By Phil Allely
Recently WWE PPV’s have been taking a knock for their unimaginative take on their product, this week their latest offering TLC (Tables, Ladders & Chairs) tried its best to get things back on track.
Kicking things off well as Dolph Ziggler’s United States title match saw fan favourite Zack Ryder tackle not only the champ, but his femme fatale Vickie Guerrero once again in a involving battle of wits. This time though Ryder saw his ‘Rough Ryder’ finisher hit home and the title become his.
In an OK encounter Air Boom then successfully defended their Tag Team titles in an unimaginative scrap with Epico and Primo.
Considering the PG nature of WWE programming the tables bout between Randy Orton and Wade Barrett next was an inventive, if not exhilarating effort by both. Orton nailing a nasty enough RKO through a table to gain another tick in WWE’s win column.
Many of us still enjoy the Diva’s matches, the Kelly Kelly versus champ Beth Phoenix seemed a bit rushed though. Phoenix as expected pulled off the win with a hard-hitting ‘electric chair’ style move.
Next up the Booker T and Cody Rhodes match saw Rhodes wipe out T before things could even get moving. This no contest left fans feeling a bit short-changed unfortunately.
The Kevin Nash/Triple H scrap under Sledgehammer Ladder rules had its fair share of moments though. With Nash being in his best shape in years it made this all the better, both he and Trips making the best of the situation and utilising the ladders to enhance their bout. The finish coming as Triple H took Nash’s legs out from under him and then nailed him with a pedigree and a sledgehammer shot to end things in his favour.
Sheamus versus Jack Swagger was a reasonable outing for both, Swagger getting to put forth some decent offence before the Irishman turned things around with Brogue Kick for the win.
The Big Show/Mark Henry Chairs match for the World Heavyweight Title saw both grapplers use steel chairs as weapons on each other and more fan interest than their recent encounters. The ending was also a bit of a shock as Show took the win and title with his knockout punch.
Then as Show celebrated his win Henry struck back with a chair and DDT. Leading to Daniel Bryan finally using his Money in the Bank title shot to capitalise on Shows prone condition and raise his first (and long-awaited) WWE World Title.
The Booker T/Cody Rhodes match then saw itself get a reprieve and this time we got to see Booker get some ring time. Still knocked silly form their previous altercation T was able to strike some offence, but only his spin-a-rooni proved fruitful before Cody put him away for real this time.
The main event TLC (Tables,Ladders,Chairs) match rounded things off nicely as WWE Title holder CM Punk successfully defended his belt against the mighty duo of The Miz and Alberto Del Rio. Well-paced and planned this was the highlight of proceedings for its sheer use of the weapons at their disposal and the inventive uses they had for them. Punk though was able to overcome the odds and scale the ladder to reclaim his cherished gold for the win.
TLC 2011 was a mixed bag of an event, but whilst some matches fell below expectations others did tick all the boxes and we did see a number of new champions crowned too. The big news here was Zack Ryder finally getting the nod of approval for all of his hard work and Daniel Bryan’s MITB cash in saw him achieve the one thing he has been touted for since his WWE debut. It will be interesting to see how things move on from here.
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