BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
I went into the TLC pay per view without any anticipation. I love normal matches when they rock, but even a half decent gimmick match is fun most of the time. This show had a TLC match, a ladder match, a chairs match, a tables match, and two solid mid card title matches advertised. It COULD be cool. There really isn’t any storyline that’s making me want to sit on the edge of my seat and tune in. I’m not sure if it’s just me, but it’s really hard to connect to the WWE product right now. I still enjoy a few of the wrestlers and if a good match is in front of me I’m going to appreciate it.
The opener was a nice start-up for the show. I expected they’d go with the formula of having the good guy(s) win in the opening “exciting paced” match. It was a solid “exciting paced” match that got the crowd into the show, but the bag guys won. This means Cody Stache and Sandow won. It’s like they want us to believe the Tag Titles mean something? No, they couldn’t be! The two matches I would normally be into were the US Title match and the IC Title match. These two matches featured four “pretty good” to “pretty great” wrestlers, but due to the card having all the gimmicks and spot matches it took away ALL steam. Wouldn’t a Kofi/Barrett ladder match make sense? Couldn’t Cesaro have put Truth through a table to keep his heat going? I’m cool both guys retained because if a title changed happened no one would have remembered or cared.
The TLC Match with Ryback and Team Hell No getting beat by The Sheild was awesome. Ryback sucks. I know people are behind him but he cannot wrestle a WWE Main Event style match. He’s just too limited and if they don’t babysit him he’ll be exposed. This is why Punk and Cena had to put him out and THEN go in the ring and go at it with grown-up stuff. This is what happened again. He got his spots him and they they had to pretty much destroy him and then move onto the “real match”. Outside of Ryback being involved with Seth Rollin’s crazy ladder bump his involvement was pretty damn forgettable. We all knew Ambrose and Rollins could hold their own, but I was never too impressed with Reigns or “Leakee” in FCW. He did pretty well for the circumstances and got in that huge spear on Kane through the ringside area, the Ryback table spot, and plenty more. Ambrose did well in there too. His selling and especially his facial expressions is the first glimmer of a star that’ll shine bright in years to come. Daniel Bryan carried his team in the “spot” department, but I don’t think anyone expected otherwise. He’s not in the World Title hunt right now, but he’s still one of the best out there if not THE best. The weird part was Kane’s lack of moments. I wonder if he was hurt or something going into this because he was pretty understated in this one. Regardless, I enjoyed it. Ryback is still the monster, Daniel Bryan continues to rock, and three new “blue chippers” had one of the best debuts probably ever.
The divas match happened and the six man tag match happened.
Big Show and Sheamus continued to produce a quality fight. It wasn’t as good as the TLC match and didn’t live up to the bar it raised, but it was fun. I hope this means Sheamus and Show will both move on to new and fresh matches and feuds. It’s time to get ready for Mania so shit needs to start falling in place. Dolph Ziggler wins! I was almost certain of two things happening. John Cena or Dolph Ziggler were going to walk out of the show as the new champion. I wasn’t sure if Ziggler would cash in and then lose the title or Cena wins early and then cashes in later. Neither happened. What did happen was the WWE proved that the Money In The Bank briefcase is more valued than the actual championship it’s for a shot at. I’m a big Ziggler fan and a huge anti-Cena person. Not in a “boo! He’s bad!” or even anything “kayfabe”. I’m just worn out with his act. In this match the crowd was clearly behind Ziggler. Cena’s personality shifted a little and it was interesting to see it pan out. It was weird to see him attempt to “wrestle” for a spot, but it was sloppy and awkward looking. Dolph won the match when AJ turned on Cena. It’s yet ANOTHER WWE PPV main event where we don’t get a clean winner. It’s bullshit and makes their product unappealing and unfulfilling. I’m just happy Dolph is still “the guy”. The WWE seems to be on track with pushing new people. We saw Dolph get the win over Cena, The Shield debut, and a very solid undercard. Regardless, what I learned most from this show is that if you want John Cena to bleed you have to trick him into actually wrestling. Wrestling is John Cena’s kryptonite. How ironic!
The show was cool but there’s nothing new or excited enough to make me care about tuning in. I really feel the problem is oversaturation. The WWE has 3 hours for RAW, 2 for Smackdown, 1 for Main Event, 1 for NXT, and then there’s even more and on top of that is the internet news. For me, if I’m a fan I want to know what’s going on so I try to take in as much as possible on my TV. That translates to reading columns, news, and watching even more videos throughout the week to keep up with the day to day activities. That’s a lot of shit to sit through and put in your head. When the quality of the product doesn’t match up to even the lowest of standards it’s pretty fucking dreadful to keep up. All of this content makes it impossible to be a casual fan. The WWE has used this oversaturation to pretty much put a line in the sand for long time fans. I’m not sure what side to go towards.
2012 MUSIC ODYSSEY [part one]
2012: The Last Year Ever! On the surface it’s easy to just assume that 2012 wasn’t that great of a music year. Regardless, I actually think because of a few solid releases and big moments it may have actually been a better year than 2011. The bar was set pretty low though. I’m talking purely from my own point of view here. I miss the days of rock being prominent, hip hop having substance, and pop stars being unique. There is good music out there if you hunt it down. It just seems that there has been a shift in what defines talent and what credibility really means. I don’t want to be the old guy complaining about “kids these days”. It’s not “the kids”. It’s everyone.
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