TLC reaction and more!
Sunday nights TLC show was a 3 hour example that you don’t need blood to have good matches. Everyone had doubts about what they were going to get out of a December show that is all gimmick matches in a time where traditional “hardcore” pro-wrestling is at its softest in the WWE.
Do we want blood and the occasional nipple slip? Sure, who doesn’t? But the fact is PG is here to stay. There is a lot of money to be made with it and Linda’s political aspirations are still alive…..well to her they are anyways.
The first hour of the PPV was very enjoyable and INCLUDING the divas tag table match in the first hour!
All four girls worked the best they could, had some entertaining spots and used the tables as a good tease to build for the finish. It was a great finish. When Laycool hit the table the first time it didn’t break the crowd was unsure what to do. Natalya stood up on the ropes, the crowd knew she was going to dive off and it was the biggest pop I’ve heard in a while for a diva in a match who didn’t lose an article of clothing.
Its interesting, the girls did everything the wrestling business would ask of them. They brought some sexuality to what is otherwise a montage of meat all night, 3 of the 4 of them to my knowledge are involved with one of the boys (the 4th probably isn’t linked to one exclusively) and then they went out and gave us an entertaining ten minute match! Talk about a earning your dollar!
The show kept building with every match giving something to remember it by. The WWE timed the matches a little light. They got done the title matches and had 15 minutes of time to fill, so they called up Cody Rhodes promo. Yeah, it would have been nice to see a United State title match on the show and not as a dark match, but just imagine if they had put that on the card as well and things began to run over. Halloween Havoc ending of 1998, that is as bad of a situation as you can get from a company stand point. You gotta pay the talent but the paying customer doesn’t get to see it.
I have heard a lot of unhappiness with the Cena/Barrett match being last. It seems unsatisfying because we saw two solid world title matches but neither gets to finish the night. The Cena match being last made sense though. Its the top story and was building all night with him picking off Nexus. Just as I said on the Chair Shot Reality, this would and should be the night where some closure takes place in the Nexus versus Cena story. Barrett having 25 chairs dropped on him was a good symbolism of what should be the end of that story and we start to transition to something new for all involved.
Now it appears we are going to have the Royal Rumble WWE title match of John Morrison challenging The Miz. If this isn’t an “easy write me the best thoughts you got” for creative than I don’t know what is. Former tag champions who both got their start via a “reality” show. There is a month to build to it, leaving lots of time to expose and play with that the back stories. Hopefully they come up with more than just having Morrison fight Alex Riley on RAW. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of them did a mock dirt sheet on the other.
Besides the history between the two, there is a lot of potential for people to wanna buy this. The Miz has not yet established his name in the WWE bank account but people love to boo him, kids seem to have the same pose every time after he wins. All with their hands on their heads. It seems after “Angry Miz Girl” got a Slammy, parents are coaching their kids so they can get on television.
People don’t like Miz. He gets a reaction which is great. The numbers continue to grow on those who are on the Jo-Mo bandwagon. He is exciting to watch, TLC was no exception, but I think he has yet to fully find what the voice of the John Morrison character really is.
In my opinion that will be the biggest thing to watch in the next month. There is little to no chance Morrison is going to win at the Rumble, but if he does right in the next month, perhaps that will be the decider of whether or not he wins Money In The Bank this year!
John is a good guy and works hard. I’ve had 2 conversations/encounters with him and he loves what he does. However, as it turns out work ethic and love doesn’t equate to receiving top of the mountain opportunities and success. If it did, Stevie Richards would have Hall Of Fame credentials.
I gotta say, its real exciting having this kind of week of live wrestling programming. Its like Hanukkah for wrestling fans. What turned out to be a worthwhile PPV on Sunday, live RAW tonight and live Smackdown on Tuesday.
To answer the question I keep getting, no is the answer. No, even if the ratings do much better for Smackdown, we will not see it move to Tuesday night. They have a contract with SyFy and that network would rather have Smackdown compete on Friday night then try and battle 8 to 10 with Tuesday night programs. It sucks but so does the Hardy’s and we still let that go.
JustinLaBar on Twitter! As always, will be tweeting and contrasting during RAW and Smackdown.
Your thoughts can be sent to justin.labar@yahoo.com
No Chair Shot Reality this week as we can’t avoid our families all week! Will be back on the final weekend of December.
Happy Holidays to everyone!
