The latest event from WWE will stay long in the memory, not for the gimmick stipulations, but by actually managed to surprise the viewer for the first time in ages.
Christian vs Shelton Benjamin - Ladder Match
The opener was a Ladder match for the ECW title between two veterans of the gimmick match in question. As you'd expect there were plenty of nice spots that showed of Shelton's athleticism alongside Christian innovation in this type of match. Yet something never quite clicked between the two as they never quite recovered from the forced break to tend to Christian's cut he got when a ladder caught him flush in the face early doors - unlike at Bragging Rights where they managed to hide Cena's cut during one of the time-outs, this time around they had no such luxury and the interruption ruined the flow just as the match was building as killed the atmosphere in the crowd.
Christian won in the end after an impressive spot where he frog-splashed Benjamin through a ladder between the ring and announce table - and you'd have to think he will be out of the doghouse of ECW and onto Smackdown sooner rather than later seeing as he's been given a fair amount of the spotlight on the last 2 pey-per-views running.
Drew McIntyre vs John Morrison
Next up was the Intercontinental Title match that saw Mr McMahon's hand picked future champ Drew McIntyre take on John Morrison. At the best of times these two aren't full of charisma and would've struggled to get the crowd into what they were doing, but having to follow a ladder match just made things worse. What they did in the ring was fine but no one cared either way, but at least they didn't pull a Ziggler and let Drew keep the little momentum that he has by winning the belt first time round
Mickie James vs Michelle McCool
By the numbers Womens' match which was destined to be forgotten almost straight after. Michelle won in a match that was only notable for Layla wearing a Piggie James T-Shirt and Mickie apparently dressed as some kind of Native American Cowboy.
Sheamus vs John Cena - Tables Match
Sheamus Wins! Sheamus Wins!
You could actually sense the shock rippling through the crowd at the end of this match when the Irishman put the champ through a table - Well he sort of did anyway. The way they choose to end this match was baffling as for some reason out of nowhere Cena did some kind of suicidal dive from the top rope through a table to lose the match.
This managed to make the pair of them look like complete idiots as the hero of the WWE Universe is apparently some bumbling buffoon who can't stand up straight and instead of giving the new champ a convincing win he was just left straddled on the top rope as the champ committed Hari Kari.
This was such a shame as what went before as the pair actually had a pretty good WWE style brawl for the title that showed that Sheamus could hang with the big boys, reminding me of Batista in the sense that you won't want him to be the one to carry the match, but put him in with the right guy and he'll deliver - which bodes well for the Irishman's run with title.
Undertaker vs Batista - Chairs Match
Another silly ending followed in the next title match, as the Smackdown belt was defended by Undertaker against Big Dave. Coming into this the WWE writers had booked themselves into a cul-de-sac as you don't beat the Undertaker on a pointless PPV or a loss would ruin the momentum for the Dave heel turn that has been all kinds of great so far - so some kind of cop out ending was to be expected, but they went and picked the one that made the least sense.
Batista had looked like he'd won the title after pinning the Undertaker on the back of a chair shot. But seeing as he'd used a low blow Teddy Long came out and ordered a restart where the Undertaker quickly got the 3 count on the back of a tombstone piledriver. Notwithstanding the fact that Teddy Long was prepared to let Drew McIntyre get away with eye poke to win the IC title not making sense - this was the same Teddy Long who was under orders to screw the Undertaker out of the title for the last couple of months - shouldn't he be happy that Big Dave won?!
Randy Orton vs Kofi Kingston
Of the 3 guys pushed in recent weeks, Kofi Kingston made the biggest impression with the WWE fans. So of course he lost convincingly. What had originally looked set to push Kofi to Orton's level had ended up dragging Randy down to Kofi's midcard status via a load of pointless TV matches - so with Orton versus Cena being teased yet again for somewhere down the line (please God not Wrestlemania!) they threw all the good work done with Kofi aside to try and save Orton. The match itself was good as they worked closer to Kofi's faster pace opposed to Orton's slower, more methodical pace - but by the end Kofi was right back where he started a couple of months ago.
DX vs Chris Jericho & The Big Show - TLC Match
The main event was the perfect example of how to use the Big Show - coming in with short bursts that showcased his height as an unique attraction whilst also highlighting his freakish strength. Here the story was that JeriShow destroyed all the ladders meaning they were the only ones who could win the match. The end came DX finally outsmarted them catching them in the act, leading to the one big spot in the match - Jericho's fall from Big Show's shoulders through to a table outside. I much preferred this match to the spot fests of Money in the Bank as it actually told a story instead of being jammed full off stunts that quickly become meaningless.
So DX won the tag titles, but unless they switch them back straight away after its hard to work out what they'll do with the belts, as next up on the calendar is the the Royal Rumble which usually marks the start on the Road to Wrestlemania - and despite winning gold here you've got to expect DX to be working singles matches on the biggest show of the year.
On the whole you'd have to recommend this show, none of the matches tanked, with Sheamus and Cena delivering a surprisingly good match with an ending that managed to surprise you more.
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