History and Controversy Abound WWE TLC: Sheamus, McIntyre, DX New Champs

WWE TLC definitely made history with the titles changing hands all over and falling into the hands of the newcomers.  Of course, there are people who would think otherwise with regards to the results, but I think it was a successful show. 

I was not that excited for the whole thing, actually.  Aside from Orton’s match, and DX vs. Jerishow I wasn’t really into the other matches.  But now I think every match delivered something to the table at least.

Let’s begin with the first match, the Ladder Match for the ECW Championship

I don’t get why they started the show with a championship match.  I mean, okay, it is the ECW championship, but come on.  At least put it on top of the Diva’s match or McIntyre vs. Morrison match.  Shelton and Christian wanted to steal the show. But how are they gonna steal the show if they start it? There’s nothing to steal yet.

Anyway, it was pretty good. They started off a bit slow, but went on to high gear soon enough. It was spot-fest galore, but then what else are you gonna expect with these two, right?

At one point, Christian was going to throw a ladder on to Shelton who was outside the ring but Shelton pulled his legs from under him and the ladder crashed onto his face.  Blood got spilled and the people called for more shouting “we want blood”.  I do too, but we’re not getting that.

Another amazing spot was when Shelton walked on the rope, hopped on top of the ladder and crashed down on Christian.  I thought he was going to tip the ladder over and grab the belt.  But I have to say, that was even better.

Well, they still didn’t give the title to Shelton. Big Surprise. Where does this take Shelton now? I don’t know.  But hopefully they give him another shot at the title.

Next match was for the Intercontinental Championship between John Morrison and Drew McIntyre.

Drew took control of the match early, and John Morrison never really had an advantage.  It wasn’t a very exciting match, of course that could have had something to do with the Ladder match being on first.  Matt Striker was probably the only reason that match was interesting, if at all.

Drew was impressive enough, but Matt Striker talking him up made him more so.  The match picked up right around the middle, with a Morrison DDT that didn’t even get a count and then a face first sling shot slam by Drew.  Morrison got the starship pain to connect only for the ref to stop count at two because Drew’s foot was under the rope.

Funny thing happened; Morrison pulled off his belt in the middle of ring and didn’t even use it.  He threw it to the corner instead and had the ref get it, taking his eyes off the match.  There’s two things I saw there.  Either the writers are stupid enough to have Morrison do that for no reason, or they’re kind of smart as to make it like a foreboding to the inevitable: Morrison losing his IC belt.

Anyway, after that Drew poked Morrison on the eyes and went for the double underhook DDT, and we got a new Intercontinental Champion.

Backstage, there was a segment with Vince and Drew before Josh came in for an interview.  Looks like Vinnie Mac has got a new pet project.

Next match was a Tables Match for the WWE Championship with John Cena vs. Sheamus.

Now, the result of this match got some mixed reaction.  People are going about how Sheamus should not have won.  I thought it was fine.  I mean, Sheamus’ rivalry with Cena has been getting a lot of media mileage in print and in the internet.  I think the WWE’s letting him win is just them banking on that.

People are also actually chanting Sheamus’ name during the match.  Okay, so maybe it’s not a testament of how popular Sheamus is, but how much they really don’t like Cena.  Besides, haven’t we called for new faces in the title scene? So now that we got Drew and Sheamus, what’s all the complaining about?

Anyway, the match was actually pretty good. Those two really went for it.  Sheamus had so many welts, I thought he’d end the match with his skin matching his hair.  There were some hold your breath moments, with both men teetering on the rope with the table standing prone either outside or inside the ring several times, until finally Cena crashed down on one.

I’ve read someone commented that it was a mistake and that the two of them are supposed to crash on the table together, so there’d be no clean winner.  But, I think the ending was good as it is.

Have to take note though; this is probably the only reason why I’m kind of having mixed emotions about the result, at least for a moment.  Those kids they showed at the end of the match looked like they were about to cry. I think one of them was even teary eyed. They looked like they’ve been told there’s no Santa.

Next up was the World Heavyweight Championship Chairs Match between the Undertaker and Batista.

Batista came to the ring first, not doing his machine-gun-firing-grenade-throwing gesture.  He means business.  Out came Undertaker next, and Lawler talks about how awe inspiring.  Batista started the offense, going out of the ring and taking a chair but Taker stopped him in his tracks. And they went from there, exchanging offenses.

To be honest, it wasn’t at all exciting.  I don’t even really get what a chair match is.  I mean, in the table match, you have to get your opponent through a table to win. In a ladder match, the ladder is not only used as a weapon legally, but you have to climb on one to get the titles—literally.  All this chair match has is the legality of the use of the chairs and that’s it.  You still have to get a pinfall or submission to win a match.

Anyway, so Batista almost won the title after a low blow to the Undertaker but Teddy Long decided to enforce the rules and re-started the match.  Taker immediately took care of business and won the match via piledriver and a three count.

Next match was a non-title match with Randy Orton vs. Kofi Kingston. 

I was expecting this match to be on much earlier, at least before the two world title matches, but hey, I’m not complaining. It’s Randy f****n’ Orton, as one of my friends would say.  For real, it wasn’t me.

Before the match, there was a small segment backstage with Legacy trying to intimidate Kofi.  Well, that didn’t work and Kofi decided to go up in Orton’s face. In his dressing room no less.  Wrong move, Kofi.  That little talk he gave to Orton must have angered the Viper and gave him something to want to prove, even though he doesn’t have to.

Okay, I’m gonna stop talking in kayfabe now.

So anyway, Randy comes out first, all by himself, serious as always, in all his oily and sweaty glory.  Then Kofi comes out next.  They lock up as soon as the bell rang, and Orton locks Kofi in a headlock.  I noticed a “Disciple of Orton” in the crowd, and people start to chant RKO.

One amazing spot was when Randy executed a drop kick outside the ring while Kofi was diving onto him. He hit Kofi right on the ribcage.  That was awesome.  Randy then took control from then until a failed RKO attempt.  Kofi delivered the boom drop followed by trouble in paradise, and a cover for two counts because Randy held on to the bottom rope.

Then the beginning of the end started with an Elevated DDT as Kofi was getting inside the ring, after he pushed Orton back in the ring under the rope.  Striker said that was the beauty about Orton; that he’s always thinking.

Orton went for the punt kick then, but hit only Kofi’s arm.  He immediately gave him another DDT, and went on stalking mode.  Kofi tried trouble in paradise but Orton ducked, reversed it into an RKO and knocked Kofi out, went for the pin and won.

This feud seems to be over now but, I think it has pretty much served its purpose.  That being, Randy helping to get Kofi into main event status.  I’m happy they decided to let Randy take the victory here, because really, if they had him lose they might have helped Kofi but it’s going to be detrimental to Randy.

And so we head to the last match, the main event, the TLC Match for the Unified Tag Team Championship between Degeneration-X and Jerishow.

This one, like I said above, was the best match of the night.  It was worthy of being the last match. Everybody was awesome.  Although, I had the feeling DX was gonna win like around a week ago, so I expected the result. 

The match itself was executed perfectly with regards to the flow.  It was a skirmish right from the start, and that got the crowd going.  Jericho and Shawn went at it inside and around the ring, while Show and Triple H took it to the crowd and up the ramp.

The match went another up another level when all four of them got back in the ring (close to it, at least) for the most part.  One example of that ‘flow’ I’m talking about is when Show went for a chokeslam, which HHH reversed it to a DDT.  Then Shawn went for the elbow drop on Show.  He then attempted a Sweet Chin Music on Jericho, but didn’t connect. Jericho went for a Codebreaker.  Then HHH put him in a Spinebuster.

The transition was basically like that all throughout the match.  Quick and exact.

After Show broke a second ladder, he and Jericho made a DX sandwich with the ladder and knocks DX out to the outside. Jericho tries to climb one half of the ladder to get the belts.  DX were still out of the ring by then, so Jericho called Show back and told him to carry him over his shoulder.  And then DX came back in and Shaw hits SCM on Show and Jericho fell down to the table outside the ring.

Shaw delivered another SCM on Show, then they hit him with half the broken ladder.  HHH held the ladder for Shawn and climbed to get the belts, and took them.

I think it’s just right to have DX win it, and have Shawn be the one to grab the belts.  DX isn’t gonna be around much longer so I think they should at least hold those tag titles at least once.  And Shawn is one of the originators of the ladder match, so he it’s justified for him to get that honor.

Also, Jerishow has run their course I think.  As much as I love watching Jericho on Raw, he needs to focus back on his singles career.  Also, Big Show is getting a knee surgery so he’s gonna need the time off.

Now, do I think, after watching the whole thing, that Shelton and Christian stole the show?  No, I don’t. I think the best match was the TLC match, and next to that is Orton vs. Kofi –the only non-title match of the event.  Ladder match between Shelton and Christian, for me, comes third.

All in all, I think it was a pretty solid show.  Confusions and controversies does always stir up more interest so Sheamus winning accidentally or not is good with me.