-From Brooklyn, NY
-Hosts are Cole, King, & JBL
-The bell is tolled 26 times in memory of those lost at Sandy Hook Elementary.
-Match 1 to determine the #1 Contenders for the WWE Tag Team Championship: Rey Mysterio & Sin Cara VS Rhodes Scholars [Tables Match]
-Only have to put one team member through a table to win. Since it's New York, the heels get an ovation until Sandow immediately turns them. Big "Cody's Mustache" chant as the bell rings. The faces promptly clean house and get a table. They look to finish Sandow early, but Cody breaks it up, and the RS work on Sin Cara. Sin Cara comes back with a fancy armdrag on Cody, but he then takes a Disaster Kick. Cody wedges Sin Cara's knee between the steps and the ring post, then the RS ram a table into the steps. Nice spot. That draws another "Cody's Mustache" chant for some reason.
RS almost finish Sin Cara, but Rey makes the save and cleans house. Rey hits the 619 on Cody and looks to finish with a splash off the top, but Sandow makes the save. Sin Cara takes both opponents out with enziguiris and looks to springboard onto Sandow, but Cody pushes him off the top rope through a table for the win at 9:30. Good match, GREAT finish.
-The Shield deliver another group promo via creepy video. At least they finally give a reason for going after Hell No.
-Match 2 for the United States Championship: Antonio Cesaro [c] VS R-Truth
-Pretty even matchup for the first couple minutes until Cesaro takes over and locks on a laying cobra clutch. R-Truth brings back an old tradition of no-selling and firing up while taking turnbuckle bashes BECAUSE HE'S BLACK AND PISSED OFF. Truth hits his shitty Lie Detector and a scissors kick for two. Cesaro almost throws Truth into the ref, then hits a European uppercut to the back followed by the Neutralizer to retain at 6:37. Not bad, but not particularly great either. As mush as I love Cesaro, he needs a new finisher.
-Matt Striker gets some words from Cesaro, who shoves him aside and declares himself an international superpower and saying that if you boo him, you're booing your own country, since he's the U.S. Champion.
-Josh Matthews interviews Dolph, who isn't happy about his briefcase being on the line. He says Cena's career should be on the line and when he wins, everything changes.
-Now it's time for Miz TV with 3MB. Drew goes for the cheap heat by saying they're better than Jay-Z. Miz verbally punks them, so they settle for going after the Spanish announce team. Ricardo Rodriguez comes out to defend his brethren. Alberto Del Rio runs out to save him and turn face. 3MB attack ADR, and Miz doesn't get involved until taking a shove from Slater. Slater challenges them to find a partner and face them tonight in a six man tag. Miz accepts as the crowd chants for Ryder.
-Hell No have a pre-match conference. Daniel embraces the power of YES!
-Striker interviews Wade Barrett, who brushes off the idea of Kofi's "Wildcat" being unleashed. Sadly, no Tebow jokes here.
-Match 3 for the Intercontinental Championship: Kofi Kingston [c] VS Wade Barrett
-Pretty fast start. Kofi hits a suicide dive, but Barrett comes back with a mule kick and pumphandle slam for two. Barrett hits an elbow off the second rope for two. Kofi comes back, misses the Trouble in Paradise, but does connect with the S.O.S. for two. They exchange near-falls, then Barrett hits a Black Hole Slam for two. Barrett goes for the Bull Hammer, but Kofi hits Trouble in Paradise out of nowhere to retain at 8:12. Pretty energetic, if basic match. I really thought Barrett was taking the title here, especially since Kofi stood tall the RAW before this.
-Punk & Heyman enter a skybox (to a loud ovation). Punk says the status of his knee of none of anyone's business, then trash talks Brooklyn. Punk says Ryback is dumb for hurting him so their title match was called off, but lucky because Punk would have destroyed him.
-Match 4: Ryback & WWE Tag Team Champions Hell No VS The Shield [6 Man TLC Match, winner determined by pin or submission]
-And now the reason I'm watching this show. It's going to be huge when Bryan finally fully re-embraces the YES. All-out brawl right off the bat. Ambrose loses (badly) a chop exchange to Ryback as the crowd chants "Goldberg!". Ambrose dropkicks Ryback out of the ring. Kane tries to introduce a ladder, but Rollins dropkicks it into Kane's ribs, and the Shield wear Bryan out. Reigns throws Bryan into a ladder that is held by the other two. Ryback breaks that up, and Hell No work on Reigns. Kane whips Reigns into a ladder, then Bryan follows up with a running dropkick, and Kane gets two off that.
Ambrose uses a chair on Bryan while Kane tortures poor Rollins. Ryback gets caught by Ambrose & Rollins, who work him over with a ladder. Ryback fights back, and hits Ambrose & Rollins with a double suplex on a ladder. Ryback goes for Shell Shocked, but Reigns breaks that up. Reigns preps the Spanish announce table ("Get up fools! It's my table now!"), and an assisted powerbomb sends Ryback through it. Bryan emerges from where he spent the last three minutes and gets jumped, and Kane rises to save him.
The Sheild fight them off, and Ambrose hits a chair slam on Bryan, and it's his turn to get beat on. Rollins and Ambrose work him over while Reigns keeps Kane at bay. They set up a table in the corner, then throw Bryan chin-first into it, followed by a double-team superplex. Reigns gets two off that, as Kane makes the save. Ambrose & Rollins focus on Kane, who manages to fight off the superplex. Kane cleans house, hitting a chokeslam through a chair on Ambrose for two, with Reigns making the save.
Reign spears Kane through the barricade, then he and Rollins bury Kane under debris. Bryan gets the No Lock on all three Shield members, but can't get a submission before it's broken up each time. Bryan fights off a double suplex through a chair with a flurry of kicks, but ends up taking a flying stomp to the head from Rollins, which drives his face into the chair. Ryback finally emerges from his coma and cleans house. Ryback hits a spear (bad choice of moves) and the meathook clothesline on Ambrose, followed by Shell Shocked, but Rollins & Reigns save.
Ryback fights the Shield up to the entrance, where they take over again. Ryback gets set on a table and Rollins sends the other two back to the ring while he climbs an absurdly tall ladder. That proves to be a mistake, as Ryback awakes and Rollins is fucked. Ryback catches up to him and pulls him backwards off the ladder, through a stack of tables. That's just nasty. Back in the ring, Ambrose & Rollins hit Bryan with an assisted powerbomb through a table for the pin at 22:44. This lived up to the hype and is quite frankly one of the best matches I've ever seen. Probably the most smartly-booked team street fight type match ever, as the Shield constantly out-smarted their foes and isolated them all match long. I'm surprised they put the Shield over that strong, but they did, and found a way to do it in a way that didn't diminish any of the losing team at all. Awesome, awesome stuff. This was a flat-out WAR. Buy the DVD (or procure the show via other means) just for this match alone.
-Replays show the back of Rollins' head bouncing off the edge of one of the tables. I'm sure that felt wonderful.
-Match 5 for the WWE Divas Championship: Eve Torres [c] VS Naomi
-Naomi won a battle royale on the pre-show to earn this shot, thanks to some unwanted help from Eve. Talk about being put in the death spot. After some early Eve domination, Naomi gets some nice offense in, and, to her credit, gets the crowd from chanting "boring" to getting into it. Then Eve goes back on offense, and it's back to the "boring" chant. Eve quickly finishes with a nice neckbreaker at 3:06. This is what it had to be, a quick match to get the crowd cooled down for the rest of the show. That it happened to be good for a Divas match is a bonus.
-Matt Striker interviews Big Show, who discounts any chance Sheamus has of winning tonight.
-Match 6 for the World Heavyweight Championship: Big Show [c] VS Sheamus [Chairs Match]
-Sheamus gets off to a fast start, but runs at Big Show while holding a chair, and takes a kick to the chops. Sheamus comes back with a flying shoulderblock off the apron, but Show counters a whip, and hits a big clothesline. Sheamus hits three chairshots and a bodyslam for two. Show returns fire with a couple chairshots and huge chop as there's a small "Ole" chant for some reason. Sheamus unloads on Show but can't bring him down. He then runs right into a chokeslam for two.
Show throws some chairs in the ring, then hits a Vader bomb with a chair on Sheamus' chest, and that gets two. Show sets up two chairs and goes for a chokeslam, but Sheamus slides out, and hits White Noise through the chairs for two. Show avoids the Brogue Kick, and hits the WMD for two. Show has had enough, and he KO's Sheamus with a cartoonishly large chair to retain at 14:17. This was lots of fun, and I like the finish as much like the TLC match, it allowed the heel to make a smart move to win and not diminish his opponent.
-John Cena warms up, and AJ interrupts to thank him for being there for her last week. Cena tells her to wait until he beats Dolph tonight to thank him.
-Match 7: 3MB VS Miz, Alberto Del Rio, & Brooklyn Brawler
-This is a long way to go to get Brawler a PPV match. I just don't buy Miz, and particularly ADR, wanting anything to do with the Brawler. Brawler swiftly becomes the face-in-peril. Miz gets the hot tag as Cole & JBL run through all the other identities Lombardi has wrestled under. After ADR & Ricardo take out the other two, Miz hits Jinder with the Skull Crushing Finale and tags in Brawler, who finishes with a Brooklyn Crab at 3:25. Well, this didn't overstay its welcome, if nothing else.
-The video package for the main event makes me notice how much they've apparently gotten away from those. It seemed every PPV match had a video for a while.
-Match 8 for Dolph Ziggler's World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank: Dolph Ziggler VS John Cena [Ladder Match]
-Crowd is not surprisingly pro-Ziggler. After some stalling, Cena hits a monkey flip and throws Ziggler outside to huge heat. Ziggler jabs Cena in the ribs with a chair and sets it up in the corner, but Cena cuts him off. Cena grabs a chair, but Ziggler dropkicks it into his face. Cena, who now has a cut under his eye, uses the ladder to knock Ziggler outside, then cracks him in the head with the ring steps. Cena sets up a table but gets cut off. Ziggler tries to climb a ladder but Cena cuts him off, triggering a "boo! yeah!" punch exchange, which Ziggler ends by slapping on a sleeper.
Cena, while still in the sleeper, climbs the ladder. He's too out of it to grab the briefcase. Cena ends up falling back, and they go through the table. Ziggler climbs the ladder, and in a freakish show of strength Cena hoists the ladder, with Ziggler still on it, into AA position. Ziggler slides off before Cena can hit the move, however. Ziggler goes for another ladder, but gets caught in the STF. Cena tries to follow up with the AA, but Ziggler slides out and hits the Zig Zag.
Ziggler sets a table up in the corner, but gets caught with the Blue Thunder Bomb and the Five Knuckle Shuffle. Ziggler fights off another AA, and hits a leaping DDT, allowing him to grab a bigger ladder. Ziggler almost gets the briefcase, but gets caught and slugged down by Cena. Cena almost gets there, but Ziggler cuts him off. Cena hits a hurricarana (!), which sends Ziggler through the table. Ziggler fights off a superplex and hits a cross-body off the top. Cena rolls through and again goes for the AA, but Ziggler grabs the chair out of the corner and cracks Cena across the hip to break it, and adds another chairshot to the back.
Ziggler cleans the ring and goes for a superkick, but Cena ducks and finally hits the AA, which sends Ziggler outside. Vickie runs out and looks like she wants to hit Cena with a chair, but AJ cuts her off and hits her with some of Cena's signatures, ending with the Five Knuckle Shuffle. AJ skips around the ring as Cena climbs, but then she suddenly tips the ladder over. Cena prevents himself from falling over the top, but he walks right into a superkick from Ziggler, and that is enough for Ziggler to get his briefcase at 23:15.
Great main event. While I didn't see the turn coming (I was expecting the Shield to help Ziggler win), it's turned out to be the right move, and it's freshened up both AJ & Dolph's characters. Hopefully they have something good planned for Ziggler in the near-future, as I don't think a cash-in is in the cards just yet.
-FINAL THOUGHTS: This was a really good show. Nothing was bad, and the TLC match plus the main event made it worth watching by themselves. Add in the good opener and World title match, and you have a fine night of wrestling.
