WWE TLC 2011 Results: Was It Worth the Money to Watch It?

The big question when deciding to fork over money for anything is actually a simple one: "Is it worth it?" 

That's the question I always ask myself in any case.  Paying $45.00 for watching scripted events take place in the ring is a difficult one justify. Luckily, the WWE has been on an absolute tear since Money In The Bank. On paper, the decision was easy.

In hindsight, was it worth the money?

Well, that depends on you honestly. But given the events of the night, it was an easy "yes" for me.

I judge any Pay-Per-View buy on four factors.  Match quality, story telling, booking and psychology, and technical factors.  Let's get to it.

Match Quality

To be succinct, some matches were a little shorter than I would have liked.  Barrett and Orton could have used more time, and announcing a surprisingly good Divas Title match would have helped.

In terms overall quality, all the matches delivered except for Big Show and Mark Henry. Simply put, a five minute World Title match is a little hard to swallow, but it is possible this couldn't have been helped.

Ryder and Ziggler were great in their match. Orton and Barrett put on a solid enough exhibition and Triple H and Nash was a surprisingly good match. Booker T and Cody Rhodes was a good time as well.

The match of the night belongs to the main event with Punk, Miz and Del Rio. Simply put, that was a spectacular match and one of the better ones this year.

There left little to be desired in this regard. Worth the price of admission? Yes.

Storytelling

One thing that made Money In The Back so memorable was the storytelling of the main event. Honestly, it was one of the best builds I have ever seen in for a match and I have been watching wrestling since I could crawl.

Generally speaking, TLC may have that one great build. On the whole, it added up in three regards. 

The first is Ryder's United States Title win. Simply put, you have to feel for Ryder coveting the championship and finally defeating Ziggler when it mattered. If you think about his story up to now, this was a tremendous "feel good" moment and a tremendous cap to his storybook year.

CM Punk, The Miz, and Alberto Del Rio put on a clinic in this area in the main event. Punk overcame a numbers game and being handcuffed twice to retain the WWE Championship. Del Rio looked vicious tonight, and Miz looked good in moments as well. Punk proved that creativity will get you far where he actually unscrewed one of the turnbuckles to free himself from being handcuffed a second time.

Daniel Bryan finally saw his moment as well. After Big Show and Mark Henry collided in the ring and Big Show ate a DDT onto a pile of chairs in the aftermath, Bryan came out and cashed in his briefcase to win the World Heavyweight Championship. He went so far as hop on the announcers table and rub it in Michael Cole's face in a great bit of poetic justice. 

Another solid bit of storytelling was with Booker T. Cody Rhodes assaulted him twice tonight in a bid to knock him out of their match before it got started. Booker manned up and fought Rhodes tooth and nail before falling to two Beautiful Disasters from Cody.  There was more story here with the old time veteran getting one last go in the ring that made me smile.

The last noteworthy item was the Triple H and Kevin Nash. If you get a chance to watch the highlights or the match itself, do it. Great ring storytelling with Triple H closing the door he and Nash's history.

Simply put, there was nothing left on the table. Brilliantly done tonight.

Booking and Psychology

The lack of John Cena on the card left the WWE to rely on some old fashioned booking to get the job done.

For the record, this never fails.

The fans got everything they wanted with Punk retaining, Ryder and Bryan winning, and some good flow to the show. Ryder and Ziggler were the perfect warm up match to give the fans a taste of things to come. The show slowed down the pace for a few matches than switched gears with Triple H and Nash.

Cody and Booker were a good "breather" match (but good stuff none the less). The show than climaxed with Bryan's cash in and Punk's retention in a drama filled main event. This is classic booking at it's finest. 

Another good part of the show were the announcers actually calling the matches. When Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler call the action instead of becoming the action, they are surprisingly good to listen to. They did well tonight.

Technical Factors

I streamed the PPV from WWE.com and noticed no video or audio quality issues. The camera angles were good at the appropriate moments and there was not botches in terms of abrupt cut outs or misplaced cues.  This is par for the course for the WWE, but they were solid tonight.

Worth the money?

In my mind, yes. For me, this was the best Pay-Per-View since Money In The Bank and it might have surpassed it in some areas. Probably the best $45.00 I've spent this month.