WWE TLC 2011 Results: 10 Matches We Need to Get at Royal Rumble 2012

WWE TLC is now in the books, and the road to WrestleMania is officially underway.

The first stop on that journey? Well, the Royal Rumble, of course.

Now that the final pay-per-view of 2011 is behind us and we're headed for a brand new year for the WWE, we should have a clearer picture of what's in store for us at the first PPV of 2012.

Though a big chunk of the WWE roster will be competing in the 30-Man Royal Rumble match, the WWE still has a full card to fill out, and as a result, we will likely see numerous wrestlers pulling double duty at the pay-per-view.

So, let's take a look at which guys will be competing twice in one night, or more specifically, which matches I want to see round out the card for the 2012 Royal Rumble. 

10. WWE Tag Team Championship: Air Boom vs. Epico and Primo

We got a few unannounced matches at WWE TLC, and Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne vs. Primo and Epico for the WWE Tag Team Championship was one of them.

The match itself was nothing all that special. Essentially, it was just your standard tag team match that we might get on Raw or Smackdown every week.

That being said, Primo and Epico continue to look great as a team, and we all know that Kingston and Bourne are the best the WWE has to offer from its tag team division at the moment.

So, I don't think that the loss by Primo and Epico should be the end of their feud with Air Boom, especially when you consider that they beat the champions on last week's episode of Superstars.

Plus, who else is Air Boom going to feud with?

9. Diva's Championship: Layla vs. Beth Phoenix

Did we really just watch Beth Phoenix vs. Kelly Kelly for the Diva's Championship again at TLC?

I don't care to keep count, but that's gotta be like the fifth pay-per-view title match between those two this year. And it has to stop.

By that, I don't mean that Beth has to move on to another feud with Eve or Alicia Fox, either. She needs a new challenger that is at least somewhat of a fresh opponent.

Hello, Layla.

The former Diva's Champion has been out of action since May after tearing her ACL, and her return should be right around the corner.

I fully expect Layla to come back soon and feud with Beth for the Diva's title because WWE officials probably realize that they're running out of options for Beth's opponents.

Although we've seen Beth vs. Layla before, that came when Beth was a face and Layla was a heel, so I'm not going to complain if we see these two face each other at the Royal Rumble.

After all, it's one of the few Diva's feuds the WWE could put on at the moment that might actually interest me.

8. Intercontinental Championship: Booker T vs. Cody Rhodes

Cody Rhodes successfully defended his Intercontinental Championship against Booker T at last night's WWE TLC pay-per-view, but that didn't come without controversy.

Though Rhodes' win itself was clean, it only came after he attacked Booker T two times before the match, leaving Booker at far less than 100 percent when they finally did meet in the ring.

I have to think that was done for a reason.

The WWE clearly wanted to build up more tension between these two as we head into the new year, so I wouldn't even be remotely surprised to see them meet again at the Royal Rumble.

And I'd be all for that.

Let Booker T go into that match fully healthy, and then we can see him and Rhodes put on one heck of a match that should really strengthen the pay-per-view's undercard.

7. A 30-Man Royal Rumble Match

Can we all just agree that the 40-Man Royal Rumble format the WWE used earlier this year sucked?

Sometimes, less is more.

Let's go back to the 30-man format.

6. The Miz vs. R-Truth

"The Miz gone get got!"

I can imagine R-Truth returning from his 30-day suspension in the near future and uttering those exact words to his former tag team partner.

Storyline-wise, The Miz is the reason why Truth has missed the past few weeks, and the way that The Miz unceremoniously took Truth out of action leads me to believe that these two could be headed for a feud upon Truth's return.

As good as R-Truth was at the peak of his heel run, his incredible comedic timing and his crazed rants on "Little Jimmy" make him a perfect candidate to turn baby face and come back for a feud with The Miz.

If that doesn't happen, then it will essentially render the breakup of the Awesome Truth completely pointless, and though I'd be disappointed if we didn't get a Truth-Miz feud after the dumb decision to split them up, I certainly wouldn't be surprised.

5. United States Championship: Zack Ryder vs. Alberto Del Rio

It appears as if the WWE is finally ready to move on from the United States Championship feud between Dolph Ziggler and Zack Ryder.

It also appears as if Alberto Del Rio is destined to move from the main event on Monday Night Raw to the show's mid-card scene.

See where am I going here?

Now that he's the United States Champion, Ryder needs someone to feud with over the title, and truth be told, there aren't a whole lot of options for him on the Raw brand.

I think a feud between Ryder and Jack Swagger could be great wrestling-wise—and it could also work since Swagger is Vickie Guerrero's other client—but Swagger has been booked so horrendously as of late that I'm not sure how well that feud would go over.

At least in a rivalry with Del Rio, Ryder would be going against someone who's been WWE Champion twice recently and could put on some good matches with him.

I think Ryder and ADR could really surprise some people with a quality feud for Raw's mid-card title.

4. Wade Barrett vs. Sheamus

I know, I know—there's been nothing that's happened as of late that really points toward a feud between Sheamus and Wade Barrett.

I just really want to see it.

It looks like Barrett and Randy Orton may be going their separate ways, and Sheamus has basically been stuck in no man's land without any real feud since Christian got injured.

So who knows? Maybe the stars are aligning for two of Smackdown's brightest stars to ignite a full-length rivalry after teasing one earlier in the year

If Sheamus and Barrett are not going to be challenging for the World Heavyweight Championship at Royal Rumble, then they might as well be challenging each other.

3. World Heavyweight Championship: The Big Show vs. Daniel Bryan

According to WrestlingNewsWorld.com, Mark Henry is legitimately injured, and that is the primary reason behind him losing the World Heavyweight Championship to The Big Show at last night's WWE TLC pay-per-view.

So assuming Henry is now out of the World title equation, it looks like we'll get The Big Show vs. Bryan for the belt at the Royal Rumble.

That's OK with me.

Though I'm not crazy about the prospects of a Bryan-Show match, a feud between the two does leave the door open for a number of interesting possibilities: Bryan turns heel, Show turns heel, a face vs. face feud, etc.

Plus, it would make Bryan look very good if he was able to beat The Big Show, the same guy who knocked out the World's Strongest Man and ended his reign of terror on Smackdown. Instantly, Bryan would be taken seriously and come across as a credible champion—the David who slays Goliaths, if you will.

2. Kane vs. John Cena

There are plenty of people out there who think that Kane's attack on John Cena doesn't necessarily mean that The Big Red Monster came back as a heel.

I just don't see it that way.

We can't give the creative team too much credit here and assume that Kane's attack was part of some elaborate storyline we'll see play out over the next few months. That's way too much thinking for those creative guys.

In all honestly, I think Kane attacked Cena upon his return so all the women and children would scream, and thus, Kane would be viewed as a bad guy to those not-so-smart WWE fans.

Kane is now a heel, Cena is still a boring baby face and those two will likely collide one-on-one at Royal Rumble.

After all, do you really think it was a coincidence that neither guy appeared at last night's WWE TLC pay-per-view?

1. WWE Championship: CM Punk vs. Dolph Ziggler

I know there are a ton of fans who have already penciled in CM Punk vs. The Miz for the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble, but here is my response to them: why?

It may seem like a Miz-Cena singles match makes sense, and while I wouldn't mind seeing it, there's really no reason why The Miz deserves another shot at the WWE Championship after he just lost to Punk last night.

The Miz had his shot, and he blew it, which wasn't too surprising when you consider that WWE officials reportedly don't think he's capable of being the company's top heel.

If that is indeed the case, then Dolph Ziggler should be given a chance at taking that spot because he's been consistently great over the past several months.

Ziggler has improved drastically on the microphone, he oozes charisma and he's arguably one of the top two or three wrestlers in the entire WWE.

If Ziggler is going to win the 30-Man Royal Rumble and go on to face Punk at WrestleMania 28 (my dream scenario), then that's fine. The WWE should do exactly that.

But if it's going to be Punk vs. Chris Jericho at WrestleMania, like many think it will, then give me Punk-Ziggler at Royal Rumble all day.