandow breaks up the top rope splash through the table though as Cole lists off some Tweets. Cara kicks Sandow in the head and kicks Cody to the apron. After firing off about eight kicks to the head from the apron, Cody knocks Cara off the top rope and through a table for the win at 9:36.

Rating: D+. Not the best opener in the world here as they spent a lot of time walking around looking for a spot to do. The Scholars were the obvious winners here and there’s nothing wrong with that, but it doesn’t make for the most entertaining match in the world. It was probably a good idea to get this out of the way though.

We get another Joker Shield promo, saying about what you would expect them to say: they’re going to take out Ryback and HELL NO one by one tonight and that’s about it. The main reason they want to beat those three up though: they just don’t like them. How simple yet effective.

US Title: Antonio Cesaro vs. R-Truth

Cesaro is defending in what should be a layup for him. We start with a clean break in the corner and Truth does his pelvic thrusting. Cesaro throws Truth around before getting rolled up for a few two counts. Antonio works on the ribs as the fans chant for the USA. Off to a modified cobra clutch by the champion which goes on for a good while.

Truth fights up and hits the spinning forearm followed by the ax kick for two. A side kick puts Cesaro down for two more and the fans start a Little Jimmy chant. Cesaro escapes the suplex into a stunner before hitting the European uppercut to the back of the head. Neutralizer (BIG pop for that) retains the title at 6:44.

Rating: C. This was better than I was expecting, which isn’t saying much as I was expecting a basic TV level match. Truth is just filling in a spot here and there’s nothing wrong with that, but we’re just waiting for a big time AMERICAN to come in and save the title for the country. Decent enough match here though.

Post match Cesaro says that when the fans boo him, they’re booing themselves.

Some people from Tribute to the Troops don’t have much to say.

Ziggler says Cena is going to try to steal the case from him tonight. Cena already lost his own case earlier this year, so why should Ziggler have to earn it a second time? Ziggler says Cena’s career should be over if John loses tonight.

Here’s 3MB on MizTV to waste some time. Apparently they’re going to finally perform tomorrow night on Raw. Mahal makes fun of the Spanish announce team, telling them to speak AMERICAN. The bullying goes on until Ricardo Rodriguez of all people makes the save. 3MB beats on him too until Del Rio makes the save. Is that a face turn? Miz and Del Rio wind up cleaning house. A six man is proposed to fill in some time later. The fans want Ryder to be Miz and Del Rio’s partner.

Rock will indeed be at the Rumble.

HELL NO fires themselves up and talk about how hard it is to talk to Ryback. Tonight, they’ll feed all of the Shield to him.

Wade Barrett says he’s going to take out Kofi tonight.

Intercontinental Title: Wade Barrett vs. Kofi Kingston

Kofi is defending. Barrett takes it into the corner to start and pounds away for two. There’s the bouncing elbow by Kofi for two but Wade clotheslines him out to the floor. Kofi slides back in and hits a suicide dive to take Wade right back out. Back in and momentum shifts again, this time with Barrett kicking Kofi in the ribs.

A backbreaker gets two for Wade and it’s off to a bow and arrow with a knee in Kofi’s back. That doesn’t last long so Wade settles for two off a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Back to the chinlock for a bit, followed by Kofi fighting up and hitting another clothesline to take Wade down. There’s the Boom Drop but Trouble in Paradise misses. The Boss Man Slam is countered into the SOS for two for Kofi.

A spinning full nelson slam gets the same for Barrett but Wade is getting frustrated. I love Wade moveset as he constantly mixes in new things. Kofi’s top rope cross body is rolled through for two, followed by a Boss Man Slam for the same result. In another sudden ending tonight, the Bull Hammer is countered into Trouble in Paradise to retain at 8:19.

Rating: C+. Nice back and forth match here with a surprising ending. This could have been on Smackdown but it wasn’t out of place on PPV. Kofi winning is the surprise though as he would seem to be set up to be fed to Barrett. Odds are there will be a rematch though, because clearly a clean win isn’t enough to warrant the end of a program right?

Punk and Heyman are in a sky box and Punk says the status of his knee is none of their business. Punk talks about how he would have destroyed Ryback tonight and how he’ll be champion for as long as he likes. Oh and he’s not associated with the Shield.

Ryback/HELL NO vs. The Shield

It’s a TLC match but you can win by pin/submission because there’s nothing to hang above the ring. Shield comes through the crowd of course. The brawl starts on the floor of course with Bryan vs. Rollins, Kane vs. Reigns and Ambrose vs. Ryback. Ryback and Ambrose get in the ring and the smart aleck fans just have to chant Goldberg. Shield gets Ryback 3-1 but he shrugs them off. Kane tries to bring in a ladder but Rollins dropkicks it into the monster’s ribs.

Bryan takes a ladder to the face as well but here’s Ryback to beat them all up. Reigns takes Kane down with a chair but Kane makes the save. I think Ryback is busted a bit. Bryan kicks Reigns in the corner and the fans are WAY into Danny boy. Reigns is thrown into a ladder which gets two for Kane. Bryan saves Ryback and the fans want tables. Rollins jumps into a Kane uppercut for two before getting put inside a ladder. Kane beats on the ladder with a chair for a bit but Ambrose takes Kane out with a DDT onto the chair.

Ryback rams Rollins and Ambrose into the corner and there’s another Goldberg chant. The fans still want tables. Ryback blocks a beal into the ladder in the corner and pounds Ambrose and Rollins down again. A splash crushes both of them against the ladder, followed by a suplex from Ryback to put both of them on the ladder. Reigns breaks up the double Shell Shock and it’s another three on one beating. Where did HELL NO go?

Shield loads up the triple powerbomb….and it actually works. Seriously, no save from the champions until a few seconds later. Bryan goes off on everyone but gets caught in the numbers game. Kane finally comes back but gets beaten down as well. Back into the ring and it’s time for the chairs portion of the match. Bryan gets beaten down before being double superplexed off a table on the top. Kane barely makes a save but he gets beaten down by the chair as well.

Ambrose and Rollins try the double superplex on Kane as well but he shoves Rollins to the floor and clotheslines Ambrose down. The side slam puts Reigns down but Dean makes the save. Instead of I think a DDT on Kane though, it’s a chokeslam for Dean through the chair for two. Back to the floor and Reigns spears Kane through the barricade to a BIG reaction. Kane gets buried under a bunch of stuff, but in the chaos, Bryan grabs the NO Lock on Ambrose. He eventually gets it on all three guys but the numbers catch up to him.

Bryan fights back AGAIN with a bunch of kicks but eventually he falls prey to the Blackout (running curb stomp) onto the EDGE OF THE CHAIR from Rollins. FREAKING OW MAN!!! Ryback is up though and house is cleaned. Rollins is thrown onto Ambrose and it’s chair time for Reigns. Ambrose comes back AGAIN but gets speared down. There’s a Meat Hook for Dean followed by Shell Shock for two as Rollins saves. Ryback goes to the floor but gets caught by some chair shots. Ryback charges at Reigns to tackle into whatever is in his path in a cool visual.

The Shield and Ryback are all up by the entrance and Ambrose chairs him in the back to take him down again. They shove a ladder onto Ryback and destroy him with some chair shots and put him on a table. There’s a HUGE, as in bigger than the usual HUGE ladders, and Rollins climbs up. Ryback fights up though and Rollins is in trouble. Ryback throws Seth through a big stack of tables, but Ambrose and Reigns are double teaming Bryan in the ring. Reigns superbombs Bryan through the table for the pin at 22:55.

Rating: A. AWESOME brawl here with a great story being told throughout. Ryback gets two do the big spot to look strong and the Shield’s pack mentality worked very well too. Great match here and definitely better than I was expecting. Shield looked like they could more than hang in there, and that was the main thing they had to worry about. Great stuff.

Carnage is removed for a bit. Rollins took a NASTY bump into the table on that fall, slamming his head onto the edge.

Divas Title: Naomi vs. Eve Torres

Naomi does her flashy stuff to start and Eve hides on the floor. The reaction to taking the champ out? DANCE TIME! Naomi fakes her out a lot, botches a jump to the top, and misses a spinning cross body. Eve’s neckbreaker ends this at 3:08.

Rating: D. Eve is hot and Naomi can shake her hips so I can’t call this a failure. The division is such a joke anymore and AJ isn’t going to fix anything immediately. They need to get this Kaitlyn title reign over already though because it’s already past the point where it should have happened. Nothing to see but Eve’s legs here as usual.

Eve does her posing thing post match which is pretty awesome.

Big Show says Sheamus has no chance to get the title back tonight.

We recap Sheamus vs. Show. Show won the title at TLC and retained it at Survivor Series, but after the second match, Sheamus hit Show 31 times with a chair. The chairs match stipulation tonight was obvious.

Smackdown World Title: Sheamus vs. Big Show

Note that with the Raw Champion off the show, this was never once mentioned as a possible replacement main event. This is a chairs match, which means chair shots are legal. Sheamus pounds him down to start and goes for the knee. The first chair is brought in but Sheamus is knocked to the floor. Show superkicks the chair into Sheamus’ face and there’s the LOUD chop. Sheamus comes back with the shoulder off the apron and we head inside again.

Show pounds him down again but Sheamus slams him down for two. Why is it a surprise that he kicked out of that? It’s just a slam. A top rope chair shot puts Show down but a second attempt is countered with a spear out of the air to take him down. Back in and Sheamus pounds away but charges into a chokeslam for two. Show goes under the ring and pulls out a bunch of chairs.

A Vader Bomb onto a chair onto Sheamus gets two so Show loads up two chairs in the middle of the ring. Sheamus fights back and hits White Noise onto both chairs but it only gets two. Sheamus gets all fired up but the Brogue Kick hits the rope instead. The WMD lays Sheamus out but it only gets two. In a pretty dumb ending, Show pulls out a GIANT chair and clocks Sheamus in the head with it to retain at 14:40.

Rating: B-. Good match here but it was several steps below what they’ve done before. I really didn’t know who was winning here and with Show winning, I doubt we’re going to have a cash in tonight, which is probably the right call. Decent but not great match here, which surprisingly enough is a downgrade for this feud. Hopefully this is the end for these two here.

AJ comes up to Cena in a cutoff Cena shirt. Good look on her. Basically he says she can thank him after he wins.

3MB vs. Alberto Del Rio/The Miz/Brooklyn Brawler

You know what? Why not? He’s in a Brooklyn Nets jersey as apparently he’s abandoned the Yankees (Bronx, not Brooklyn) shirt. Ignore those RYDER chants of course. Del Rio and Slater start things off with Alberto in control. Off to Brawler who beats up Mahal a bit before getting punched down by Heath. Brawler avoids a middle rope knee drop as we hear about 3MB having their tattoos messed up. Not hot tag brings in Miz who gets two on Jinder off a DDT. Del Rio drives Drew into the remnants of the announce table. The Finale takes down Mahal and the Brawler gets the win off a Boston Crab at 3:37.

Rating: D. It should have been Ryder. Seriously, what else do you want me to say here?

We recap Ziggler vs. Cena, which is more about AJ and Vickie than anything else. Eventually Dolph and Cena got dragged into it and Ziggy’s MITB case was put up for grabs in a ladder match.

Dolph Ziggler vs. John Cena

Ladder match for the case here. Cena runs him over with a shoulder to start and they stare at each other for a bit. The fans are almost universally behind Dolph here. Cena takes him down with a headlock, probably for the first time in the history of ladder matches. He works on Dolph’s arm and hits a fisherman’s suplex. There’s a monkey flip out of the corner and Ziggler is sent to the floor.

Ziggler gets a chair to take Cena down and wedges it between the top and middle rope. We get the first ladder brought in but Cena rams it into Dolph’s face. Cena might be cut over the eye. The dueling Cena chants begin as he crushes Ziggler’s head with the steps. It’s table time but Dolph knocks Cena down and goes for a climb. They slug it out and it’s boo/yay time. Dolph hooks the sleeper and Cena turns red, but he climbs the ladder anyway with Ziggler on his back.

This of course goes badly and they crash backwards through a table in the ring. In a very cool spot, Ziggler goes up the ladder, so Cena PICKS UP THE LADDER FOR THE AA. Ziggler escapes what would have likely resulted in death and hits the Fameasser to put both guys down. Cena puts on a quick STF but Ziggler escapes the AA and hits the Zig Zag. Ziggler seems to be a big ginger on his leg as he gets another table.

The table is placed in the corner but Cena hits four of the five moves of doom. Dolph counters the AA and hits the jumping DDT to put Cena down again. Ziggler goes for the big ladder but Cena stops him at the top. They slug it out up there with Cena shoving Ziggler off. There’s no one to stop Cena….except himself as Cena does the stupid VERY slow climb, allowing Ziggler to take him down. Ziggler rams the bad eye into the ladder but Cena BUSTS OUT A FREAKING HURRICANRANA to send Ziggy through the table in the corner.

John pounds Ziggler into the corner and puts him on the top rope. Ziggler shoves him away and tries a top rope cross body, but Cena rolls through into the AA. That gets countered too and a chair shot puts Cena down. Ziggler misses a kick and there’s an AA. There’s nothing in the ring at the moment though so here’s Vickie with a chair. Cue AJ to take Guerrero down with the Five Moves of Doom. Well close enough I guess. Cena climbs the ladder and AJ shoves it down, turning heel. Ziggler has no idea what’s going on but AJ goes all happy psycho again. Ziggler retains the case at 23:38.

Rating: B+. I’d like this a lot more if it wasn’t about AJ. At the end of the day, I get that she’s nuts but she’s gotten WAY too much focus and it means this story must continue. I get what they’re going for here, but man alive they’ve run this story into the ground for so long that I don’t care anymore. The match was very good though as the ladders were props in the match, which is what makes the best ladder matches.

Ziggler celebrates a ton to end the show.

Overall Rating: A-. Once we got by the obvious matches to open the show, this turned into the usual excellent show that TLC is. It’s not so much about the quality of it, but it’s FUN, which is a good idea to end the year with. Things get serious now as the Road to Wrestlemania begins. Very fun show here with a serious match of the year candidate included. Check this one out.

Results

Rhodes Scholars b. Rey Mysterio/Sin Cara – Rhodes shoved Cara through a table

Antonio Cesaro b. R-Truth – Neutralizer

Kofi Kingston b. Wade Barrett – Trouble in Paradise

The Shield b. Ryback/HELL NO – Superbomb to Bryan

Eve Torres b. Naomi – Spinning Neckbreaker

Big Show b. Sheamus – Chair to the back

Albeto Del Rio/The Miz/Brooklyn Brawler b. 3MB – Boston Crab to Mahal

Dolph Ziggler b. John Cena – Ziggler pulled down the case

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Miz’s movie in case you forgot.
It’s not terrible but I’m probably going to forget I watched it in about 3 days. Miz is the co-star of the movie and is about what you would expect. It’s not like That’s What I Am where they hyped up Orton and he literally wasn’t on screen for five minutes.

The movie is supposed to be a comedy but it’s more of an action movie than funny. The story is an ex-bounty hunter is coming back to New Jersey because the one bounty she ever let get away is back in town. She hooks up with her old team, including ex-boyfriend Miz. She doesn’t want her fiance to know she used to be a bounty hunter and spends half the movie hiding it. The fact that it’s set at Christmas means nothing to the plot at all and this could have been set at any time of the year with no effect on the story.

It’s better than some WWE movies but there’s a reason this is a straight to DVD movie that aired once on cable. The action sequences aren’t bad and the lead girl is good looking.  Miz isn’t bad in it all things considered and he looks fine beating up goons.  It ran an hour and 45 minutes with commercials so it’s not even that long. The movie isn’t terrible by any means but it’s nothing that is going to blow you away or be something you’ll want to watch multiple times.   If you like Miz and not serious action movies you might like this but definitely don’t buy the DVD if you’re just curious.  Rent it or see if it’s ever on TV again at best.