WWE RAW 17.12.2012 (TLC Fallout) - As It Happened

This week’s RAW from Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia was one to look out for, especially after the unexpected results in TLC last night. Being the final pay-per-view of the year, TLC provided us almost everything that we desired.

AJ Lee turning on Cena to cost him his match against Ziggler, the Big Show still remaining the World Heavyweight Champion and The Shield marking their first victory meant a lot of questions still remained unanswered. Also the 2012 edition of The Slammy Awards increased the anticipation several folds.

The show opened with JBL and Cole as always greeting us to the show with the usual pyrotechnics.

Rey Mysterio vs Damien Sandow

Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara after losing in a Tables match against Rhodes Scholars in the TLC enter the ring as Mysterio goes one on one with the ‘The Intellectual Savior of Masses’ Damien Sandow (As expected Cody Rhodes is in his corner). A decent match with Mysterio picking the win after a 619 followed by Drop the Dime for the pin.

Winner: Rey Mysterio

Out comes Booker T to announce the first Slammy award of the night the ‘Tell Me I Just Did Not See That’ Award. He first announces the nominees and just as he is about to declare the winner out comes the Boogeyman. Run everybody! Save your lives! Boogeyman is here! At least that is what the WWE expected the fans to feel. Frankly I wasn’t very amused with his entry here. However, Booker T runs away from the scene for us to witness a few Boogey antics. After Boogeyman leaves, Booker T returns to declare Kofi Kingston the winner for walking on his hands in Royal Rumble to avoid elimination. Brad Maddox is seen dejected as he walks back after this disappointing announcement. (I personally feel Maddox deserved the award, but I guess we’re now used to nonsense from the WWE)

Eve vs. Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn and Eve are now pitched into one of those meaningless divas matches and Kailtyn comes out with the single-knee gutbuster for the victory.

Winner: Ah! Who cares?

Now time for some real entertainment, The New Age Outlaws are here. Road Dogg is out and we see immediately realize it is PG as he have the first line censored. Anyway, here’s the NWO to present ‘The Comeback of The Year’ Award. The nominees are Brock Lesnar, Chris Jericho, Jerry Lawler and DX.

After the commercial, NWO announces Jerry Lawler the winner who then comes out and thanks the WWE Universe for the award. It was expected of the WWE to not give the award to Lesnar and no disrespect to Lawler while I’m saying this, but he won purely out of sympathy.

Kofi Kingston vs. Lord Tensai

After winning his first Slammy Award Kofi is now pitched against the worst jobber in WWE, Lord Tensai. Tensai had the upper hand in the match as he pummels Kofi in the corner and then splashes from the second rope for a pin attempt. Kofi kicks out and Tensai goes in for another splash which he misses and Kofi connects with the Trouble in Paradise for the win.

Winner: Kofi Kingston

Kofi is out celebrating as Barrett comes into the ring and attacks him. Barrett hits the Bullhammer elbow and walks out of the ring with a pleased look on his face. I guess Barrett is finally moving away from R-Truth, which was a completely meaningless feud in my opinion.

Next we see Vickie Gurrero out to present the Kiss of the Year Award. Indeed a good choice from WWE to allow Vickie to present the award. It is an all AJ show as she is involved in all the nominees. The nominees are AJ kissing Bryan, AJ kissing Kane, AJ kissing CM Punk and AJ kissing Cena and the winner is……….. AJ kissing Cena. With that completely obvious winner we are yet to witness the shock of the evening.

Vickie asks AJ to explain her actions in TLC as she is out to claim her award. AJ says she does not care about anyone and has had enough of working for the fans and both Vickie and AJ stand arguing with each other as Dolph Ziggler comes in between them. AJ tells Vickie that her award-winning kiss with Cena was nothing compared to the one she was going to witness now. She suddenly leaps on to Ziggler and both of them start kissing as Vickie looks at them in agony. She screams at them and leaves as both of them continue kissing after which AJ skips to the back.

The Great Khali vs David Otunga

Why in the world did I witness this? This is probably the first question you will ask yourself after watching this match. A completely meaningless match between the two worst wrestlers of the WWE roster.

Khali hits the chop on Otunga for the win.

Winner: The Great Khali

Next it is the Superstar of the Year Award and we have The Nature Boy Ric Flair out to announce the winner. He first announces the nominees Sheamus, Big Show, John Cena and CM Punk.

After we return from a break we see Justin Roberts welcome Ric Flair back to the WWE as Flair is all set to announce the winner. While most of us expected it to be the WWE Champion CM Punk, Flair announced the winner to be John Cena.

Cena’s music hit and the crowd was all set to BOO CENA OUT of the arena. Cena faced heat that even Vickie Gurrero has not managed to generate till date. I guess Cena did deserve this as CM Punk looked a much more apt choice for the award. Anyway, Cena gives the award back to Flair and tells him he deserves this award.

Flair starts to speak and out comes CM Punk with Paul Heyman. He ridicules the decision and considers him the Superstar of the Year as Cena leaves backstage. Punk calls Flair and Cena a loser and tells he could beat Flair with one leg. Flair gets heated up and moves into the ring as Punk and Heyman start making their way up. Flair gets beaten by Punk’s crutches and Flair fights back and lands the Figure Four Leg Lock on Heyman. After Heyman taps Flair lets go to hear The Shield’s music. The trio are amongst the crowd as Team Hell No appear to save Flair. After taking care of Kane and Bryan, Flair is taken outside to the announcers table for a triple powerbomb.

Ryback then enters and saves Flair and takes out The Shield. Flair is then hoisted up by Kane, Bryan and Ryback to end the segment.

Brodus Clay vs JTG

Another mediocre match with Clay hitting the Funkasplash for the win.

Winner: Brodus Clay

Santino and Tensai are out to present the LOL Moment of the Year Award. The winner is the Rock for his funny promos against Cena. Santino accepts the award on his behalf but Bryan comes out screaming NO. He is then carried out by Kane to end what I would say a funny segment.

Sin Cara vs. Cody Rhodes

After Rey defeated Sandow in the first match of the night, we now see the other half of the tag teams face off against each other. This again seemed to be one of the better matches with momentum swaying both ways. Finally Sin Cara gets caught in the Cross Rhodes and Rhodes pins Cara for the victory.

Winner: Cody Rhodes

After this Zack Ryder and Layla are out to announce The Trending Hashtag of the year with the winner being #feedmemore. Ryder tells he is going backstage to give Ryback the award.

Big Show is out next after his victory over Sheamus last night. He brings along the chair he used for his victory against Sheamus and starts boasting about him being the most dominant wrestler in WWE. Sheamus then comes out to save our lives from the one of the most boring segments. He congratulates Show for the win and shakes hand for being the better man last night. However, Show starts getting on his nerves by calling him names which makes Sheamus hit Show with the chair followed by the Brogue Kick.

With Big Show knocked out we see Dolph Ziggler come out with a referee to finally cash in his MITB briefcase! He is nearly there when Cena comes out and clotheslines Ziggler to disappoint most of the fans in the arena. Ziggler is thrown into the barrier where he lays down but fortunately he does not lose his briefcase.

3MB vs. Alberto Del Rio, The Miz and Tommy Dreamer

After a few TLC highlights we now witness something completely unexpected. As if their match in TLC wasn’t enough we now have 3MB going against Del Rio and The Miz again but instead of Brooklyn Brawler we have a surprise in the name of Tommy Dreamer. The three face off against 3MB but after a commercial.

Back from the commercial we see Vickie and Ziggler backstage talking about how AJ turned on Cena. Ziggler complains about Vickie’s jealousy and tells her that their relationship is over. However, Vickie has other plans as she books a match between her and Cena vs. Ziggler and AJ. Quite a shocker indeed!

Now back to the match we see some decent fight followed by a commercial after which we see Dreamer’s team pick up the victory.

Winner: Alberto Del Rio, The Miz and Tommy Dreamer

It’s time now for the Newcomer of the Year Award and to present it Sheamus comes out. Ryback is the winner and he gets his second Slammy award. Ryback accepts the award and the crowd chants ‘Feed Me More’ as Ryback heads into the ring for his next match.

Ryback vs Antonio Cesaro

Antonio Cesaro is out next who seems quite disappointed at the results. He calls himself the Newcomer of the Year and rightly considers the results to be rigged.

The match starts as Ryback gains the upper hand. Cesaro comes back into the match and tries to hit the neutralizer but fails. Ryback then goes on the offensive as Cesaro slips out of the ring. Ryback throws Cesaro back but he slips out on the other side to be counted out.

Winner: Ryback

After the commercial we have Gene Okerlund, Ricky Steamboat and Jim Ross to present The Match of the Year award.

The award obviously went to HHH and The Undertaker match at Wrestlemania though I somewhat disagree with it. HHH’s music hits and there is a huge pop. He thanks the crowd for the award and we see Undertaker chants followed by a “thank you Hunter” chant. HHH leaves the ring with a final line stating that the WWE had not seen the last of Undertaker which creates a huge roar in the arena.

Backstage we see Tommy Dreamer being beaten up by The Shield after which they leave the arena.

Dolph Ziggler and AJ Lee vs. John Cena and Vickie Gurrero

It is finally main event time and we see AJ come out to the ring. She demands a ladder to be put in the ring and starts telling the fans how unpredictable she is. She is on the verge of explaining why she turned on Cena and Vickie immediately interrupts. Ziggler and Cena enter next and the match begins.

Ziggler and Cena start off and after a slam Ziggler tags AJ. Cena brings in Vickie and both AJ and Vickie start a brawl. AJ after having enough of this match leaves the ring and walks up the ramp. Vickie follows after a short while leaving Ziggler and Cena in the ring. Ziggler counters a AA with a huge DDT and Cena somehow lands the STF.

AJ returns to the ring but with a bigger surprise in store for everyone. She comes out with NXT Champion Big E Langston who thrashes Cena and stands over Cena to end the show.