WHAT I LIKED:
The New WWE World Heavyweight Champion: I don't like the unification, but I do LIKE the name of the new unified championship. WWE World Heavyweight Championship. That's probably what the title should have been called all along. Albeit, I don't agree with them asking the WWE Universe to vote on the name, only to choose a name that wasn't even an option. But that's a small gripe. I knew all along it wouldn't be call the Unified Championship. That sounds ridiculous. I LOVE how they placed John Cena and Daniel Bryan at the top of the ramp for Randy Orton to taunt as he entered as the new Champion. Those are his two most recent rivals and most likely two of his most eligible contenders, along with CM Punk. No, I don't count Big Show. I refuse to count Big Show. I'm probably more of a Daniel Bryan fan than anyone, but I don't like it when Cena tries to gain ground by standing up for Daniel Bryan. Bryan can stand up for himself. It makes him look weak when he needs Cena lobbying on his behalf for a championship match. I am glad the match was made though, because Daniel Bryan needs to stay in the WWE World Championship picture. This match doesn't exactly bode well for Bryan though. I'm certain WWE will be looking to solidify their new golden boy and as it stands right now, Daniel Bryan is still the one superstar he's yet to defeat without some outside interference. That can and most likely will be rectified tonight.
Ziggler vs Fandango: This is the only match from TLC that I didn't get a chance to watch, so I'm glad that they're having a rematch. I was surprised to read that Dolph Ziggler lost. Babyfaces don't generally lose kickoff matches. But if a loss is what's needed to them to kickstart Ziggler off again, then I'm all for it. Ziggler needs to get it going, especially with the Royal Rumble coming up. I'm not naive enough to think that he has a snowball's chance in hell of winning, but he's going to be one of the superstars that WWE relies on to last a while and keep the match going. I need him to be at his best. It sucks that this match was short and ended with a rollup. I was hoping for more.
Real Americans vs Langston & Henry: This doesn't seem good for the Real Americans. It looks like they are being fed to the BIG men. Thankfully, that's not what happened. This ended up being a very competitive match. Jack Swagger and Antonio Cesaro, especially, matched the strength of Mark Henry and Big E Langston impressively. It still finished the way I figured it would, but that was a pretty damn good match. I LOVE being surprised by matchups that I didn't expect.
Punk/HBK: I figured that Punk was set to become a rival to The Authority and to Triple H in general. What I didn't figure was that HBK was aligned with The Authority. I thought that the reason HBK superkicked Punk last week was for the same reason he kicked Daniel Bryan at Hell In A Cell - to defend his BFF. But HBK bringing out The Shield to the ring shows that he's got some pull inside The Authority. Perhaps he really 'sold out' after all.
Punk/Usos vs The Shield: I would've voted for Primetime Players, but The Usos were the logical choice. They have a history with The Shield and I'm glad to see The Usos have maintained their popularity enough to win that poll in a landslide. This match is a little silly though. If CM Punk is able to defeat The Shield alone, why should we believe that he can't do the same thing with backup? And with greater ease? The dissention amongst The Shield's ranks is still there and likely multiplied after last night's finish. It should be easier to take advantage of that glaring weakness now. I guess the story will be that Roman Reign's eyesight is better now. He's able to distiguish between CM Punk and Dean Ambrose now. Still a fun match that I enjoyed, despite the lingering questions.
Bray Wyatt: I wonder if the 'machine' that Bray Wyatt is looking to take down is The Authority? I wonder if the reason he was offering a place in his stable to Daniel Bryan was to help him in his fight against the machine in WWE? It hasn't been stated just yet what The Wyatt Family and Bray, in general, is looking to destroy, but they have made references to machines and systems. If so, then I see them in an entirely different light. Fight the power, Bray. Follow the buzzards.
Bryan vs Orton: It was the right move to put the WWE World Heavyweight Championship on Randy Orton - and not just because I HATE John Cena - but because when creating a new title, which is basically what they did, you have to make it seem like that title is covetous. And no one is going to covet that title more than a self-doubting heel like Randy Orton who still feels he has something to prove. That title (or rather, those titles) are going to be what he wraps his ego around. As long as he's champion, he has a reason to live and he's going to defend them at all costs. It's an interesting psychology and Randy Orton plays it off very well, probably without even realizing it. I would have LOVED to have seen this match in person, but I don't regret not going because it's not a title match. The spot where Daniel Bryan missed his suicide dive was a nice callback to one of their first matches against each on RAW that was called off because they thought Daniel Bryan was fragile. They know better now. It was also a little odd to see Orton backdrop Bryan on the barricade right next to a mother holding a baby. You'd think he could've picked a better position for that spot. But who the hell brings a little baby to sit in the front row of a wrestling event? Not representing Dallas very well, lady. Very good match from two very good workers. I don't even mind the finish. It was the only real way to end the match without making either of them look too weak. Now the post-match is a different story. Once again, Cena runs down to defend Bryan, which does make him look weak. They had to get Cena in there somehow. At least he ended the night on his back. I can live with that.
WHAT I HATED:
Rhodes & Goldust vs Big Show & Mysterio: In my opinion, the Fatal 4-Way match at TLC last night took a steep dive when it came down to these two teams. Mostly just because of Big Show. I didn't used to be a critic of Big Show, but I am now. He's far past his prime. His presence in any match just brings down the tempo. He's slow and sluggish and slobbering now. I think it's time that Big Show retired. It's a stark contrast with Goldust, of whom I've been very critical of in his past runs in WWE and in TNA as Black Reign. Yet now, he's having a career resurgence. This match was much better than the final fall from last night, and surprisingly enough it was thanks to Big Show. I wonder if he's about to have his third face/heel turn for the year. He's ususally good for two per year.
Talking Heads: One of my pet peeves in all of sports - not just WWE - is when they cut to a shot of the announcers talking. It's stupid to me. No one is spending their time to look at the announcers speak. They're there to be heard, not seen. WWE is the worst at this, as they make us watch their announcers talk for minutes at a time for no reason. It annoys me when they have the announcers show us how to use the WWE App or vote on the polls. You can imagine how incensed I was when during the above match, they were taking pictures of themselves. Fucking selfies. Twice. I don't even have words for how stupid that was. I would hope that some type of punishment would come down on them for that, but I'm sure Vince loved that.
Six-Diva Tag: Damn. I'm legitimately disappointed now that I'm not able to view AJ Lee in person. That would've been worth the money. Albeit, after reading certain gossip rags and dirt sheets, she doesn't seem like such the pleasant person I made her up to be in my mind. Bitches be crazy. She's still hot, so she gets a pass. I wonder where AJ Lee would rank on Barney Stinson's 'Hot/Crazy scale'? Probably off the charts.
QUOTE OF THE NIGHT: "If you ever try to kick me again, I'm going to kick you back." - CM Punk Was I the only person begging for HBK to kick him again? I'd probably die to watch an HBK vs CM Punk match. Ditto for HBK vs Daniel Bryan. And 15-year old me would love to take a superkick from HBK, too. Hell, 26 year-old me would too.
MATCH OF THE NIGHT:
While the tag match between Big E Langston & Mark Henry vs The Real Americans took me by surprise, it was old reliable Daniel Bryan vs Randy Orton that earned this award for tonight. They are perfect opponents for each other.
BEST IN SHOW:
Yes, Daniel Bryan was also involved in the Match of the Night, but he didn't do any talking. Instead, he let John Cena do his talking for him. Randy Orton, on the other hand, did do some talking and I LIKED his promos. Including the one where he told us all to kiss his ass. It looked like he knew there would be some reprecussions from that, but he's one of the golden boys. He can take the heat.
REACTION:
Don't hate me if I skip next week's RAW. The whole 'battle for Christmas' between the bad Santa Claus and the
Not a bad RAW to follow up an above average PPV. I think they had to stuff a lot of context into this episode, considering the coming weeks of WWE programming is likely to have low viewership due to the holidays. I'm happy they haven't gone full Royal Rumble mode just yet. They have a lot of time before then and should wait until the turn of the year before everyone starts boasting about how they're gonna be the one to win.
It seems the Orton vs Cena storyline will continue to the Royal Rumble PPV, so perhaps that limits the chance that Cena will be involved in the Royal Rumble itself. That's no guarantee. Dolph Ziggler lost World Title matches the past two years at the Royal Rumble and still competed in both matches. Maybe I shouldn't get too ahead of myself either.
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