ARN - TLC 2010 [Show Notes] (Patreon)

TLC: Tables, Ladders, and Chairs 2010 was on December 19, 2010, at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. 11,500 fans were reported in attendance that night. Meltzer reported that was about 90 percent full based on the set-up. They were a hot crowd for most of the matches. The crowd was mostly young and heavily Hispanic. Cena was clearly the star of the show, but aside from him, the announcers, Lawler as a face and Michael Cole as a heel, were as over as any of the main event wrestlers.

It was the second TLC-pay-per-view, having been introduced the year before. This event, being the second, established it as an annual event.

Are you a fan of the TLC concept - not just as a match - but as an event title and theme?

The show itself aired on pay-per-view, pulling 195,000 buys. That’s down from the year before, which did 228,000 buys. Looking at other shows in 2010, Survivor Series did 239,000; Summerslam did 350,000; And Wrestlemania did 885,000.

Why do you think business was down, somewhat, from the year before?

The main rivalry from SmackDown involved the Champion Kane against Edge, Rey Mysterio, and Alberto Del Rio for the World Heavyweight Championship. The main rivalry from Raw involved the Champion The Miz against the former Champion Randy Orton for the WWE Championship. Just as important of a rivalry from Raw was John Cena and Wade Barrett, with Cena having lost his job and regained it in the build to tonight’s event.

Which of these three do you think was responsible for the most fans watching?

News

The battle over the Chris Benoit case is back open with WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt publicly questioning the diagnosis of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy on Benoit that was first made public in 2007. McDevitt questioned it in both a threatening legal letter sent to Irv Muchnick, as well as in discussions with us on the Benoit case in general.

McDevitt, like Vince McMahon in 2007 when the original diagnosis came out, argued the idea that Benoit’s brain was damaged like an 85-year-old Alzheimer’s patient was ridiculous. They based it on the fact he was engaging in normal conversations, he was finding every arena and he was not forgetting spots in his wrestling matches. The feeling was that someone with that type of a condition could have never survived doing the job he was doing.

For WWE, the two things they didn’t want to come out, would be the idea steroids played a major factor, a point they constantly tried to divert from the day after the crime, because it would ruin the integrity of their drug testing program and also lead to talk of steroids in pro wrestling, a subject that is a no-win situation for the company. But even worse than the steroids would be concussions based on actions in the ring, because if that was the case, there is a direct tie between the physical demands of the profession and the horrible crime, and that brings on a more direct culpability. With steroids, you have the argument of personal choice, which becomes a confusing rewards and career advancement issue that appears to take a level of sophistication to fully grasp. With physical demands of the profession, you have a more direct link.

Do you think it was CTE, steroids, a combination of the two, something else entirely?

WWE Tribute to the Troops on NBC on 12/18 did a 1.45 rating and 2.34 million viewers. That’s a terrible rating for network prime time, but this show is clearly not about ratings, because it’s never drawn good ratings in its history, it remains on network TV and this year both USA and NBC aired different versions of the show. It’s considered obviously something they want to show, with full knowledge it won’t draw well. It’s basically identical to last year’s show which did a 1.43 rating and 2.39 million viewers. The show finished in last place among the four networks by a wide margin, even though ABC and CBS were airing rerun programming. It also finished behind a number of shows on cable that night.

Was the Tribute to the Troops show a concept that had basically run its course with viewers? It’s been going for almost a decade at this point.

WWE released preliminary PPV numbers for the 2010 Survivor Series on 11/21 in Miami at 239,000 worldwide buys and 125,000 domestic buys. On a domestic basis, it would be the lowest numbers in Survivor Series history. But it would wind up as the fifth biggest PPV of the year for the company, trailing Mania, Royal Rumble, SummerSlam and Elimination Chamber.

Was the company concerned about their performance on PPV or the PPV concept, as a whole?

Go Home Raw

Meltzer would write...The biggest story from the three-hour Raw on 12/13 from New Orleans was that the John Cena being fired angle ended after just a few weeks, with Wade Barrett rescinding the stipulations that he won at Survivor Series just three weeks earlier based on pressure from the rest of Nexus.

In the matter of months, the company pushed major angles that would change things up, first Cena joining Nexus, and then Cena being fired. Both could have resulted in long-term heat and storylines and building to intense blow-offs. Instead, they were rushed through and meant nothing. There are a lot of reasons why business is down, both at the arenas and even worse at PPV during what is traditionally a strong time of the year. Making angles built up like they matter and blowing them off like they mean nothing isn’t the biggest problem, but killing of importance of matches and stipulations are part of the reason matches and stipulations don’t draw. And guess what, why exactly are stipulations even done if they mean nothing? Instead of being done to drive business, they are being done, well, because it’s wrestling and we need angles and stipulations or it’s not wrestling.

Do you agree with Meltzer’s comments about the Cena/Nexus angle? How would you like to have seen it handled?

Attendance was 6,500, well below what Raw events have usually drawn in the city, even with it being the Slammys special. They taped two matches for Superstars, with Zack Ryder pinning Darren Young. Most fans had no idea who Young was, and those who did, were surprised he was still with the company. Drew McIntyre pinned Yoshi Tatsu in a match that got good reactions on both sides. The Future shock DDT finish was botched. So they went right back to the spot.

This opened right away with Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler and C.M. Punk in between them at the desk. The last we saw of Cole, last week, he took an RKO. Since he’s not a wrestler, he should have at least worn a neck brace and complained of how much pain he was in. Instead, it was as if last week’s angle never really happened. It was only acknowledged once, in passing. Probably much of the audience didn’t even remember it because there is no point remembering anything because none of it has any ramifications.

If an announcer takes a finisher, should he appear on TV the next week without any hint of injury?

Then we had David Arquette introduced as a fashion designer, actor, comedian and former WCW world champion. There had been newspaper stories that Arquette had gone off the deep end since his marriage to Courtney Cox fell apart. His voice was shot and he looked rough out there. He’s a big fan and was at a show only a few weeks ago and shot an angle of getting kicked out. He knew everyone backstage and knew their storylines as well, which put him one up on creative. However, if anyone says there is no such thing as go-away heat, they should be forced to watch this segment. He was so bad, and people did boo, but it was that go away booing.

He introduced the Shocker of the Year award, which went to the Nexus attack on Cena. Of the candidates, it was clearly the best, although the early Bret Hart stuff (all eliminated from categories after there was stuff in the original listings) should have been up there. Barrett did an interview saying he’d make up his mind on what to do about Cena before the end of the show.

Do you think David Arquette had go-away heat with the crowd, as Meltzer put it? Maybe a simple question or a stupid question...why? Why would they care about WCW?

Later on in the show...

Jerry Lawler and Vickie Guerrero came out for the Holy something moment of the year. Guerrero has lost a lot of weight and even so, when she brought up the obvious, Lawler responded with fat woman lines. That was for the most spectacular move, which nominees were John Morrison doing a plancha off the top of the lighting grid; Kingston doing a Boom drop on McIntyre off the top of a ladder onto a table, Cena doing the Attitude Adjustment on Batista off a car where Batista fell through a gimmicked stage, and Randy Orton giving Evan Bourne the RKO as Bourne was landing for the shooting star press. The perfectly timed latter move should have won in a shoot, but Cena won.

Barrett came out since Cena was still not employed and took the trophy. He then told Cena to come out. Barrett told Cena he’d let him back in under two conditions. The first is they do a chairs match at the PPV. The second is Cena faces Otunga later on the show. Cena accepted. Then all of Nexus attacked Cena and Barrett hit him hard to the back with two chair shots.

Who was the driving force behind these Vickie fat jokes? We know they look bad now. What about then? It couldn’t have been much better right? Did anyone particularly disagree?

Toward the end of the show...

Teddy Long came out to present the Superstar (not wrestler, because they aren’t wrestlers) of the year award. It should be noted on a wrestling awards show, except for Wrestler of the Year, the award people most want is Match of the Year. And they didn’t even bother, again showing how important matches are. No Tag team either. Cena won the award and gave a speech about how he’s a man of his word. He joined Nexus when he was supposed to. He left the company when he was supposed to. Then he said he’s taken out everyone in Nexus except two, Barrett and Otunga, and he’s taking them both out this week. Keep in mind that he was selling nothing from a beating earlier in the show from the group of guys he claimed to have taken out. And if taking out only refers to momentarily, what about the fact he actually beat Otunga just a few weeks ago clean on Raw.

Why not have a match of the year category?

Cena beat Otunga in 1:43 with the STF. The storyline here was that all of Nexus came out, but once the match started, one-by-one, they left ringside like they were abandoning Otunga and he quickly got beat. Cena then grabbed a chair and nailed Otunga in the back with four hard chair shots and celebrated to end the show. The string of good shows ended hard here. Bad comedy. The wrestling was presented as an afterthought and all the matches were rushed and had no meaning, and lots of bad finishes that didn’t even build much of anything. The new PPV matches were mentioned and never sold and they did little to make you care to buy the show. Cena coming back in three weeks pretty much slapped people in the face one more time who actually bought Survivor Series.

Do you agree with Meltzer that this did very little to make one want to buy TLC?

WWE TABLES, LADDERS AND CHAIRS PPV POLL RESULTS

Thumbs up 123 (89.8%)

Thumbs down (01.5%)

In the middle 12 (08.8%)

A. Daniel Bryan beat Ted DiBiase in 5:13 with the LeBell lock. Much better than usual dark match and the crowd treated this like a main event with a huge response for Bryan.

What are these huge reactions to Daniel Bryan like in the back, especially in Gorilla? Is everyone looking at Vince for a reaction?

1. Dolph Ziggler won a three-way ladder match over Jack Swagger and Kofi Kingston in 8:57 to retain the IC title. Crowd was hot for this match, which had good action and a really lame finish. Matt Striker set up Lawler saying that Vickie Guerrero looked a little like Bill Dundee, and Lawler responded that Dundee was cuter. Some good sots including Kingston springboarding off the ropes through the perched up ladder and doing double knees to Swagger, who was on the other side. Swagger at one point did a hand injury spot and the hand was all wrapped up by the trainer. It played into the match so wasn’t a legit injury. Ziggler used a famouser on Kingston onto the ladder. At one point, with everyone down, Guerrero got in the ring and climbed. Kingston recovered and went to tip over the ladder, but Ziggler stopped it from falling and allowed Guerrero to climb down. Swagger put Kingston in the ankle lock, and Ziggler jumped on Swagger’s back to climb to the top and almost got the belt. Kingston and Ziggler were fighting at the top when Ziggler put Kingston in the sleeper. Kingston broke the belt and head-butted Ziggler, who took a bump back down. Swagger then climbed up and started fighting with Kingston. Swagger and Kingston both pulled down the belt together, were fighting over it, and dropped it. Ziggler, on the ground was supposed to catch it but was not in position to do so. But when it hit the ground, he grabbed it, and he was ruled the winner. Match had a lot of heat until the finish, which came off flat and felt like they were trying to kill the gimmick. **¼

What did you think about the match and about the finish? Did it kill the heat?

2. Beth Phoenix & Natalya beat Layla & Michelle McCool in a tables match in 9:23. They used a pink table unveiled on Smackdown that was lighter, so it would break easier since both Layla and McCool don’t weigh very much. But even with the gimmicked table, when both fell on it, neither fell close to the center and the table bent, but didn’t break. Natalya jumped off the top and splashed both of them through the table, which actually made for a better finish than the one planned. Phoenix took a bump outside the ring and landed on the back of her head. It looked bad, but she was able to get up and finish the match. McCool was about to put Natalya through the table with a Styles clash off the ropes, but Phoenix recovered and made the save. She press slammed McCool, but McCool escaped before being dropped on the table. Phoenix and Natalya pressed Layla overhead, but McCool kicked the table out of the ring. Finish saw Natalya put the sharpshooter on both at the same time. McCool was tapping but it didn’t mater in tables match. Crowd was dead late as they were out there too long. They set up a double superplex on Natalya, but Phoenix saved. Layla threw Phoenix shoulder first into the post. They went back to the double superplex spot, but Natalya knocked both Layla and McCool off the rope onto the gimmicked table, that didn’t break. So she splashed onto it. *½

Is this a case of a botch making the match better, instead of worse? Do you ever remember a mistake improving one of your matches?

3. Santino Marella & Vladimir Kozlov retained the WWE tag titles beating Heath Slater & Justin Gabriel via DQ in 6:27. This match was added during the show. Marella did a comedy monologue to start that nobody laughed at. He called Slater & Gabriel members of “Lexus,” and that TLC stands for “Totally Lethal Cobra.” People did react to his last line. Gabriel grew a beard. Michael McGillicutty and Husky Harris were in the Nexus corner. They beat on Kozlov until he hot tagged to Marella, who used a stunner on Gabriel. He set up the cobra, but McGillicutty ran in for the save right in front of the ref. This led to Harris also running in and giving the champions a four-on-two beating. Wade Barrett then came out with a chair. He hit Kozlov with a chair to the gut and back. Then he hit Marella with a chair shot to the gut and back, before one last chair shot to Kozlov. 3/4*

At this point, has Nexus just lost all hope of having any sort of presence or momentum within the company?

4. John Morrison beat Sheamus in a ladder match in 19:07 to earn a shot at the WWE title. Excellent match. Sheamus set up a ladder bridging the ring and the announcers table. That stayed there until late in the match. Morrison was on the top rope holding a ladder. He leapfrogged over the ladder and did a corkscrew plancha over the ladder onto Sheamus in the ring. However, the next several minutes saw Morrison’s ankle caught in the ladder when he was climbing and Sheamus stopped him. Sheamus worked over his left leg for several minutes, using the ladder. Morrison sold the ankle the rest of the match, and even on Raw the next day, which made the match. Sheamus was climbing and Morrison threw a ladder at his back, knocking him off. Morrison did a drop toe hold and Sheamus landed into the ladder. Morrison kept selling the ankle. Morrison came back, crotched Sheamus on a ladder and clotheslined him over the top. He then threw the ladder over the top onto him. Morrison would climb while selling, using one leg. Morrison had the contract when Sheamus kicked him in the knee. Morrison got the contract a second time but Sheamus pulled him down. Sheamus tried a power bomb but Morrison gave him a huracanrana over the top rope. Morrison got back in and tried to climb again, and had the contact when Sheamus tipped over the ladder with Morrison catching his throat on the top rope. Sheamus back dropped Morrison over the top to the floor, and Morrison sold his left leg even more. Morrison teased superplexing him off the ladder over the top rope onto another ladder but Sheamus blocked. Both were fighting on the same side of the ladder and then the ladder tipped and both flew over the top rope. Sheamus fell on the ladder bridge set up early, and the ladder broke in half, which is actually good for Sheamus because it would have hurt a lot more if it hadn’t. Morrison fell to the floor. With Sheamus selling the crash landing, Morrison went to climb, but hopping on one leg to sell the injury. Morrison had the contract, but Sheamus recovered and tipped over the ladder. Morrison held on, landed on the top rope, and kicked off, holding onto the ladder which was in the center again while kicking Sheamus in the face and knocking him out. Morrison then pulled down the contract. ****

How did you like the match?

Meltzer wrote earlier in the month that Sheamus’s crown and robe gimmicks made him look worse than he did without them. What did you think?

Did you believe in Morrison as a WWE championship contender, here?

Barrett and Harris went to discuss plans in the locker room, and found Slater, Gabriel and McGillicutty on the floor with chairs by the bodies like they had all been ambushed.

The next match is The Miz’s first TV title defense. After Orton successfully defended the WWE Championship against Wade Barrett on the November 22 episode of Raw, The Miz cashed in his Money in the Bank contract to face Orton immediately afterward and defeated Orton for the championship. On the December 6 episode of Raw, Orton tried to use his rematch clause, but the Raw General Manager said that The Miz did not have to defend his championship that night, but would instead defend it at TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs, with The Miz choosing the stipulation. After interfering in Orton's match with The Miz's apprentice, Alex Riley, The Miz decided that the stipulation would be a Tables match.

5. The Miz defeated Randy Orton in a tables match to retain the WWE title in 13:37. Nothing wrong with the match, but this was a double whammy lame finish designed to beat Orton while being scared to beat Orton. Orton teased slamming Miz off the top onto a table on the floor. Miz escaped, tripped Orton who fell face first onto the announcers table. Miz hit Orton with the steps. He put Orton on a table, but it collapsed. Miz clearly wasn’t happy. He set the table up again, put Orton on it again, climbed to the top but Orton rolled off before he jumped. Orton had Miz set up for a superplex on the table but Alex Riley pulled the table out of the way. Powerslam and draping DDT by Orton. He then clotheslined Riley on the floor. Riley distracted Orton and Miz went for the skull crushing finale, but Orton knocked Miz into the ref. Orton gave Riley the RKO and then power bombed Riley through a table. Miz then gave Orton a skull crushing finale. Miz threw Riley out of the ring and put Orton in between the broken pieces of the table, and revived the ref. The ref saw Orton and the broken table and called for the bell. People hated the finish. But it actually got worse. After Miz was declared the winner, the ref watched the replay on the big screens, saw it was Riley who went through the table, and ordered the match restarted. That was good, except the restarted match went 37 seconds, with Orton whipping Miz into the post, then he went to climb into the ring, but bumped into Riley and fell backwards off the apron through a table. Wasn’t the rule that the opponent had to put you through the table? And even if they were going to do that, doing a screw finish 37 seconds after a screw finish left little time to feel like you weren’t screwed twice in 37 seconds. **¾

It seemed like fans thought this was a mistake. They were confused and so was Meltzer. What about you? Did you like this finish and was there maybe a reason, from a story perspective, why it was done?

In November, Edge was named number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship. In his quest for the title, Edge abducted and psychologically tormented Kane's father Paul Bearer. At the previous pay-per-view, Survivor Series, Edge failed to claim the championship after the match ended in a draw via double pinfall. With Edge still in custody of Bearer, he continued to taunt Kane leading to a match on the December 3 episode of SmackDown. Edge beat Kane and as a result, determined the stipulation to be a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match (a match type that Edge helped pioneer) for the World Heavyweight Championship. On the December 17 episode of SmackDown, General Manager Teddy Long added Rey Mysterio and Alberto Del Rio, who were previously in a rivalry themselves and scheduled to be in a Chairs match against each other, to the World Championship match making it a four-way Tables, Ladders and Chairs match.

6. Edge won the World title in a four-way TLC match over champion Kane, Rey Mysterio and Alberto Del Rio in 22:42. Great match. It was the usual match where three guys would get laid out, the remaining guy would climb, almost get the belt, and then someone would recover and knock him off the ladder. First Mysterio climbed, but Del Rio tipped over the ladder and Mysterio flew over the top rope onto Kane and Edge, who had been fighting on the floor and blocked his fall. Kane was dominating until Edge threw him into the post. Edge went halfway up a 12-foot ladder, dove over the top rope and put Kane through a table on the floor. Edge speared Mysterio and Del Rio and went to climb. When he got to the top, Kane recovered and tipped over the ladder. Edge was supposed to crotch himself, but didn’t quite do it. All four fought on the stage. Mysterio climbed up a hanging table on the set and came off with a dive onto Kane. Mysterio ran to the ring. Mysterio set up Del Rio and Edge for 619's. He connected on Del Rio and Edge grabbed a chair and hit Mysterio in the knees. Edge and Del Rio were climbing and Mysterio knocked Del Rio off. He was fighting on top with Edge. Edge then grabbed Mysterio and dove off giving Mysterio a facebuster from near the top of the ladder. With everyone out, Ricardo Rodriguez went to climb the ladder, which would have been a lot better of a spot if they hadn’t done the exact spot with Vickie Guerrero. Kane finally recovered and choke slammed him off the ladder. Kane then choke slammed Del Rio and choke slammed Edge off the apron through a table. Mysterio came back with a 619 on Kane. Mysterio hit Kane in the back with a chair. Mysterio climbed but Del Rio pulled him down and put Mysterio in an armbar. He then let go and started climbing. Mysterio recovered and shoved the ladder. Del Rio flew over the top rope and crashed through a table on the floor. Mysterio was climbing but Kane recovered. Mysterio did a springboard moonsault block, but Kane caught him and dropped him with a tombstone piledriver. Kane then started laughing while bleeding from the top of the head. Kane was climbing but Edge hit Kane in the back with a chair, and then a hard chair shot to the hip. Then a chair to the gut and Edge speared Kane off the apron through another table. With the other three all down and out, Edge climbed up the ladder and took the belt. ****¼

How did you like the match?

Next came a waste of time segment. Cody Rhodes came out for grooming tips. I guess they felt they needed a break between big matches. He said Houston was one of the fattest cities in the country. The Bellas then came out with Big Show as Santa Claus. He pushed the “Knucklehead” DVD. Rhodes said Show had no dignity, showing the photo of him in his underwear from the DVD cover. Show said Rhodes was so busy always dieting that he was always in a bad mood. Rhodes got mad that Show starred in a movie looking like he does when Rhodes hasn’t starred in a movie. He called Show “Vanilla Shreck.” Show ended up giving Rhodes a spinebuster, tore off his suit and left him in his underwear. Rhodes tried to push it like it was embarrassing, except his underwear were the same color and basically the same as the trunks he wears every night while performing. Show started doing the fake laugh at Rhodes in his underwear, which came off bad because nobody in the crowd was laughing, or reacting much to it.

With AEW’s presence in 2020 and all you know now about Cody, what does seeing this make you think?

John Cena’s big feud is up next. In November 2010 at Survivor Series, former Nexus member Cena lost his job after Randy Orton defeated Wade Barrett under the stipulation that if Barrett did not win the WWE Championship, Cena would be fired for not following Wade's orders. However, following his firing, Cena continued to attack Nexus members knowing that since Nexus attacked the security upon their debut, Cena would be free to attack Nexus without any restraints. This came to a head when on December 6, John Cena stated that his attacks on Nexus may stop, but the attacks on Barrett will not. This caused a mutiny within Nexus. The following week, during the Slammy Awards, Barrett would rehire Cena, who would have been kicked out by the other members of Nexus had he not, under the condition that Cena would face Barrett in a Chairs match.

7. John Cena beat Wade Barrett in 19:08 in a chairs match that came off like the Nexus blow-off. C.M. Punk was brought out to announce in place of Striker. Barrett kept trying to hit Cena with a chair, but Cena moved and Barrett hit the announcers table once and then the post. A third miss saw him hit the steps. Cena was stomping on Barrett and fans started booing (it was a 70-30 pro-Cena crowd). Barrett missed a few more chair shots before finally hitting one to the back. Barrett grabbed the ring steps and went to bring them up the ramp, but got tired and put them down. This was a planned spot. Cena back dropped Barrett on the ramp, poured water on him and put him in a chair with wheels. Cena rolled the chair down the ramp into the steps Barrett had left behind. Cool spot. Barrett came back with a chair to the gut, put the chair around Cena’s head and threw him into the post. Cena sold that big. Cena came back with shoulderblocks but Barrett cut him off with, you guessed it, another chair shot to the back. Barrett tied Cena into the ropes and destroyed him with punches, a chair to the gut and a chair to the back while Cena was tied up. Barrett then teased a chair to the head, but Cena managed to undo himself. So after all of this, Cena then recovered immediately not selling all the chair shots and huge beating he took. He went for the Attitude Adjustment, but Barrett escaped and hit the black hole slam (with no Striker, nobody was about to call that move) for a near fall. Cena then threw Barrett into a chair. Cena went for the STF, but Barrett kicked him off, into a chair put between the ropes in the corner. Barrett went to the top rope to drop a chair on Cena like an elbow drop, but Cena moved. Cena then used a gut shot with a chair and a chair to the back, the same sequence used over-and-over. Cena then came off the top rope with a leg slice to the draped Barrett’s back. He then set up six chairs in the ring, and used an Attitude Adjustment on the chairs and got the pin. Barrett crawled out of the ring and went to leave. Cena followed him and gave him two more hard chair shots to the back. As he laid there, Cena rolled the cart on top of him and pulled down a chair hung with a rope with another dozen or two chairs, which all tumbled down onto the cart. Barrett was completely safe but it made for a cool visual. ***¾

Did you like the match?

Why end the show with this match instead of the world title change? Cena win sending everyone home happy?

BEST MATCH POLL

Edge vs. Kane vs. Mysterio vs. Del Rio73

John Morrison vs. Sheamus49

WORST MATCH POLL

Marella & Kozlov vs. Gabriel & Slater69

Phoenix & Natalya vs. McCool & Layla15

Ziggler vs. Swagger vs. Kingston11

Miz vs. Randy Orton 9

Meltzer had a lot of good things to say about the show, writing that...

...the final PPV, Tables, Ladders and Chairs, which by its very designation is a show with higher risks, ended up as one of the year’s best events, paced by a strong ladder match with John Morrison vs. Sheamus and a Four-way TLC match with Edge winning the World title over Kane, in a match that also included Rey Mysterio and Alberto Del Rio. The match merged two previously announced singles matches, neither of which would have been likely to have been close to as good as the combined match.

The key themes coming out of the 12/19 show at the Toyota Center in Houston were that John Cena blew off Nexus, and that Edge vs. Kane will continue to be the title match program on Smackdown, although with a different champion. On the Raw side, The Miz retained the title beating Randy Orton in a tables match, and it appeared John Morrison is set up for his next challenger at the Royal Rumble. However, Morrison is clearly positioned as the “weak” challenger given that the Rumble itself is the big draw. Even on Raw this week, in a trios match, where he and Miz were on opposite sides, Morrison teamed with Jerry Lawler & Randy Orton, it was clear Orton was positioned as the star of the team. Lawler came off as the second biggest star and got the pinfall on Miz to end the match. Morrison was the guy selling his ankle. The new top program looks to be Cena vs. C.M. Punk, who cracked Cena with chair shots on both Raw and the live Smackdown show.

The question becomes what next with Nexus. On the TLC show, Cena laid out every member with chair shots except David Otunga, who it was said he had injured at Raw. Early in the show, Justin Gabriel, Heath Slater and Michael McGillicutty were shown writhing in pain on the floor in the locker room, with the idea Cena had laid all of them out. Later, before the main event, he laid out Husky Harris. And then, he finished Barrett with an Attitude Adjustment on chairs. After the match, in the shot replayed like crazy, he put Barrett underneath a cart, and then pulled down a series of flying chairs, he said 24, and they all hit the cart. Nexus was kept off both Raw and Smackdown.

The PPV had some good action, as well as some weak finishes in certain matches.

Give us your thoughts on the show as a whole?

Questions

ZackAttack asks..Who’s decision was it to bury Wade Barrett, quite literally, under a massive pile of chairs? It felt like it took a while for people to take him seriously again after that one. #AskArn

KC asks...Do you think how the ladder match ended was an appropriate metaphor on what both cena and creative thought of wade Barrett because it seems they had Cena cut Wade’s legs out from under him every step of the storyline #AskArn

A Wrestling Historian on Instagram asks...Why was the TLC main event changed from Edge Vs. Kane to a Fatal Four Way?

Kurt asks..#AskArn How hard is it as an agent to put together one of the gimmick matches in this PPV when you know there are at least 3 others that will use similar weapons/ideas?

Jeremy asks..Imo wwe should have kept tlc a match and not a ppv. I feel that destroyed the importance of that match. What say you?

Fernando asks...Would Arn Anderson rather participate in a TLC match, have a cheeseburger meal, or have a 30 min Ironman match with the renegade