December 2011

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WWE I-C Champion Cody Rhodes vs Daniel Bryan - Smackdown 12/9/11 I have not been talking about Michael Cole during these matches, but I feel the need to break my silence. He has been brilliant! He should be a heel manager. He is an average play by play announcer. But, he is great at spewing venom with conviction. So many heel announcers sound like they are winking. Cole sounds legitimately pissed. Daniel Bryan was giving a promo but his loss last week in a steel cage. Cole rips into Bryan to the point it is almost uncomfortable how angry he looks and sounds. Kudos to Daniel Bryan for also getting revved up and looking convincing. Cody Rhodes, I guess was feuding with …

Excellent match. Dick Togo looked like a beast on the offense + El Generico sold & bumped his ass off for him. ****

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TNA World Heavyweight Champion Bobby Roode vs AJ Styles - TNA Final Resolution 2011 30 Minute Iron Man The video package before the match was fantastic. I loved Roode's parents condemning Roode's actions and that they did not raise their child to be like this. I loved Roode's wife staying he is not the one here at home that has to explain to their children why their daddy is a cheater. Great touch. Spitting on Dixie and then taking on AJ's knee. Hell they are trying to get Roode over as the top heel I will give them that! First ten minutes: AJ Styles gives a ***** sell job of his knee. Maybe the greatest ten minute selling of the knee I have ever seen period. What…

It's kind of unbelievable to look at how Alberto Del Rio is booked now and look back at his 2011 year and you're wondering what the hell went wrong. I thought that was a good go-home match to set up their TLC Match for the WWE Championship 6 days later. Looking back, you're really feeling like the day they moved Ricardo Rodriguez away from Alberto, things went so south for him.

I love it when a much starts with a good lock up and we got a great one here with Santo just pulling Angel Blanco onto the ground. I didn't really come out of this with an impression of Angel Blanco Jr. but he was a good enough foil for the Hijo Del Santo title match with all the Santo spots I love. Santo's Plancha in particular looked great here, and I always pop for the struggle over the Camel Clutch. ***1/2

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World Heavyweight Champion Mark Henry vs Big Show - TLC 2011 Chair Match All good things must come to an end. Given how both men have injured one another with steel chairs, it is fitting that steel chairs come into play. However, calling something a chairs match is very silly as I think we all realize. Sub-5 minute match where the first two minutes or so are stalling so definitely their weakest effort. Mark Henry slams Big Show's hand into the stairs. Big Show cant grip for the chokeslam (exhibited twice) and has nothing behind his punches. Mark is just wailing on him with a chair and stomps on a chair to the hand. Mark winds up and Big Show catches him with the KO pu…

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World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan vs Dolph Ziggler - Smackdown 12/23/11 Good idea for Daniel Bryan's first match since winning the World Championship at TLC. Give him an opponent where they can show off some workrate. Pretty straightforward workrate style match. Bryan gets in his shine, a dropkick out of some chaining, upside down surfboard and a couple European uppercuts that look good. Ziggler is able to show off on a missed Bryan dropkick and by sending Bryan into the buckles, doing some situps and his inverted bodyslam. Ziggler takes a good bump to the outside and then Bryan hits a dive. At some point, Swagger interferes and Big Show comes out. Byran gets a …

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On the English HDNet broadcast, one of the commentators referred to the matwork as "dirty grappling", which fit well here, considering these two grunty dudes trying to manage the opposing bulk -- opposing bulk well-versed in the same catch-as-catch-can approach. Between the leg jockeying and the back-and-forth for arm control, Suzuki and Barnett conveyed the struggle of not only applying the holds, but keeping them locked on, and exhaustion of throwing around that weight working against them. This was my first exposure to Hideki Suzuki and it was clear to me early on that there's a lot to love from him as a worker. The fact that he just reaches in and coolly slaps Barnett…