TLC 2010 starts off with a ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship: Dolph Ziggler defending the title against both Jack Swagger and Kofi Kingston. I had high expectations for this considering the kind of risks Ziggler and Kofi have been willing to take in the past and the amount of innovation they've become known for over the years in ladder matches. This was good, but not great, and suffered from a truly horrendous finish that saw Kofi and Swagger struggling over the title only to see it slip through both of their hands and end up on the mat...where Ziggler retrieved it for the win. There were a handful of good spots and I liked that they worked this like a "sprint" with everyone just going straight for the ladders and the big offense. There was really no downtime, but, considering this went less than 10 minutes, there was no time to really build to the finish or get the crowd behind Kingston. (3/5)
A Tag Team Table match follows as Natalya and Beth Phoenix take on the team of LayCool. They get quite a bit of time (at least compared to the usual 5 minutes that divas matches often got at the time) and everyone involved works hard, but the crowd was just not into this match and there were some noticeable sections that lagged or came off as disjointed. I'll give them credit, though, as there were also some inspired moments - I loved Nattie applying the double Sharpshooter and Michelle slamming Layla's head into the mat from the pain, I liked the finishing sequence, and Beth being able to get both of her opponents up in a fireman's carry is always going to be an impressive move. (2.5/5)
Kane cuts a Christmas-inspired promo backstage. I've really grown to loathe Kane.
Back to the ring we go for...ugh, Santino and Koslov vs. Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel for the WWE Tag Team Championships. This was every kind of bad. It was boring despite Gabriel being one of the better high-flyers in the company at the time. Santino, known for his comedy, didn't even do much of his shtick as we don't even get to see the Cobra (which, to be fair, I hated anyway so its not like it would've improved things). Slater looks green and characterless here compared to where he ended up. Oh, and Husky Harris (Bray Wyatt) and Michael McGillicutty (Curtis Axel) are on the outside but are completely ineffective in helping their team. The Spirit Squad had more credibility than the Nexus did by this time. Another sub-10 minute match, but this should've been left off the card entirely. I can't think of a single redeeming quality. (0/5)
Sheamus took on John Morrison in a Ladder Match to decide who would be the number one contender for The Miz's WWE Championship. This match was hyped at the time - in fact, over at Cagematch this has an 8.5+ and Meltzer gave it 4 stars in the Observer (at the time, Meltzer wasn't given out those sorts of ratings to WWE matches very often) - but I was lukewarm to this. The first issue is that the finish was never really in question as Morrison had history with The Miz and was the babyface, making it pretty clear that he was going to get the W. But even looking past the predictable finish, this match didn't hook me. Morrison could get too cutesy at times (and he does here), delivering parkour-inspired offense that looks a little too conceptual against Sheamus, a bruiser who had yet to develop the vast arsenal of signature moves he has now. What this match does have that none of the bouts before it offered is some actual psychology as Sheamus goes after Morrison's knee. At times, this also felt more like a star-making match for Sheamus rather than Morrison too as it was the Irishman who took some of the nastiest bumps in this match, including going through a ladder at one point and then falling through a table at the end of the match. Was this Sheamus' first really, really good match? Maybe? (3.5/5)
The WWE Championship is on the line next as The Miz defends the title against Randy Orton in a Tables Match. The Miz is seconded by Alex Riley, who is permitted to involve himself in any way he'd like but...doesn't? Why not? The commentary team bring up that the match is no DQ but don't take the necessary step of explaining why The Miz wouldn't just have Riley interfere from the jump. Its nit-picky, but because The Miz was booked as a chickenshit, it would've been nice to hear someone mention that The Miz was fighting for respect and would want to win this match on his own. Speaking of the commentary...by this point, the rivalry between Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler had begun as Cole had essentially turned heel and become super supportive of The Miz (and super negative towards Daniel Bryan) and their bickering dominates and sours the product throughout the show. Matt Striker rounded out the team at this time, but its obvious that Lawler and Cole weren't fans, often "no-selling" Striker's attempts at "smart" insights if not outright telling him to shut up on-air. In the ring, things aren't all that much better. Randy Orton, when motivated, can be an electric babyface...but, at this point, I'm not sure he wanted to be a babyface as he doesn't play to the crowd at all, making no real attempts to connect with them despite being up against one of the most unpopular villains the WWE had seen in awhile. Speaking of The Miz, he would get much better in the ring than he is here, though his character work is top notch and I love the "little things" he does throughout the match to get his smarmy character across. The most memorable thing about this match might be the false finish that sees The Miz initially cheat his way to victory by shoving Randy Orton onto a table that Orton had put Alex Riley through. When the replay airs on the Titan Tron, though, Mike Chioda reverses the decision and Orton gets a second chance...only to get put through a table when Miz shoves Riley into him as he's climbing into the ring from the apron. Its two shit finishes for the price of one and the crowd was not happy at all. I would've liked to see what a more motivated, jovial Orton could've done, but that was not yet part of his character (and, to be fair, even now, its very rare one catches a glimpse of "happy" Orton, which is why its all the more special and was needed here). The fact that we've had 2 ladder matches already and 2 tables matches already has made me really unexcited about the next couple bouts...(2.5/5)
A TLC match follows as Kane puts his title on the line against Alberto Del Rio, Edge, and Rey Mysterio. I don't remember much about Kane's title reign in 2010, but, then again, I've always tuned most of Kane's storylines out after 99' or so. On the flip side, my admiration of Rey Mysterio seems to grow with each passing year and this is a great example of why. Of all the performers in this match, it is Rey who is the most impressive from beginning to end, it is Rey's big bumps that get the biggest reactions and it is his high-risk offense that is most dazzling. Edge has some good moments too and is definitely over with the crowd and you have to give credit to Alberto Del Rio for flying off a ladder into a pair of tables on the floor, but Rey is the glue here. As for Kane...he's fine (and also goes through a table too, which is impressive for someone his size). This isn't a must-see match, but it was fun and well-paced for a 20+ minute match and the crowd was into it from beginning to end. (3.5/5)
Before the next match, "Dashing" Cody Rhodes comes out for a segment with "Santa Clause," aka The Big Show. This sort of segment happens every year - I can recall a particularly great one featuring Steve Austin from late 96' - and is usually fairly predictable. This one is no different as Cody eventually mouths off too much and Show puts him down and then rips off his clothes. Its a little wild to think that 14 years later, Cody would be in the main event of WrestleMania as a babyface and a completely different character, but one thing that is interesting about this show is that it is very clear that the WWE was in the process of pushing some of their fresher talent...only they weren't quite ready to go "all the way" with most or any of them and, within a few years, quite a few of them were no better off than they were here (or even in worse positions).
Speaking of guys who were in the midst of something resembling a push (but not really?): CM Punk makes his way down the aisle and replaces Matt Striker on commentary for the main event - John Cena vs. Wade Barrett in a Chairs match. Throughout the evening, Cena had taken out all of the other Nexus members to make sure this was a one-on-one contest. This started out a bit too goofy, but got more brutal as the match went on. Early on, Cena put a dazed Barrett on a rolling chair, then "woke him up" before shoving him down the ramp, a gag that seemed like it was pulled from a Bugs Bunny cartoon. Minutes later, though, we saw some genuinely good use of the chair out of both guys, especially when Barrett tied Cena up in the ropes and leveled him in the back with a chairshot. That struck me as the kind of thing that you might see at an old ECW show...except instead of Barrett repeating the heinous act (which, why wouldn't he?), he was happy to have done it once and then Cena just muscled out of the ropes anyway. It was a cool spot that they could've repeated and drew real heat from, but they just moved past it onto the next thing too quickly. Its not often that Cena rushes through his matches - in fact, one of the elements that made him "Big Match" John was that he was so good at reading the crowd and letting things escalate and build - but in an attempt to put on a hard-hitting, chairs-heavy match without the benefit of actually being able to deliver chairshots to the head or draw any blood, they almost made the use of chairs seem less dangerous as the match went on. Cena eventually got the W with an F-U into a whole slew of chairs and then capped it off with a literal burial of Wade Barrett under even more ladders in the entranceway. And, truth be told, Wade Barrett never did climb back up the ranks or even get close to being a top guy ever again. An above-average match that is obfuscated a bit by the fact that even while Barrett got plenty of offense in, this was Cena fully and cleanly beating Barrett yet again to end a feud where Cena, no matter how much they tried t push the narrative that he was in trouble, was never really ever believably "meeting his match." (3/5)
With a Kwang Score of 2.57-out-of-5, 2010's TLC pay-per-view is your garden-variety "PG Era" show with some good-to-great matches (the World Heavyweight Championship match, the Sheamus/Morrison match), at least a couple overachievers in Miz/Orton, the opening contest, and the women's tag bout, and only one outright horrible match (the World Tag Team Titles match). Cena/Barrett isn't a disappointment, but it was forgettable and far from the star-making match that I'm sure Barrett was hoping for.
FINAL RATING - Watch It...With Remote in Hand
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