WWE/TNA: My Top 10 Moments of the Week

This is the start of a weekly article featuring what are my personal top 10 moments of the week. It will feature moments from Raw, SmackDown, Impact Wrestling and pay-per-views, if there are any on a particular week.

This was a great week to be a wrestling fan.

We had Survivor Series this past Sunday, solid episodes of Raw and SmackDown and a good showing from TNA’s Impact Wrestling.

A lot of great things happened this week, but I narrowed it down to 10.

These are my top 10 moments of the week!

10. Thanksgiving Thong Thunder

No, I didn’t like the match. I thought it was a complete insult to a division that prides itself on not doing matches like this.

As a guy, though, I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t awesome to see those six beautiful women wrestling in their lingerie.

What I liked about this was how this match came to be and the possible outcome it may have.

For weeks we’ve seen the vice president of the Knockout’s division, Karen Jarrett, try to “clean up” the division. She didn’t like the fact that the Knockout’s wore skimpy outfits and thought they should dress more appropriately.

She finally gave up this past Thursday and ordered Angelina Love, Winter, Velvet Sky and TNT to wrestle in their lingerie as punishment. Also added to the match was Karen’s lackey, Madison Rayne.

The match itself wasn’t bad, but it also wasn’t too good.

Backstage after the match, Karen yelled at them saying that their outfits weren’t skimpy enough. Next week, we’ll see them all wrestle again wearing ring attire Karen chooses.

I think this match is the beginning of the end of Karen Jarrett. Both the face and heel Knockouts weren’t too happy with the match. You could actually see Tara’s real displeasure as she walked to the ring.

It’s only a matter of time before the faces and the heels band together to get rid of Karen.

Before the match, Mickie James tried to convince Gail Kim to get Karen to stop the match since she left WWE due to the mistreatment of the women’s division there. She called Gail a hypocrite and they fought.

I think Gail will eventually see the light and she will also help take out the VP of the division.

That leaves us with Madison Rayne.

She loves Karen, but Karen mistreats her. She ignores the other half of the Knockout’s Tag Team Champions and only pays attention to Gail.

While she will be the last to do so, she too will join in on the rebellion.

The match itself was an insult and a waste of time, but it will serve a greater purpose. That’s why it made the list.

9. A Giant Flies

When I saw the Big Show climbing to the top rope, I had two different responses.

The first was that Mark Henry was going to get up and we we’re going to get another superplex. The other was that Big Show was going to lose his balance and end up tumbling to the floor.

Mark Henry didn’t get up, nor did the World’s Largest Athlete fall. He leaped from the top rope and delivered the biggest elbow drop I have ever seen.

Just seeing someone of his size jumping off the top is a sight in itself. The elbow drop made it that much cooler.

The fans went nuts and Macho Man chants filled the arena. I myself was cheering at home.

I have seen a lot in my 20 years of watching professional wrestling, but I have never seen anything like that, at least not that I can’t remember.

It’s something we’ll probably never see again and that’s why it makes the list.

8. Daniel Bryan Becomes No. 1 Contender

Daniel Bryan got the opportunity Teddy Long promised him as he was placed in a match with Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes and Wade Barrett.

Bryan won the match with the Labelle Lock on Rhodes to become the No. 1 contender for the World Heavyweight Championship.

This was an overall great fatal-four way match. It was fast-paced throughout while giving us nonstop back-and-forth action.

It was also cool seeing the Legion of Doom/Road Warriors getting a nod with the use of their Doomsday Device.

This match proved that Daniel Bryan can hang in the main event. While Cody Rhodes and Wade Barrett aren’t fully inserted into the main event picture, they might as well be with their feuds with Randy Orton.

We will now see Bryan take on Mark Henry on a special live SmackDown inside of a steel cage.

This is the moment of truth for Bryan. If he can put on a good performance with Mark Henry, he’ll solidify himself as a main event star.

7. Zack Ryder and Sheamus vs. Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger

WWE gave us a great tag-team match here.

The faces dominated the first half before the commercial break, with Sheamus wailing away on Ziggler and Swagger. We also got to see Ryder fly over the top rope onto the heels.

After the commercial, the heels started to take control and we saw some good tag-team wrestling from Vickie’s boys.

Ziggler and Swagger are really starting to mesh well together. They’re starting to become a great team. I hope WWE doesn’t drop the ball with them, as I think they could help carry the dead tag division into something great.

The end of the match saw the Long Island Iced Z hit the Rough Rider on Ziggler for the win.

I love the new Sheamus. His ground-and-pound style fits his character very well and I hope he’ll be back in the title picture soon.

The fans are really getting behind Zack Ryder and WWE better be taking notice. Give that man a title, he’ll take it to new heights!

Like I said earlier Vickie’s boys are really working well together. They should have the Tag Team Championship around their waists.

6. The Big Red Monster Is Returning

I have always been a fan of Kane. Whether WWE told us to love him or hate him, I always cheered for the Big Red Monster.

When they took his mask off in 2003, he lost a lot of steam. He was still a monster, but he was humbled.

He just wasn’t the Kane of old, but I was still in his corner.

This past Monday on Raw, WWE aired a video hyping the return of Kane. I got excited because I knew he would be back soon. Then at the end of the video, we saw his mask on the ground engulfed in flames.

I marked out big time.

While that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s coming back with his mask on, it’s certainly a possibility.

Either way, Kane is returning and a lot of people are going to get hurt!

5. Team Storm vs. Team Angle

TNA took a page out of WWE’s playbook and had an elimination match of their own here.

We saw James Storm lead his team of A.J. Styles, Jeff Hardy, Rob Van Dam and Mr. Anderson to take on Kurt Angle’s team of Bobby Roode, Jeff Jarrett, Christopher Daniels and Bully Ray.

The first half of the match was very fast-paced. Throughout the whole match we got some nice back-and-forth action as six of the eight went at it.

At the time, Roode was on commentary and Hardy was taken out by Jarrett earlier in the night.

The first half saw the eliminations of Anderson and Roode.

The match slowed down a bit after the commercial and Van Dam was eliminated leaving it three-on-one. Styles came from behind and Hardy made his way to the ring in time for them to eliminate Jarrett, Daniels and Ray.

Post-match, Roode took out Styles and Hardy with the World Championship belt.

This was an overall great match. All eight men put on good performances here and the four rivalries involved were all advanced.

TNA gave us a strong-looking main event and it delivered.

4. Daniel Bryan Briefly Wins the World Title

SmackDown started out with Mark Henry heading to the ring. He complained about what happened at Survivor Series and how he doesn’t deserve that kind of treatment.

He’s hurt, but not broken.

That brought out the Big Show, who basically said that payback was a bitch. Henry called him a loser and Show gave him the Weapon of Mass Destruction punch and knocked him out.

At this point, I had given up on Daniel Bryan taking advantage of a down champion with his Money in the Bank briefcase. Then his music hit.

I was kind of at the edge of my seat. He cashed it in, rolled over the champion and got the three-count!

Daniel Bryan was the new World Heavyweight Champion! The crowd went absolutely nuts! It was certainly a great moment.

That great moment was ruined by Teddy Long, though. He came out and said that Mark Henry wasn’t ready due to his injury, so the match never happened.

Hey, Teddy, where were you and other general managers when the heels cashed in on face champions that weren’t ready?

Henry was awarded back the title, but Teddy gave Bryan a chance to get the belt back later in the night.

Even though he only had it for a few minutes, seeing Daniel Bryan win the World Championship was a very cool moment.

The fans watching live loved it and I’m sure the people watching at home did as well.

3. The People’s Champion Returns to the Ring

A lot of people were skeptical about the Rock wrestling at Survivor Series. Some didn’t like it because he was taking someone else’s spot on the big 25th anniversary show. Others felt that WWE should have saved his in-ring return for WrestleMania.

For as many that were against it, there were more that were excited about it.

This would be the first time the People’s Champion would wrestle inside a WWE ring in seven years. Fan’s hopes were high and the Rock delivered.

When he got in the ring, chants of “you still got it” filled the arena. The fans were eating it up, and the Rock was thriving on it. 

Once he got into the ring, no one wanted to see him leave it. Chants of “don’t tag Cena” echoed throughout the crowd and it was clear they only wanted to see the Rock lay boots to asses that night.

The Rock did not disappoint, and he electrified the WWE once again.

When the Rock picked up the win with the People’s Elbow, everyone went nuts, myself included.

And while the “Rock Bottom heard ‘round the world” wasn’t exactly such, it was still an awesome sight to see the Rock deliver the move to Cena.

WWE gave us a taste of WrestleMania, but now I want the whole meal. After seeing the Brahma Bull back in the ring, I am now officially excited for WrestleMania 28.

2. CM Punk vs. Dolph Ziggler

When interim Raw general manager John Laurinaitis made this champion versus champion match, my initial thought was, “This is going to be great!”

When the match started, I was blown away.

This was a great match from beginning to end. Throughout the match we got some very good back-and-forth action and overall great wrestling by both wrestlers.

CM Punk was great, like he always is, and Dolph Ziggler proved that he can hang in the main event scene on Raw.

I think this match proved that the main event scene on Raw, while disturbingly small right now, has great promise next year.

The match these two had gives me hope that Raw is heading in the right direction come 2012.

I predicted in my Raw review on Tuesday that Dolph Ziggler could win the Royal Rumble.

I still stand by that. If he were to win, and if Punk holds onto the title until then, the WWE Championship match at WrestleMania should be a five-star showcase.

1. It Begins

My No. 1 moment of the week was the new, mysterious video WWE gave us hints at during Raw and SmackDown.

I remember seeing one of WWE’s little Twitter announcements going crazy. I noticed something, but I wasn’t quick enough to see exactly what it was.

I was recording Raw on Monday, so I want back after the show and paused it. It was a YouTube link.

I immediately thought of the “Save Us.222” and “2-21-11” videos and quickly opened Firefox. I typed in the link and got the “It Begins” video.

It was creative, it was creepy and it told us nothing about exactly who was returning.

All we got was that a “familiar force” was returning on January 2, 2012.

Rumors have been running rampant ever since. Some think it’s the Undertaker, while others think its Chris Jericho. WWE could screw us and it could be a second hype video for Kane.

The popular choices are the Deadman and Y2J.

The most likely candidate is the Undertaker. He should be returning soon to start setting up his match at WrestleMania.

It could very well be Jericho, though. While he said he’d never wrestle for WWE again, he never said anything about entertaining for them.

This is something to be excited about and I personally can’t wait until the second of January.

Final Thoughts

Survivor Series was without a doubt the best showing of the week.

When it comes to weekly television, though, I got to give it to Monday Night Raw. I have been very critical of WWE’s flagship show as of late, but this past Monday’s show was very good.

I just hope they can keep it up and give us great television leading all the up to WrestleMania 28!

Agree with my top 10? Disagree? Feel free to say what your favorite moments of the week were down in the comments!

Thanks for reading!