A tables, ladders, and chairs pay-per-view. There's really no further explanation needed, is there? Well, we might need an explanation from WWE Creative as to why Kevin Nash and Triple H are booked in a ladder match trying to grab a sledgehammer, but nonetheless, I'm excited about this pay-per-view. The card has a lot of potential.
You can check out my predictions
here.
Yours truly will be sitting in the arena for TLC, so look out for a Smark Out Moment sign, and if you know anyone going, tell them to meet up with me! I'm always up for chatting with fellow fans. I'm going to try my very best to update the results via my phone, but if for some reason the AT&T gods don't let me, then I apologize in advance for not being able to provide you guys a live review and results - but I promise I'll have a REALLY detailed review afterward, complete with video footage, interviews with fans, and so forth. I'll make it up to you. Plus, when you see how much stuff I'll be having for the Royal Rumble, you'll have Smark Out Moment overload.
Ok, my apologies, I wasn't able to upload during the pay-per-view, but I'm going to update you right now on what happened (and edit it again later to add even more information).
Dark Match: Alex Riley vs. Drew McIntyre
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to see this, as they let us in and almost immediately started the bonus match. I was still hunting down hot dogs, as the arena is small, but they were putting concession stands upstairs instead of right next to one another. Odd, but oh well, they were good hot dogs.
WINNER: Drew McIntyre
The people standing in the concession line were confused that McIntyre actually won a match.
United States Championship: Dolph Ziggler (c) vs. Zack Ryder
The whole crowd was basically pro-Ryder, but the people in my section (great guys, you'll see them on the videos later) were also pro-Ziggler. We all enjoyed this match a lot. When Ryder hit the Rough Ryder, we all went nuts.
WINNER (and new United States champion): Zack Ryder via pinfall.
Woo Woo Woo. You know it.
Booker T then was jumped by Cody Rhodes. (Again, I'll update this with much more detail later on, trust me).
Tag Team Championship: Air Boom (c) vs. Epico & Primo
Everyone was pissed that we were getting this match, as we thought it was a replacement for Booker. We spent the majority of the match talking about how hot Rosa Mendes is, and I tried to start a "you're not cool" and "Carlito" chant. Did it work? Can't tell yet. The match was a downer, outside of a few moves.
WINNERS: Air Boom via pinfall.
If I were watching this on television, I probably would have enjoyed it a little more than while at the arena, but I still think that it would have been a let down without prior knowledge of the future events of the night.
Teddy Long backstage is in a promo with Hornswoggle. Long is dressed like Santa Claus and Hornswoggle says that Santa was never black. Teddy retorts saying where he comes from, no jolly fat white man would come give him gifts.
Tables Match: Randy Orton vs. Wade Barrett
Wade and Orton were a split from my section of the crowd, but we were primarily rooting for both. We were disappointed with the lack of the spot where it looked like Wade was going to slam Orton through the table near the stage, but the RKO to finish the match more than made up for it.
WINNER: Randy Orton, via...you know, putting Barrett through a table. That's the rule.
Good match with a good ending to it.
Bella twins backstage talk to Santa Long (wow that sounds awful). He gives him his number in case they want to play any reindeer games. Jack Swagger shows up to complain to Teddy about how ridiculous he looks. Teddy suggests he sits on his lap, so Swagger reassures him if he did, he'd break his hip. Sheamus shows up and soon enough, we have Sheamus against Swagger booked for later on. Our first reaction, again, was "well, it looks like Booker's not getting his match".
Divas Championship: Beth Phoenix (c) vs. Kelly Kelly
You could immediately see people walking away after this for a bathroom break. It's true...it's damn true. Apparently there was a little girl next to us chanting that Kelly Kelly sucks. Target audience, denied. This was a standard divas match for the most part. You know how those go.
WINNER: Beth Phoenix via pinfall.
Didn't really want to see it on the card, but considering how much else we got, I'll let it slide.
Backstage, Del Rio and Miz talk about their alliance being broken and/or never existing in the first place. Miz shoves food in Ricardo's face. Del Rio pushes Ricardo down. (Booooo!)
Booker T comes out for his match against Cody Rhodes - but Cody attacks him yet again, so he heads to the back. (Boooo!)
Sledgehammer Ladder Match: Kevin Nash vs. Triple H
Triple H got one of the biggest pops, it seemed, but Nash had some great chants going as well. When the match started, everyone was up for it, but the mood died down a lot after we saw how slow and lumbering they were. Then, it turned into a contest of jokes we could all make (my favorite being the guy near us chanting "let's go grandpa", and when we asked who he was chanting for, he replied "both"). I didn't expect Nash to do any kind of bumps, so even when he was tossed over the announcers table, I figured that would be it for him. Look out for some of this match being on the next Botchamania - there were several times that they completely set each other up and had to cover for someone's mistake. The worst of that, by far, was the botched first pedigree attempt. We were chanting for him to try it one more time, but he used the sledgehammer instead.
WINNER: Triple H via pinfall.
Slightly above the tag title and divas match. Definitely not as good as I was hoping - though pretty much how I expected it to go.
Matt Striker interview CM Punk backstage. Highlights: Miz's tough guy attitude, Del Rio's butchering of the English language, and superstar Johnny Ace.
Sheamus vs. Jack Swagger
Generic, but generic isn't always a bad thing. This would have been better on Smackdown, but it was still fun to watch during the pay-per-view (at least live). Not a lot happened during the match to report on in terms of highlights or interesting/obscure things, but the Brogue Kick to end it looked pretty great from my angle. That's definitely a finisher that you can believe would knock a guy out for a three-count.
WINNER: Sheamus via pinfall.
Like I said, fun to watch, nothing to really go nuts about or remember with the fondest of memories. Considering how much they added to this card, it will be overlooked by a lot, but that's justifiable, and it was still a welcome addition.
Josh Mathews backstage with Big Show, who says he's going to win the title tonight.
World Heavyweight Championship [Chairs Match]: Mark Henry (c) vs. Big Show
The match starts off with Big Show throwing pretty much every chair into the ring. Naturally, this resulted in us chanting "E-C-DUB", which I believe caught on from what I could hear. Quite a lot of hard hits from the chairs with this match, making up for the repetitive and potentially bland gimmick style presented. The dueling chairs spot is a standard, but still fun. If you hear a bunch of people singing Mark Henry's theme in the second level...I apologize for my horrible singing voice (as you can tell from the latest Smack Talk episode's outro). We were all rooting for Henry, so when he won, the boos started.
WINNER (and new World Heavyweight champion): Big Show via pinfall.
Interesting match that we were into, and it surprised me a bit, if not just because I didn't expect Big Show to win. In retrospect, I should have, considering Henry's injury, but I didn't buy into it as much as it turned out to be serious.
But wait a second...DANIEL BRYAN CASHES IN.
World Heavyweight Championship: Big Show (c) vs. Daniel Bryan
Three seconds later, we have yet another new WHC holder, even though Big Show kicks out, as it's half a second too late.
WINNER (and new World Heavyweight champion): Daniel Bryan via pinfall.
I'm not the giant Daniel Bryan supporter out there, so I don't really want to see him as the champ, especially since I loved what Mark Henry was doing. However, it was awesome witnessing this live, I'll give them that, and for all I know, they could have something good in the future with this.
Josh Mathews is backstage with Booker, who says he's hurting, but he doesn't want to go out as a sucker. [suckaaaaaa]
Intercontinental Championship: Cody Rhodes (c) vs. Booker T
Big pop for Booker, since we didn't think it would happen. Third time's the charm for the night. Lots of fans for both, though Booker was the winner from the crowd. Pleasantly surprised by Booker's lack of ring rust. Spinarooni was a big hit, and despite Chris Dace's efforts to convince Booker from the audience that a second Spinarooni would defeat Cody, we didn't get to witness a sequel - at least for that. Cody Rhodes after he hits the Beautiful Disaster kick for the second time.
WINNER: Cody Rhodes via pinfall.
I would have replaced that second BD kick with the Cross Rhodes, but I enjoyed this match a lot, and I'm glad that Cody Rhodes retained in it as well.
WWE Championship [TLC Match]: CM Punk (c) vs. The Miz vs. Alberto Del Rio
The crowd completely ate up Punk the whole match. It's amazing how much he and Ryder have the crowds in their hands. There was some interesting stuff with Ricardo handcuffing CM Punk to the ladder (and later on, to the ring turnbuckle). Big spot of the night goes to Ricardo, falling off the top of the ladder onto the outside and through one of the tables. It looked like he missed the second table he was supposed to go through (by overshooting), so the spill was nasty, but he seems ok. CM Punk wins the match after hitting a GTS on Miz and blasting Del Rio in the head with a kick.
WINNER: CM Punk via...grabbing the belt.
Very good match, entertaining from bell to bell.
Awesome night. I'll be uploading the interviews I was able to record later on this week for the next episode of Smack Talk, so stay tuned for that, and as soon as I get a chance, I'll rewatch this pay-per-view and add some more detail above.
HIGH SPOTS
1. Ryder winning the title
2. Daniel Bryan cashing in Money in the Bank
3. Booker T...or Ricardo's spot
LOW BLOWS
1. Divas match
2. Tag team championship match
3. Botched pedigree
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE TLC 2011 PPV?
LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS BELOW!
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