Tuesday 15 January 2013

WWE TLC 2012 Review

The final WWE PPV of the year took place last Sunday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Will the WWE end the year on a high? Let's take a look

The Pre-Show match was a Santa's Little Helper Divas Battle royal between Natalya, Alicia Fox, Kaitlyn, Tamina Snuka, Cameron, Naomi, Askana, Layla and Rosa Mendes. Rosa was the first to be eliminated thanks to Natalya, Tamina eliminates Cameron, Askana eliminates Alicia, Layla eliminates Askana, Layla is eliminated by Tamina, Natalya is eliminated by Kaitlyn. Naomi helps Kaitlyn eliminate Tamina and then Eve, who was on commentary, slaps Kaitlyn giving Naomi the chance to eliminate her and win the match. The match was decent enough and, whilst Naomi winning is one of those "What the Fuck?!" moments, it does seem to progress the rivalry between Eve and Kaitlyn.
Winner: Naomi                                                                                                          
Predictions: 0 for 1

The PPV officially starts with a Tables match between Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara and Team Rhodes Scholars to determine the No 1 contenders for the Tag Team Championships. Rey and Cara get out a table and start to hit his opponents with it. Cody and Damien focus their attack on Cara and try to reverse suplex him through it. However, he was unsuccessful. Cody hits the Disaster kick on Cara and Damien fucks up Rey by slamming him against the crowd barriers. Rhodes Scholars put their opponents on tables outside the ring and are about to splash them through when Rey recovers and stops that from happening. Rey tries to make a comeback and almost puts Cody through the table. The end comes when Cara attempts a springboard crossbody but Cody pushes him off the ropes and sends him flying through the tables outside the ring to give his team the victory. It was a good match and I loved the ending, although it looked like Cara got injured. Sin Cara needs to stop wearing his White Power Ranger costume at Pay-Per-Views has he seems to get injured wearing it.
Winners: Team Rhodes Scholars
Predictions: 1 for 2

The next match was for the United States Championship as Antonio Cesario was challenged by R-Truth. Some of the highlights include Truth getting his head bounced the turnbuckles and him no-selling it; and Truth hitting an impressive scissor kick. The end comes when Cesario almost sends Truth  into the referee and takes advantage by hitting an European uppercut followed by the Neutraliser to get the win. It was a nice, short match and I'm loving Cesario's reign as United States Champion.
Winner: Antonio Cesario
Predictions: 2 for 3

After we see Dolph Ziggler get interviewed by Josh "Bad Timing" Mathews, we get Miz TV. The Miz interviews 3MB, well it was more of a slagging match than an interview. 3MB decide to start slagging off the Spanish announcers. Ricardo "Virgil" Rodriguez comes down to help out the announcers so 3MB start to attack him. Alberto Del Rio comes down to help Ricardo and it gets into a brawl involving everyone. Heath Slater then issues a challenge: 3MB against The Miz, Alberto Del Rio and a partner of their choice. I can see this being a good match, although I hope this doesn't lead to Alberto Del Rio turning face.

The next match is for the Intercontinental Championship as Wade Barrett challenges Kofi Kingston. Barrett had the early momentum, doing an impressive springboard into a backbreaker. Barrett hits two Boss Man slams, each time leading into a 2 count. Barrett went for the Bullhammer but it was countered into a Trouble in Paradise by Kofi to get him the win. I enjoyed the match and hopefully we might get a rematch in the near future.
Winner: Kofi Kingston
Predictions: 3 for 4

After we get an injury update by WWE Champion CM Punk with Paul Heyman, the next match is a TLC match between The Shield and the team of Ryback and Team Hell No. The match is basically chaos. We get Ryback and Ambrose in the ring and Reigns and Rollins help out when they take out Kane and Bryan. Some of the other highlights include Ambrose DDT-ing Kane onto a chair; Ryback suplexing Ambrose and Rollins onto a ladder; Ryback getting powerbombed through the Spanish Announce table; Kane chokeslamming Ambrose through the table; Reigns spearing Kane through the barricade; Ryback hitting Ambrose with the Shell Shock; and Rollins getting pulled from the ladder through a table. The end comes when Reigns powerbombed Bryan from the top turnbuckle through a table to get the pinfall and the victory. This was an absolutely amazing match and I was really impressed with all the competitors.
Winners: The Shield
Predictions: 4 for 5

The Divas Championship is on the line as Naomi challenges Eve. Eve starts mocking Naomi and is dominated by Naomi to begin with, displaying her acrobatic skills. Eve gets to use her experience against Naomi and takes advantage of a missed splash to hit a neckbreaker to get the win. It was a very short match, which you can expect for a Divas match unfortunately. It would have been nice if they had a little bit more time for their match to tell a better story.
Winner: Eve Torres
Predictions: N/A

The World Heavyweight Championship is on the line in a chairs match as Sheamus gets his rematch against Big Show. The match was a very physical contest and Sheamus was the first one to bring out a chair but Show didn't give him much chance to use it. Sheamus manages to use it before Show returned the favour later on. Other highlights include Show hitting a chokeslam for a 2 count; Show hitting a Vader bomb; and Sheamus reversing a chokeslam into a white noise sending Show through 2 chairs. Show thought he won it when he avoided a Brogue kick and hit the WMD but it only got him 2. Show then decides to bring a massive chair and hits Sheamus with it to get the pinfall and retain the World Heavyweight Championship. I thought the match was ok for most of it until near the end where they was some really good spots. Hopefully, Show will go on to someone else.
Winner: Big Show
Predictions: 5 for 6

The penultimate match is a tag team match between 3MB and the team of Alberto Del Rio, The Miz and The Brooklyn Brawler(?) The match is quite short and the end comes when Miz hits Jinder Mahal  with the skull crushing finale and Brawler tags in. Brawler applies a really bad looking Boston crab on Mahal to get the win. The match was ok and that's it really.
Winners: The Miz, Alberto Del Rio and the Brooklyn Brawler.
Predictions: N/A

The main event was John Cena taking on Dolph Ziggler in a ladder match for the MITB briefcase. After Cena sends Ziggler to the outside, he gets hit with a chair to the gut. A ladder gets brought out for the first time and they start using against each other. Other highlights of the match include Ziggler applying a sleeper hold, yet Cena still having the strength to climb the ladder while this is happening before he passed out and them both going through a table; Cena applying the STF; and Ziggler getting out the AA to hit the Zig Zag. The end comes when it looks like Cena has the match won when AJ pushes the ladder, sending Cena flying. This gives Ziggler the oppportunity to climb the ladder and rightfully reclaim the briefcase that he shouldn't have to put up in the fucking first place. It was a good match and all I can say is thank God for AJ.
Winner: Dolph Ziggler
Predictions: 6 for 7

Even though it took me almost a month to get through it, I thought TLC was pretty good. The crowd, as always in New York, were brilliant, and most of the matches were really fun to watch. WWE has some emerging talent coming through and I hope they continue with that in 2013.

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