Five Good Things: WWE TLC 2011

December 19th, 2011 ~ Permalink ~ 11 notes

• Five Good Things
• PPV
• WWE

1. Broski of the United States ~ TLC kicked off with a match that had been anticipated by fans around the world: Dolph Ziggler vs. Zack Ryder for the United States Championship. Between the feud sparked by Z! True Long Island Story, Zack’s phenomenal success, and Cena’s heroic sacrifice to get Zack this shot, this match had one of the best stories of the year going in—and at the end of the match, it was still a great story. Ziggler pulled out his entire arsenal in his attempt to defend his championship, but the Ryder Revolution would not be denied this night, and one well-placed Rough Ryder was enough to secure Zack’s place in history as a United States Champion. The match itself was aided by a white-hot crowd—which included Z!TLIS regulars The Big O and Zack’s father, who celebrated with Zack after the match—and some stellar in-ring work by Dolph and Zack. The fans got their emotional catharsis by getting to see Zack win the most important match of his career to date, and WWE gets to both observe how Zack works as a champ and position Dolph closer to the main event level. Everyone wins in this situation, but nobody moreso than Zack Ryder, who had arguably the biggest year out of anyone in wrestling in terms of career advancement and growth. Woo Woo Woo—You Know It.
2. Watch the Skies: Air Boom is Back ~ An unadvertised match for the WWE Tag Team Championship saw the return to pay-per-view of Evan Bourne (back from his Wellness Vacation) and Kofi Kingston as the Air Boom tag team. Their opponents for the night were the newly-formed tag team of Epico and Primo, who were accompanied to the ring by Rosa Mendes (and I’d like to say how refreshing it is to see Divas in a role other than “cannon fodder”). This was standard tag team fare, but in a company that doesn’t pride itself on a strong tag team division, this was practically a godsend to said division. Air Boom retained the titles—which proved me wrong about Evan suffering some Wellness Payback—and with any luck, they’ll be defending them on a regular basis again. WWE looks to be trying to restock the tag team division with actual tag teams—Air Boom, The Usos, Epico and Primo—so I hope to see more teams in the future. There’s a lot of guys in FCW that could use a good opportunity, after all.
3. What a Horrible Night to Have an Irish Curse ~ Jack Swagger got himself into some trouble by running his mouth off to both Teddy Long and Sheamus; for his troubles, Swagger got a nice big Brogue Kick and a three-second tan (not the spray-on kind, the “look at the lights” kind). This may have been a filler match to kill some time between Nash/Triple H and Henry/Big Show, but even for a short filler match, it was still action-packed. Sheamus continues to impress me with his in-ring work, and I love a heroic character who isn’t afraid to get overly aggressive in order to win a match; it’s the kind of edge some heroes in wrestling need right now to liven their characters up.
4. The American Dragon Rises ~ Mark Henry lost his Chairs Match to The Big Show, which would have made this a “Bad Thing” (as I’ve been a big fan of Henry’s “Hall of Pain” run). What pushed this into “Good Thing” territory was Daniel Bryan using his Money In The Bank contract to capitalize on a downed Big Show and win the World Heavyweight Championship. The storyline this victory sets up has the potential to be awful (surprise cash-ins and first-time championship runs haven’t worked out well) or incredible (Bryan could run with the title all the way to WrestleMania), but I have little faith in what’s to come from WWE in the near future. Cynicism aside, however, Bryan’s victory was a big moment for his career, and his supporters have every reason in the world to be happy for him right now. Bryan was one-half of the indy duo holding world titles this night, though, and the second half still had his match to worry about…
5. The Man with the Pepsi Tattoo ~ …but when CM Punk faces a challenge, he doesn’t run from it. Even though he was weakened by an attack six days prior and handicapped by having two opponents who wanted nothing more than to take him out, Punk took the fight right to Alberto Del Rio and The Miz. Ladders to the face couldn’t stop him; falling through tables couldn’t stop him; even being handcuffed to the turnbuckles couldn’t stop CM Punk from taking out both Del Rio and Miz and retaining his championship in the show’s best match. All three men had a great showing—Del Rio seems to be at his best in ladder matches, oddly enough—and even Ricardo Rodriguez had a shining moment when, after climbing a ladder, he got dumped to the outside and through a table in a spot that looked like it might have crippled him. Del Rio and Miz deserve credit for having a fantastic match, but Punk deserves the kudos for winning, as his victory led to a moment that independent wrestling fans will never forget: December 18th, 2011 is the day two former Ring Of Honor Champions held WWE’s two world titles. Not bad for “two indy schmucks”, eh?

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