Who Survived TLC?

Last night was the first ever WWE TLC, Tables, Ladders, and Chairs PPV.  Did you see it?  Well just in case you missed it, here’s what happened:

Ladder Match for the ECW Championship
Christian (Champion) vs. Shelton Benjamin

WINNER: Christian

The ladder match did NOT steal the show as they anticipated.  Hell, for an opening contest they slowed down the show.  On the first ladder spot, Christian dropped the ladder on his face, was cut open and they had to stall the match so he could be tended to.  When that happened, the crowd started chanting, “We want blood!”  Benjamin took some crazy bumps off the ladder to the floor and one from the apron onto a ladder, but it wasn’t enough to really be interesting.

Intercontinental Title Match
Drew McIntyre vs. John Morrison (Champion)

WINNER: Drew McIntyre via Scott Drop (Double Arm DDT)

This was a decent match until the finish.  Morrison hit Star Ship Pain, went for a pin, but McIntyre’s leg was under the bottom rope breaking the count.  McIntyre when he got up tried to grab Morrison by the belt to launch him into the turnbuckle, but his belt snapped.  Morrison improvised, kicked McIntyre and turned to ditch the belt causing the ref to escort the belt out of the ring.  McIntyre took advantage with a thumb to Morrison’s eye and hit the Scott Drop for the pin fall.

Backstage: Josh Matthews approaches Drew McIntyre who’s being congratulated by Vince McMahon, asks him for his feelings on the victory.  He’s interrupted by Sheamus who says, “You’re not the only one who’s leaving with gold tonight!”

Women’s Championship Match
Mickie James vs. Michelle McCool (Champion)

WINNER: Michelle McCool via kick to the face

The deciding factor in this match up was Layla on the outside who came to ring side with Michelle.  Twice she got involved in the match up and yet the referee did not see it or chose not to send her to the back because it wasn’t enough to garner a ejection.  Well, when you look at the way it finished, it was worthy!  Mickie went up to the top, Layla caused a distraction, Mickie almost paid for it on the first time around, but Michelle hit Layla.  Then Mickie knocked off Layla from the apron, but turned right into a kick to the mush!

Tables Match for the WWE Championship
John Cena (Champion) vs. Sheamus

WINNER: Sheamus

Well this match ended with some controversy after we saw the replay.  Cena and Sheamus are battling on the top rope with a table mid ring.  Cena looking to hit a Superplex on Sheamus and that’s where Cena lost his balance from the top rope and fell through the table.  The referee instantly rang the bell and declared Sheamus the winner believing that he saw Sheamus push Cena off the top.  I was shocked to see this, but I’m anxious to see how they’re going to deal with this on RAW.  It was just a crazy sight to see all of the disappointed kids in the crowd.  After the match, Cena took a chunk of table and said to the camera, “Never forget it!”

Chairs Match for the World Heavyweight Championship
The Undertaker (Champion) vs. Batista

WINNER: Batista via pin fall off a low blow and a chair shot; Teddy Long comes out and restarts the match up saying, “I’m not going to let a match end that way!”

WINNER: The Undertaker via pin fall after a chair shot and a Tombstone.

The finish was crazy.  I was a little upset when Batista won the way he did, and when Teddy Long came out I jumped for joy!  The match wasn’t more than 2 minutes after the restart, and the Undertaker walked out of TLC still the World Heavyweight Champion.

Backstage: Legacy approaches Kofi Kingston and say, “don’t worry, we’re not here to attack you.  We know what you’re going through.  We know you’re afraid of Randy!”

• Kingston say, “You go tell Randy… nevermind…” He then walks down the hallway to Randy Orton‘s locker room and tells him to his face, “I think you’re a coward, and I’m looking forward to beating you down tonight!”

Randy Orton vs. Kofi Kingston

WINNER: Randy Orton via pin fall due to an RKO

Back and forth match up.  The finish was awesome!  Orton originally tried to go for the punt to Kofi’s head, but Kofi blocked it with his arm.  Randy took advantage of it hitting an arm bar DDT.   “The Viper” looking to strike set up for an RKO when Kofi out of nowhere went for “Trouble in Paradise,” but Orton ducked under it.  When Kofi got up he was hit with an RKO for the 1-2-3!

Backstage: Batista is fuming mad and approaches Teddy Long in his office saying, “You’re going to make this right or next time this chair will hit your head” as he hit the wall next to him.

TLC Match for the Unified Tag Team Championship
DX (Shawn Michaels & Triple H) vs. Chris Jericho & Big Show (Champions)

WINNERS: DX

The finish to this match was slightly ridiculous.  Big Show had broken two ladders with his bare hands, so Jericho had this idea to get up on Show’s shoulders to reach for the belts.  Well, in that time span HBK and Trips got back into the ring.  HBK hit Sweet Chin Music on Show knocking Jericho all the way to the floor (missed the table he was supposed to land on).  DX then used half of a broken ladder to knock Show out of the ring and then Shawn climbed up the broken piece of ladder while Trips held it up to grab the Tag Team Titles.  This is the 1st time in their history they’ve held the tag team titles.

QUICK THOUGHTS:

This was just simply an average PPV.  There were a few exciting moments, but it wasn’t great.  The only reason why this PPV might be memorable is the fact that John Cena lost the WWE Title to someone not named Randy Orton or Triple H!  To me, that was very unexpected.  I didn’t see this coming this soon, but the controversial ending makes it believable.

I’m a little irritated that DX won the tag team titles.  My main thought right now is where do they go from here with the tag team titles?  It was bad enough when JeriShow squashed everyone, now is DX going to squash everyone?  Are they going to make Legacy a viable tag team again?  I’m a little baffled by this decision by WWE.

The feud between Batista and The Undertaker is going to drag out until Wrestlemania.  I can see Batista winning the Royal Rumble and using his title shot against Taker.  While I’m not excited for it, I have to admit Batista is a very convincing heel and he really sold the fact that he was pissed off when he confronted Teddy Long about restarting the match.